Conservation News

---

SCFF Conservation Committee Update July 2009
submitted by Dennis McVey

The conservation committee has been formed, and we are all available via email for comments, suggestions or offerings of assistance. Our new members are; Barry Burt, Michael Diciano, Dennis McVey, and Jim Tolonen. (See e-mail addresses at end of update).
We met for an initial overview May 27, at Sam Bishop's home, who provided some quite fine liquid refreshments, and discussed where we've been, what our purpose is, and what we hope to accomplish. Jim was nominated to be our chairman and has graciously accepted that position. His communication and organizational skills are excellent, and besides, he's reputed to be a pretty good fly fisherman.
Our second meeting took place at the Grange on Wednesday June 10th, and we were privileged to have past club presidents Kathy Powers, and John Cook, present to provide their insights and support.
We have adopted the following Mission Statement for the purpose of guiding our Conservation Committee efforts:

" To conserve, protect and restore local, state and national fisheries and related habitat through contribution, education and volunteer efforts, focused on the waters and fish of most importance to the SCFF membership."

We have reviewed prior allocations and new donation possibilities and our initial recommendations to the Board have been submitted and approved. We plan to reserve some of the budget for new programs or support of volunteer work, to be identified later in the year. We hope to leverage our budget (currently estimated to be approximately $3000), with some matching funds, from other organizations or possibly from members. The committee intends, wherever possible, to have a representative from the recipient organization attend a meeting. That way our Club members will hear from the awardees and know more about where their money is going.
We will be encouraging local volunteer work in addition to funds contributed, and may also partner with local schools or other organizations to facilitate this.
We will have a section in each newsletter, and a brief report at each meeting, to keep the members informed of our activities, and opportunities to participate.
There's lots of conservin' to do out there and we've got some great opporunities to pursue and make a difference.

Barry Burt, bfishin@aol.com,
Michael Diciano, diciano@sbcglobal.net,
Dennis McVey, denmc@att.net,
Jim Tolonen, jim.tolonen@me.com,