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Speaker 1: From mediators World News headquarters.

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Speaker 2: In Bozeman, Montana.

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Speaker 1: This is Col's We Can Review with Ryan cal Callahan.

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Speaker 2: Now here's Cal.

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Speaker 3: All right, everybody for this week's special drop on Cal's

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Speaker 3: week in Review. Be like Col's multi week in Review.

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Speaker 3: There's so much happening in the world of conservation all

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Speaker 3: the time, you better just get used to it, which

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Speaker 3: is not the same as being complacent, but just used

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Speaker 3: to the fact that there is so much happening that

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Speaker 3: affects you. If you like to go outside, breathe clean air,

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Speaker 3: drink clean water, angle hunt, that you just got to

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Speaker 3: be paying attention all the time, all the time, or

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Speaker 3: just paying attention to this podcast and to that point

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Speaker 3: with me as per usual as is co producer of

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Speaker 3: Col's Weekend Review editor on the Meat Eater website, Jordan Sillers.

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Speaker 3: You can find the written word from Jordan often on

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Speaker 3: some hit titles across the mid Meat Eater universe, everything

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Speaker 3: ranging from things that get people really fired up as

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Speaker 3: to like go what is the better caliber or uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, the the nasty side of the illegal hunting

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Speaker 3: world that we call poaching.

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Speaker 1: Jordan, how's it going good? Going great? Good to be

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Speaker 1: here excited to talk about coyotes with these fellas.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and these fellas.

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Speaker 4: Uh.

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Speaker 3: One you will remember uh Steve Windham from Michigan United

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Speaker 3: Conservation Clubs and this episode, h Steve is joined by

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Speaker 3: Justin Toma, who fun fact if you're always looking for

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Speaker 3: those name associations, like I am, his great grandpa was

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Speaker 3: brothers with Marissa Tom's great grandpa. So that's a that's

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Speaker 3: a fun family reunion fact for the Tomes there. What

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Speaker 3: are the odds that Marissa is going to weigh in

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Speaker 3: on the change in coyote or predator hunting seasons in Michigan?

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Speaker 2: Justin, my guess, is exceptionally low.

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Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: We'll see where you run it up up the flagpole.

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Speaker 2: I like it.

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Speaker 3: So, uh Steve, you want to set the stage here

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Speaker 3: on on what we're going to talk about today?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks, cal So recently and we'll dive into kind

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Speaker 5: of the preamble and what happened and how this all

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Speaker 5: got to be and why we feel it's an important

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Speaker 5: issue to bring some light to. But recently the Michigan

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Speaker 5: Natural Resources Commission or the NRC, pasted a wildlife conservation

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Speaker 5: order to close the year round coyote hunting season here

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Speaker 5: in Michigan from April fifteenth to July fifteenth, and we

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Speaker 5: can dive in a little bit more around how and

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Speaker 5: why that happened, but we know that here in Michigan

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Speaker 5: they're the number one predator of our faunds. They decimate

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Speaker 5: our ground nesting birds, and they need to be controlled

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Speaker 5: in their population needs to be managed. And so we

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Speaker 5: feel that this is the wrong decision to make and

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Speaker 5: that it was strictly driven by social pressure and there

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Speaker 5: is no science that backs this up. And the NRC,

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Speaker 5: which NUCC helped give them their power back in nineteen

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Speaker 5: ninety six, where we wanted to insulate the management of

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Speaker 5: our natural resources from the political whims in our state capitol,

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Speaker 5: and so we passed a initiative that had over two

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Speaker 5: thirds of Michiganders believed that it is okay and right

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Speaker 5: to take out that political side of things when we're

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Speaker 5: managing natural resources. So in nineteen ninety six, the NRC

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Speaker 5: was given the authority to name and manage game species

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Speaker 5: method of take. And they are a partisaner bipartisan body

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Speaker 5: of appointed appointed citizens who make these decisions, and they

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Speaker 5: are there really to, you know, help us make sure

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Speaker 5: that Michigan outdoors men and women have ample opportunity and

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Speaker 5: that they manage to the best available science, and that

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Speaker 5: if and when we're able to, we expand opportunities for

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Speaker 5: Michigan hunters, anglers and trappers to get outdoors and enjoy

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Speaker 5: our outdoor heritage.

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Speaker 3: Gotcha. So what's happening is there's a regulation change that's

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Speaker 3: in effect or it's currently proposed to change the season

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Speaker 3: or means of take for kyote.

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Speaker 1: Correct.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the order actually passed last week.

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Speaker 4: We could go today actually, and so it'll go into

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Speaker 4: effect on April fifteenth, when the season we'll close down

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Speaker 4: for the first time in eight years. The Commission voted

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Speaker 4: four to two in favor of the closure, despite hours

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Speaker 4: of public testimony from conservation groups, including mucc that lacking

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Speaker 4: any significant biological justification, the season should remain open.

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Speaker 2: The only people speaking in favor of the closure. We're

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Speaker 2: speaking to.

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Speaker 4: Public perception, social sciences, public attitudes towards coyotes. But no

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Speaker 4: science was presented to support the closure. No social science

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Speaker 4: was even presented to support these claims that the general

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Speaker 4: public has some interest in protecting coyotes. And actually mucc

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Speaker 4: I went with about six hundred pages of peer reviewed

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Speaker 4: literature laying out the case that springtime was the best

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Speaker 4: time to manage coyote populations and to limit predation on

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Speaker 4: game species and livestock alike.

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Speaker 3: And so the reasoning for this didn't include decline coyote populations,

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Speaker 3: unsustainable harvest practices, the fact that if you're looking for

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Speaker 3: what most people use in the world of coyotes, the pelt,

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Speaker 3: the pelt quality is low in the spring. None of

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Speaker 3: that was used as justifiable reasoning to change the regulations.

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Speaker 4: Correct and actually have the memo for the order here

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Speaker 4: in front of me, and what it says is that

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Speaker 4: there's a concern about social perception and future loss of

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Speaker 4: management tools if the open season allows coyotes to be

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Speaker 4: taken where they're dependent young present. So from the genesis

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Speaker 4: of this change, it was never about any biological justification whatsoever.

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Speaker 5: And while we were there too giving testimony and dozens

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Speaker 5: and dozens of outdoors enthusiasts conservation groups, as Justin said,

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Speaker 5: we're testifying in opposition of this closure. You had your

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Speaker 5: typical animal rights organizations. They're justifying in favor of the

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Speaker 5: closure using the typicult tactics of emotion based decision making,

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Speaker 5: and some of these things that don't take into account

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Speaker 5: the actual biological management of the species and not having

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Speaker 5: them have any other detrimental effect on some of the

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Speaker 5: other game species that we like to chase here in

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Speaker 5: Michigan as well.

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Speaker 3: So what I guess what's the m u c c's

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Speaker 3: position on this situation. You know, I can see how

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Speaker 3: if the long season hasn't had a population level effect

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Speaker 3: on the coyotes, that could certainly be used as justification

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Speaker 3: to make season alterations for you know, other considerations. But

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Speaker 3: what what's the muc c's position here.

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Speaker 4: So our position is set by a grassroots policy process,

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Speaker 4: so it's set by our membership, and our membership has

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Speaker 4: now twice voted in favor of a year round coyote

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Speaker 4: hunt lacking any biological justification. And I serve on a

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Speaker 4: number of other stakeholder user groups where we vote on

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Speaker 4: regulations even before they get to the Commission, And the

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Speaker 4: bare form is a good example. The Commission, sorry, excuse me,

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Speaker 4: the department will come to these stakeholder user groups lay

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Speaker 4: out a clear biological need to in some units restrict

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Speaker 4: the number of bear tags that are available, and when

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Speaker 4: the department does that. We have no issue whatsoever vote

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Speaker 4: supporting the Department in those decisions. So when there's a

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Speaker 4: clear justification, we absolutely support them as conservationists. In this case,

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Speaker 4: you're right that it will not have a population level impact.

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Speaker 4: We cannot kill enough coyotes to harm them on a

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Speaker 4: full landscape level. But the Department, in the justification for

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Speaker 4: expanding the season in twenty sixteen said part of our

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Speaker 4: argument the Commission last week was that what you can

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Speaker 4: expect is spring is a good time to control populations,

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Speaker 4: limit depredations, limit bond predations during that spring season. So yes,

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Speaker 4: landscape wise, it is almost irrelevant on the total scale

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Speaker 4: of coyote populations, but locally or regionally, you can have

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Speaker 4: some impacts on keeping those coyote populations in check during

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Speaker 4: the spring.

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Speaker 5: And it's important to point out too that the Department

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Speaker 5: of Natural Resources, the Michigan DNR, was neutral on this

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Speaker 5: issue this time around, but as just in reference, back

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Speaker 5: in twenty sixteen, the NRC approved the movement to that

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Speaker 5: year round season. The DNR supported that full year round season.

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Speaker 5: And so now that we are nine years later, and

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Speaker 5: now that some of these social perceptions and some of

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Speaker 5: the people on the NRC have been appointed and reappointed,

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Speaker 5: and we're starting to see some of this creep into

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Speaker 5: our natural resources and the management of that coming from

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Speaker 5: people who aren't pro hunting or actually users of these

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Speaker 5: of these resources. They might be non hunters or have

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Speaker 5: a perception of anti hunting on some cases, but it's

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Speaker 5: to us if there's not been a population level of

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Speaker 5: fact since twenty sixteen when we open this season, there

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Speaker 5: seems to be no reason to then now limit that opportunity,

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Speaker 5: keep hunters out of the field, not allow people to

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Speaker 5: harvest these animals when they are able to have the

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Speaker 5: biggest effect locally or regionally on certain populations. We don't

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Speaker 5: see the reason or justification to close the season at all.

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Speaker 4: I'll take it a step further too, because for us

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Speaker 4: it's kind of a cornerstone issue. We were founded in

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Speaker 4: nineteen thirty seven on the belief that game management and

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Speaker 4: biological management decisions should be made insulated from political pressures

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Speaker 4: and social pressures to the greatest extent possible. Michigan is

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Speaker 4: a referendum state, so we try and keep a lot

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Speaker 4: of our work out of the legislature so that it

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Speaker 4: cannot be then sent to a ballot and have ballot

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Speaker 4: box biology practice. That's how we lost our wolf hunt.

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Speaker 4: So for us, it's just a cornerstone issue too. We

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Speaker 4: have to insist that these decisions are based in some

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Speaker 4: science because we see what's happening in other states around

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Speaker 4: the country and we don't want to have that happen

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Speaker 4: to Michigan. We're afraid that this decision is going to

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Speaker 4: make it harder for game managers to exercise lethal control

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Speaker 4: in the future.

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Speaker 5: And we have some other great opportunities that have been

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Speaker 5: taking place where we're actually expanding our bobcat hunting in

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Speaker 5: some parts of the state, where we're allowing for other

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Speaker 5: opportunities and increased opportunities for people to get out there

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Speaker 5: and enjoy their outdoor heritage, enjoy their natural resources.

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Speaker 1: We just don't see that this is how you go

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Speaker 1: about this with the.

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Speaker 5: Closure, and that the NRC is charged with a very

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Speaker 5: very important task and they've done some great work in

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Speaker 5: the past to allow more opportunity, you know, more people

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Speaker 5: coming to the state to enjoy our natural resources. But

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Speaker 5: this one, to us is something that they're kind of

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Speaker 5: going backwards in a sense and not doing what they're

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Speaker 5: legally bound to do by managing through the best available science.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's not necessarily about the coyote. The coyote

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Speaker 3: is just the case kind of dujure right.

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Speaker 2: Now, correct.

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Speaker 4: I would know there are probably other issues I would

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Speaker 4: choose to have this large principle debate over, but coyotes

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Speaker 4: is the one that we are given at the time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So basically what you're saying is you don't want

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Speaker 3: to start set a precedent with this means of changing regulations,

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Speaker 3: meaning that because regulations have been changed in this instance

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Speaker 3: based off of conjecture, really assumption and conjecture, no hard science.

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Speaker 3: You don't want this case to be something people can

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Speaker 3: point to and say, Okay, well we don't really need

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Speaker 3: a reason. We just need to make a compelling emotional

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Speaker 3: argument in order to change the next regulation, or the

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Speaker 3: next season setting, or the next bag lemma.

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Speaker 4: Exactly, these these perceived social pressures, and again I say

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Speaker 4: perceived because there was no evidence provided that there is

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Speaker 4: even social concern about this. You just it can't be

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Speaker 4: allowed to infiltrate our decision making process. And I point

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Speaker 4: to you know, anti hunters find every common method of

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Speaker 4: bear hunting objectionable, but without proper bear management. You know,

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Speaker 4: we could have nuisance complaints running wild across the state

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Speaker 4: and could be very harmful to both bear and prey populations.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, I couldn't have set it better myself. This this,

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Speaker 4: this is the slippery slope argument, right, This could be

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Speaker 4: the first thing that sets us over the edge, and

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Speaker 4: we don't want to end up like some of those

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Speaker 4: other states that are losing some of their opportunity simply

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Speaker 4: because of again perceived social pressures.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's interesting too because it's kind of like, well,

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Speaker 3: where's the agriculture lobby here, because you know, we know

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Speaker 3: that you you know, dairy farmers, your ranchers out there

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Speaker 3: taking pot shots at coyotes during the calving season, during

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Speaker 3: the spring season. They make those individuals feel better because

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Speaker 3: they can make a direct action against a real or

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Speaker 3: perceived threat, but they're not having a population level impact

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Speaker 3: on those coyote populations.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's important to point out too that the order

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Speaker 6: does still allow that private property owners can still harvest,

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Speaker 6: you know, animals that are doing are about to do

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Speaker 6: damage to livestock or crops and things like that.

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Speaker 5: But again, that goes back to how that process here

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Speaker 5: in Michigan plays out to where the individual conservation officer

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Speaker 5: that shows up at that scene is the one who

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Speaker 5: makes that decision. It's very muddied around how and who approves,

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Speaker 5: you know, is this animal actually doing or about to

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Speaker 5: do harm? So there you know this, I don't think

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Speaker 5: there's ever been a case of this, but if at

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Speaker 5: that individual conservation officer just didn't want to give that

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Speaker 5: landowner the permission to do that, they could then be

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Speaker 5: cited and deemed a poacher because they're taking a game,

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Speaker 5: a species.

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Speaker 1: Out of season.

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Speaker 5: So again, we want to make sure that this isn't

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Speaker 5: going down a rabbit hole where you know, landowners aren't

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Speaker 5: able to manage based on individual, you know, assertations of

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Speaker 5: different individual situations, and again that you know, we're not

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Speaker 5: having any population level effect, but still allowing for ample

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Speaker 5: opportunity out in the field.

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Speaker 4: There's a couple more layers to nuisance control here in

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Speaker 4: Michigan too, one the biggest of which is that it

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Speaker 4: exists at the sole discretion of the director of the DNR.

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Speaker 4: We actually have pretty great DNR director here right now.

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Speaker 4: He's new, but he's he's doing a great job by

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Speaker 4: all accounts, at least from our stakeholder perspective, but we

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Speaker 4: don't know who his successor will be or the one

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Speaker 4: after that, and with the stroke of a pen, that

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Speaker 4: nuisance control program could vanish. And that goes back to

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Speaker 4: MUCC desiring to keep our game management decisions insulated from

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Speaker 4: political pressures.

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Speaker 2: The DNR is an appointee of the governor.

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Speaker 4: Beyond that, we also made sure the Commission Undertood that

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Speaker 4: coyotes don't use on X. They don't know if they're

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Speaker 4: on public or private land. They may then on private

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Speaker 4: or on public excuse me, and go on too private

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Speaker 4: and pray on livestock, and then, like Steve said, the

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Speaker 4: other thing is it's very much at the discretion of

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Speaker 4: the responding conservation officer because what constitutes damage or present

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Speaker 4: where they can emately do damage is not black or white.

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Speaker 4: It is still very many shades of gray. So it

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Speaker 4: does not provide sufficient tools for private land hunters private

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Speaker 4: land land managers to control these populations.

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Speaker 3: When managing a public resource.

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Speaker 2: Public wildlife.

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Speaker 3: It always rubs me the wrong way when a state

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Speaker 3: comes out and says any form of hunting is legal

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Speaker 3: on private property and not legal on public ground, Like,

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Speaker 3: I really don't care what it is no.

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Speaker 4: That was kind of my last point that I made

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Speaker 4: to the Commission about that nuisance control structures. It creates

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Speaker 4: a pay to play system. Those that are not fortunate

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Speaker 4: enough to own private land no longer I know.

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Speaker 2: They lose a quarter of their season.

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Speaker 4: That's what it comes down to. They lose a quarter

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Speaker 4: of their season because they are not fortunate enough to

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Speaker 4: own private land or have access to private land. So

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Speaker 4: there's definitely an equity issue there as well. On top

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Speaker 4: of just the principles of game management, there's a very

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Speaker 4: real equity issue at play as well.

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Speaker 5: And it's important to remember too that you know, justin

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Speaker 5: alluded to it that our policy setting process or our

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Speaker 5: legislative agenda, the things that MUCC takes the fight up

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Speaker 5: for is set by our members. So as we represent

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Speaker 5: forty thousand hunters, anglers, trappers, recreational shooters, we have over

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Speaker 5: two hundred affiliated conservation groups around the state. We were

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Speaker 5: in Sussaint Marie, Michigan a couple of weeks ago prior

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Speaker 5: to this decision taking place at the NRC, and our

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Speaker 5: membership unanimously voted to reaffirm our support of a year

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Speaker 5: round hunting season on coyotes, because as Justin said, I'm

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Speaker 5: a public land turkey hunter, and if we can't manage

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Speaker 5: the species, it's going to get harder and harder. And

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Speaker 5: we're already seeing turkey populations starting to decline here in Michigan.

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Speaker 5: And so if we can't manage one of their top

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Speaker 5: predators that they're taking turkey eggs and ground icing birds, grouse,

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Speaker 5: would cock all these things for those public land hunters,

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Speaker 5: it's going to have a detrimenterial effect on other opportunities

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Speaker 5: as well. If we can't keep this species under control.

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Speaker 4: As the full time policy guy in lobbyist prem ucc

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Speaker 4: it puts a lot of weight behind me when I

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Speaker 4: can go to our state capital or to our commission

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Speaker 4: and talk about you know, the universal or the universal

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Speaker 4: support I have on this issue in particular, you know,

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Speaker 4: supporting our position. So it lends a lot of weight

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Speaker 4: when when the rank and file hunter, trapper angler of

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Speaker 4: Michigan supports what we're working on.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about that and support on something like

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Speaker 3: very specific to this, like even if you were to

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Speaker 3: extract the coyote out of it and and make a

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Speaker 3: stance on the fact that regulation for lawful legal hunting

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Speaker 3: was changed without any real basis, how would how would

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Speaker 3: you do that? How would m U see see weigh

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Speaker 3: in on that? And how would the constituents of m

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Speaker 3: U CEE CEE or you know, the the hunting public

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Speaker 3: there in Michigan weigh in on this.

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Speaker 4: So we communicate to our members regularly about our policy work.

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Speaker 4: They are we can do a biweekly newsletter so they

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Speaker 4: are all made available of these issues, oftentimes weeks or

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Speaker 4: months in advance. Generally, we would encourage them to reach

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Speaker 4: out to their state legislator or a commissioner. In this case,

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Speaker 4: all of the commissioners let their voice be known. But

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Speaker 4: you know, some people don't don't want to necessarily get

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Speaker 4: personally involved in the way they get involved is through

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Speaker 4: conservation organizations like m UCC And so they trust in

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Speaker 4: us to make sure that we are representing their position

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Speaker 4: adequately to the decision makers and just trust trust the

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Speaker 4: work that we're doing on.

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Speaker 2: A day and day out basis.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and we have an action center that alerts and

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Speaker 5: directs all of our membership to ways that they can

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Speaker 5: use their voices. Justin said, whether that's personally calling one

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Speaker 5: of the commission members to give them their opinion or

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Speaker 5: their stance on this, sending email, so legislators, representative Senate members,

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Speaker 5: even reaching out to the DNR directly and sending dropping

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Speaker 5: something in the director's inbox to be able to make

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Speaker 5: your voice heard and as just instead, you know, not

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Speaker 5: everyone's going to take that action. So it's great that

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Speaker 5: NUCC can carry the voice of those forty thousand plus members.

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Speaker 5: And you know, as these things creep up, it just

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Speaker 5: speaks to the necessity of an organization like NUCC and

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Speaker 5: for others to join us, to lend our voice, to

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Speaker 5: lend their voice, to lend you their membership to us,

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Speaker 5: just because if you know, right now we have forty

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Speaker 5: thousand members, if we had one hundred and fifty thousand members,

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Speaker 5: two hundred thousand members, our voice only gets louder and louder.

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Speaker 5: And that is what the state spoke up about in

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Speaker 5: you know, nineteen ninety six when we helped the proposal

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Speaker 5: g pasted and gave the NRC this authority. That was

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Speaker 5: because we rallied everyone in you know, in the state

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Speaker 5: to educate them, to help them understand the benefits of

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Speaker 5: something like this. And now we need those voices again,

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Speaker 5: We need those members to get back on board, sign

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Speaker 5: up to get a membership, use your voice to send emails,

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Speaker 5: make phone calls. But you know, if you're not looking

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Speaker 5: to make that phone call yourself, joint nuc SEE is

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Speaker 5: the very best way to ensure that these decisions continue

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Speaker 5: to be based in sound science and not in social pressure.

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Speaker 3: Sound science not in social pressure. You know that that's

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Speaker 3: tough to do, even on the hunting side, right because

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Speaker 3: we all know that we're passionate about these issues. What

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Speaker 3: what would be your kind of one? Two, Three Reminders

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Speaker 3: to people who want to write in make a phone

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Speaker 3: call on their own on issues like this, what are

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Speaker 3: the guidelines they need to stick to.

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Speaker 2: The first and foremost is always be polite and respectful.

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Speaker 4: The quickest way to get your message ignored will be

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Speaker 4: to ignore that rule. But what I will tell people

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Speaker 4: is consistency is key to particularly with your legislators. The

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Speaker 4: commission being a small body, they don't get nearly as

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Speaker 4: much constituent services. And actually there's a good chance if

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Speaker 4: you call the commissioners you could probably get them on

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Speaker 4: the phone.

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Speaker 2: If you want to talk to your.

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Speaker 4: Legislator about something, consistency, you know it may take a

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Speaker 4: couple of months.

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Speaker 2: You may call in.

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Speaker 4: Or write a letter or an email, and it may

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Speaker 4: only hit the front desk for a while, but eventually

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Speaker 4: they're going to realize that you're, you know, a reasonable,

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Speaker 4: reasonable guy or gal, and eventually you're going to call

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Speaker 4: their office one day.

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Speaker 2: And the legislator's going to pick up the phone.

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Speaker 4: So kind of have your ducks in a row, know

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Speaker 4: what you want to say, Be respectful of their time,

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Speaker 4: be polite, come across as the same human being, and

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Speaker 4: you're going to get You're going to get the audience

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Speaker 4: that you seek with these people, and they will listen

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Speaker 4: and take it under advisement.

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Speaker 2: So those are the rules I would.

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Speaker 4: Say when communicating with any decision maker, Play consistent, concise,

403
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Speaker 4: and you will you can make a difference and share.

404
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Speaker 2: Share what it means to you.

405
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Speaker 1: Share the stories you've had growing up.

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Speaker 5: In the woods, the story of you know, possibly lose

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Speaker 5: a pet or a livestock to an issue like this,

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Speaker 5: specifically to the coyote topic. But talk about what it

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Speaker 5: means to be an outdoors man or woman in Michigan

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Speaker 5: and how amazing these.

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Speaker 1: Natural resources are.

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Speaker 5: The success stories we've had in Michigan to bring back

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Speaker 5: turkey populations to expand bobcan't hunting. You know, we had

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Speaker 5: a resolution pass that we'd like the DN artists start

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Speaker 5: to explore a moose hunt in the Upper Peninsula in

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Speaker 5: some places of the States. So we want to be

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Speaker 5: respectful and polite, as Justin said, but we want them

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Speaker 5: to understand the value.

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Speaker 1: This holds, the heritage that this has.

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Speaker 5: And the positive impacts it makes in our lives as hunters, anglers,

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Speaker 5: and trappers. That these are things that we put immense

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Speaker 5: value on and a lot of these species are here

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Speaker 5: because of us in the outdoor community that put value

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Speaker 5: on these species, that put value in the way of

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Speaker 5: life that we have. And so sharing these stories, sharing

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Speaker 5: the story with your child, sharing the story of you

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00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,639
Speaker 5: as a child, just sharing the relief it gives you

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00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 5: for your mental health or your physical fitness, or whatever

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Speaker 5: it might be. But stay consistent and you know, do

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Speaker 5: some research. Nu see see is a wealth of knowledge

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Speaker 5: for things that we've been able to dig up and

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Speaker 5: talk about as justice that he came to the NRC

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Speaker 5: with over six hundred pages of peer reviewed studies that

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Speaker 5: showed that the sound science is that this season needs

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Speaker 5: to stay open so that we can manage this predator

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Speaker 5: and just make sure that you're cordial, you're polite, and

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00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 5: you're genuine. You know, we are always looking for more

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Speaker 5: people to use on their voice. We are looking for

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Speaker 5: people to join our conservation policy Board. So anyway anyone

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Speaker 5: wants to get involved. Again, it's not scary. They are

441
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:34,360
Speaker 5: people just like us.

442
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:34,639
Speaker 6: You know.

443
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 5: I got to sit with one of the representatives out

444
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 5: of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, and he's a dairy

445
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 5: farmer and.

446
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 1: He had to run back home and tend to his

447
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: cows after we got done at a banquet one night.

448
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 5: But these are really just people as well, and they

449
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,120
Speaker 5: want to hear from you. They're there to represent you.

450
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,919
Speaker 5: They are there to carry your voice, and NUCEC is

451
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 5: going to carry it as well. So just continue to

452
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,640
Speaker 5: reach out and make sure that our way of life

453
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 5: is protected and our hairt is viewed in a positive

454
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 5: way that it really gives back to the overall health

455
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 5: of Michigan's environment.

456
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 3: Well said, well where one more time? Where can folks

457
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:10,879
Speaker 3: find you?

458
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you can visit us at MUCC dot org.

459
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 5: We've got all the social channels as well. Most of

460
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,439
Speaker 5: them are MUCC nineteen thirty seven because of our founding

461
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 5: dates sover eighty seven years now, we've been uniting citizens

462
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,719
Speaker 5: to conserve, protect, and enhance our natural resources and outdoor heritage.

463
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 5: You know, we've got our youth camp which is about

464
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 5: to open up here in the next month or two,

465
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 5: where we've put over sixty thousand young people through our

466
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,160
Speaker 5: camp to help them understand archery and fishing and paddling

467
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 5: and shooting twenty two's. They get hunter safety certified, they're

468
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 5: taught the North American Wildlife model. You know, it's really

469
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,440
Speaker 5: conservation through education. You can go to the website MUCC

470
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 5: dot org and if you're not ready to join yet,

471
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 5: or you know, if you need a little more convincing,

472
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,120
Speaker 5: sign up for our newsletter. We have a free newsletter,

473
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 5: the Conservation Insider. It comes out every two weeks. It's

474
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 5: going to give you a rundown of all the things

475
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,520
Speaker 5: that we're working on. The legislative stuff is highlighted in

476
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 5: there as well. Or you can attend one of our events.

477
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 5: You know, we're coming into event season. We've got some

478
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 5: great events coming up throughout the summer.

479
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 1: We've got two.

480
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 5: Different charity shoots, We've got a golf outing, We've got

481
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,440
Speaker 5: a couple of banquets coming up, so just get involved,

482
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 5: reach out, try and support the mission, and make sure

483
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 5: that your voice is heard in the halls of Lansing

484
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 5: and throughout the rest of the states so that we

485
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 5: can continue to protect our natural resources NUTO heritage.

486
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: This has caused a pretty big rift in the hunting

487
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: community here in Michigan.

488
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 5: There's some different groups that actually were in support of this,

489
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 5: and we don't understand why, but you know, it might

490
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 5: be a good thing to touch on how NCC can

491
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 5: unite all of us and that this has to be

492
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 5: a hunting, fishing, trapping wide thing that we can't get

493
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,440
Speaker 5: into the weeds and let these issues divide us, because

494
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,160
Speaker 5: that's just opening the door for more of the animal

495
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 5: rights and the anti hunters to come in and show

496
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 5: that we're weakened as sportsmen and women here in Michigan.

497
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 2: Ama had been in a m at Dan treasure