SALEM, Ohio — Jim Abrams poured a lifetime love of the outdoors into writing “A Crusade for Conservation,” a 389-page book detailing the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife’s 150-year history.
If you enjoy — or you know someone who enjoys — his outdoors column that runs in the Rural Marketplace section of Farm and Dairy each week, “A Crusade for Conservation” might make the perfect gift this Christmas season.
A lifelong love
Abrams’ love of the outdoors was fostered right here in eastern Ohio, in places like Guilford Lake and Beaver Creek. Growing up in Columbiana County the son of a laborer and factory worker, he didn’t have the opportunity to venture across the country to Yellowstone and other outdoor destinations his classmates got to visit.
“I never felt robbed. You know, kids would come to show-and-tell and things like that in school or talk about what they did during the summer, and I got to talk about going camping,” Abrams said.
His father loved hunting and fishing, which sparked an interest in the outdoors and instilled a good foundation for Abrams’ hobbies. By the time he was 12 years old, Abrams knew he wanted to be a game warden one day.
“There’s an old saying about the explanation of what a game warden is. You know what it is? It’s what every kid wants to be, and what your old man wishes he was,” he said.
When he lost his father at 14 years old, feeling rudderless, Abrams clung to the outdoors even tighter.
“I hung on to, you know, Dad’s memory and what he liked to do because I like to do those things,” he said.
His early adventures with his father, and the hunting dogs of his youth, continue to inspire his weekly columns for Farm and Dairy and The Courier in Findlay, Ohio. They were also a major driving force throughout his nearly 36-year career with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources — most of which was spent as a wildlife officer.
Abrams started his career with the ODNR in 1973, right out of high school cutting grass, and worked his way up into various roles. Over the years, Abrams recalls having some bad days, but he doesn’t feel he’s worked a day in his life. The experiences he gained before retiring in 2010 were invaluable.
“You cannot get rich doing this unless you consider experiences. Then you’re a millionaire. And, you know, that’s what we die with: our experience, not our money,” Abrams said.
A “Crusade for Conservation”
Incidentally, Abrams’ love of the outdoors and long career with the Division of Wildlife made him the ideal candidate to compile information the agency could use for its 150th anniversary this year — and that’s how he got started on his book. Two years ago, he began gathering information and organizing it chronologically. Along the way, he saw it as an opportunity to do even more.
“I’m bringing people information that it’s not only good to know, but I think they want to know it,” he said.
“A Crusade for Conservation” highlights conservation milestones that ensured the survival of Ohio’s wildlife and shaped today’s conservation practices, starting with the formation of the Ohio Fish Commission in 1873.
The Fish Commission began considering the possibility of fish propagation and the establishment of hatcheries, while approving the introduction of German carp and Atlantic salmon into Ohio waters, with a budget of $10,000 in 1875. However, even with the potential of fish stocking to augment wild populations, it was not optimistic about the recovery of native fish and believed “the total extinction of fish life in Ohio is drawing near.”
Ohio’s native fish populations continued their steep decline due to a population increase from 45,000 in 1800 to nearly 2 million by mid-century, the installation of low-head dams for grist mills and sawmills that disrupted spawning and pollution that got worse as the Industrial Revolution took hold. The declining fish populations were a big concern because fish was a major part of rural America’s diet in the 1800s.
“To lose all the fish, if you think about Columbiana County, Beaver Creek or the Ohio River not having any fish in it, it’s hard for us to even imagine,” Abrams said.
Abrams transports readers to several unimaginable points in Ohio history when many wildlife species disappeared from the landscape, including the tale of millions of passenger pigeons that went extinct in 50 years and the grim outcome of once-common Carolina parakeets that also became extinct.
Mountain lions, beavers, elk, gray wolves, black bears and bobcats were all considered exterminated from Ohio by 1850 before the human impact on the environment was understood.
“It shocked me that … it took so long for us to understand the impact we were having,” Abrams said.
Abrams’ book covers a period in Ohio’s history where there were no limits — no limits on how many animals an individual could take and no restrictions on how they could be hunted. However, it also celebrates critical turning points for wildlife conservation.
Abrams weaves together the milestones that shaped Ohio wildlife conservation over the last 150 years, noting six major events. Following the establishment of the Ohio Fish Commission, Abrams details the conservation movement of the 1910s that led to the formation of the Isaac Walton League of America and the League of Ohio Sportsmen. Next, he takes readers through the implementation of hunting seasons, a move toward understanding bird migrations and putting necessary protections in place to ensure healthy ecosystems. He highlights Aldo Leopold’s impact on conservation in the 1930s and 1940s, explaining how wildlife management shifted from killing predators and releasing animals to improving habitats. Then, he celebrates the creation of the ODNR in 1949 and the decision to umbrella the Division of Wildlife under it. He continues on to the recovery of Lake Erie and the inclusion of non-game animals in the Division of Wildlife’s work and carries readers through to present-day conservation efforts.
“The fact is, nothing really surprised me as much as how quickly wildlife can recover if given enough habitat to do it in,” Abrams said. “So that’s refreshing to know that it can be turned around, and it just takes some work.”
By sharing the history of wildlife conservation in Ohio, Abrams wants to empower landowners to improve conservation practices on their property because only 5% of Ohio’s land is publicly owned and managed by the government.
“I want people to understand that while the Division of Wildlife is doing their job, and even sometimes risking their lives doing it, the wildlife management is reachable (on private property),” he said.
Abrams also aims to help readers understand how the Division of Wildlife reaches further into their lives than other agencies by outlining the work it does and the assistance it can offer landowners and wildlife enthusiasts alike. He gives readers a look inside the work of wildlife officers through 56 firsthand accounts that comprise one-third or more of his book.
“It’s everybody’s Division of Wildlife. You know, everybody, when they think of the Division of Wildlife — if they think of it at all — they think, ‘Oh, they’re just about hunting and fishing, and that’s all they do.’ And, you know, we do so much more,” Abrams said.
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How to purchase
“A Crusade for Conservation,” can be purchased by contacting Jim Abrams at jabrams.shadowdogbooks@yahoo.com or by calling him at 419-722-4628. His book costs $39.99, plus $2.70 sales tax and $6.75 for shipping.
