camp ripley and arden hills minnesota army national guard training ...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The projects in this document were completed through the cooperation of many people
associated with Camp Ripley. We would like to thank Camp Commander Colonel Richard Weaver
for his continued support. The Camp Ripley Environmental Office is made up of employees from the
DMA, MNDNR, The Nature Conservancy, and St. Cloud State University who work together to
manage the natural resources on Camp Ripley and AHATS in support of the military mission of
training soldiers. Marty Skoglund, Dave Hamernick, Jay Brezinka, Bill Brown, Mary Lee, and Tim
Notch (TNC) were all instrumental in completing projects and all contributed to this report. Thanks to
Training Area Coordinators Major Keith Ferdon and 2LT Katie Arndt of Camp Ripley and Staff
Sergeant Jamie LeClair of AHATS, who were instrumental in coordinating our work with the military
missions. Camp Ripley's GIS specialists, Craig Erickson and Lee Anderson, provided GIS related
support throughout the year and Lee created the maps for this report. We also thank the entire Range
Control staff for their support and tolerance of our activities down range, especially during times of
high military use. Tom Rothleutner and the Department of Public Works crew helped with beaver
management and made access to project sites possible. Thanks to Pam Perry and Pam Grossbach for
providing logistical and administrative support for all of the projects throughout the year.
The assistance and advice of many people including John Erb, Dan Stark, and David
Andersen were greatly appreciated. The bear project was again successful because of the support
and fieldwork of Dave Garshelis and Karen Noyce. The fisher project is a cooperative effort
involving Dr. Bill Faber, Central Lakes College (CLC), Lucas Wandrie, graduate student
Minnesota State University-Mankato, and The Nature Conservancy staff interns. Thanks to
MNDNR pilots Mike Trenholm and Tom Pfingston for another year of safe and productive flight
time. We appreciate the support of the Little Falls MNDNR Area Office including Beau Liddell,
Little Falls Area Manager, Tod Tonsager, Assistant Manager and their staff for helping to
organize the turkey and deer hunts on Camp Ripley. In addition, we would like to thank Dennis
Erie, his staff and volunteers for planning and organizing the Disabled American Veteran‟s wild
turkey and white-tailed deer hunts. Thanks also to Roger and Jan Ekert, Minnesota State Archery
Association, and Scott Nagel and Mike Schuett, Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, for their
coordination and fund raising efforts for the deployed soldier, youth, and public archery hunts at
Camp Ripley and AHATS. Thanks to Christi Spak, Animal Survey Specialist, MNDNR
Minnesota County Biological Survey for analysis of ANABAT files. Volunteer nuisance beaver
trappers, Terry Polzin and Mike Lehrke, were helpful with beaver management. Foresters John
Korzeniowski and Linda Gormanson supplied forest management recommendations and technical
support. A special thanks also to Brett Arne, Jeremy Maslowski, and Jim May, for volunteering
their time and energy to the Blanding's turtle, cougar, bear, and other projects. Thanks to
DeAnna Gehant and Mike Ratzloff for their eastern bluebird house monitoring. Last but not
least, thanks to this year's intern Wade Lund (CLC), and TNC technical staff - Adam Thompson,
Jason Linkert, Scott Hienen, and Matt Graeve, we wouldn't have been able to complete all the
projects in this report without your assistance.
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2009 Conservation Program Report