Doing Our Share

2019 Submission to the Piney Woods Journal

A huge challenge for improving the quality of our state’s natural resources and environment is the actual enforcement of our existing laws and regulations.  Various national and state government agencies handle aspects of this job, but citizens are the largest stakeholders and a really important asset in protecting our environmental quality.  Enforcement officers are obviously spread thin in trying to monitor our state’s vast forests, deltas, and coastlines. In a sportsman’s paradise, the responsibility of citizens who hunt, fish, ride, paddle, and hike is to try to maintain and even enhance these outdoor experiences for the future and for others.

Yes, we fulfill some of our citizen and sporting responsibilities by knowing and following basic laws and regulations. Yet our citizenship responsibilities go further than this.  We need to have our eyes and ears open during our outdoor adventures for problems and those who seem to doing harm to our natural resources. Among the potential problems that we can spot are the ones identified by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network on its web page and chapter on Reporting Environmental Incidents. These incidents could include, as examples, oil spills, unknown sheen visible on a waterway, strong chemical odors/fumes, runoff from a landfill draining off-site, hazardous material spill from storage facility, tanker truck, or train, dust blowing into a community from loading/unloading facility, smoke from an industrial facility or from burning agriculture fields blowing across roads or into a community, sewage leaks, litter on the side of the road or in a waterway, and illegal dumping. These are only some of the environmental concerns that citizens can detect and report before these incidents do more damage to humans, animals, and our natural environment.

A form and telephone numbers for reporting such negative environmental incidents can be found at https://leanweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/incident_reporting_form.pdf. This general form and related contact information can be used for many different situations and allows citizens to be better stewards to the natural resources that so many of us enjoy.

Operation Game Thief is a non-profit corporation established in 1984 that is funded and administered by volunteer sporting enthusiasts.  These volunteers meet periodically to review wildlife violations cases arising from information reported by participants in order to determine and dispense rewards.  If you observe or just know about game violations, you can phone Operation Game Thief through its toll-free number (800-442-2511) or use the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ tip411 program.  According to the Operation Game Thief web site, “To use the tip411 program, text LADWF and your tip to 847411 or download the "LADWF Tips" iPhone or Android app from the iTunes or Google Play store free of charge.  CitizenObserver, the tip411 provider, uses technology that removes all identifying information before LADWF receives the text so that LADWF cannot identify the sender. Texting or downloading the app enables users to send anonymous tips to LADWF and lets LADWF respond back, creating a two-way anonymous “chat.”  You can also send in photos via text or the app to help support your claim and to be used as evidence.”

Information provided to a LADWF operator is then forwarded to enforcement agents to investigate. In the case of this information leading to an arrest, the caller becomes eligible for a reward.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been previously paid in such rewards and over 700 violators have been convicted on a multitude of state and federal charges.  More information about game violation reporting can be obtained from the LADWF.