Middle River Dispatches

A gumbo of fly-fishing, conservation, politics and days afield, for what it is worth....

  • Front Page
  • Fly Fishing
    • Fly Fish Virginia
    • Fly Fishing Instruction
    • Tenkara
    • Mossy Creek Fly Fishing
  • Conservation
    • The Roosevelt Mandate
      • The Roosevelt Mandate Articles
  • Politics
  • Antics
    • Why
    • Who is Tom Sadler
      • Biography of G. J. Thomas Sadler, Jr.
    • Contact Information
  • Campfire
    • Forum Rules
    • Forum Privacy Policy
  • Fine Print
    • Privacy Policy
      • Privacy and Unicorns
    • Terms of Use
    • Disclosures

The Value of Public Land

April 9, 2012 By Tom Sadler Leave a Comment

Two articles, each very different in their approach, recently tackled the subject of public lands. They caught my attention not only for the subject matter, but because of the important messages they contained.

Public lands are good for the soul

Hal Herring wrote a terrific piece in Field & Stream, How Public Land Has Shaped and Defined My Entire Life. He paints a written landscape of his lifelong experience hunting, fishing and wandering this nation’s unique and varied public lands. Well worth the read and perhaps, if the opportunity presents itself, you can assist Herring in his challenge to those folks running for public office to join us on and fighting for our public lands.

“Join us, and see what free people do on the lands that visionaries set aside for us all, long ago, so that we would never lose the basic frontiersman’s edge that made this country different from all the others, so that our children would grow up strong under heaven’s blue eye and learn the ways of wildlife and wild places, and learn what it is that we fight for, when we have to fight.

Join us. We’ll show you something that you’ll want to fight for, too.”

Who cares about public lands

The second article offers a look at the strengths and weaknesses of public land supporters, defenders and exploiters. Check out Public Lands Cage Fight on Truchacabra.

This is a no-holds-barred critique that will boil the blood of some folks. Of course there will be a bunch of bitching and moaning and trying to defend one group or another. That will just prove the author’s point. The critiques are spot on and those of us who fit in to the categories are well-advised to learn from these observations.

When all is said and done, if you enjoy the outdoors then you damn well need to set a good example or as the author notes in response to a comment, “It seems ideology is more important than anything these days. Anything can spin off the right track, and there are vultures waiting whenever it happens.”

So next time you feel like the other guy doesn’t care as much as you do, think again, then share the bounty, trail or river. If not, the vultures will waste no time in taking it away from us.

Filed Under: Conservation, Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Politics Tagged With: Conservation, Field & Stream, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Hal Herring, Hunting, outdoors, public land, Truchacabra

Creative Lobbying – Don’t Tell Them, Take Them!

October 18, 2011 By Tom Sadler Leave a Comment

As a career choice, lobbyist was not at the top of my list when I graduated from college. I really had planned to do something in the outdoors with smoke jumper and fishing guide topping the list. But fate is what it is and I wound up spending the bulk of my adult life in DC as a hired gun plying my trade in the various Gucci gulches of the U.S. Capitol.

You don’t do something for more than 30 years without becoming something of a student of the game and over the years I have seen, heard or read a number of example of good and bad advocacy techniques.

One of the best lobbyists I know...

The other day I came across an excellent examples of creative lobbying in this post, How to Win Through Chit Chat on the Trucacabra blog. It chronicles the author’s very effective lobbying techniques. I won’t spoil his thunder but will tell you he has hit on one of the best ways to engage our elected officials on conservation issues.

I know Washington, DC can be an exciting place to visit and all the hoopla of fly-in days and receptions can be quite alluring. My experience tells me the place to effectively engage our elected officials in where we live, work and play. Don’t tell them how important woods, water, wetlands or fields are. Take them there!

Filed Under: Conservation, Featured, Fishing, Politics Tagged With: Congress, Conservation, education, Fishing, Hunting, lobbying, Politics, Truchacabra

Dealing with PETA

October 6, 2011 By Tom Sadler 2 Comments

Ok so I am likely in the minority of my peer group.* I actually think PETA serves a purpose. They are the yeast that makes the bread of public discourse rise. Animal cruelty in any form is despicable and those who fight against it have my deep appreciation. A lot of what they care about I agree with.

No, I think their tactics and campaigns are whacky and damage the hell out of their credibility, but they take it the streets and are willing to do what they think they need to do to advance their cause. Good on them I say.

The PETA protest lunch special (Courtesy Ugly Bug Fly Shop)

Case in point. A couple of PETA people showed up in front of the Ugly Bug Fly Shop in Casper, Wyo. Yup, Casper. Wyoming. Pretty wild.

But the gang at Ugly Bug didn’t come out swinging. Nope, they joined in the fun and offered their own point of view.

Check out the photo album on the Ugly Bug’s Facebook page (click here). The Wonder Bar showed some great community spirit. Classic.

So when these folks show up at your local fly shop, don’t beat them, join them.

 

*I also may not be so alone in my view, Truchacabra posted a pretty compelling case for supporting PETA (click here).

Filed Under: Business, Conservation, Fishing Tagged With: beat them at their own game, community spirit, PETA, Truchacabra, Ugly Bug, Wonder Bar, wyoming

Join us around the Campfire

You can start a conversation or join one on our forum. I call it the campfire.

Article Sections

  • The Roosevelt Mandate Articles
  • Hot Takes & Second Hand Smoke
  • Fly Fish Virginia
  • Fly Fishing Instruction

Politics

Insurrection most foul

Gerson’s article, “The U.S. must punish sedition — or risk more of it” captures much of what is going through my mind at this moment.

The post-election political theater has jumped the shark.

BLUF: Time to starve the conspiracy whack jobs and Trump sycophants of oxygen.

The Threat to Democracy is Real

“We opposed Trump because we recognized that what he stood for is an existential threat to the American experiment in constitutional democracy.”

More Posts from this Category

Categories

No cheating!

Creative Commons License
Middle River Dispatches by Tom Sadler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Copyright © 2021 ·News Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in