In Memorium: Jay Tirpak 1949-2009

Longtime RGS member and Twin Cities Banquet Committee leader, Jay died of a heart attack Sunday May 17 at his home in Golden Valley. He was 60. He led firearms safety classes, shotgun and rifle clinics, and courses on hunting and fishing as a member of the Ruffed Grouse Society and Woodcock Minnesota. He was secretary, treasurer, board member and president of Turn In Poachers, a nonprofit organization composed of conservationists that provides rewards to callers who provide information that leads to arrests. He was active with many DNR policy groups including lead shot in the uplands and simplifying deer hunting regulations. He was a member of MOHA and helped lobby for the Legacy Act to dedicate funds to the outdoors. With BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) he taught fishing, Firearm Safety, shotgun and rifle shooting for beginners, led ruffed grouse hunts, taught game tracking, and game and fish cooking.

New RGS Regional Director

Please welome David "Swede" Johnson, a lifelong resident of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, who has been hired as a Regional Director for the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) to replace Steve Gadow.  Johnson will be responsible for coordinating RGS’ on-the-ground conservation efforts and fundraising activities with chapters across Illinois, Iowa, parts of Minnesota, the Far Western UP of MI, and Wisconsin. In addition, he will be working with other conservation organizations and public agencies on regional habitat restoration projects. 

 A former restauranteur with a thirty year career in the hospitality industry, Johnson is an avid outdoorsman with more than 30 years of volunteer service to various wildlife organizations. For the past ten years he has also worked as a grouse/woodcock guide, as well as volunteering as a huntsman at the RGS National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt in Minnesota.  An active member of the Superior Chapter in Ironwood, MI for over twenty years, Johnson specializes in grassroots fundraising, special events and committee development. He has been the Superior Chapter’s banquet chairman for the past fifteen years.
 
"Dave is the newest addition to the Ruffed Grouse Society’s team of regional directors, and we're very excited and proud to have him aboard. He is a Michigan native with a real passion for upland bird hunting and understands the relationship between the birds we enjoy hunting and the restoration of habitat grouse and woodcock, as well as other young-forest wildlife, need for survival. As a longtime Ruffed Grouse Society volunteer he brings invaluable experience to our organization," said RGS Executive Director and CEO Mike Zagata. Dave can be reached at uptrek@gmail.com .