Plots program

In some cases, haying can actually help the tract over the long-term. We sometimes have to give up something one year, but make up for it in the long-term by improving the cover, diversity and amount of available habitat. Drought in the western and central portions of the state is having an impact on ranchers, wildlife and habitat.

Hunters can expect to find areas where habitat conditions are poor, both on and off PLOTS, but they will also find areas where habitat remains.

Can you describe the status of the program today and provide some insight into where PLOTS is heading? The amount of work required to enroll one acre of land now, compared to 10 or 20 years ago, has increased. We strive to do the best job we can with hunter dollars, so we conduct more compliance checks, perform more management and more special projects than we did in the past. These are all good things, but they also take a lot more time. The habitat was already there and all we had to do was provide public access to those acres.

Crops change annually, wetlands can be full one year, dry the next, habitat conditions can be good in the spring, but dry out in fall, and this requires considerable attention by our field biologists to maintain working relationships with landowners. The program receives positive support from hunters and we believe that the demand for quality hunting land will only increase. Unless we see large landscape level conservation programs like CRP hit the ground again, the Department will be working to develop habitat on its own, or by working with partners.

The amount of acreage in the program will most likely remain below 1 million acres during this time, and the focus will be on quality habitat. Q: Of course, landowners are central in this program that provides walk-in access to many hunters. What are landowners saying about the program today and has their interest in PLOTS increased or decreased over the years? A: The interest in the program is somewhat steady, but the type of land and quality of the land being offered has changed.

We have shifted from having a lot of CRP and other grassland habitat being offered, to offers of land coming out of CRP, or smaller parcels of grassland. There is currently a lot of interest from landowners who have CRP that expired, or will soon expire. Because Congress reduced the amount of land that can be enrolled in CRP on a national level, many landowners do not have a choice to reenroll that land.

The issue is that it would require a substantial budget increase for the Department to provide rental payments similar to CRP. We will likely be able to enroll some of these lands, but not very many acres. All PLOTS tracts are open to walk-in public hunting access during all legal hunting seasons, or as signed.

The Mule Deer Foundation is the only conservation group in North America dedicated to restoring, improving and protecting mule deer and black-tailed deer and their habitat, with a focus on science and program efficiency. DatPlot From raw data to report ready plots in under five minutes. Home Features Download Blog Contact. Easily create strip charts Achieve the look you want Explore your data in detail. Current DatPlot version is 1. Focus on Your Data, Not Your Software DatPlot is intuitive to use, allowing you to spend more time analyzing your data and less time struggling with your plotting software for the desired report plot look.

Event Lines Mark the Important Events For time series data, place event lines to mark important events. Data Source Swap: Set up once, reuse repeatedly Have your plot looking like you want, but need to create a dozen more plots using similar source data?

Click to see all features…. All other activities require written permission from the property owner. Walk-in access for purposes of this section is defined as an individual travelling by foot with any legal weapon, equipment, accessories, and provisions for the purposes of hunting.