The Nature conservancy

1pheas4

1pheas4

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Last November I pheasant hunted an area somewhere around Lee/Ogle county IL. I noticed a few very nice upland sites where the Nature Conservancy had performed/was performing habitat restoration.

Does anyone happen to have any experience with this organization? I'm wondering what do they do with the land once habitat work is completed? Is it off limits to the general public or open to hunting/public? If so, I wouldn't mind helping out on some of their sites-----they seem to know what they are doing in terms of producing wild pheasants and other upland wildlife.;)

Also, I came across this N.C. article regarding non-native/invasive species. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by it--the writer makes some good points. http://blog.nature.org/conservancy/2011/06/07/invasive-species-fight-mark-davis-peter-kareiva/

Thanks for any info:cheers:

Nick
 
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Near one part of KS I hunt in they own a huge chunk of ground -- think it's 18 sections or something like that, cant remember the exact #, would have to pull out the landowner map - found it by accident driving by as they had a small parking spot with a board up showing the rules of the property.

Per what additional research I did they only allow hiking/biking and maybe dog walking on the old trail they had ...."only." Nothing else -- was perfect mule deer and prairie chicken ground, but no hunting access. I'm pretty sure the no hunting is universal across their properties. But dont quote me on that.
 
In Missouri they have remnant prairie parcels here and there.
they manage them with the Department of Conservation. Most allow hunting, there are a few which are small parcels necessary for prairie chicken recovery, or glade restoration, which are difficult enough, with out hunting, many more are able to be hunted, deer, quail, small game. Sometimes it depends on a landowner giving the property that has an restrictive covenants on the deed which allow certain activities. I do not think that Nature conservancy has a non-hunter agenda. Sierra Club????
 
Nick, If you wanted to donate just say, a million bucks to purchase or donate some land for the Nature Conservancy. You had a clause that would make it a NO HUNTING area. So be it, it would end all hunting on this area for ever. On the other hand, give a million bucks to buy a piece of prime habitat that will ALWAYS be open to public hunting, so it will be open to public hunting, with restrictions of course.
Trouble is, the money seems to come mostly from the wealthy non hunting segment.
 
oldandnew said:
Sometimes it depends on a landowner giving the property that has an restrictive covenants on the deed which allow certain activities. I do not think that Nature conservancy has a non-hunter agenda. Sierra Club????
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Maybe thats what I ran into -- I know to a fact it was Nature Conservancy ground, so maybe the person who made the donation did not want hunting or maybe it was supposed to turn into some sort of prairie chicken preserve... dont know.

Was 4 or 5 years ago I researched this piece of property. A large chunk of ground -- maybe it was something Ted Turner donated to him - I havent found an older local Rancher I could ask about the history of the place. Would have really loved to mule deer hunt it -- was primo habitat for them.
 
You know that the Rockefeller family in heavily involved in Nature conservancy. The basically donated Catskill State Park, and Grand Teton National Park. Nature conservancy has a big, and I do mean BIG endowment from the family trust, they use it to add to funds to acquire property. As I say, In Missouri the Nature conservancy leases or co-operative manage their areas with Missouri conservation Department. I would expect they do that with other areas too. On the Missouri Prairie Chicken areas, they allow quail, doves, small game, some allow deer depending on size of the area. Because they try to intensively manage the areas, burning, buffalo grazing, cattle grazing experiments, to equal a "native " prairie ecosystem, and try to influence the local prairie neighbors to sign on to the management plan.
 
KsHusker said:
Maybe thats what I ran into -- I know to a fact it was Nature Conservancy ground, so maybe the person who made the donation did not want hunting or maybe it was supposed to turn into some sort of prairie chicken preserve... dont know.

Was 4 or 5 years ago I researched this piece of property. A large chunk of ground -- maybe it was something Ted Turner donated to him - I havent found an older local Rancher I could ask about the history of the place. Would have really loved to mule deer hunt it -- was primo habitat for them.
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Is that the smokey valley ranch where they dumped the black footed ferret?
 
There is an area of 80 acres or less northeast of Madison SD----NO HUNTING
SOME IS SOME IS NOT once again I beleive based onwhat the donor wanted.
 
Four Canyon Preserve allows limited draw hunting down here in Oklahoma. Quail hunted it one time. Believe they draw a few turkey permits through the ODWC controlled hunts still. They don't do the quail hunts anymore. It's part of the Nature Conservancy.
 
Totally depends on the funding source for the acquisition and what is needed for management purposes. In a lot of cases (including MN and IN, my two "home" states) they are currently taking advantage of state programs that provide financial assistance for purchasing conservation land but only if it's open to hunting/fishing. In Minnesota, TNC has been buying a good amount of land with Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars. That program requires that all of the land be open to hunting/fishing to the general public, so that's the case with those properties (Ordway Prairie in Pope Co. is a good example of that). Their grants through OHF total in the millions of dollars, and are largely focused in the prairie/pheasant region.

A couple places I knew in Indiana they desperately needed reductions in local deer populations, so individuals had permission to hunt but they had to be on an approved list. Deer hunting was all that was allowed though. In Northwest Indiana they own several thousand acres of prairie as part of the Kankakee Sands project. That area has birds and is open to hunting but on a lottery basis as managed by the local state Fish and Wildlife Area.

I'm currently looking at deer hunting in Nebraska on land they own in the Niobrara River valley. In order to hunt there, you have to pay a fee for a permit ($50 maybe). I don't know if they allow bird hunting or not.

Some other TNC properties are completely closed to the public (even for hiking/birdwatching/etc). So it just depends. Their website and the property signage usually indicates what you can/can't do.
 
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Not a fan of TNC

Have to tell you right off, I'm not a fan of TNC. Making my living in the forest products industry, I'm biased.

Paper companies across the US are being sold and divided up, a trend going on 15 years now. New ownership of the mills selling off the timber lands to generate income to service debt.

In NE Wisconsin one such block, something like 65,000 acres, was for sale and private forest products industry businesses were interested. One such entity bid $40m. Unknown to all, behind closed doors, State DNR was negotiating with TNC, who brought in a Real Estate Trust from Boston [REIT]. DNR comes in with $20m in conservation easement dollars, the REIT comes in with $30m, adds up to $50m and wins the bid. 5,000 acres of the lands were lake properties not included in the conservation easements and were immediately divided and put up for sale to developers.

The private bidders were never offered conservation easement dollars.

The remaining 60,000 acres of timberland is owned by the REIT. Timber grows at 3-4% per year, not enough investment return to satisfy REIT stock holders, so the timber is cut faster than growth. These lands end up being sold again in another 10-15 years when the timber has been hit hard.

Normal cutting rotations for our hardwood forests are 12-15 years under select cut management systems. A hard hit REIT property will not be ready for another harvest in 12-15 years, more like 30. They are not doing the best for the resource.

One benefit, these lands were open to public hunting under paper company ownership and remain so under the conservation easements. But the way this sale went down, with back door deals, is not right.
 
The REIT brought in wasn't Plum Creek. Although they hit their lands pretty hard, too and are now selling a lot of them off.
 
Up here in North Central MN it's Potlatch selling off paper company land. Now some 25,000 acres of sand soil. Center pivots and potatoes.
Unreal, irrigators go non stop during the growing season. Spray, also non stop.
From the air. Everything downwind gets a dose.
 
In Western Montana, Plum Creek had put much of there holdings up for sale, after logging them. Fortunately, TNC stepped up and purchased some of these lands. They then went to the locale communities and asked them who they wanted to own them. Many tracts went to public agencies and some went to private owners with conservation easements. While they own the land traditional uses continue including hunting, many of their preserves in MT allow some hunting. Plum Creek still owns a lot of land in Montana just not much in my neighborhood. I am definitely a fan of Montana TNC (each state chapter seems a little different and I only have exposure to MT TNC).
 
The one by me you can't even look for sheds or pick wild flowers or put out trail cameras much less hunt. Its about two square miles.
 
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cnggack said:
The one by me you can't even look for sheds or pick wild flowers or put out trail cameras much less hunt. Its about two square miles.
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Looking at there mission statement, it isn't hard more me to understand that some areas are open to hunting and many aren't:

The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.
 
There is some in north central SD I thought looked very good for prairie grouse. Called about it & was told it was ALL no hunting .
 
Nasty-G said:
There is some in north central SD I thought looked very good for prairie grouse. Called about it & was told it was ALL no hunting .
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Pretty sure you are talking about Ordway Prairie in McPherson county. They just signed up 800 acres into the walk-in area program last year. Hopefully more to come.
 
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