CWD education session headlines MDWFP committee meeting
Published on Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 2:08 p.m.
The Chronic Wasting Disease sample cooler is like the one pictured here at Natchez State Park. (Hunter Cloud | Natchez Democratic Party)
BROOKHAVEN — William McKinley will open the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ monthly committee meeting Thursday morning with an educational session on chronic wasting disease. Mr. McKinley is the state deer program coordinator.
MDWFP committees meet monthly. The October meeting will be held at MDWFP headquarters, 1505 East Over Drive in Jackson. As per the final agenda, the educational session will begin at 9am, followed by the business session at 10am.
Chronic wasting disease is always 100% fatal to deer. Mississippi has had 320 positive cases since the first detection in 2018. McKinley told the Daily Leader that two new positive cases have been detected in Marshall County, marking the first positive CWD cases for the 2024-2025 hunting season.
McKinley’s presentation on CWD is informative for everyone, especially those who don’t know what chronic wasting disease is. MDWFP typically shares educational sessions on YouTube at a later date.
Ricky Flint, Executive Director of the Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, will provide an update to the committee. The Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund helps connect Mississippians to the outdoors by providing financial support to a variety of projects.
After the education session, the MDWFP committee will conduct a business session. Director of Administrative Services Jason Thompson typically opens the meeting with prayer, followed by an update on license sales.
Former MDWFP Commissioner Bill Kosar will remind attendees that 90 percent of MDWFP’s budget comes from license sales, which is why Thompson’s report is so important. . In addition, Thompson is likely to update its new online license sales system, which is scheduled to go live in February 2025.
The final agenda does not include public comment, but public comment could come Thursday.
Chief of Staff for Wildlife Russ Walsh and Waterfowl Program Coordinator Houston Havens will submit a request for continued funding for the Ducks Unlimited project. DU’s habitat projects in prairie potholes in Canada and the Dakotas help increase the number of ducks that fly south to Mississippi each year.
Law Enforcement Director Jerry Carter provides updates on citations and other enforcement matters. License reinstatement requests against Tyler Breland and James Theriot of Pearl River County and Damion Pipkins of Georgia County are scheduled to be heard before the end of the session.
In other business, commissioners will discuss Jackson County’s no-wake zone regulations. Last month, MDWFP commissioners discussed adding acreage to the Marion County WMA at an executive meeting, and the topic could come up again in the executive session.
The next MDWFP committee meeting is November 14th, with an educational session scheduled for 9 a.m. and a business session scheduled for 10 a.m.
