By Chris Erwin
Greenup County resident Gary David Greene has been selected Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 8th District.
Before I get into Mr. Greene’s position, I think it would be good to let anyone who is not familiar with the wildlife districts of Kentucky to understand what the 8th district is and what it covers.
Kentucky is divided into nine districts; each district covers a number of counties. The 8th district covers Bath, Bourbon, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Greenup, Lewis, Mason, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Nicholas, Rowan, and Wolfe counties.
Commission members of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are now selected under 150.022 effective July 15 2010. The sportsman in each of the 9 Fish and Wildlife Districts nominate a list of 5 Residents and Citizens of that District .The Governor shall appoint a member to the commission from that list. The sportsman in each District vote for the candidates, the candidates receiving the 5 highest vote totals make up the list. Members of the many state wide sportsman organizations should be informed and in attendance. However, only resident hunters or fishermen who have been licensed in Kentucky for each of the past two consecutive years can vote. Beware of any sportsman organization that tells you must pay them or be affiliated with them to vote! The nominees are then sent to the Governor’s office for consideration. The Governor subsequently makes his choice and appoints his selection to the position.
According to the feedback I have received since Greene’s appointment, it appears Governor Beshear has made a good choice. Greene has made it clear to me that he plans to be an active commissioner and wants to see some changes made to improve the outdoor experience as much as possible.
He is 61-years-old and is married to his wife Patty. The couple lives in Greenup. Greene retired from AK Steel in 2008 after 35 years. He is a graduate of Shawnee State University with a degree in Applied Science and Instrumentation Process Control Engineering.
Greene is also the former owner of Dream Hunters Plantation Quail Farm and Shooting Preserves. He is a 25-year member of the Greenup County Planning Commission and a former member of the Little Sandy Volunteer Fire Department where he also served as a board member for 20 years.
Greene is a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation, a past director of the Northeast Fish and Game Club, Quail Forever, the Kentucky Houndsmen Association, and Grouse Busters. He also is a former breeder of Llewellyn Setters and says he still has five of them today.
One of Greene’s first projects was to try to make the pond in Central Park one of Kentucky’s FIN’s lakes. These lakes typically are located in cities and are stocked to develop fishing for kids’ seniors and handicapped resents. However, after state biologists examined the lake this week it was determined it wasn’t large or deep enough to support the trout that would have been stocked. Trout cannot survive in water that is higher than 70 degrees. Shallow ponds or lakes where temperatures could reach as high as 90 degrees in the deepest part of the pond would be unsuitable for trout through the hot summer months.
While this first project was disappointing Greene desire to get kids involved in the outdoors remains on his front burner. As he explained to me, he wants to see a new focus on small game in Kentucky.
He put it like this: “It’s pretty hard to get kids involved in hunting if their only experience is just with deer or other large game. Because it requires them to be quiet, sitting still sometimes for hours and then when they do get a shot it’s quick, and it’s over. While with small-game like rabbits, squirrels or birds, they can walk, talk and get more than one shot.”
He wants to see more habitats for small game developed. The restoration of the small game is dependent on it.
Greene told me he planned to do everything possible to try and get this done even if it ruffles a few feathers. I will be following Mr. Greene’s progress, and I have pledged to help in any way possible to help get kids outside doing something with more in their hands than a video game or a smart phone.
Mr. Greene can be reached by emailing quailhunt1@gmail.com
Chris Erwin is the Author of Camping Kentucky, founder and publisher of Kentucky Angling News an on-line magazine available at www.kentuckyangling.com/magazine Chris can be reached by email chris@ashlandbeacon.com
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