Steelhead Newsletter August 2017

The Board and Chapter Presidents, along with chapter delegates, recently met at the brand new Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offices in Ridgefield Washington. The facility is new and we were fortunate to be the first group to use it. The meeting began with Brannan Hersh presenting the financial reports which showed that the organization is on sound financial footing and has opportunities to grow and improve.

Legislative Review - Bob Oleson, the ANWS's governmental affairs consultant report has been very good for maintaining our policy influence with the State Legislature. Key bills and improvements were reviewed and Bob has done a great job of keeping our issues in the forefront of the key leaders. One improvement was the selling of $10M bonds for hatchery improvements, this wonderful opportunity was the direct result of Bob partnerships with political decision makers. Bob has done great work on building coalitions to makes these types of improvements with other fish related organizations.

Executive Director Report - Bob Rees, ED provided a report including grants, activities and administration. He has secured several grants with National Wildlife Federation to work on a wide range of issues from State of Oregon Fish and Wildlife funding strategies, renewable fuels, forage fish, and MSA reauthorization.

In good news for funding, he secured an Alaska Trip for the return of our trip raffle. Look forward in the future on how this trip will also be incorporated into a membership drive.

This is in addition of meeting with Clackacraft Boats and securing a new drift boat for a boat raffle. The Chapters members will be encouraged to sell both Alaska trip and boat raffle tickets.

Annual Budget - Brannan Hersh, Treasurer presented the 2016-20178 financial reports and annual budget. The fiscal outlook is very good with income from grants, memberships and fundraising made for a positive net income. There are remaining funds for several of the grants that will carry forward into the next budget cycle and it will be important to continue to increase membership numbers and maintain fundraising levels for the HOF, SHOT and Quest. The Board approved next year's budget. Brannan Hersh and Leslie Hinea, Association Office Manager did excellent work developing the financial reports and next year's' budget.

Brannan made a recommendation to have an audit conducted for the Association financial records within the next fiscal year. The Board approved having an audit completed on the Association's financial records.

Membership Database Upgrade - Aaron Bento, Communications Director presented the proposal for a new database management system for managing our membership process. He did extensive research and reviewed numerous systems. He made a recommendation for purchase a database from Salsa Labs with a support contract. The Board approved the purchase of the new system. The database system will be an improved tool for both the Association and Chapters to track and retain membership records. It will take a few months to get the system up and running.

Bylaws Changes - Based on two recent reviews of the Association's administrative and operations by University of Oregon and NWF's contractor - McKinnon Group, it was recommended the Bylaws be revised to remove the required step of delegates approving bylaws changes. This process needed to be streamlined as it would only allow Bylaws changes at the annual meeting. The Board and Chapter Presidents with their delegates approved these change to the Bylaws.

Strategic Planning and Vision Process - Tom VanderPlaat, Membership Director presented the review of the strategic elements based on the Board retreat and follow up input from Board and Chapter Presidents. The plan will be further revised and refined to help with providing near and long term goals.

Other News - Hall of Fame is November 11 at the Wilsonville Holiday Inn. Please mark your calendar as it will be a fun event and we need to secure sponsors and auction items. As this is Veteran's Day, it is important that during the event we recognize this day and their service to our Country.

Board elections - The nomination committee presented a ballot for the Board Positions. The ballots were presented and voting completed. Here are the results of the voting:

2017- 2018 Board of Directors

President - Tom VanderPlaat
Vice President - Ty Campsey
Secretary - Mark Hutchinson
Treasurer - Brannan Hersh
Diversity and Inclusion - Aaron Bento
Membership - Norm Ritchie
Education - Mike Myrick
Communications - Aaron Sewall
River rights - Art Israelson
OR Governmental Affairs - Trey Carskadon
Regional Directors - Tim Wilson, Bill Hedlund

The following Board Positions are vacant:

VP of Conservation,
Watershed,
Development,
WA Governmental affairs.

What's Fishing?

There are still some sunny days of summer left, and what better way to spend them than on a lake or river. Chapters meetings are generally on hiatus, so get out there and create some tales to share with friends in September!

Enhance Our Fisheries!

SOLV Willamette River Cleanup, Glenn Otto Park, Saturday, Sept. 9, 9:00 a.m.

Mcloughlin Chapter members will join SOLV volunteers to help clean up the Willamette River. All are welcome to join.

Contact Carol Clark, 503-632-6974, to add your name to the list. We hope to see you there!

The Clackamas Drifter

Tualatin Valley Chapter Drift Boat Training

By Aaron Bento, Diversity Director


	A Steelheader is always happier on the water

As a newer sport angler, one of the benefits of belonging to the Steelheaders is getting to know and learning from all the knowledgeable anglers who are passionate about fish and the opportunity to catch them. This passion naturally motivates Steelheaders to not only talk about the fishing and catching they are doing, but also to put themselves out there and to give back some of that knowledge to those who are eager to learn. This motivation is exemplified by all the workshops, clinics, fish-alongs, and family fishing events that the various chapters all set up. The goal of these to get the next group of people interested and motivated to fish, and to CATCH!

On Saturday June 24, I attended the annual Drift Boat Training class put on by the Tualatin Valley Chapter. This free event is jam-packed with useful tips and lessons, and is aimed at the new drift boat owner, someone who is thinking about getting a drift boat, or just someone who wants to feel comfortable rowing a stretch of a river on a friend's boat.

The day started out at Riverside Park on the Clackamas with a presentation on Water Safety and proper use of PFDs by Kennith Babick from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. There were a lot of important tips to ensure you are safe if something goes wrong on the water.

Afterward, we watched a mini-drift boat make its way through an obstacle laden "river" in the parking lot. This really allowed those of us who are visual learners to see how to approach rocks, islands, and bends, as well as introducing the problems that can occur if you don't approach them correctly. It was really emphasized how sometimes the correct action, such as pointing your bow at danger, isn't always intuitive.

Then it was assignment time, and we were quickly off to our put-in at the Carver boat launch.

Putting in at Carver Park on the Clackamas

I was assigned to Tim Wilson, who is an excellent instructor. He asked me first how I thought I should approach specific water obstacles as we approached them, and then offered comments or suggestions to improve and adjust my approach. As each of the riffles progressed in difficulty, I felt confident going through each of them safely. While this wasn't a fishing drift, it's awesome floating with a Steelheader on his or her own river. As we floated along, he pointed out great fish-looking spots to keep in mind in higher flows.

The stretch from Carver to Riverside this time of year is a very easy float, perfect for inexperienced rowers to gain confidence in the principles that can be applied to similar and more advanced stretches of water.

This was of course was just a start. With only a fraction of the experience that so many boaters have out there, I know this didn't equip me to run big water on my own. However, I'm certainly looking forward to gaining more experience in rowing down our awesome river systems chasing that chrome!

2017 Salmon Hawg Open Tournament

Join us Oct. 5-7 in Tillamook for two days of fishing and celebrating this wonderful sport fishing resource. We celebrate with great meals, contests, and prizes for everybody! Thanks to the event sponsors and anglers, this event has generated over $7,500 to improve Tillamook County sport fisheries in the past three years. Most recently, funds were granted to the Lower Nehalem Community Trust to assist in acquiring the Bott's Marsh property in the Nehalem Bay, protecting and allowing enhancement of the estuary's most productive smolt habitat .

So get your three-man team together and give catching some of Oregon's biggest fall Chinook your best SHOT!

Volunteers Needed!

One of the things that makes Steelheaders great is that everyone enjoys fishing along with protecting and making our fisheries better. Often forgotton is the great diversity in talent and skills that many of our volunteers bring to this amazing organization.

We love all the time and energy that all our volunteers give to the many projects and programs that the Association and all the Chapters run. However, there are some particular skills that are likely amongst our members that we would like to tap into for some ambitious outreach and organizing goals the outreach team is looking to tackle.

Do you have any skills and time you could volunteer, perhaps even professional services that you would like to donate in:

Graphic, Web or Print Design
Non-profit Member and Donor Database management
Fundraising
Event Planning

It's true also that many hands make the load light. Can you reach out and can help ANWS?

To help ANWS with these, contact Aaron Bento - [email protected]

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The Association of Northwest Steelheaders is committed to diversity and inclusion in all aspects such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious and political beliefs.

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