The League of Kentucky Sportsmen has stepped up to ensure that Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources officers and staff have the equipment needed to preserve and protect the state’s natural assets.
KDFWR officials, along with League representatives, sportsmen and friends hosted a dedication ceremony for a new barge – yet to be named – Friday, Sept. 15 at Cherokee Park in Aurora. The barge, constructed by Twin Lakes Mooring in Aurora, will allow KDFWR staff to transport equipment to Duck Island, a 400-acre waterfowl refuge situated between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley near the Tennessee state line. The new barge, which came at a cost of about $200,000, replaced a unit that KDFWR Wildlife Division Director Steve Beam said was past its prime in age and safety.
“This will allow us to consistently and safely get equipment to that Duck Island area,” Beam said. “To do habitat management, to pump water, do plantings – whatever we need to do over there.”
The area surrounding the island is open to duck hunting, and management was critical to maintain to keep population numbers stable, KDFWR Wildlife Biologist and Public Lands Specialist Pat Hahs said. That land management, Hahs said, included planting vegetation similar to row crops, and pumping excess water after heavy rains. Hahs said numbers peak between 5,000 and 8,000 ducks and geese each year.
Beam said the project had been under way for about a year.
The league worked to secure funding through its license plate sales to purchase a new barge unit. It wasn’t the only equipment the league donated. Beam said those license plate sales had also helped fund a new telehandler to assist in placing new fish habitats in the water. Beam said the league had previously purchased Bobcats with forestry attachments that allowed for improved forest management.
“They’ve been very good partners,” Beam said. “This has been a very nice program for us.”
KDFWR Commissioner for District 1, Harry Carloss, was thrilled with the new barge and what it meant for KDFWR officers and staff.
“This is a great thing, because we were taking equipment and we were putting people on something that was older and I am – which is pretty old – and, in fact, while this barge was being built the other barge sank,” Carloss said. “They had to retrieve it off the bottom. So it was just a matter of time until we lost equipment. We always did extra safety measures for people on the boat. … We can get equipment out there and plant crops, not just for ducks, but one field we plant for pollinators, for migrating butterflies, for things like that. So now we can get the equipment out there to do it and maintain the island in a proper way and a safe manner.”
The partnership with the league was a crucial one, Carloss said, as KDFWR is funded through only boat registration, fishing and hunting licensing fees and the Pittman-Roberston Act, which imposes a federal tax on sporting goods equipment sales divvied up among all 50 states based on the number of hunting licenses.