BY BOB AND GINNY RIEGE

Wow! 2011 is already here and Saturday morning many of you were making some resolutions. Some of the resolutions that I heard people state is that they were going to spend more time with their families and friends. Some wanted to go camping others wanted to go fishing or hunting with a friend or their son or daughter. One individual told me that their resolution was to take the older neighbor that lived on their street to Canada, this might just be the last time he will every go fishing again.

The resolutions made it evident that scores of people want to spend more and more time outdoors with people they know and love. They have resolved to become better stewards of the land, better teachers of environmental concerns, and scribes of knowledge to ones who are novices in outdoor pursuits.

Some of us made a resolution to do more exercise. As we all grow a little older we need to get up from the table sooner and switch off the TV and get out and enjoy some outside activities.

Resolutions can also include your community and investing in your community is a great way to give back. As successful members of the community, we have a responsibility to help those that are less fortunate and contribute to the common good. Volunteer groups do so much to help our community, but they can’t do it alone. Volunteering can help you to solve your resolutions. For example, you might want to help (volunteer) your services to the Mower County Humane Society. They need people to care for the many dogs and cats at their facility. You might be a mentor for a boy or girl involved in Boy and Girl Scouts or 4-H. Governor Dayton in his inaugural address asked that people volunteer; “I ask every adult Minnesotan, who is physically able, to volunteer a part of one day, every month, at a school, hospital, or social service agency.”

I am sure that the Hormel Nature Center is always looking for a helping hand. With the recent snows of December there are programs with Pheasant Forever and Minnesota Deer Hunters Association taking food to the fields to supplement wildlife diet. We all need to make a resolution to improve our wildlife habitat.

On December 23, 2010 we celebrated the Conservation Reserve Program, a program that has taken 36.4 million acres of land out of production. The land that was enrolled in the CRP program was planted with grass, or trees making some of the best cover for wildlife.

I can remember growing up in the Upper Midwest during the “soil bank” years. This is when I learned the importance of good cover for not only game birds, deer, rabbits, but also the song birds. Then in the 1970s, farmers were encouraged to plant every acre. I noticed that hunting wasn’t as good and there was even talk of closing seasons or curtailing the length of the season. The growth and decline of our wildlife was dramatic in those two decades. Now it would appear that we are going to be heading for another decline as more of the habitat is put back into production. You see, the cover that is destroyed is crucial for the survival of all wildlife. Even some bird enthusiasts have already started to see the decline of songbirds at the feeders this winter.

You might think well, this really doesn’t affect me, but it really does. The reason it does is because it affects the entire food chain. The CRP lands acts as a filter for our water. Instead of the water running off, it allows for water to stand and eventually filter down to our ground water and our aquifer. This enables us to have a readily available supply of water. When the lands are put back into production the water flows through the land and out through tiles to ditches. The water is swept away to our streams and rivers, sometimes taking with it topsoil, and chemical run off from the fields. If the ground isn’t allowed to absorb the water it pushes fertilizers and silt into our rivers. This in turn creates all kinds of problems for our lakes and rivers. Silt destroys the habitat that fish use for spawning and feeding grounds. The fertilizer increases weed growth and algae bloom, turning some of our urban lakes into weed choke smelly bogs. If the chemicals hit an all time high they can cause fish kills, and the destruction of fresh water.

More and more of our CRP lands are being put back into production today and it is an intricate aspect of our environment. Therefore, we need to make a resolution to improve our habitat for wildlife and mankind.

The old cliché, “Resolutions are made to be broken” should not hold true. We need to all work together for the common good. A good friend of ours and mentor Ted Takasaki said; build a good team: “No matter what area of life you’re talking about, no one reaches great heights without help.” So, this year resolved to become better stewards of the land, better teachers of environmental concerns, and scribes of knowledge to ones who are novices in outdoor pursuits, give back to your community and to those who are less fortunate. The “season of giving,” does not have a time limit it is for the entire year.