90 years of citizen wildlife conservation

In 1936, Professor Ed Binnewies attended the first organizational meeting of a group of Brookings sportsmen interested in conservation.

He wrote “At this, the first meeting of sportsmen interested in conservation problems within Brookings County and for the purpose of forming an organization given to that work…” Binnewies became a charter member of the newly incorporated Brookings County Conservation League.

For 90 years, the Conservation League and its successor, the Brookings Wildlife Federation, have kept wildlife conservation in the news in Brookings County. The history includes many major successes including establishing a gun club, running a conservation park, purchasing land for public hunting, giving birth to the pheasant restoration group, and hosting the first Trout Extravaganza.

The local members have extended their influence statewide and even nationally. The BWF is an affiliate of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation. Local members have served as officers at both levels.

Soon after the Conservation League was formed, Elmer Sexauer gave the League about eight acres of land where the Big Sioux River crosses Rt 77 south of town. The area was named Conservation Park. The nearby Lake Campbell Sportsmen’s Club asked the Department of Transportation to improve access to the new Park, but the DOT declined because of “the coming of the “super highway.” Activities at the Park have come and gone through the years as it serves as an outdoor classroom.

Long-time Brookings resident Dave Mitchell wrote about the early years saying “I grew up with the SDWF and the BCCL. My father, E. R. “Mitch” Mitchell was very involved with the local club…our vacations often were scheduled with the state conventions.”

Dave recalled a vibrant and active club in the 1950s that installed boat ramps in Lake Poinsett (then undeveloped, state-owned land). At the outlet of Lake Campbell, they installed a fish wheel to stop upstream migrating carp. When Lake Goldsmith went dry, the club worked with the National Guard and Boy Scouts to make an island in the lake bed.

In the late 1950s the League opened a small trap range near the current airport. Participation in trap shooting grew to the point that land was purchased east of town for a larger trap range and club house. Trap shooting slowly became the focus of the club, which became the Brookings Gun Club.

The Club’s conservation focus was reawakened by Mitchell and Wildlife Professor Dr Ray Linder. The voice for conservation in Brookings got a boost by a merger of town and gown interests. Here’s the story of today’s Brookings Wildlife Federation.

Linder and other Wildlife Professors, e.g., Alen Wentz and Lester Flake, were holding student discussions called “brown bag lunches” on campus. Mitchell’s gun club members were holding evening meetings at their new club house. Linder and Mitchell decided to join efforts.

They approached Tom and Gwen Yseth, owners of a popular downtown restaurant called the Ram Pub, about hosting monthly meetings for outdoor enthusiasts.

Tom’s wife, Gwen, was a wildlife advocate, and member and avid supporter of the National Wildlife Federation. Tom and Gwen backed the idea of “info-lunches” that would be held monthly at noon in the Sioux River Yacht Club, which was upstairs above their restaurant.

In March 1985 the downtown group was calling themselves the “Club” in post cards that Tom sent out announcing luncheons and speakers.

An invited speaker, named Roger Pries of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, suggested that the locals get organized and join the State-wide Federation. The Brookings Wildlife Federation was born.

The first officers were Mark Kelsey, Barry Keal, Dave Dotson, Lee Kratchovil, Spencer Vaa, and Lucinda Zilverberg.

Lucinda, an artist, designed a decal that is still used. The 36 charter members paid $5 dues.

One of the first big success stories of the new group was
increasing pheasant numbers through habitat improvement. At the
time, the pheasant population was low. The State’s travel bureau slogan was “a pheasant for everyone” but locals joked “it’s more like “a pheasant for every other one.”

Yseth recalls: “When we announced an organization meeting for pheasants, people came out of the woodwork…we tried to organize the group at a banquet, but it was too huge…then the Pheasants Forever folks said they would help, but they wanted money.”

Bob Wakeman, a charter BWF member said “we’ll do our own thing and keep the money,” and the local pheasant restoration group was formed. Later they did join the national organization. The Brookings County Pheasants Forever Chapter just held their 41st annual banquet with over 700 attendees and 240 sponsors.

In 1995, the BWF started another event that would take off like gang-busters. It was known as the Trout Extravaganza. Ginger Scalet, was the first woman president of the BWF when Matt Pieck, a Board Member suggested a kid’s fishing weekend at Indian Hills Pond.

The idea was to teach kids about fishing — the equipment, techniques and how to care for the catch.

Volunteers were assigned to one of three duties, 1) fishing equipment maintenance (much needed), 2) pond-side helper (much needed), and 3) fish cleaners, who also passed out cooking recipes. The Game, Fish and Parks Department (GFP) stocked 2,000 rainbow trout and about 1,000 kids showed up!

Ginger wrote in the Brookings Register, “Ken Quirk tried to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most fish cleaned in a two-day period while carrying on a running commentary with each young angler.”

This year, the event in May will be organized by the Outdoor Adventure Center with help from the BWF and Optimist Club. More about the Trout Extravaganza in a future article.

Another notable BWF program is securing public lands for wildlife conservation and hunting. Working with GFP, they have helped develop GPAs (Game Production Areas) that memorialize former members.

Examples are the Bob Wakeman GPA near Lake Campbell, the Barry Keal GPA and the Carolyn Errington Memorial near Oakwood Lakes, the Gene Mehagen GPA just north of Brookings, and the Bob Roe GPA in Beadle County.

Today, the BWF supplies conservation information and activities to the Brookings community. Through the years, their Infolunches have moved from the Ram Pub, to HyVee, to the Mission Coffee House, and now appropriately to the Outdoor Adventure Center.

The Infolunches are an opportunity for members to talk about their outdoor adventures, and for SDSU students and faculty to present the results of their research in layman’s language.

The BWF funds a partial scholarship for an undergraduate wildlife student.

Bob Kurtz, current BWF President sums up the group as “fifty percent hook and bullets and fifty percent conservation and ecology…our Infolunch talk might be a fishing trip to Alaska or a summary of new wildlife research.”

The Federation meets twice annually with Game, Fish and Parks biologists, and every January with District 7 Legislators.

The biologists talk about the status of fish and game populations; the Legislators listen to the Federation’s thoughts on conservation legislation.

The BWF is one of 15 local affiliates of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, a 3,000- member statewide organization founded in 1945.

A controversial deal among national politicians regarding South Dakota’s ducks and Missouri River dams and nonresident hunters instigated the State Federation’s formation — but that’s another story.

The parent society is the National Wildlife Federation, which is the oldest (1936) and largest conservation organization in the US.

Much of their attention is on conservation policy at the national level. Their “gardening for wildlife” program has brought wildlife habitat into cities and towns. For example, the property of St Paul’s Episcopal Church on 6th Street is Certified Urban Wildlife Habitat.

There are other impactful citizen groups in Brookings that support specific game species e.g., Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, Whitetails Unlimited.

But the Brookings Wildlife Federation has the longest historical roots and is “ecumenical” in that it focuses on outdoors enthusiasts, habitat conservation, and all wildlife species.