By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — While the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife was once driven by projects that focused on game species, that philosophy began to change about 20 years ago when it became concerned with managing the whole ecosystem, from butterflies to bears, said David Graham, division chief.

A recent Wildlife Diversity Partners meeting at Shawnee State Forest sparked a discussion about how birders and other wildlife watchers who enjoy Ohio’s natural resources might be more actively engaged in hands-on conservation, and to find ways for them to contribute to the coffers.

A survey developed as a result of that meeting will help the division decide how best to do this.

“I think there is still a lot of society that thinks that every decision we make is based on whether an animal can be hunted or sport-fished, and it’s not been that way for a long time,” Graham said at the start of the meeting. “Consumptive or nonconsumptive, we want to make sure the natural world is here forever.”
Ohio’s Division of Wildlife was the first to step outside the box and form partnerships with zoos, the Audubon Society and others because of the need to maintain funding, he said.

The Wildlife Diversity Fund supports the species of wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped, said Kendra Wecker, Wildlife Diversity coordinator. Projects include things such as the aforementioned butterflies, peregrine falcons and research on Ohio’s often overlooked but fascinating and necessary mussels.
The philosophy is to integrate Wildlife Diversity programs and projects throughout the entire Division of Wildlife, and that has been extremely successful in Ohio, Wecker said. It eliminates the “us versus them” philosophy that occurs in many fish and wildlife agencies.

Revenue for the Wildlife Diversity and Endangered Species Fund 817, Ohio Revised Code 1531.26, comes from the income tax checkoff program, the cardinal and eagle license plates and donations.

Monies from these sources have been shrinking and at the heart of the conference was a discussion about finding other ways to raise funds.

Graham led off by saying he was committed to organizing a group to go after a small slice the sales tax when the economy improved. The chief said Ohio’s award-winning parks could also use some funding from that source.

Some suggested a bottle bill, saying it had been successful in other states. Others said the bottling companies would never allow it to pass. Methods of getting funding from real estate transfers were also considered.

The most popular idea was a wildlife or bird stamp of some kind. The consensus was that it should be voluntary and something “cool” that people would want to have. There were suggestions for something like the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps – commonly known as “Duck Stamps,” which are pictorial stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – or possibly a stamp to put on binoculars.

The Division of Wildlife compiled all of these ideas and developed a survey which is open to everyone. The survey will be available until Nov. 1 at www.ohiodnr.com and follow that to the “Division of Wildlife” link, where you may click on the survey.