The WOG : employee newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife, 07/2012

              W I L D L I F E • O • G R A M
Continued on next page.
Ben Rocks
Employee Newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
July 2012
The wind blows
cool and steady
across the low
hills and ridges
of Beaver
River Wildlife
Management
Area, teasing the
branches of sand
sage brush. The
sun has recently
set but a soft gray
light lingers, fading slowly. No animals
are visible, but they are out there. The
nocturnal species are stirring, preparing
to begin their journey, while the daylight
creatures bed down for the night.
I’m out in the panhandle of
Oklahoma to meet with Weston Storer
(W), Biologist at Beaver River as well
as Rita Blanca, Schultz and Optima
WMAs. I’m touring Beaver on my own,
but in the morning Weston will take me
around the McFarland Unit so I can
take pictures of the newest addition to
the Department’s WMA lands.
I scan the horizon as it gets darker.
I can see the twinkling lights from town
across the flat terrain, but most of the
horizon lacks the lights that signal
civilization. The sky feels much bigger,
perhaps because there are so few
trees. It’s very quiet.
That’s the way things are in the
panhandle. The land is rugged, the
weather reaches extremes at both ends
of the thermometer, and
there aren’t a lot of people
around. In other words,
this three-county stretch of
Oklahoma is pretty close
to perfect for many animal
species.
It’s April, but the wind
is cold and I’m chilled,
so I head back to the
truck. I need to get some
rest tonight, because
tomorrow’s tour with
Weston of the new WMA promises to
cover a lot of ground.
* * *
The morning sun shines down
on Weston and I as we drive around
the new McFarland Unit, an area that
eventually will add approximately
9,000 acres to the Beaver River
WMA. (Some land swaps are still in
progress.) Beaver already has 17,700
acres, so this addition will make for
a sizable WMA for Weston and his
technician Cody Crisswell (W) to
manage. Out here, though, large
distances are pretty much the norm.
Weston is the biologist for
every area the Department
owns or manages in the three-county
panhandle. To say his
responsibilities cover a large area is
an understatement. It takes two and a
half hours to drive from Beaver WMA
to the western edge of Rita Blanca
WMA.
“Time management is important,”
Weston says while steering us across
a dry river bed. “I’ve been surprised at
how broad Beaver is. I have to make
time to get out to Optima, Schultz and
Rita Blanca, too.”
He gets out of the truck to unlock
a gate. Weston is very tall, over six
feet in height, with a firm handshake
and a neatly-trimmed brown goatee.
He knows the names, common and
CONTENTS
Editor’s Farewell.............................3
New Faces / New Places �4
2013 Holidays................................5
Employee Snapshots �5
Reelin’ In the Years ������������������������6
Ben Davis
Information
Rockalist
Where the Deer & Antelope Roam:
Exploring the Department’s Panhandle WMAs
Entrance sign for Beaver River WMA.