1. Fish & Wildlife division is short 28 people
2. Law Enforcement has come back nicely and is short only 16 officers after the current class gets in the field.
3. Forestry division is short 21 people
4. Parks division is 50 people short.

5. Once again (rather still) the Division of Forestry is being actively opposed from managing the state's forests. Asking for help in combating misinformation and lack of education in the general public. Mostly from Blooington.

6. Remember the Got Input submissions? Well, from April 1 - May 15 the DNR Fish & Wildlife Division received over 1600 comments. Of note there were over 400 comments on the bobcat issue alone. Per their handout the Division will present rule package to the Natural Resources Advisory Council at their next meeting in August or October. From there a final rules package will be given to the full NRC in either September or November with public hearings beginning in January and final adoption in March 2017.

7. Mark Reiter spoke on the new Federal funding that might be coming to Indiana. It could be as much as $22M but requires a match and Indiana is really bad about providing matching funds. Have to keep an eye on this to see what we might really get.

8. Lively discussion on County Deer quotas. Looks like we have reduced the Bonus Anterless quotas in 5 counties and increased them in 2 counties. Interesting point made on the state park hunts. If the hunter success is 22% or greater the park will be continue to be hunted. If it falls below 22% the park will have achieved it's goal until further botanical studies show a need for more hunting.

9. Discussion on the County Deer Advisory Council citizen petition and how to get it done. Had to leave before any resolution was reached. If I hear anything I will forward. I think you can see their petition over their Facebook page.


Best news was the hiring of a deer biologist and a mammalogist. There was a discussion on the Mounds Reservoir but like I said I had to leave. Maybe someone who stayed can fill in these last 2 blanks.

Jack

P.S. NRC meeting on Tuesday, July 19th at Ft. Harrison.

due to budget cuts?

Are any of these positions open now?

1. Fish & Wildlife division is short 28 people
2. Law Enforcement has come back nicely and is short only 16 officers after the current class gets in the field.
3. Forestry division is short 21 people
4. Parks division is 50 people short.

It was not discussed but I'd wager (since it's an election year) that these jobs are frozen to show fiscal responsibility. **** the resource. It's all about the election.

I just looked at the Natural Resources Advisory Council web page:
http://www.in.gov/nrc/2334.htm

That page shows the latest entry as their meeting in January of 2016. Do you have any details (date, time, place, agenda) of their next meeting?

They only meet when they have enough for an agenda. They will likely meet in either August or October. I'll post up here when I know for sure.