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| Dickinson County Supervisor Paul Johnson held up a conibear trap for the audience to see at the supervisor's meeting on Tuesday. |
It was a full house and an eventful meeting for the Dickinson County Supervisors on Tuesday morning at the Dickinson County Courthouse as discussion of a trapping ban drew in a pack of outdoorsmen and some action was taken on the Lower Gar outlet issue.
Trapping Ban
Supervisor Paul Johnson brought up the issue of Dickinson County's trapping regulations Tuesday, saying he had received a phone call about trapping on the county's land.
Current state regulations allow trapping on the right-of-ways of public roads, with some provisions.
"I am an outdoorsman. I am a hunter, and I'm sympathetic... to a limited extent," said Johnson. "The question is 'What is the legal and responsible thing to do regarding trapping along the trails?' ... I think we need to be cognizant that when the public safety is involved, it trumps the right of trapping in that area."
Representatives of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, area trapping organizations and the Dickinson County Trails Board were in attendance to weigh in on the topic.
"Regulated trapping obviously is good wildlife management," said Ron Andrews, fur biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "Statewide, right of way trapping is very important. It assists with disease control and population control... in terms of raccoons, possums and skunks in particular. The regulations in place currently have been very effective overall."
Opponents of additional regulations pointed out that trapping season runs from early November to late January - a time when foot traffic on the trails is minimal.
Steve Litts, executive director of the Trails Board, didn't push for new regulations.
"The trails try to be good neighbors to everyone," said Litts. "I'm not 'for' new regulations, I just want to know for signage and education."
Litts mentioned that the board will consider additional signage warning trail-goers when trapping season is occurring. The Trails Association always recommends that pets be on a leash on the trails, and owners will want to exercise even more caution during trapping times.
The supervisors took no action on the issue at Tuesday's meeting.
Lower Gar
Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert presented two culvert options for the Lower Gar outlet to the supervisors. He tagged them option 2 (with two new culverts) an option 3 (with three new culverts) of the "compromised high water relief project."
In option 2, two additional 14x4 culverts would be added to the current outlet structures at Lower Gar at six inches above the weir. In option 3, three new 12x5 box culverts would be added at weir elevation, with the removal of two of the current elliptical culverts currently at the outlet. Option 2 is priced at $301,666 and option 3 at $372,765.25.
Eckert pointed out that the best hydraulic proposal would be a bridge. However, even with the complete removal of the road, a flood at 1993 rainfall would still come within 10 inches of the levels of the 1993 flood.
"What we are able do is to reduce the duration of high water," said Eckert.
Supervisor Wayne Northey made a motion to send option 2 on to the Corps of Engineers for review. Mardi Allen made the second, and the vote passed 3-2.
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I can't belive that Ron Andrews is regurgitating the dogma that trapping controls disease.
Trappers (and apparently those who cater to them) often play on the fear of rabies and other diseases by claiming that trapping controls the spread of disease.
However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the World Health Organization, as well as numerous other scientific, public health, and veterinary organizations, no scientific evidence supports this claim. In 1973, the NAS subcommittee on rabies concluded:
"Persistent trapping or poisoning campaigns as a means to rabies control should be abolished. There is no evidence that these costly and politically attractive programs reduce either wildlife reservoirs or rabies incidence. The money can be better spent on research, vaccination, compensation to stockmen for losses, and education and warning systems."
In fact, researchers have discovered that trapping actually increases the spread of disease. By removing mature, immune animals, trappers reduce competition for habitat and make room for newcomers who may not be immune.
In addition, animals infected with rabies do not eat in the latter stages of the disease and thus do not respond to baited traps. Hence, traps set will more often capture healthy animals than infected animals.
So, no trapping is not "obviously is good wildlife management."