By Tom Conroy, DNR Outdoor Column

It was naptime and I was about to nod off. It was then that the first fly of spring chose to show up. That maddening, monotone drone drawing closer, then moving away &8212; then back again. So much for a nap. Gotta kill a fly.

Some things never change. Sure as an egg&8217;s an egg, flies will awake from their winter slumber for no other reason than to disrupt the springtime naps and well-deserved rest of hardworking souls.

That some things never seem to change can also be documented by looking back over the history of conservation in Minnesota. Probably no more authoritative history on that subject can be found than the DNR Conservation Volunteer magazine. First published under the title Fins, Feathers and Fur from 1915 to 1922, the magazine was then published off and on until it became the Conservation Volunteer in 1940.

For most of the past century, the Volunteer has been chronicling the state of natural resources in Minnesota and has featured some of the finest outdoors writers and photographers in the country. And, perhaps not coincidentally, some of the same issues and problems that those authorities were writing about nearly a century ago are still being written about today.

In March of 1918, for example, two pages were devoted to a study of Swan Lake in Nicollet County.

&8220;Few lakes anywhere are as well provided with food for ducks and other waterfowl as is Swan Lake &8230;&8221; and this lake &8220;is not excelled in importance as a resort for ducks and other water-birds by any lake in any of the states of the Great Plains region,&8221; the researchers concluded.

To this day, Swan Lake continues to be held in the same high esteem as evidenced by the DNR&8217;s eagerness to undertake a major project last fall to rid the lake of damaging carp. A complete drawdown and follow-up treatment with a fish-killing substance called rotenone was used to eradicate the carp. As stated in the 1918 article, to allow Swan Lake to deteriorate &8220;would be nothing short of a calamity to the state of Minnesota.&8221;

In 1948, the subject of predators was addressed in the magazine. &8220;Predation and predator control are probably the most controversial and complex problems encountered in the field of wildlife management,&8221; wrote author Thomas R. Evans, a representative in the North Central

State for Wildlife Management Institute.

While not many studies had as yet been conducted by 1948, the few studies that had been done found no indication that &8220;predation on any species is so drastic as to affect seriously the harvestable surplus&8221; of game species. This debate goes on yet today.

In 1950, Richard J. Dorer (namesake of the Dorer forest in southeastern Minnesota) pleaded for farmers and sportsmen to become better partners in the preservation of shallow lakes and wetlands. &8220;The water situation in Minnesota has become so alarming that the state’s most talented technicians have been called on for advice and to discuss, in open meetings, the many problems associated with it&8221; and to purchase or otherwise save those &8220;shallow water areas that have been proposed for drainage.&8221;

While preparing his article, Dorer noted that the Red River Valley in the United States and Canada was in &8220;the throes of a flood that will go on record as a major disaster&8221; due to the manipulations of man that caused the water to &8220;run from the land at break-neck speed to leave destruction and ruin in their wake.&8221; Sound familiar?

In 1955, DNR area game biologist Maynard Nelson penned a story entitled &8220;Death Stalks the Hayfields&8221; that detailed the loss of nesting hen pheasants during haying season. A study undertaken in Martin and Jackson counties during the summer of 1954 was an eye-opener to farmers and sportsmen alike, Nelson pointed out.

In Fraser Township in Martin County, it was determined that 112 hens were destroyed by mowers in 1954 and in Heron Lake Township in Jackson County 130 hens were found to have been destroyed. By assuming the loss in Fraser Township was typical of Martin County, it was concluded that a possible total of 2,240 hens were destroyed while the first hay crop was cut.

Since each hen normally brings a brood of six to maturity, an additional 13,440 young pheasants were lost in Martin County. The number was even high in Jackson County &8212; 15,680 young pheasants.

Farming practices have changed significantly since the 1950s, of course, and there is considerably less mowing of hay today. And as small grains and grasslands have been converted to row crops such as corn and soybeans, pheasant hens have increasingly resorted to roadside ditches to find a place to nest. But, alas, the mower soon follows and countless miles of roadsides become little more than pheasant death traps.

Finally, in 1967, Hiram Southwick, DNR Regional Game Manager for Southwest Minnesota, took the opportunity to deliver a few lessons about game management and hunting after receiving a rather scathing letter from a hunter.

Replied Southwick: &8220;It was on this point, Sport, that you raised my hackles. You wrote: &8216;The trouble is, you guys in game departments don&8217;t know anything about hunting. If you’d get out from behind your desks and quit reading your books, it might help.Why don&8217;t you just let the hunters decide what should be done?&8217; &8220;

In reading through Southwick&8217;s rather pointed response to that tired indictment, I guess maybe some things have changed. But the darn flies keep coming back.

Tom Conroy is an information officer in the Department of Natural Resources&8217; office in New Ulm.