April/May2018 Archives - Outdoor Writers Association of America

Paddling for a profit: How to turn one trip into multiple stories

OWAA Developer — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 04:27:42 +0000

BY KRIS MILLGATE
It’s that time of year. If you haven’t already committed to attending OWAA’s annual conference, you are probably weighing the pros and expenses. But if you plan it right, OWAA’s annual conference can be a money-making opportunity you don’t want to miss.
Last year’s conference in Duluth, Minnesota, led me to multiple stories on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, making the trip not just valuable, but also profitable.
Here’s how I turned conference expenses into income-generating stories.
ONE: HOW THE STORY REACHED MY RADAR.
I attend my first SHOT Show in January 2017. Katie McKalip, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers communications director, invites me to a conservation dinner while at the world’s largest gun and ammunition trade show. The food is fabulous, as is the discussion on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and what’s at stake if the Minnesota watershed is mined.
TWO: I’M INTRIGUED BY THE STORY, BUT I’M SO FAR AWAY.
It’s March and I’m looking at almost $2,000 in expenses for OWAA 2017 conference in Duluth, Minnesota. I’m upside down on value before I arrive in June. Conferences must justify themselves in opportunity (work) or I don’t get to go.
Duluth is closer to Boundary Waters than my hometown of Idaho Falls, Idaho. If I’m going all that way, I might as well go a bit farther and touch, portage, paddle and fish the Boundary Waters. I report more strongly when I know the resource firsthand anyway.
THREE: NONE OF THE CONFERENCE TRIPS SUIT MY STORY NEEDS.
By April I can tell I’m going to have to grab this bull by the horns and create my own post-conference trip. Duluth conference trip coordinator Gene Shaw helps me connect with Boundary Waters outfitter Steve Piragis of Piragis Northwoods Company. He’s fighting the mine. So is his fly-fishing buddy, Reid Carron, who offers to come along so I can pick up a fly-fishing story in addition to the mining story.
Piragis knows the outlets I work with, including Field & Stream, so he knows I have legitimate assignment potential. He offers one day in his canoe at no charge as a media trip with lodging in his guest house the night before.
I also line up Lukas Leaf of Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. We met at that SHOT dinner in January. He’s in Duluth for the OWAA conference too. I interview him before I head to the Boundary Waters. I also pick up the other side of the story, the pro-mine side, during a conference panel discussion. A lot of heated statements erupt during panels. Don’t skip them.
FOUR: HOW TO GET FROM CONFERENCE TO MY STORY.
I don’t have a car in Duluth. I need one for the two-hour drive north and back to Duluth for my flight home. I mentored fellow OWAA member Emily Stone at the OWAA 2016 conference in Billings, Montana.
Emily’s a Midwesterner. Turns out, she’s going to conference in Duluth and she lives close enough to drive. Guided canoe trip in the Boundary Waters covered as media with additional expenses covered by me, her mentor? She’s in. My transportation is taken care of as long as I keep her gas tank, and her belly, full. I also happily answer any questions she has about the freelance life and the work I do.
FIVE: MAKING GOOD ON MY PROFITABLE CONFERENCE COMMITMENT WITH A STORY.
I don’t take advantage of my media status and I don’t expect handouts, not even from polite Midwesterners like Steve and Emily.
If I say I’m on assignment, I really am. Free media trips are great, but trips don’t pay my conference expenses or my mortgage. Stories do.
I turn multiple stories for print and video media outlets as soon I return from Minnesota. Gene knew I would. Steve and Reid knew I would. Emily knew I would. They kept their end of the deal. I keep mine. I write stories on fly-fishing for Sporting Classics and on mining, the original reason Boundary Waters sparked my interest, for Field & Stream.
SIX: HOW MY STORY KEEPS ON GIVING.
I wrote and sold three stories from my trip, but that is just the beginning.
I now have a personal connection with a natural resource that keeps surfacing in the news as the mining issue progresses. I’m ready to cover updates. I have established sources a convenient call away. I also have extra photos and video so I can offer new visuals every time I update the story.
As for Emily, she found a new angle for her weekly column during our trip. She also made two new friends. She lives much closer to Steve and Reid than I do and sees them more often than I do. And her book “Natural Connections” sells in Ely, Minnesota, our canoe trip launch city where she pitched a bookstore manager.
Moral of the story; Go to conference, request a mentee or be a mentor and put your own elbow grease into covering conference expenses by creating an assignment-worthy trip.
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OWAA member Kris Millgate is an outdoor journalist based in Idaho. See more of her work at www.tightlinemedia.com.

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A new point of view: GoPro cameras can capture new angles and stories

OWAA Developer — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 04:03:00 +0000

BY JOSEPH DITS
I am a three-eyed monster. But, somehow, people don’t flinch when I come close. That little box strapped to my forehead with the shiny round eye — the GoPro camera — doesn’t seem odd to them. I’ve gotten way more stares and questions about the big red mirror that I used to wear on my bike helmet.
The GoPro is so common, people barely glance at it. It’s also a sleek tool to tell narratives, beyond an extreme sports video. I’ve shot my share of those, providing video to go with my weekly adventure sports column in the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune: biking across the Mackinaw Bridge with other cyclists at sunrise; shooting down the luge run (one of only four in the United States) in Muskegon, Michigan; and whitewater rafting in Tennessee while at the OWAA conference in 2015.
But I’ve also used the GoPro to make a cute video of a middle school teacher’s after-school bike club where, as they rode drills and hit the riverside trails, you could overhear a kid say, “I wanna be in this (video)” and what every fitness teacher wants to hear: “I gave her a Pop-Tart.”
I also used the GoPro to capture emotions as hundreds of people lined the roads near Kalamazoo, Michigan, for a huge bike ride one week after five cyclists were killed by an allegedly doped-up driver.
I’ve documented thousands of cyclists who converge every Monday for the Slow Roll through Detroit’s streets of burned out homes and neighborhoods starting to come back to life. My footage showed the fun, tricked-out urban cruisers and the creeping carpet of cyclists who filled the streets. For narration, I also used the GoPro to record one of the ride’s organizers as he spoke. When doing this, I always get closer than usual to the person speaking, since the lens has such a wide angle.
The GoPro also has a great capacity for macro video. I’ve taken the GoPro down low for a tour of spring wildflowers at my feet, moving slowly enough to let it record clear video.
I used the GoPro to give a tour of a weeping beech tree, a bizarre, droopy cultivar at the University of Notre Dame. With the camera on my forehead, I ducked under its canopy to view decades of student graffiti on the trunk.
I shoot all my stuff, then take it back to photographers at the Tribune, who edit my footage and piece it together using the Apple software Final Cut Pro. They sometimes speed up my biking videos for effect. It makes for a wild — albeit sometimes dizzying — ride, but it’s also a quick way to show an entire trail. At the Tribune, we aim for videos under three minutes.
Tribune photographer Robert Franklin placed a GoPro camera on an egg timer to take a series of still photos, using the time lapse function, as football fans filled Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend as the sun set.
He laid the cheap egg timer flat, removed the timer’s faceplate and fixed the GoPro so that it panned across the stadium.
Franklin also took a cool still shot, looking up at a fully submerged kid in a swimming pool. Franklin stayed dry as he plunged the GoPro, in waterproof case with a monopod, and used his iPhone to snap the shutter.
For B-roll footage, Tribune photographer Michael Caterina advises shooting an extra four to five seconds of video after I’m satisfied with a shot. That adds a little buffer to be trimmed, just in case a part of the video is shaky or has an intrusive sound.
Our photo editor reminds me to always keep the lens clean for clearer shots. It’s hard to avoid the smudge of a finger when you’re out playing, reaching for buttons in the snow or stream.
I was glad when, on Chicago’s Bike the Drive with 30,000 cyclists on Lake Shore Drive, I still had the GoPro on my head as I rolled up to a lady with a little pup, Cocoa, in her basket. I shot as we rode and chatted. But neither she nor cute Cocoa was bashful of this three-eyed monster and I soon made them Facebook stars.
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Joseph Dits writes his weekly Outdoor Adventures column for the South Bend Tribune. South Bend, on Indiana’s border with Michigan, is just a couple of hours drive from this year’s OWAA conference in Fort Wayne. To see his columns and “Joe on the GoPro” videos, visit southbendtribune.com/outdooradventures.

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A special gathering in Fort Wayne awaits

OWAA Developer — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 03:33:53 +0000

The best proofreader I ever had was my mom.
Unfortunately for me, my mistakes weren’t noticed until she read them in the morning newspaper. Dad thought they should hire her.
Mom was an avid reader and especially enjoyed James Michener novels. She died early last year at 93. That’s how she wanted it worded in her obituary, that JoAnne E. Bloom died. No flowery phrases about passing through the pearly gates.
Straightforward. Simple.
One of the things she gave me, besides an appreciation for words, is a framed poster that lists various animal groupings. For example, a school of fish, a pride of lions.
There are 73 in all.
Although some are familiar terms (covey of quail, colony of ants), quite a few are ones I’d never heard of before. Consider these:
A crash of rhinoceroses.
A kindle of kittens.
A rafter of turkeys.
A game of whales.
A fall of woodcocks.
A skulk of foxes.
A dissimulation of birds.
A peep of chickens.
A business of ferrets.
A pitying of turtledoves.
A cete of badgers.
A congregation of plovers.
You get the idea. But were they real or made up? Not knowing how accurate some of the terms were, I searched the Internet and found a few other sources that provided similar lists. Mom’s poster seems accurate. So here are a few more:
An unkindness of ravens.
A tiding of magpies.
A sounder of swine.
A mustering of storks.
A bouquet of pheasants.
A clowder of cats.
A murmuration of starlings.
A smack of jellyfish.
A harras of horses.
A parliament of owls.
A descent of woodpeckers.
A siege of herons.
A bale of turtles.
A dule of doves.
A walk of snipe.
The purpose of this message (other than encouraging use of the proper term — ostentation — the next time you write about a group of peacocks) is to let you know about another special gathering.
It’s an OWAA conference, where outdoor communicators get together to learn and socialize.
In this, our organization’s 91st year, we’ll meet in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Conference coordinator Jessica Seitz and Tim Mead, our second vice president, have worked diligently at developing a first-rate program that includes timely newsmaker panels and craft improvement sessions designed to hone your communications skills.
Conference host Visit Fort Wayne is putting the final touches on a warm welcome, and there’s a wide variety of pre- and post-conference trips designed to meet your storytelling needs.
And proximity is the order of the day, with key event locations within a block of each other.
So, let’s get together and have a conference, or a mustering or a parliament, a flight, a bevy, a school, even a congregation. Whatever you want to call it, let’s just gather once more to learn and have fun.
__
Phil Bloom is the former communications director for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and former outdoors editor at the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

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New freelance resources

OWAA Developer — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 03:24:00 +0000

Freelancing is hard. There isn’t a week that goes by that at some point I don’t question the career choice. There’s pitches to send and invoices to collect. It’s a constant juggling act that more people are learning as staff jobs for outdoor writers, photographers, editors and videographers become scarcer.
OWAA wants to help. We recently launched a freelance resource center, thanks to the work of our membership services committee chaired by Colleen Miniuk-Sperry. Located in the members area of the website, you’ll find links to submissions guidelines for almost 50 paying publications. Check it out at https:// owaa.org/members-area/resources/ freelance-resource-listings/.We hope having that information in one place and easily accessible will save you time and also provide ideas for potential publications to pitch, whether you are freelancing full time or trying to supplement your income.
Our goal is to expand this resource center with other valuable information. We’ll keep you posted as we update it. In the meantime, as always, we want to hear from you.
What are you struggling with as an outdoor communicator? What skills do you need to learn or hone to be successful in your field? And what can we do to help?
I’d be remiss if, when talking about professional development, I didn’t throw out a final plug for our annual conference. We’re headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 2–4. In 2019 we’ll visit Little Rock, Arkansas, followed by Jay Peak, Vermont, in 2020. So mark your calendar. Whether you’re a freelancer or a full time staffer, conference offers a rare opportunity to connect with colleagues, hone your craft and find stories and assignments.
If you are worried about the cost, check out Kris Millgate’s story on page 6 about how she came away from conference with three stories for three different outlets. If you are running the freelance hustle, it’s an event you can’t afford to miss.
See you in Fort Wayne!
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Kelsey Dayton is the editor of Outdoors Unlimited. Reach her at editor@owaa.org.

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Innovative design meets European quality

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 20:01:31 +0000

BY INGRID NIEHAUS
The fact that we live in a time of enormous political and economic upheaval doesn’t alter the fact that now, more than ever, people are seeking ways to relieve stress and stay healthy in body, mind and spirit – and for OWAA members, the outdoors continues to be the answer.
At LOWA, we continue to stand behind our 100 percent, made-in-Europe promise to ensure that we deliver the highest levels of quality and performance for a variety of outdoor uses. LOWA Boots LLC, with headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, is a partnership with LOWA Sportschuhe GmbH, founded in 1923 and based in Jetzendorf, Germany. The U.S. branch of the company launched in 1996 and sells, markets and distributes a complete line of four-season outdoor footwear for hunting, hiking, backpacking and everyday use.
All LOWA boots are designed for specific outdoor activities. Take hunting for example. How many hunters have found themselves in the mountains, on a trail or crossing a field with the best that money can buy in guns and clothing, only to find that their day is ruined by footwear that does not fit, gets wet, slips on rocky terrain or just plain hurts? LOWA boots can prevent this scenario.
LOWA offers a wide variety of trail-worthy performance footwear with modern, go-anywhere, low-profile designs. Marketplace energy continues to come from sport-inspired shoes for do-it-in-a-day adventures, a category that LOWA leads by innovation with lightweight, flexible and long-lasting models.
LOWA builds boots under the European Union’s most stringent manufacturing, environmental and labor regulations. We put into practice what many other companies only pay lip service to: clean manufacturing, minimal waste and fair labor practices. From start to finish, LOWA footwear is 100 percent designed, sourced and handcrafted in LOWAowned European factories. LOWA is the only outdoor footwear manufacturer in the world to be granted ISO 9001 status for the highest-quality construction and process standards.
For more information, contact Ingrid Niehaus at 949-499-2225 or ingridniehauspr@gmail.com.

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Mirage Compass points in new direction

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:55:54 +0000

BY JERRY MCBRIDE
As Americans have grown physically larger and demanded more toys, kayak dimensions have generally expanded to match their appetites. The Hobie Compass accommodates those realities, yet takes a step back toward the original concept behind kayak fishing — simplicity.
Simplicity with a really nice seat and MirageDrive.
The new Hobie Mirage Compass matches the stand-up capabilities of much bulkier boats, but is far more athletic. At first glance, its sharp entry, low gunwales and angular lines disguise a 34-inch width, and the no-nonsense kayak hull weighs in at a svelte 70 pounds.
That kind of width typically condemns a paddle kayak to the slow lane. However, I had no problem hitting 5.5 mph despite the added weight of an H-Crate, four fishing rods, drink cooler, electronics battery and a typical load of fishing gear. Even more impressive, I managed 4.95 mph with a paddle. The lightweight boat has very impressive acceleration, right up to the point when the wide stern suddenly digs in around five knots.
For anglers, the speed and stability don’t come at the expense of stealth. Pedaling into a moderate 10-knot chop, the Compass hull generated little cockpit spray; fishing the flats, hull slap was virtually nonexistent, even with the significant stern weight of a Power-Pole Micro Anchor and loaded H-Crate lifting the bow slightly.
The Compass is offered with MirageDrive with Glide Technology. Standard amenities consist of two molded-in rod holders behind the seat, a molded deck cup holder, two recessed H-Track gear tracks and a single 8-inch Twist-and-Seal hatch forward of the seat.
Hobie’s designers settled on an optimal midlevel seat position. The mounting setup is interesting in its simplicity — two bungee cords lock the seat onto a raised pedestal, while two adjustable straps determine the seatback position.
The Compass is a welcome addition to the Hobie fleet. Quiet, lightweight, stable, fast — there’s always room in my garage for a kayak with those qualities. For more information visit https:// www.hobie.com/kayaks/mirage-compass/ or contact Katie Hand at khand@hobiecat.com.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:48:21 +0000

Nicole Atkins is an accomplished outdoor educator with more than 25 years of experience in the outdoors. After leaving a career in academia, she turned her attention to freelance writing and photography. She has a blog dedicated to raising awareness of conservation and the outdoors. She’s a regular contributor with several outdoor sites and a consultant on special educational projects. Galleries across the U.S. have featured her photography, and her blog has won two web awards. When she’s not working, she’s hiking or climbing a mountain, traversing a desert, or crawling through a canyon. There’s always another adventure waiting around the next corner.
Rachel Cooper is a freelance writer and author with extensive knowledge of Washington, D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic region. Her books include “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington, D.C.” and “Images of Rail: Union Station in Washington, DC.” Her third book, “Quiet Water Mid-Atlantic: AMC’s Canoe and Kayak Guide to the Best Ponds, Lakes and Easy Rivers,” will be published in 2018. Cooper has written thousands of travel-related articles for regional publications including About.com (now TripSavvy.com), Washingtonian, Montgomery Parks, ApartmentGuide. com, Conde Nast Traveler, Grandparents.com, Washington Parent and more. She especially enjoys outdoor recreation including hiking, biking, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and skiing. To learn more about her writing, visit http://rachelqcooper.com.
Dana Henricks is a freelance editor and writer living in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley of western Montana. She became a freelancer after working as an editor for a textbook publisher in Austin, Texas. Moving to Missoula, Montana, from Austin was a culture shock, and she came close to hightailing it back to Texas until she saw her first cow moose and calf. She evolved into a veritable mountain woman whose greatest passions are fly-fishing, hiking, kayaking, skiing, camping and building her cordwood cabin. In recent years, Henricks has copy edited and proofread numerous outdoor-related books, including Dave Whitlock’s “Artful Profiles of Trout, Char, and Salmon.” Combining her passion for the outdoors with her love of editing has been exquisite, and Henricks is determined to continue blending these two facets of her life.
Growing up in Lynchburg, Tennessee, allowed Ken McBroom many opportunities to go afield as a boy. He served in Operation Desert Storm, his wanderlust took him all over North America, including to Alaska and Canada. Married with two beautiful children, McBroom now calls Kentucky home. He is an avid hunter, angler and cook, and hopes, as an outdoor communicator, to share his adventures and help others pursue their outdoor dreams. McBroom has served as president of Hoosier Outdoor Writers and is owner, contributor, editor and designer of www.ramblingangler. com where you can see more of his adventures. He writes for Game and Fish, Midwest Outdoors, Heartland Outdoors, Tri-State Outdoors and has a cooking column called “Deliciously Outdoors” for Heartland Magazine.
Selene Muldowney is passionate about the outdoors, conservation and marine life. She has years of experience as a writer and marketing consultant which complements her current position as publisher of Scuba & H20 Adventures Magazine. Muldowney volunteers with a number of organizations including the Mt. Baker Council Boy Scouts, The Burned Children Recovery Foundation and the Washington Scuba Alliance.She believes in advocating for small businesses and is the co-founder of the Whidbey Island Small Business Association. She lives with her family on a farm on Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle, surrounded by an amazing assortment of animals.
Denise Semion’s computer and camera gave her opportunities to promote Michigan’s outdoors, including its wildlife, fisheries, woods and parks. Now retired, she worked as a communications specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for five years and as communications manager for the Huron-Clinton Metroparks for 15 years. Her experience includes developing news releases and brochures, social media and email marketing and creating website content and photography. When not in South Lyon or Roscommon, Michigan, she and OWAA member Bill Semion travel in their RV, writing a paid blog for Leisure Travel Vans. She is a member of Michigan Outdoor Writers Association.
Caroline Smith is a native Floridian and grew up on the water fishing, snorkeling and learning about conservation from her father. That love for the ocean evolved into a passion for marine education and capturing Florida’s beauty through her artwork. For the past nine years Smith has run a photography studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, and you can see her work at www. carolineevan.com. She is completing an undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida in environmental science and policy. In between traveling and running her business, she plans to continue telling environmental stories through photojournalism.
Mary West is a public information officer with CAL FIRE. She works for the Nevada Yuba Placer Unit in the foothills of Northern California. When not covering incidents for the unit, she hikes trails. Her bimonthly column “Day Hiker” appears in the Auburn Journal in Auburn, California. She has seen fire devastate a landscape and she tries to capture the ridgetops and canyons in their glory before they are gone and encourages others to do the same. West hikes the trails of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and their foothills with her husband Micah, sons Canyon and Ocean, their faithful dog Stella, and many friends.

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A new attitude toward managing fish

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:40:47 +0000

BY TED WILLIAMS
“Donald J. Trump believes there needs to be a Roosevelt Reboot … President Trump will instruct USFWS policy to use good science … Our Public Lands and water … will always remain public and open.”
The above is from the still active website http://www.sportsmenfortrump.com.
Now for some fact checking. Let’s limit it to what Trump has done for anglers in just his first year in office: revocation of the “stream protection rule” that prevented mining companies from using streams for waste disposal; revocation of the rule requiring mining companies to set aside money to clean up their toxic messes; revocation of the “Clean Water Rule” (all major streams will remain protected, but it will be perfectly fine to foul some of their tributaries); and revocation of the ban on oil drilling in ecologically sensitive offshore habitats.
Next up is the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Congress established a 200-mile limit, kicked out most of the foreign fishing fleet and gave commercial fishermen a “stake in their own future” with the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. It sounded so progressive, so Jeffersonian, so flexible. But somehow, assigning the job of regulating to those who required regulation didn’t work. It was as if Congress recruited grade schoolers to write their own curriculum. The result was day-long cookies and milk. So in 1996, Congress strengthened the act, outlawing overfishing.
A mantra from fishermen, both commercial and recreational, has been: “Don’t listen to the scientists; we see lots of fish in areas they claim are depleted. We depend on fish, so let us kill more now.”
That is precisely what recreational red snapper fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico told Trump’s Department of Commerce Director Wilbur Ross.
Accordingly, Ross directed the National Marine Fisheries Service to extend the federal recreational red snapper season, thereby delaying rebuilding the depleted stock by as much as six years and allowing Gulf anglers to exceed their annual catch limit by as much as 50 percent.
In internal memos — obtained during litigation by the Environmental Defense Fund and Ocean Conservancy — Commerce’s policy and planning director, Earl Comstock, advised Ross that not extending the season would be “devastating” to the sport-fishing industry and that, while the agency would take flak for unlawfully allowing overfishing, he shouldn’t fret because opponents couldn’t do much about it. Magnuson, Comstock noted, prevents temporary restraining orders “so your action would remain in effect for at least 45 days before a court could act.”
Fisheries activist Charles Witek, former chair of the Coastal Conservation Association’s Atlantic States Committee and former member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, responded: “It was a patently illegal action. … What it tells you is that you have an administration that places short-term economic gains over the long-term health of fish stocks, with really no regard for the science.”
Meanwhile, the summer flounder stock was in a seven-year nosedive. Accordingly the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council followed its legal mandate by cutting recreational and commercial catch limits, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission allocated the smaller recreational catch limit among the states. This meant that anglers in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut would have to live with a daily bag limit reduced from five to three fish and a size limit increased from 18 to 19 inches. This, said New Jersey anglers, would be impossible. And besides, the scientists had it all “wrong;” there were “lots of fish.”
The loudest opposition to scientific fisheries management invariably issues from New Jersey. And no voice there is shriller than that of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. While the alliance claims to represent anglers, there’s scarcely anyone involved who doesn’t profit from killing fish. The mandated catch reduction “will be a death blow to an industry already struggling under the burden of overregulation,” declared its director James Donofrio.
Claiming the needed reduction in summer flounder kill could be rendered merely by asking fishermen to voluntarily use bigger hooks and practice catch and release, the alliance and its allies prevailed on senators and representatives from New Jersey, who demanded Ross overrule the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Ross readily complied. Never before had one of the commission’s science-based decisions been nixed by a lay bureaucrat in Commerce. It was another gross violation of federal law.
“New Jersey essentially gave ASMFC the middle finger,” said John McMurray of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
Currently there’s a big push by dozens of me-first fishing interests to infuse Magnuson with “flexibility,” a euphemism for more dead fish on the dock. The Recreational Fishing Alliance, for example, defines Magnuson’s catch limits and accountability measures to prevent overfishing as the dirty work of “anti-fishing environmental groups who have lobbied against our efforts” and who control the minds of anglers “still drinking the KoolAid of the anti-fishing environmental groups.”
But the alliance has found new hope. In a recent press release it proclaims that “the days of the environmental zealots running the show are, for the most part, over,” and that it is “excited” about the Trump administration’s “new attitude towards fishery management.”
Circle of Chiefs articles are written by those who have received the Circle of Chiefs Award for conservation reporting and coverage. The Circle of Chiefs honorees are considered OWAA’s conservation council. The article reflects the opinion of the author. If you’d like to add to the discussion, please send a letter to the editor.
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Ted Williams serves as national chair of the Native Fish Coalition and writes the monthly “Recovery” column for The Nature Conservancy’s online magazine Cool Green Science.

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The politics of outdoor writing

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:33:16 +0000

BY PAT WRAY
We in the Circle of Chiefs write regularly in OU about threats: to our clean air and water, to our public lands, to our endangered species. My message concerns a far more immediate and deadly threat, the potential destruction of our free press, our First Amendment rights and ultimately, our democracy and way of life.
President Donald Trump has, for the last year, embarked on a near-continual attack on respected American press institutions, even as he fawns over those fringe outlets that shamelessly promote his message. He regularly denigrates The New York Times and Washington Post, two of the pillars of American journalism, and not coincidentally, two of our most effective watchdogs over political missteps — think Pentagon Papers and Watergate.
His attacks on the press are not the normal executive branch complaints about unfairness. No, implicit in his tweets and quotes are threats of government action. Here’s a quote from a discussion at the White House:
“It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.”
His tweets are even more unhinged. Here’s one from Oct. 11, 2017:
“Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”
Is there bias? Certainly. On both sides. Welcome to the world of human frailties. But anyone who knows anything about American history understands the absolute necessity of a free and unfettered Fourth Estate.
But now we have a president who doesn’t know or care anything about American history. He wants what he wants right now; historical implications do not matter, long-term consequences be damned. Members of the free press are not loyal. They are in his way. Therefore, the press is an “enemy of the people,” a description so fraught with tyranny and bloodshed it should never, ever be used by an American politician.
Were any one of those quotes read alone they would be considered unfortunate. Taken as a group, in the context of his unstable maunderings, they are terrifying. A continual litany of verbal attacks on the press by the president could easily mobilize a group of his most ardent supporters to attack a newspaper or broadcast outlet considered critical of him. Even more frightening is the possibility of his using governmental agencies to impose stricter controls on the outlets and to marginalize the leaders of those organizations.
If your response is, “It can’t happen here,” read again the president’s statements about the press. Then explore the actions by Vladimir Putin, the world leader Trump most admires, against the press in Russia over the past decade.
The threat against our free press by the present administration is real. Our only effective deterrent is the will of the people. And the people’s will is determined and strengthened by the knowledge they glean from the free press.
We in OWAA are outdoor journalists, true. Our interests lie in the natural world. But first and foremost we are journalists, and if political opinions are under attack, how long before our articles and columns about natural resource protection are labeled fake news? Our responsibility to the nation and to the tenets of democracy is no less important and no less solemn than that of political reporters from the most powerful newspapers and broadcast companies.
We must speak out against the pressure and threats and demonization of the press coming from the White House. I know political commentary is not part of your regular outdoor beat, but you need to find a way to make it part of your message. Your involvement could not be more critical. Because freedom of the press is not just about the press. It’s about freedom.

Circle of Chiefs articles are written by those who have received the Circle of Chiefs Award for conservation reporting and coverage. The Circle of Chiefs honorees are considered OWAA’s conservation council. The article reflects the opinion of the author. If you’d like to add to the discussion, please send a letter to the editor.
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Pat Wray is an award-winning writer and book author from Corvallis, Oregon. A former Marine helicopter pilot and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife information supervisor, he lives with his wife Debbie, about whom it has often been said, “What was she thinking?”

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A storied conservation legacy

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:27:16 +0000

BY PHIL BLOOM
During his only term as U.S. President, Benjamin Harrison signed legislation creating Yosemite National Park and set aside 17 million acres of Western lands as the first national forests.
William Steele Holman is credited with slipping key language into the Forest Reserve Act that gave Harrison and subsequent presidents the authority to establish those national forests.
Gene Stratton-Porter wrote 12 novels and seven nature books that were translated into 20 languages and had a peak readership of 50 million worldwide.
J. Maurice Thompson authored the seminal book on archery for hunting and co-founded the National Archery Association, which became the governing body of Olympic-style archery in the United States.
William Temple Hornaday was chief taxidermist for the Smithsonian Institution’s U.S. National Museum and a prolific writer whose work helped save the American bison.
Durward Allen left the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1954 to become a professor of wildlife ecology and natural resources at Purdue University, where he launched the study of wolf-moose interplay at Isle Royale National Park. The study continues today as the longest-running project of its kind in the world.
Although he was Scotland-born and Wisconsin-raised, John Muir came to Indianapolis in 1866 to work at a carriage materials factory. Temporarily blinded by an accident at that factory, Muir spent a recuperative period contemplating his future and decided to pursue his passion for the natural world. In 1868, he left Indianapolis for Florida … on foot. Extensive travels followed, and he became one of the world’s leading nature advocates and founder of the Sierra Club.
All these prominent champions of conservation and recreation have ties to Indiana. It’s a prolific list of people whose efforts still impact us today. You can see how the state’s long tradition of supporting the outdoors continues today, and you might find a story or two, when you visit Fort Wayne for conference.
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Phil Bloom is OWAA’s president and the local chair for the 2018 conference in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. For conference questions email him at philbloom.owaa@frontier. com.

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