President Jordan Weber began the January 22 Wagner Rotary meeting with a prayer and then called on Song leader Gerrit Juffer to lead the members in singing. Juffer had chosen In the Good Ol’ Summertime and the participation was so dismal that he insisted we sing something we all knew well. We proceeded to sing Viva La Rotary! And did and fine job of it.

Rotarian Craig Krsnak had the lucky ticket number, and he proceeded to draw from the deck but only found the five of Clubs. He reported that the Queen drawing is up to $165.00 There were two misses today, one on each attendance team with totals running at five for the Cotton Team and three for the Bill Frei Team.

A Rotary Induction ceremony is being planned for February 5th for our new member Jeanie Crowe. There being no other rotary business Rotarian Jerry Weber introduced his program which was Eric Brumbaugh the Wildlife Conservation Officer from the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department. Eric was very new to our area about two years ago when he gave his first program to the Wagner Rotary. He has spent a lot of time in the Charles Mix and Douglas County area. The first topic he spoke on was fishing. He stated that the water temperatures last year and this year were quite warm, which is not always good for fishing. The early rains last spring when farmers are in the fields spreading fertilizer and chemicals usually create a runoff of a toxic environment for the fish that are spawning in the spring. The algae bloom also contributes to damaging the fish population.

A survey showed however that for the most part the fish were healthy. He saw the camping and fishing from out of state anglers explode this past year. There was a good spawn despite the conditions.

Some of the questions asked and topics of discussion were stocking the Lake Francis Case main channel and Brumbaugh said a study showed that the fish don’t really come up to spawn until the bait fish have died.

The encroaching takeover of Red Cedar trees is becoming a problem. Eric would like to see a burn take place but those are usually too dangerous to conduct with the seasonal droughts we have experienced. He was also asked about the eagle population below the dam. There is a good eagle population down below the dam. Eagles are scavengers and they love that area because it does have good access to food.

The conversation then turned to deer. Brumbaugh stated that the mule deer population is down, especially in this area. Habitat and disease have been a concern, and they have been killing the population. As always, the GFP goal is to increase the deer numbers.