BROADCAST NEWS TOPICS

Here’s what I’m planning to cover for broadcast news topics this week.

Winter fun for your family at Mahoney State Park near Ashland is what I’m gonna feature on The Weekly Outdoor Report airing on Omaha’s WOWT-TV/Channel 6, this Thursday at 6 p.m. during sports and then again on Saturday morning later in the hour-long 8 a.m. newscast. Look for video replays of my Weekly Outdoor Report on the station’s website at this link: www.wowt.com/sports

Conservation Officer Jeff Clauson of Waterloo, NE and with his wife Trena Clauson both visit me Saturday morning from 9-10 a.m. on my Great Outdoor Radio Show running on Omaha’s KOZN Radio/1620 AM “The Zone” and online at www.1620thezone.com This promises to be a VERY interesting conversation to say the least!

As always, tune in! Thanks much for watching and listening! I’ll see you on the air!

ANOTHER CRP SIGN UP COMING UP

Helpin’ Eric Zach, our Ag Program Manager for the Wildlife Division at Game and Parks, get the word out to you fellow ag producers that there is another USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign up period fast approaching. This will be the 43rd general CRP sign up which will be taking place from from March 12th through April 6th. High commodity prices may make getting contracts for it tough. But, from a farming background and perspective, I would say to a fellow producer:  “Farm your best, conserve the rest.”  It’s okay to farm your best fertile ground, but the marginal, hilly ground with iffy soil – conserve it, e.g. the CRP!   If you’re not aware of what the CRP does it’s this: It essentially puts highly erodible cropland into permanent cover for a period of at least 10 years. No other habitat program in this nation has accomplished what the CRP has! The environmental and economic benefits of CRP acres are many! Below are a couple pics of CRP acres from our Wagner Family Farm that I manage in southeastern Nebraska.

Click this link for additional info on the upcoming CRP sign up: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/gs43factsheet.pdf

And remember, if you build it (plant it), they will come!

IMPORTANT WATERFOWL MEETING IN LINCOLN

Hey waterfowlers, just a reminder from fellow Game and Parks compatriots Pat Molini and Mark Vrtiska in our wildlife division of an important  public waterfowl meeting scheduled for tomorrow night in Lincoln. Here are the details of it:

The 7 p.m. waterfowl-related meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7, in the third-floor conference room at Game and Parks Commission headquarters in Lincoln. The headquarters building is located on U.N.L.’s East Campus at 2200 North 33rd Street with easy access and plenty of free parking available.

Issues to be addressed at the meeting include potential changes to the state’s duck zone and hunting season split configuration. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011 changed some criteria for duck zones.

Game and Parks is considering changes to duck zones for 2012. A switch from the current three-zone format to a four-zone format is being considered. However, a change from the current 74-day season to a 39-day season is not under consideration. The four-zone format would better position duck season dates in the event a 39-day season becomes necessary in the future, according to Mark Vrtiska, Game and Parks waterfowl program manager.

“The last thing I want to see is a 39-day duck season,” Vrtiska said. “That makes it more difficult to meet hunter preferences for season dates. But, in deciding whether or not we should adopt the four-zone option, we want to lay out all the advantages and disadvantages of our current format to the proposed one.”

Our folks would appreciate seeing you at this important public meeting!

Critter Commercials

For those working on your critter commercials for our Nebraska Wildlife Conservation Fund, here’s one you’ll see involving critters – animated Polar Bears for Coca-Cola – during the Super Bowl game on Sunday. Maybe this will help you with an idea or two, never know.

Get more details about this fun project that you can do to help wildlife by clicking this link: http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/wildlife/programs/nongame/Critter_Commercial.asp

Maybe I’ll work with my media friends in Omaha like Ross Jernstrom of WOWT-TV/Channel 6 Sports and cook up something, hmmm ….

SEE MY ROOM FOR WILDLIFE AT THE HOME AND GARDEN EXPO

You’re not gonna believe this one, seriously. Mike Mancuso, promoter of the upcoming Omaha Home & Garden Expo (taking place next week, Feb. 9-12, at Omaha’s CenturyLink Center), approached me about having an outdoor-type room reflective of myself in the Celebrity Room Design Showcase at the event to raise funds for a charity of my choice. 

I’ve selected my charity -  the Nebraska Wildlife Conservation Fund for nongame and endangered species. Professional designers will be decorating this room for me/about me (thankfully, my wife says). Before they start their design work though, I think they should come down and take a look at my Game and Parks office in southeast Omaha. But, then again, maybe not. Take a glimpse below.

In any event, my wife Polly and I hope to see you at the home and garden expo checking out my special room and making a tax-deductible donation to our Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Wildlife Conservation Fund for those animals not commonly hunted, trapped or fished for.  Here’s a link for info on the expo:  http://www.showofficeonline.com/OHGEHOMEPAGE.html

Have a good one! Honey, no let’s not buy that new porch swing, it cuts into my spring fishing and turkey hunting budget …