November 15
Chad Johnson to lead McGraw’s habitat work

Chad Johnson has been named Farm and Habitat Manager of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. In this new role, Chad will be responsible for the planting and habitat work that make our property second to none in the outdoor recreation industry.

This is an important step for the Foundation. Under the leadership of Bill Schroeder and Roy Raupp, working in conjunction with Zach Lowe, our team has grown immeasurably in its ability to carry out work that has improved our property significantly. We have more and better habitat, and members are benefiting from improved hunting opportunities and landscapes, such as the rejuvenated areas around Pond Cottage.

Chad has been an important member of the team during this growth, and has demonstrated interest, passion and a desire to help us continue to improve. Under his leadership, the Foundation will become more flexible, efficient and self-sufficient in addressing our needs and those of our members. 

Chad also will continue as part of the McGraw guide team.

We are rapidly positioning ourselves for an even brighter future. Please join me in congratulating Chad on this well-deserved promotion.

-         Kerry Luft, executive vice president
Lake Erie has
a massive
algae problem
 By Tony Briscoe/Chicago Tribune
Photo by Stuart Rankin/flickr
Every year, an explosion of microscopic life reigns over western Lake Erie, forming a green slick of algae and bacteria so massive and vibrant that it can be seen from space.

The harmful algae bloom slimes fishing boats, paints beaches in toxins and engulfs water intake cribs. In 2014, it left 400,000 people without drinking water for three days after toxins infiltrated Toledo’s water system. Then-Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to distribute bottled water in an incident that served notice that drinking water from Lake Erie was in peril.

This year, the bloom was among the most severe and toxic since scientists began keeping track in the early 2000s. At its peak, it coated around 620 square miles of Lake Erie’s surface waters, an area more than twice the size of Chicago, according to satellite imagery. The sheer weight of blue-green bacteria making up the bloom — forecast to be around 46,000 metric tons — was expected to be a new record.

Why eastern mallards need some help
By T. Edward Nickens/Garden & Gun
Photo by Brian Scott/flickr
As duck hunters in the Atlantic Flyway check off their to-do lists for the season, they might want to add a visit to an optometrist. For the 2019-2020 waterfowl season—opening soon, if it’s not already open in your home swamp—the daily mallard bag limit has been cut in half, down from four mallards to two (out of a daily duck limit of six), with only one hen mallard allowed per day. Identifying ducks over the decoys has taken on new importance.

The reason for the cut: While mid-continent populations of mallards are at near-all-time highs, Atlantic Flyway mallards aren’t faring nearly as well. More than 60 percent of the mallards taken in the East and Southeast are born in the northeastern United States, and another quarter come from eastern Canada. Overall, that eastern mallard population has declined by 20 percent since 1998, driven by a staggering 38 percent drop in the northeastern United States breeding population. Facing those numbers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had no choice but to act. 

Regulations may hold back indoor farming
By Laura Reiley/The Washington Post
Photo by proteinbiochemist/flickr
Food and agriculture innovation have sucked up remarkable amounts of investor capital in recent years and could become a $700 billion market by 2030, according to a Union Bank of Switzerland  report .

Millions are being invested globally in indoor urban farms because of their promise to produce more food with less impact, with two dozen large-scale projects launching in Dubai, Israel, the Netherlands and other countries.

Still, the next big thing may be stymied in the United States by high start-up costs, high urban rents and lack of a safety net in a food system that is highly dependent on subsidies and bailouts for a few commodity crops. (An  American Farm Bureau Federation report  last month found that almost 40 percent of conventional farm income in 2019 will be provided by trade bailouts, disaster insurance, the farm bill and insurance indemnities.)

And for indoor urban farms, especially those that rely solely on artificial light, there’s another concern: lightbulbs.

Wildlife crossings save money, and bucks  
By Daniel Rothberg/Nevada Independent
Photo by RS2Photography/flickr
Every year, thousands of mule deer make the southeasterly trek across I-80 in Nevada. For many years and many mule deer, the highway atop their migration corridor posed an existential threat. 

According to the Nevada Department of Wildlife, collisions thinned the deer population by the dozens — if not the hundreds — as they attempted to cross I-80 or U.S. 93, from Wells to the Idaho border. It wasn’t just wildlife getting hurt. The Nevada Department of Transportation estimated that crashes were costing drivers millions. In some cases, they were fatal. 

In the early 2000s, state officials started taking notice.  

By 2006, wildlife and transportation officials began to discuss a longshot fix: animal crossings. At the time, the inconspicuous underpasses and overpasses — designed to blend in with the landscape — were viewed as costly projects that diverted funding from more important areas.

“After some of the first structures were constructed on Highway 93 by the [Nevada] Department of Transportation, we got beat up,” said Tony Wasley, who directs the state’s wildlife agency.

But “as those critics began to see the functionality of those structures,” Wasley said “it was amazing to see the energy and the support from some of those same people that questioned the efficacy and the efficiency of the expenditures associated with those structures.”  


“If the rain spoils our picnic, but saves a farmer's crop, who are we to say it shouldn't rain?”






– Tom Barrett
To read past McGraw Reports click here.