Matters of Opinion

A quick look at what you'll find in the July issue of North Dakota OUTDOORS.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that a subspecies of moose found in North Dakota and elsewhere could at some time merit protection under the Endangered Species Act. While we respect and understand the process, which could take years to determine if this animal does indeed warrant protection, we feel our stable to increasing moose population is in a good place, and our management and research data will show this.

Readers of North Dakota OUTDOORS understand the importance of habitat in our effort to "protect, conserve and enhance wildlife populations" in the state. This is a topic we touch on often. In the feature that focuses on grasslands in our prairie state, the importance of this type of wildlife habitat is magnified as conservation biologists indicate that more half of the 115 species on the 2015 list of North Dakota Species of Conservation Priority depend on native prairie or other grasslands. That is a telling statistic.

We applaud everyone, from organizers to student shooters, who participated in the North Dakota High School Clay Target League state tournament in Horace in June. While the goal of the participants was to dust as many flying orange clays as possible, their attention to safe gun handling techniques were just as significant.

A quick look at something that, because of magazine deadline constraints, wasn't included in the following pages, but deserves mentioning.

North Dakota is blessed with more fishing waters today than any time in our history. Many of those waters are established and new walleye lakes. In a state where that vast majority of anglers pursue this fish species above all others, it's important to note a record 150-plus lakes across North Dakota were stocked earlier this summer with nearly 11 million walleye fingerlings. This is significant because it demonstrates the importance of our working relationship and support of the two federal fish hatcheries in the state where the fingerlings were raised before release. According to Game and Fish Department fisheries staff, 10.4 million of those fingerlings were produced at Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery, which is probably the most walleye ever produced at a single hatchery anywhere in the country. This is significant and anglers need to understand this.

When you leave these pages of OUTDOORS, pause, ponder and look around. What you'll find, I'm certain, are a number of other things to applaud and appreciate about North Dakota's great outdoors. With summer edging in the direction of fall, get outside and enjoy some of it.