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We were very light in attendance, with our able President also absent because of a birth of a daughter the day before. With President-elect Katie Johnson presiding, Hal Leland was called upon to offer our invocation, sandwiched between reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and The Four Way Test. Everyone was encouraged to sell roses, with a distribution date of November 9th. We learned that Katie delivered Andy & Elmer books to Hillcrest the prior Monday and that delivery to the public schools will be after this Wednesday's meeting. Only two Rotarians stood to offer brags or self-imposed fines, with Hal and Mary Pettit paying scooter bucks and Hal explaining he was to host student guests from M-State for our meeting, but they never showed up. Buzz Lundeen was then called upon to introduce Mike Siems and Tony Rondeau to talk to us about the Fergus Falls Fish and Game Club. Mick did all the talking (at least until this writer had to leave a little early), and he started out by recalling balloon water fights he participated in at Buzz's home at an earlier age. The Fergus Falls Fish & Game Club was formed on March 9, 1920, by seven men and one woman. During its 103 years of existence, it has always been active in sending letters to the legislature and the governor promoting conservation efforts. One of its hands-on projects, commenced in the early 1960's, was to bring giant Canadian geese to the area; the Club constructed and maintained a fenced-in area to keep breeding stock just east of the levy by the graffiti-laden railroad bridge. In 1969 the Club obtained a designation of a single species Canadian goose refuge and that remained in place until the early 1980's. The Club now spearheads a Woody Camp for 13- to 15-year-olds at the Prairie Wetland Learning Center each summer. Over the just completed MEA weekend, it hosted an Advanced Woody Camp, obtaining a special use permit to allow all participants to experience hunting on the Johnson tract next to the Prairie Wetlands. Fergus Fish and Game was also heavily involved with and at the very beginning of the Prairie Wetlands. Mike then talked to us about the land that the Fish and Game Club owns. Mugs Townsend and Les Leitte had formed a Save the Wetlands non-profit years ago and when that organization disbanded in the 1980's it transferred all its assets to the Club. The property holdings on the east side of Otter Tail County were sold and the proceeds were used to buy parcels around Fergus Falls. Hunting is allowed on all the tracts owned by the Club except the One Mile Prairie location (over 150 acres of native prairie) out by Jaeger Furniture off Highway 210, which is very good for walking and letting your pets run. Mike said the Orwell site, with 427 acres, provides excellent pheasant hunting and is good for all habitat you may want to hunt. The Club owns over 1100 acres, consisting of about nine parcels; all the land previously tilled has now been restored. The recent emphasis of the Club has not been so much on acquiring land in its name but working with state and federal agencies for them to acquire land or conservation easements. The Club's website is www.fffgcmn.org and it holds regular monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., usually at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center. |
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