The Western New York Environmental Federation ( Region 9) had their quarterly meeting on April 18th. Items of interest were:
      The "bait and shoot" program conducted by the DEC in Clarence and Amherst has been highly successful with approx. 560 deer harvested. As a result of this 17,000 pounds of deer meat was donated to the WNY soup kitchens.

      The result of a 2002 survey by Cornell Department of Natural Resources of statewide deer damage to farmers has been released. The survey revealed that deer accounted for 58.8 million dollars of damage statewide! This is about 4,100 dollars per farm and it is approx. 2% of the annual income derived by our state's farmers. This is one of the many reasons why the deer herd must be controlled and the only effective way at this time is through hunting.

      The long debated issue of a Saturday big game opener does not seem to have strong support of the sportsmen and is probably a dead issue at present.

      The DEC announced that over 300 miles of stream will be stocked this year in Region 9 and at this time everything is on schedule."These stocked fish are larger than normal due to a modification in the hatchery program". stated Paul Mckewoen, Region 9 fishery chief.

      If you want to fish our local inland lakes for walleye this spring it appears that Silver Lake is the best option. Shocking surveys this spring brought up over 800 mature walleye, which indicates an excellent population of walleye in this small lake in Wyoming County. Night trolling with stick baits would be my option for catching walleyes early in the year.

      The results are not in yet but Chautauqua Lake walleye population, as reported last year, is still in trouble. In an attempt to mitigate this problem the DEC stocked 75,000 walleyes last year and 50,000 fingerlings this year. Hopefully this stocking program will help replenish the once superb walleye population in this lake. If you are going to fish for walleyes in this lake in early spring be aware of the nets near the shoreline. Be careful, as these nets can be hard to see when trolling at night.

      There appears to be a push upstate for a visible fishing license, Region 9,at this time, has no definite position on this but should take a position in the near future as this issue will probably not go away.

      A nearby Cabela's outdoor store may be in our future as Cabela's is looking at a potential site for a store in the town of Ripley. It seems that Ripley is a good fit as it lies between Buffalo and Cleveland and has good access with the I-90 corridor nearby. This could be very good news for Chautauqua County and all of Region 9.

      A new access site in the town of Evans on 18-mile Creek at old Route 5 affectionately called the "Deliverance House" has been acquired through the help of Assemblyman Dick Smith. The old house has been leveled and the site is in the process of developed into a prime fishing access site.

      A new Environmental Conservation Officer school will soon graduate with approx. 26 new ECO's. Hopefully some of these new officers will be assigned to Region 9 to fill existing vacancies.  Officer Bobseine stated that there are only 314 applicants statewide for a new class starting later this year. Twenty years ago New York State had 15,000 applicants for these jobs. The major problem is that starting pay for a graduate ECO is $29,000 whereas a State Trooper with similar responsibilities starts at over $50,000!

      I will be attending the NYSCC spring meeting in Herkimer and will issue a report on this important annual meeting at a later date.

                                                                                         Joe Fischer