Lily goes fishing
fly fishing, conservation and politics.
By Tom Sadler
Lily goes fishing
By Tom Sadler
Consider the cat.
Trapped in a box,
uncertain whether Schrodinger,
the only person who knows he is there,
is alive or dead.
h/t to Chris Stewart for sharing…
Cat modeling courtesy of Porter Sadler
By Tom Sadler
As you will see below, I have joined the Outdoor Writers Association of America as their new executive director. This is a very exciting opportunity for me, aligning both personal and professional interests and creating a chance to help this storied organization move forward.
OWAA’s mission “…is to improve the professional skills of our members, set the highest ethical and communications standards, encourage public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources, and be mentors for the next generation of professional outdoor communicators.”
I bet you can see why I am really looking forward to working for them.
Our headquarters is in Missoula, Mont. and while I will be traveling there often, will remain based here in Virginia.
OWAA is comprised of more than 800 individual outdoor communicators from the broad, modern spectrum of outdoor beats, from shooting to camping, fishing to kayaking, wildlife watching to backpacking. From these diverse backgrounds and disciplines, members gather beneath the OWAA banner to hone skills, share philosophies, develop profitable business strategies and network with peers, conservation policymakers and industry trendsetters.
Dispatches will continue but with a more random posting schedule. I will continue to beat the Habitat = Opportunity = Economic Activity drum, talk about tenkara, and share some insights into of life’s more entertaining moments.
Change is good and this is a good change!
OWAA taps Sadler as executive director
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Outdoor Writers Association of America announces the hiring of Tom Sadler as the organization’s executive director.
Sadler is a lifelong outdoorsman and has worked for years in both the conservation and outdoor recreation arenas. A former U.S. Navy Reserve officer and an avid angler and hunter, he lives in Verona, Va., in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Sadler replaces Robin Giner, who left OWAA at the end of 2012.
“OWAA is fortunate to find someone of Tom’s caliber to lead our organization into a demanding new era,” said Mark Taylor, OWAA president and outdoor writer for The Roanoke Times. “This era requires that we adapt to an ever-changing media landscape in order to best serve our existing membership and attract new members. Tom is more than equal to the task at hand.
“We had a number of excellent candidates, but Tom’s experience in the outdoor and conservation arenas — complemented by his vast professional network — best positions him to lead the OWAA,” continued Taylor. “I believe he will guide our group to new heights.”
Sadler owns and runs a consulting firm, The Middle River Group, where he focuses on advocating outdoor recreation and conservation. He launched the company in 2008 after moving to Verona from Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Sadler was the director of program development for the Trust for Public Land. He also served as the conservation director for the Izaak Walton League of America and was president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.
Sadler has worked as an outdoor columnist for the New Virginian in Waynesboro and writes about the outdoors and conservation on his blog, Dispatches from Middle River (middleriverdispatch.com). He also works occasionally as a fly-fishing guide for Mossy Creek Fly Fishing in Harrisonburg, Va.
Sadler serves on the boards of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association and the National Fisheries Friends Partnership. He also is a member of the steering committee of the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, a National Fish Habitat Partnership.
“My passion for the outdoors and conservation are exceeded only by my desire to share those passions with others,” Sadler said.
“OWAA members are the best communicators of those passions. To be able to help OWAA do more of that by growing the membership, increasing our supporter base and helping our members and supporters become successful is really an exciting opportunity.”
OWAA is The Voice of the Outdoors®. The Outdoor Writers Association of America is the oldest and largest association of professional outdoor communicators in the United States. It was organized in 1927 by members of the Izaak Walton League of America and includes professional communicators dedicated to sharing the outdoor experience. OWAA’s professionals include writers, photographers, outdoors radio- and television-show hosts, book authors, videographers, lecturers and artists. The association is headquartered in Missoula, Mont. For more information, contact Outdoor Writers Association of America, 615 Oak St., Ste. 201, Missoula, Mont. 59801; 406-728-7434, info@owaa.org; www.owaa.org. [LINK]
By Tom Sadler
The folks at K9 Veterans Day are hoping to have March 13th recognized as national K9 Veterans Day. I think this is a great idea. We don’t need to wait for Congress to make it happen. Let’s honor our K9 vets and their handlers on March 13th from now on.
From the K9 Veterans Day web site:
March 13, 1942 is the official birthday of the United States K9 Corps, and so it seems only right to annually honor their service on that date. They served to save, and they deserve to be remembered.
There are no membership fees required for you to join us in this honorable undertaking, and we are not asking you to raise money for us. You see, just like those whom we seek to honor, who never asked for anything but love, we only seek your heart felt desire to help, and to be a voice for those deserving Veterans who have no voice.
Thanks Joe White for getting this started, rest peacefully. Thanks Sally for keeping this idea alive!
By Tom Sadler
This quote sits under the plexiglass on my desk and I read it pretty much every day. Seems a fitting way to start the new year.
“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”
-Edward Abbey from a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title “Joy, Shipmates, Joy.”
For those of you who have been slogging it out in the trenches, fighting the good fight for conservation and our public lands, you know the fight is only going to get tougher this year. Heed Abbey words from time to time and ramble out yonder!
By Tom Sadler
Another trip around the sun and this one was both fun and exciting. Here are a few of my favorite moments.
Started 2012 by spending New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with a couple of newlyweds who had surprised us the day before by asking us to witness their marriage.
Added Lily to the family.
Caught a few fish…
Got to guide with a great bunch of guys!
We welcomed a grand child, Townes, to the family.
And spent another great year with my favorite person…