Habitat = Opportunity = Economic Activity

Caught my eye – 2014 week 50

December 14, 2014 By Tom Sadler

Here are some things that recently caught my eye (in no particular order.)

Clarity from Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer > I wanted to share something that happened to me.
John Fall talked about the therapy of fly fishing > I am now a firm believer in the therapeutic benefits of fly fishing
An interesting way to make a cooking fire pit > Tip from the Book: How to Dig a Dakota Fire Hole
Another good friend joined the AFFTA board > Two New Board Members Join AFFTA Board of Directors
What a sailor learned > A Sailor’s Perspective on the United States Army
A soldier pays tribute to the men he left behind > Story Corps: 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon
A wonderful tribute to a black lab named Duke > I Died Today.
Congress finally did something good for public lands (but a price..) > Sportsmen Applaud Historic Move to Conserve America’s Finest Habitat
Navy Beat Army for the 13th time in a row > How Many Times Does Navy Have to Win Before it’s Renamed the Navy-Army Game?
Great political satire on the immigration debate > Native American Council Offers Amnesty to 220 Million Undocumented Whites

The Duty to Act

November 23, 2014 By Tom Sadler

Below is a trailer to the film CO2LD WATERS.

You need to watch it.

As Thomas McGuane wrote in The Longest Silence, “if the trout are lost, smash the state.”

Fortunately, Todd Tanner of Conservation Hawks has started the process. In this new project he joins fly fishing notables Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, Steve Hemkens of Orvis and Tim Romano of Angling Trade in pointing out the consequences of ignoring global climate change.

If you don’t think climate change is problem, then you are just not paying attention.

Not sure what you can do about it? Share this video, add your voice and stay informed.

The Philosophy of Brook Trout

November 17, 2014 By Tom Sadler

If you have even a passing interest in brook trout then you will want to pick up a copy of Downstream by David L. O’Hara and Matthew T. Dickerson.

If we could explain why grown men are so fascinated with brook trout, or why we spend so much of our time waist-deep in their waters, soaked to the bone, shivering, and delighting in every encounter with a specked trout, we wouldn’t need to write stories. This book is the best answer we can give.”

So begins this excellent book that explores the nexus between brook trout, fly fishing and some of the more interesting locations these very special fish call home.

The authors switch off with narratives that reflect both their personalities and points of view. The joy in the book comes in how they share their experience of fishing for brookies and the insights they give to the importance of the habitat the brook trout occupy.

The only complaint I would lodge is that they did not include Virginia in their travels. It would have been wonderful to see my home waters through their eyes.

The authors explore not only the impacts wrought upon the brook trout’s habitat, they also share their experience as fisherman; the teaching, manners, politics and connections to home. Dickerson is quite adept and entertaining at sharing the conundrums many fly fisherman face.

At the beginning of the conclusion, O’Hara quotes Kathleen Dean Moore from Pine Island Paradox.

I believe that the most loving thing you can say to a person is “Look.” And the most loving stance is not a close embrace, but two people standing side by side, looking out together on the world. When people learn to look, they begin to see, really see. When they begin to see, they begin to care. And caring is the portal to the into the moral world.”

Then, in my favorite part of the book he delves into the question of why he fishes. No doubt the answer to why is going to be different for everyone; but he does a fine job of putting on paper something that I and many others can relate to, to know the world we live in and our own lives better.

Downstream delivers an excellent “look” that Moore describes and the reader will come away with a sense of having stood side by side with the authors as they share their sense of caring for these special fish and the places they live.

Water is my business

October 6, 2014 By Tom Sadler

As a fly fishing guide, a member of the board of directors of the America Fly Fishing Trade Association and president of the Massanutten Chapter of Trout Unlimited, I spend a lot of time thinking about water. The fact is, I make part of my living in water and without it much of what I hold dear would be lost.

Lately I have found myself drawn back into conversations about clean water and the need to protect it. EPA has a rule making underway and there are some who would like to undermine that effort. In looking around the inter webs recently, I came across an excellent report from Trout Unlimited. Rising to the Challenge shows just how important small, seasonal and headwater streams are and why they need to be protected.

TU shares a pretty simple equation (not unlike one you see often on this blog) and points out three things that make a healthy stream.

Cold, clean water
Habitat for juvenile fish to hide, and for big fish to grown and spawn
Sensible rules that protect streams from development

Pretty simple Venn diagram if you ask me.

The report shows “the connection between seasonal streams that may run dry at certain times of the year (i.e., “intermittent and ephemeral” streams) and historic trout and salmon habitat.”

There are maps for 14 states, including Virginia below:

Download the report and learn how you can make water your business too.

If you want to learn more about EPA’s rule making here is a link > http://www2.epa.gov/uswaters

Here is some information from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership > http://www.trcp.org/issues/wetlands/cleanwateract#.VDHMnr51qaF

Celebrating the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture

October 5, 2014 By Tom Sadler

One of the more enjoyable aspects of more than 30 years in the lobbying business is the chance to look back on the projects you took on, not because you were going to make a pile of money from it, but because deep down in your heart and soul you knew that it was important.

What became the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture is the one I am most proud to have been part of. It started, back more than 12 years ago, when a small group of us got together to sketch out a plan to protect, restore and enhance brook trout and their habitats across their historic native range.

Recently I had the honor to be invited to speak at the opening of the 10th Anniversary EBTJV partners meeting. I told them how the EBTJV came to get started and that the EBTJV was a success because of the courage, and in some cases arrogance, of the original steering committee. I have likened the EBTJV to the Rolling Stones (a tribute to the time Mick Jagger was confronted while relieving himself on the side of a gas station and said “We are the Rolling Stones, we piss anywhere.”) At the time, the National Fish Habitat Initiative, later known as the National Fish Habitat Partnership was just getting started. While the NFHI was a good idea, we were concerned that “process” might get in the way of progress. The folks managing the Action Plan wanted to build a program first. We wanted to put our time, money and energy into “on the ground” projects. And that was what we planned to do.

The steering committee shared an incredible, lifelong, visceral passion for the brook trout, did not feel compelled to color inside the lines and were willing to put regional and state boundaries behind them for the greater good of the brookie. We channeled that passion and went directly to the fish and game departments in the 17 states that encompassed the Eastern Brook Trout’s native range. We got buy-in to our ideas for the joint venture and, at a meeting a year later, the EBTJV became a reality.

At the time, the original co-conspirators could not have imagined how successful they would be. In the last 10 years the accomplishments are truly impressive.

The highlight of the meeting for me was receiving a gorgeous rendering of a brook trout, by the renowned artist James Prosek, in recognition of my “dedication to the EBTJV and its cause.”

This beautiful signed print now graces our living room and is a treasured gift from my friends at the EBTJV. I’ve nicknamed the brookie “Mick.”

10th Anniversary Meeting_Tom's Print — Nat Gillespie (L), “Mick”, me, Doug Besler (R) Photo credit Callie McMunigal

If you care about these iconic fish and what to learn more or even better lend a hand, then follow this link to the EBTJV website.

By the Book – Mentoring

August 3, 2014 By Tom Sadler

The MSU Fly Gals network is very near and dear to my heart, so when the god father of the group, Bill Taylor, asks for help I happily offer my assistance. In this case Bill asked if I would co-author a chapter in a book about mentoring. Bill wanted to include the Fly Gals program in the book because it has become a rather unique mentoring experience for the participants.

I am a leadership and mentoring geek so this was both and interesting and exciting assignment. I enlisted Kerryann Weaver, one of the early participant in the MSU Fly Gals program, to be the co-author. Kerry and I took a Socratic approach to our chapter and wrote it very conversationally. We hoped it would make for both entertaining and informative reading. Kerry not only contributed to our chapter, she handled all interaction with the editorial team, keeping our contribution to the book on track!

The American Fisheries Society published Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals, in July. Our chapter, Fly-Fishing for the Future: How the Michigan State University Fly Gals Are Mentoring Future Conservation Leaders is in the Leadership in Practice section.

Future of Fisheries contain 70 mentoring pieces from a vast array of fisheries professionals. The vignettes as they are called, offer a wide variety of personal “lessons learned” and insights into emerging challenges. The book is a handy reference tool to what has worked, creative problem solving and a look into the future.

From the AFS website:

Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals contains more than 70 short mentoring
vignettes on past experiences and visions for the future authored by many notable mentors from the fisheries field. The volume is intended to inspire and empower the next generation of fisheries professionals with advice from seasoned professionals by providing personal “lessons learned” and insights from the topics that most influenced their illustrious careers while also addressing the most urgent issues on the horizon for fisheries.

Like having a mentor on hand at the turn of a page, this book bridges a vital gap in our field by using the unique structure of mentoring vignettes to advise young fisheries professionals on how to achieve success as a fisheries professional and on what concepts will be relevant and important for the future of the fisheries profession.”

I am thrilled to have contributed to this project and look forward to reading and sharing the many other excellent insights in the book. If you are interested in fish, fishing and mentoring I think you will find this book a worthy addition to your bookshelf.