Babe Winkelman Productions

Conservation Columns

Babe Winkelman is a nationally-known outdoorsmen who has been teaching people to fish and hunt for 25 years. Watch his award-winning “Good Fishing” and “Outdoor Secrets” television shows on The Outdoor Life Network, WGN-TV, Fox Sports Net, The Men’s Channel, The Great American Country, and the Sportsman’s Channel.

May 2008 Columns

Clean-burning, low-emission outboard motors help the environment

Angers are some of the most environmentally-conscious people on the planet. That’s because they understand the link between proper land and water stewardship and their fortunes as anglers

May is American wetlands month; policymakers must learn their importance

Prior to white settlement, our nation’s lower 48 states boasted more than 200 million acres of wetlands. Since then, we’ve lost roughly half of them.

New report on climate change explains impact to sportsmen, women

John Cooper is no shrinking violet. He is a former Vietnam combat veteran. As a law enforcement agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, he was known for his “tough but fair” approach to the job

Nature Conservancy: Fewer kids participating in the outdoors

It isn’t hard to find “bad” news about the outdoors. Sometimes, it seems, we can’t escape it. It is as if we’re surrounded by it.

March 2008 Columns

Illinois to have high school-sanctioned bass tournament; opportunity to teach conservation.
True story: The state of Illinois is getting into the angling business.

Study questions biofuel impacts on the environment
With so much misinformation surrounding the environmental consequences of biofuels production, it’s oftentimes difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Legacy watch: Bush proposes increasing price of federal duck stamp
Every president wants a positive legacy, a crowning achievement or two that define his time in office.

TRCP touts ambitious policy agenda for 2008
Accountability isn’t a word we always associate with officials or organizations that purport to be acting in the public interest—or, in the case of conservation organizations, the interests of their members.

February 2008 Columns

Mainstream publications tell stories of hunters as conservationists
The news stories started to trickle in late last year, when the preliminary results of the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-associated Recreation were released by U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Pheasants Forever celebrates 25th anniversary
In 1982, Dennis Anderson wrote a series of columns in the St. Paul Pioneer and Dispatch on the sorry state of Minnesota pheasants. Anderson, who now works for the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune, wondered at the time if they'd have an impact, whether the topic would spark interest with his readers.

Farmers Forced to Make Tough Decisions

Let's begin with a hypothetical.

Pretend you're a farmer taking inventory of your land and future operation. It's January, and you're debating what to plant come spring. On one section of land, you've decided to plant corn. On another, soybeans. On still another, wheat, or sunflowers, or some other crop-depending on the price the market will likely pay.

In Praise of Wetlands, Nature's Kidneys

In Louisiana, the state Department of Natural Resources is recycling an unlikely remnant of the holiday season to stem ongoing coastal erosion and wetlands losses-Christmas trees.

Babe Winkelman Productions • PO Box 407 • Brainerd, MN 56401 • 1-800-333-0471