News of the latest in a string of COVID-19-related changes arrived in our mailbox the other day, on a postcard marked with “Postponement” in bold-faced type.
There was a painting of a pintail drake right above the word, and below it a notice that the “John & Vera Cooper Tribute Dedication & Celebration Event” originally scheduled for May 15th in Pierre would be held at a later, not-yet-determined date.
The coronavirus had struck again.
“At one point everybody was scratching their heads and wondering what we should do,” Cooper said when I called him a day or two after I received the postponement card. “And I said, ‘There’s no question what we should do. We’ve got to pay attention to the medical folks on this, what they’re saying, and we just can’t have it right now.’”
Cooper pays attention to the science and the scientists. and always has. For most of his 75 years, that attention has been focused on the science of wildlife management and the laws that protect fish, game, wetlands and assorted other public ground.
After a 23-year career as a federal game warden and multi-state law-enforcement supervisor for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Cooper served as state Game, Fish & Parks Department secretary for two governors over 12 years. Those were Republican governors — Janklow and Rounds — by the way, and Cooper is a Democrat.
In this deep-red state, he wisely re-registered independent. Still, everybody knew who he was. And he didn’t try to hide his centrist political style. He still doesn’t.
After retirement, Cooper continued his natural resource work as a senior policy adviser for Rounds on Missouri River issues. He served in a similar adviser’s role with the federal Bipartisan Policy Center on climate change and wildlife management. He was also named to the South Dakota GF&P Commission, a citizen’s policy board appointed by the governor. He eventually served as commission chairman.
And Cooper remains in demand as a public speaker and consultant on natural resources issues through affiliations with professional wildlife societies, private conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited and local sportsmen’s clubs.
He puts his money where his heart is, too, with generous donations to organizations committed to conserving the wild places and wild things he knows and loves.
Oh, he’s also one of the most accomplished anglers and hunters I know, and a blast to hang out with in wild places.
Cooper and I met 40 years ago when I was a relatively young reporter for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls focusing on wildlife, natural resources and outdoor recreation. He was supervising federal fish-and-wildlife law-enforcement programs out of Pierre, making a name for himself for his aggressive enforcement policies that helped tightened up adherence to the law at commercial goose-camp operations up and down the river.
The first story I remember doing with Cooper was a survey of crippled geese along the Missouri River east of Pierre near several busy commercial goose-hunting camps. I distinguished myself, and made an enduring first impression on Cooper, by breaking through the ice of a partially frozen creek near the river in, oh, about a 15-degree air temperature.
I went in not quite up to my crotch, which was fortunate. Because I didn’t go deeper, I was able to finish the assignment, walking stiff-legged like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz and closely watched by Cooper for signs of hypothermia. I think I earn some marks for grit if not necessarily for brains.
The survey that day would not only count geese that had been crippled by hunters, it would detect indicators of lead poisoning in ducks and geese caused by the ingestion of spent shotgun pellets. That was the beginning a string of stories I wrote on lead poisoning and the eventual effort to outlaw it for all waterfowl hunting in South Dakota and for all bird hunting on public land in the state. Many other stories with Cooper would follow.
A committed hunter and angler himself, Cooper is as well known for his bass and walleye fishing and duck hunting as he is for his professional wildlife work. All of that led to a project in his name up in McPherson County and the currently postponed tribute and celebration.
But let’s back up. The project in McPherson County isn’t just in his name. It’s in his wife’s name, too. Cooper wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Vera’s such a big part of everything I’ve done. She’s put up with so much over the years, with me working so many long days and running all over the place,” Cooper says. “And she’s been every bit as deep into this wildlife thing as I’ve been. She’s been my guiding light, really.”
It’s a light that continues to shine on a modest, comfortable home in Pierre, a grown daughter and a son, and pack of grandkids, with whom Cooper shares his outdoor loves. And that light will shine soon on a newly expanded state Game Production Area in McPherson County named in honor of John and Vera.
The Odessa GPA will be expanded to include even more wetlands and additional upland habitat through a cooperative project by Ducks Unlimited and the state Game, Fish & Parks Department, with the 29-90 Sportsmen’s Club in Sioux Falls kicking in for a rudimentary water-access point.
It’s a special project at a very special place to Cooper. He has hunted at Odessa. He has banded ducks there. And he has enforced hunting laws there. Like just about every other place he has worked or hunted or fished, Odessa produced lasting memories, including this one involving a sandhill crane hunter and a swan.
“I checked a guy there and ended up writing him a ticket. Looking back, maybe I basically should have just chewed him out, but he got a ticket that day,” Cooper says. “When I checked him, he had a crane permit, but he had killed a swan. I checked his license and said: ‘So, you think this is a crane?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but I’ve never seen one quite that color.’ And I said, ‘Well, the reason it’s a different color is it’s a swan.’ And he said, ‘Oh, come on!’ And I said, “Yup, sorry.’”
Other experiences at Odessa stand out, including some of the simple-yet-profound outdoors times precious to many of us.
“I’ve spent a lot of time there just sitting and eating my peanut-butter sandwich and looking out over the wetlands,” Cooper says. “It’s a beautiful place, and not just for the waterfowl but for shorebirds and all kinds of wildlife.”
Even better, it’s a public place that will be enhanced for wildlife and public use through the funding raised in honor of John and Vera Cooper. That will matter to future generations, especially to people of limited financial means.
“You know, I’m a public-ground guy and I want the individual who can’t afford to go to some big hunting club to always have a place to go,” Cooper said. “If you’ve got a small boat, you can get out into that place and hunt, or just take pictures or watch wildlife, whatever. But it can be a little tough to get in, with some access challenges. So that’s part of this whole deal, too, getting that improved access point.”
Like me, Cooper is always looking for new places and new ways to enter the outdoor world. That continues even as the coronavirus and related sheltering-in-place, social-distancing guidelines limit how we enjoy the outdoors.
At 75, Coop is well aware of his age-related increased vulnerability to a COVID infection. So, he is spending most of his time outdoors alone these days, but still spending time outdoors.
The virus and the restrictions aren’t stopping outdoor recreation across America. It must be done carefully, of course, and with mindful appreciation of social-distancing guidelines, personal sanitizing methods and whatever closures or restrictions are in place on public land.
But eventually, the limits will be expanded, and more normal recreation will return, probably bit by bit. Before too long, Mary and I will be getting a happier notice in the mail, telling us that the tribute banquet and fundraiser for John and Vera has been rescheduled, along with a dedication to come later on at the Odessa GPA itself.
I’m looking forward to both, although I hope the wetland visit comes before winter freeze-up. I’d hate to complicate the celebration by falling through the ice again.
