FINS, FEATHERS, FUR

WARE, Ill. -- The goose season opens in the four-county Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson Quota Zone area Saturday, and will run through Jan. 31, 1992, or until a harvest of 72,400 birds is reached.

"We saw four new flocks of geese come in Thursday," said a spokesman of Union County Wildlife Refuge near Ware. "With the colder weather more geese could be arriving daily."

The latest goose count, conducted Monday, revealed about 40,500 geese in the Southern Illinois area.

---

JACKSON Nominations are now being accepted for the 1992 Farmer/Wildlife award.

The Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife Society presents the award each year to a farmer who has made outstanding contributions to wildlife management in Missouri. Nominations can be submitted by anyone on official nomination forms. Documentation, such as photographs and letters of recommendation from conservation agents or others familiar with the nominee's work, is helpful, too. Nominations must be received by Nov. 15.

For nomination forms, contact: Dave Wissehr, Rt. 1, Box 329, Jackson, Mo., 63755. If you need further information, you can call Wissehr at (314) 290-5730.

---

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. The 10th annual Goose Fest will be held at the Horseshoe Lake spillway area near Olive Branch Sunday.

Live entertainment, goose and duck calling contests, arts and crafts, games and prizes will be offered during the one-day celebration, sponsored by the Horseshoe Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Activities get under way at 11 a.m. Calling contests will start at 10 a.m.

---

JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri Conservation Commission will hold its monthly meeting at Nov. 22 at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, five miles south of Mound City on Highway 159.

The meeting, which starts at 9 a.m., is open to the public. Anyone with business for the Commission should contact: Director, Department of Conservation, Box 180, Jefferson City, Mo., 65102-0180, or phone (314) 751-4115, at least 10 days prior to the meeting date.

Commissioners are Andy Dalton, Springfield, chairman; Jay Henges, St. Louis, vice-chairman; Jerry P. Combs, Kennett, Secretary; and John Powell, Rolla, member.

---

CAMDENTON Give an eagle a choice of several places to perch, and it will pick the highest spot every time. Southwest Electric Cooperative is using that fact to make an electric power substation near here safer for the big birds of prey.

Southwest Electric, headquartered in Bolivar, became concerned when it learned that eagles frequent neighborhood where it plans to build a new power substation. Co-op officials checked The Raptor Research Foundation in Provo, Utah for ideas about how to protect eagles and still supply the power needs of their customers.

"The foundation told us that eagles and other birds of prey prefer to use the highest perch in an area," said co-op Information Specialist Denelle Spear. "This gives them the best view of possible prey. It also makes it easier for them to catch wind currents."

Co-op officials know that poles for power distribution lines will be the tallest perches around their substation, so they will use poles five feet taller than normal.

This will allow them to place cross arms that hold cables four feet below the tops of the poles. Eagles will be able to perch on the poles safely, and co-op customers will get their electricity.