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2B Daily News ��� Saturday, December 29, 2012 Outdoor & living life How is DFG Controlling Feral Pigs? Question: Our class is working on invasive species and would really appreciate it if you could help us with one question. How does the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) help with the control of feral pigs? If you could email us back the answer, we would greatly appreciate it (The Alien Carrie Hunters or Pam K.). Answer: It is great to hear from young citizens who are interested in wildlife issues and are actively seeking to educate themselves about these topics! According to DFG Statewide Wild Pig Program Coordinator Marc Kenyon, the California Legislature in 1957 classified the wild pig as a game mammal which then allowed the Department to manage them as wildlife and regulate their harvest. The Department is the agency with Wilson responsibility over game animals in the state and because this classification is in statute, only legislative action could change it. However, the California Fish and Game Commission, a separate entity, has recognized that damage from wild pigs does occur and to that end, a policy has been put into effect that states: ���The wild pig population of the state must be controlled to minimize the threat of increasing damage to California���s native plant and animals, to agricultural operations and to park and recreational activities from the foraging habits of the animals. Consistent with State law and regulations, the Department will prepare and recommend to the Commission regulations which enhance recreational hunting and facilitate the issuing of depredation permits and/or other legally available means to alleviate this problem.��� Please visit the Fish and Game Commission���s website to understand the difference between the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission . Similar to the Commission, the Department works to minimize the impacts pigs cause. To achieve this, we work with private citizens, other government organizations and natural resources conservation partners to, among other things: 1) curtail the spread of wild pigs; 2) protect agricultural, archaeological and environmental resources and private property from damage caused by wild pigs; and 3) facilitate the removal of pigs causing damage. To curtail the spread of wild pigs, our wardens enforce laws that restrict the intentional movement of wild pigs from one area to another. We also enlist the help of sport hunters. By educating hunters about the locations of pigs in the state, we feel that we can direct hunters to areas of the state that either have new populations of pigs or serve as ���source populations.��� To protect our state���s precious resources and private property, we have worked with conservation partners and private landowners alike to facilitate the construction of wildlife-friendly but pig-resistant fences to exclude pigs from certain areas. For example, we are working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to construct a fence that will exclude pigs from newly restored riparian habitat in Colusa County. The department may issue ������depredation��� permits to authorize the permit holder to use lethal control methods to reduce the number of wild pigs on their property and in turn reduce the amount of damage caused. The Department encourages property owners to allow sport hunters to hunt wild pigs. Based on surveys of sport hunters and returned sport hunting wild pig tags, the department believes that roughly 5,000 to 10,000 wild pigs are killed each year by sport hunters. Over the last 10 years, an average of 55,062 wild pig tags have been sold each year. This has resulted in average revenue each year of nearly $800,000, which helps to fund our management activities. As you can see, the State Legislature, the Fish and Game Commission and the Department of Fish and Game are dedicated to managing wild pigs to reduce their spread and the damage they cause. We rely on our lawmakers to craft intelligent laws, our biologists to understand the species, and our wardens to catch the law breakers. We all work as one unit to control wild pigs. Bay Area veterans with PTSD cast a line for a better life BY CHRIS DE BENEDETTI The Argus (Fremont) (MCT) Maureen Brown's eyes dance when she recalls "the beauty" of catching her first rainbow trout. The retired Army nurse will never forget it because, as she reeled in the 24-inch fish two years ago, her exhilaration for a moment broke the mental shackles of her post-traumatic stress disorder. Brown since has become a leader of Veterans First Fly Fishing, a program that uses the recreational activity to aid veterans with PTSD and steer them on a path to self-sufficiency. Brown, a Menlo Park, Calif., resident, and Ken Brunskill, a Navy veteran from Fremont, teach men and women at several Bay Area Veterans Affairs hospitals about the small but crucial steps required to tie a fly. "That thrill of creating that small fly that entices a fish to bite, then making the catch and letting it go, is the most fun thing," said Brown, who retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. "It's just you and nature; it's so soothing _ everything just goes away." The instructors take their pupils on outings that allow them to enjoy the serene, naturally beautiful rural settings and other draws of fly-fishing that have hooked Brown and Brunskill on the sport. The experience also provides veterans something basic they haven't felt in too long: a sense of accomplishment. Catching even a small fish can be a big deal for those with PTSD, said Melissa Puckett, the Menlo Park VA hospital's recreation therapist supervisor. "Just going to the grocery store can become an anxiety-ridden experience," Puckett said. "So we're looking for avenues for people to work through those anxietyprovoking situations and have a better quality of life." The VA describes PTSD as a mental health problem that can occur after a person goes through a life-threatening event, which describes a soldier's neardaily existence during combat. About 11 percent of veterans of the war in Afghanistan and 20 percent of Iraq War veterans have PTSD. Nearly 8 million Americans have been diagnosed with the condition, according to the National Institutes of Health. Symptoms include becoming easily frustrated or angry; uneasiness or hypervigilance around crowds; impatience with ordinary chores; and becoming emotionally numb, Puckett said. Many people who have PTSD turn to drugs or alcohol. "They're stuck in a little prison of their own mind," she said. "It's a powerful thing." Brown, 62, said she knows the feeling. Her 32-year military career started in 1971, in the waning days of the Vietnam War, and ended in 2003, just as the Iraq War was beginning. One of her memories is caring for a 19-year-old soldier who had shot himself in the stomach in a desperate attempt to escape combat during Operation Desert Storm. She said other soldiers thought of him as a "deserter," and he was ostracized and later sent home. "I don't think this kid ever thought about the notion of shooting another human being," she said. "So many kids enter the service as a way out of poverty, and they get in a situation where they have no idea what's going to be required of them." Brown said today's military is more enlightened about mental health issues but, during her career, superiors looked down on those who admitted to hurting emotionally. "So you end up stuffing it down, and you don't deal with it," she said. "When you come back home, it's hard to find anyone who understands what you've gone through." Brown was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007, after the sudden deaths of four family members and news that her grown daughter was diagnosed with a major illness. "The doctors think my PTSD stems from Desert Storm, and it culminated with those other stressors," she said. "Anything that happens to you in the military starts to add up over time." She was being treated at the Menlo Park VA hospital when she found out about the fly-fishing program, which helped her recover from depression. "A big part of it was the fly tying; it allowed me to focus on something beside myself," she said. "It may seem simple, but if you In Print Every Tuesday - Thursday- Saturday $ 109 Print and Online Per Month Online: Publishes 24/7 www.redbluffdailynews.com Three additional online locations at no extra cost! 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