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partnerships

Roadless Rule gets a “time-out”

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The folks at TRCP have some good news from the Department of Agriculture!

Here is the Press Release:

Administration Takes Action to Safeguard Roadless Areas

Directive issued today defers backcountry management decisions to the secretary of Agriculture, helps conserve important fish and wildlife habitat and sustain outdoor traditions

WASHINGTON – A decision today by the Obama administration to issue a “timeout” on development of inventoried roadless areas was lauded by prominent outdoor-oriented groups that support responsible backcountry management and the exceptional sporting and recreational opportunities provided by these public lands. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor Industry Association and Izaak Walton League of America support the move by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to issue a directive requiring high-level review of proposed backcountry development until permanent rules for these areas’ management can be resolved.

“We’re pleased that the administration has elected to undertake this action and affirm its support of responsible management of inventoried roadless areas,” said Joel Webster, TRCP associate director of campaigns, “and we look forward to working with Secretary Vilsack and the Department of Agriculture in ensuring that America’s outdoor traditions, including hunting and angling, are sustained by conserving these important backcountry public lands.”

Today’s memorandum from the Agriculture Department establishes the secretary’s “decision-making authority over the construction and reconstruction of roads and the cutting, sale or removal of timber in inventoried roadless areas on certain lands administered by the Forest Service.”

“Every American who appreciates and enjoys the vast range of amenities provided by our nation’s outdoors has reason to support today’s decision by the administration,” said Thomas O’Keefe, Pacific Northwest stewardship director for American Whitewater and OA roadless campaign director. “Whether they are climbers, hikers, backcountry skiers, mountain bikers or paddlers, outdoor recreationists agree that our national forest roadless areas play a crucial role in enabling and upholding our country’s outdoor traditions.”

Close to 60 million acres of roadless areas are encompassed within America’s national forests and grasslands. A series of conflicting court decisions regarding the 2001 roadless rule have left management of these areas unsettled for years. Many outdoors-oriented groups support national legislation that conserves America’s backcountry lands and the fish and wildlife, sporting and recreational resources they sustain.

“Thanks to decisive leadership by Secretary Vilsack, sportsmen and other outdoor recreationists can look forward to our continued ability to enjoy the irreplaceable fish and wildlife habitat and high-quality outdoor experiences facilitated by backcountry areas,” said Kevin Proescholdt, IWLA director of wilderness and public lands and member of the TRCP’s Roadless Initiative Working Group, “and we stand ready to assist the secretary in working to conserve these public lands into the long-term future.”

The secretary’s announcement also has implications for roadless areas located in Colorado, where the state has been engaged in developing a plan for their management. Specific projects proposed in Colorado roadless areas will be subject to secretarial-level review under the new directive because the Colorado roadless rule has not been completed.

“Today’s decision by the administration means that hastily finalizing the Colorado roadless rule won’t be in keeping with the way the rest of the national forests are being managed across the United States,” said Amy Roberts, OIA vice president of government affairs. “Responsible management of Colorado’s roadless areas will help maintain the billions of dollars annually generated by active outdoor recreation in this country. In today’s troubled economy, Americans are relying on sustainable forms of revenue like these more than ever.”

“Ultimately, America’s roadless areas are essential in supporting the range of public-lands outdoor traditions that form the bedrock of our national identity,” Webster concluded. “Every citizen has reason to applaud this reasonable and prescient move by the administration to guarantee that this unique identity will endure.”

RBFF Promotes National Fishing & Boating Week with Online Movement to Get Families Outside

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Here is some interesting news from the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation.

New Interactive Online Game Offers Chance to Win New Boat, Motor & Trailer.

ALEXANDRIA, VA (May 28, 2009) – There are tens of thousands of places to boat and fish in the U.S. – and for the 30th Anniversary of National Fishing & Boating Week (June 6-14), the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) is launching an online movement that encourages kids and their families to find one. RBFF is asking boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels to visit TakeMeFishing.org where they can learn, plan and equip themselves for a day on the water, find free fishing days and locate events in their area. Site visitors may also be eligible to win daily prizes and a brand new boat, motor and trailer when they play the new interactive game, “Catch A Boat.”

Since its 2005 reauthorization, RBFF has introduced more than 500,000 youth and newcomers to boating and fishing while raising more than $6 million for state conservation efforts. Beginning with National Fishing & Boating Week, RBFF is hoping to see families across the country get involved.

“I can give anyone three good reasons to go boating and fishing this summer,” said RBFF President & CEO Frank Peterson. “First, new research shows fishing is the number one gateway activity to get people interested in other outdoor activities. Second, it’s affordable and local at a time when many families are considering skipping their summer vacations all together. And third, participation in boating and fishing helps protect our nation’s waterways and fisheries, preserving them for future generations.”

To further encourage boating and fishing in 2009, RBFF has designed an interactive online game that lets TakeMeFishing.org visitors virtually “fish” for a chance to win a boat. Participants may be eligible to win daily prizes from one of RBFF’s sponsors – Dick’s Sporting Goods, Humminbird, Plano, Rapala, Simms, West Marine and Zebco – or the grand prize of a Triumph boat with an Evinrude motor and EZ Loader trailer. The Catch A Boat contest will go live at 12 p.m. CT on June 4, 2009, and run for seven weeks through boating and fishing season. For Official Rules and eligibility information, visit TakeMeFishing.org.

Catch A Boat is the latest online initiative from RBFF, which successfully re-launched its Take Me Fishing™ campaign Web site in April 2008. In its first year online, TakeMeFishing.org received 2.4 million unique visitors – up 129 percent from 2008 and 243 percent from 2007. RBFF also recruited more than 6,900 boaters and anglers to join its social network, Fishington – The Fishing & Boating Capital of the Internet – which debuted seven months ago and was recognized as an Official Webby Honoree in April 2009.

“Catch A Boat is designed to help RBFF meet multiple goals including increased traffic to our Web site and a boost in the number of Anglers’ Legacy Ambassadors and Discover Boating DVD requests,” added Peterson. “We hope our stakeholders will leverage the national Take Me Fishing campaign, which is now in full swing, to help inspire participation among their members and customers.”

National Fishing & Boating Week began as National Fishing Week in 1979 when industry and conservation leaders, state natural resource agencies and anglers organized a unified effort to introduce more young people to the sport and outdoor conservation. In 2001, responsibility for the week was handed off to RBFF.

National Fishing & Boating Week videos and images are available online.

About RBFF
RBFF is a nonprofit organization established in 1998 to increase participation in recreational angling and boating. RBFF helps people discover, share and protect the legacy of boating and fishing through national outreach programs including the Take Me Fishing™ campaign and Anglers’ Legacy™.

The Jim Range National Casting Call

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On Monday I was in Washington, D.C. to participate in the Jim Range National Casting Call. I also had the privilege that evening to be the Master of Ceremonies at the event celebrating the life and conservation legacy of Jim Range, my dear friend who tragically died in January from cancer.

This was the ninth year that the American Fly Fishing Trade Association had gathered on the banks of the Potomac river to celebrate fly-fishing and an aquatic habitat success story, the return of prolific runs of American and Hickory shad to the Potomac river.

This was a special year for those of us who, under Range’s leadership, started the Casting Call. AFFTA’s board of directors, after conferring with the Range family and his friends, decided to rename the event in Range’s honor.

Jim Range was a widely recognized conservation visionary who represented AFFTA in Washington. He was a hero to many in the hunting, fishing and conservation community.

I wrote in this column at the time of his death that he was like a brother to me. The best man in my wedding, a hunting and fishing partner of many years, and the voice on the other end of the phone keeping me strong when trouble came. I still feel that way today and know many more who do as well.

Range saw the Casting Call and its venue, Fletcher’s boathouse on the Potomac, as the perfect opportunity for the fly-fishing industry to educate members of congress and administration officials on the important nexus between conservation and economic activity.

He knew as well that the partnership efforts that had gone into restoring shad to the Potomac were a model that could be replicated across the nation.

“The Jim Range National Casting Call gives us a chance to get government decision-makers on the Potomac to see and experience the aquatic resource we all cherish,” said Alan Gnann, Chairman of the Board of AFFTA. “It was our friend Jim who showed us that this was the best way to communicate the importance of aquatic habitat and fisheries and we will continue this tradition in his name and his honor.”

Around the time of the first casting call, the federally chartered Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, of which Range was a member, recommended that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service develop a partnership effort similar to the successful North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

This effort, endorsed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and supported by numerous conservation organization and federal agencies became the National Fish Habitat Action Plan.

The Action Plan is a science-based voluntary effort to address the challenges facing aquatic habitat and our nation’s fisheries. There are six regional partnerships, including the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture that works here in the Valley.

Range saw the newly created National Fish Habitat Action Plan as an exceptional example of how partnerships like the one that had helped the shad could be replicated across the country. He saw the National Casting Call as a great opportunity to showcase success.

“The National Fish Habitat Action Plan’s approach – teaming federal, state and local partners – is helping to bring fishable waters back to life in a faster more strategic way. We can see real progress in treating the causes of fish habitat decline, not just the symptoms,” said Kelly Hepler, Chairman, National Fish Habitat Action Plan. “The Jim Range National Casting Call gives NFHAP the opportunity to spotlight 10 specific projects that display on the ground work that can be held high as a vision of what quality habitat should be.”

The Action Plan’s 10 “Waters to Watch” was started in 2007. It highlights examples of aquatic habitat conservation efforts of the National Fish Habitat Partnerships. In addition the NFHAP board presents two group awards and two individual awards including newly renamed Jim Range Conservation Vision Award, given this year to world- renowned conservationist Yvon Chouinard, the founder of outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia Inc.

Jim Range was deeply missed at this year’s Casting Call, but his name and legacy live on in tribute to his memory.

You can read more of my columns at News Virginian.com

New Web site promotes recruitment and retention of hunters

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Here is the Wildlife Management Institute’s announcement:

The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) announced the launch of a new Website dedicated to sustaining and enhancing North America’s hunting heritage.  The Website, www.huntingheritage.org, will serve as a clearinghouse for information, programs and contacts related to programs that advance safe and ethical recreational hunting.  The Website was premiered at the 74th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference last month in Arlington, Virginia.

The Website currently hosts the Recruitment and Retention Assessment Survey Report.  This report was designed and prepared by WMI in cooperation with D.J. Case & Associates.  It provides the most comprehensive assessment of current efforts by all 50 states and 19 conservation organizations to recruit and retain hunters nationwide.  In addition, the Website provides a real-time compilation of recruitment and retention program details.  State agencies and conservation organizations are encouraged to share their program details with colleagues from other agencies and organizations.  WMI and D.J. Case & Associates expect a summer release of a companion report about hunting-access programs for each of the state and federal resource and land management agencies.

The above efforts form a basis for the Hunting Heritage Action Plan (Action Plan).  The Action Plan was conceived by the Hunting Heritage Steering Committee.  It will entail assessment, analysis and strategies to enhance hunting by examining seven programmatic areas: the role that hunting and hunters in conservation; conservation education; hunter recruitment and retention; social and economic impacts of hunting; political and legal obstacles and opportunities; outreach; and a funding plan to address gaps in program coverage.

The Action Plan was modeled after the successful North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP), which was developed to counter declining waterfowl numbers.  Just as NAWMP became a rallying mechanism for wetland and waterfowl enthusiasts in the mid-1980s, the Action Plan will provide comprehensive information for the determination of national strategies, objectives and priorities to counter declining hunter numbers.  Individuals, agencies, organizations and industry are encouraged to provide support for this important effort.The Website and Action Plan were partially funded by the Multistate Conservation Grant Program and the Wildlife Restoration Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The launch of www.huntingheritage.org provides the information system that will drive future efforts to sustain our hunting heritage,” remarked WMI President Steve Williams.  “WMI would like to thank the federal and state agency and conservation organization contacts who helped compile this critical information.   Thanks also are due Bob Byrne, Jon Marshall and other D.J. Case & Associates staff who developed the informative Website. The success of efforts to advance hunting through effective hunter recruitment and retention requires comprehensive and accurate baseline information.   WMI encourages agencies, organizations and individuals to update and utilize the Website.”

Teaching our kids to fish

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Two weeks ago, I had a chance to spend some time at the Western Virginia Sports Show. Mark Hanger, the producer and owner of the show impressed me with his commitment to conservation and getting families interested in the great outdoors.

When I caught up with Hanger at the show I asked him how the attendance was. He told me it was better than they expected given the economy, then he made an interesting observation.

“The only thing we can point to is they want to be happy for a while, they don’t want to hear any bad news. They want to be enlightened, entertained and come out and spend some time with their family at a reasonable cost and have some good entertainment,” he said.

In his show brochure Hanger said “on your next trip, take a young person with you and teach them to love, respect and enjoy God’s great outdoors.”

I asked him about getting kids into the outdoors.

“There is no doubt about it that that is the most important because it is our future. If we don’t get children in the outdoors, then our sports are going to diminish and be gone forever,” he said.

Hanger pointed out a number of educational elements at the show including the Bucks, Bows and Does, Outdoor Adventure archery education trailer and the show’s wild game display.

A great example of getting kids engaged in the outdoors was the Orange County High School Anglers Club. They are a 4-H and Junior B.A.S.S. Federation Nation club.

The club is made up of students ages 11 to 19 who love to bass fish competitively.

I spoke with Becky Gore, the club’s advisor. Gore is a teacher and a former coach. She is the power house behind the club and a joy to talk with. If every school in the Valley can find a Becky Gore, then fishing will have a very bright future.

Gore told me how she got the club started.

“In 1999, about ten years after my husband had died, I had just gotten my kids in college. I decided I wanted to start fishing again, so I went to the high school principal and said I would like to start a fishing club and she said ‘sure, go for it,’ ” Gore said. “We have three entities, we were first 4-H and the high school together, and then the B.A.S.S. Federation found out about me and they were trying to implement a youth program in Virginia. They called me up and asked me if would I be interested. I asked what they could do for my kids. They said they could advance to a world level. I said ‘Sure, let’s do it.’ Plus, they mentioned the word scholarship and I jumped on it.”

Gore told me what other high schools could do to get do to get the program started. She ticked these items.

“You’ve got to have someone who loves kids and loves being with kids and is willing to do it without getting compensated,” she said. “You’ve got to have some kids that are interested. Once those kids approach that principal and say ‘We want a bass club,’ then that principal may go out or tell those kids, ‘Well, you find a sponsor and then we will do it.’ ”

Gore told me the kids can receive their high school letter if they meet the criteria. She has developed that criteria and told me that all another coach or teacher needs to do is contact her and she would be happy to share it with them.

“And that is the other cool thing about this, it’s parents and kids working together,” she said. “And the other thing I have tried to do is give the kids an opportunity to be with their parents. Be with their dads or moms out on the water on a Saturday or Sunday.”

Gore credits the parents, students and her volunteers for making the program a success. She considers them all family.

Nothing is more important for the future of hunting and fishing than helping the next generation learn about the sports we love. Let’s all do a little more where we can.