To: Interested Fannin County Area Residents

Subject: Fannin Soil & Water Conservation and USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Events

EVENT 1:

This coming weekend (May 13 & 14) is a great time to complete the Fannin County Quail Count.

I suggest a meeting on Friday, May 13 at 6:30pm at Victor's Italian Restaurant on the West side of the Courthouse square. There I can give out packets of information on how to do the count and the record keeping involved.

On Saturday morning at sunrise (6:30am), teams will start collecting quail counts for the survey. Those involved in the count can bring their results to my office at their convenience or to the Master Naturalist meeting on Thursday. The count will take an hour to an hour and a half. The meeting on Friday night will take 20-30 minutes. You can eat if you would like as I will. It is great food.

I have 17 different routes, 5 miles long, where you will stop at each mile (6 times) to record quail calls. It is usually best to have two people per route. I encourage you to bring your children or grand children to help with the quail count ( their hearing is really good and it is very educational!).

I need everyone that is available to help. 17 x 2 = 34 individuals!

EVENT 2:

Fishpond Seminar, June 14, Noble Foundation in Ardmore, OK.
The Fannin Soil & Water Conservation District has chartered a bus to Ardmore, Oklahoma. It will be leaving at 9:15am and returning approximately 9pm. We will meet at the parking lot beside McDonalds. We will eat lunch at the Noble Foundation. The lunch and bus are courtesy of the Fannin SWCD made possible with a grant from the Lennox Foundation.
The Noble Foundation is charging a fee of $20 for the fisheries workshop which includes supper; you will pay this at the Noble Foundation. The pond management workshop will cover designing a pond, stocking fish and keeping the water quality healthy. The event will include classroom instruction and a pond tour.

Event 3:

JULY 19 - 20, CONSERVATION TEACHERS WORKSHOP, July 19, 9:00am -9:00pm, July 20, 8am - 1:30pm.
This will be held at the Red River Farm and Duck Club, Telephone, TX. All teachers are invited to participate in a 16 hour workshop. Subjects that will be covered include Management of Forestry, Wild Turkey, Wetland, Fisheries, Range, Whitetail Deer and Bobwhite Quail; Soil erosion, watershed management, soils and geology. The Fannin SWCD will furnish the meals and there will be lodging for 30.

I duck hunted up on the Red river north of Telephone, TX, in the late 60's. We jumped one covey of quail in three years of duck hunting, but found pleanty of mallards. Here are a few;