Washington Trappers Association April-May 2009

President — Bruce Vandervort, 5338 US Hwy 101, Humptulips, WA 98552; phone: 360-288-2466; e-mail: brucevandervort@hotmail.com

Vice President West — John Consolini, 17030 Marmount ST SE, Monroe WA 98272; e-mail: itrap4you@yahoo.com

Vice President East
­— George Brady, P.O. Box 535, Pateros, WA 98846; phone: 509-923-2326;   e-mail: cascadeb@televar.com

Executive Secretary — Ralph Dobson, 13723 Heatherwood Dr., Mill Creek, WA 98012;
phone: 425-530-2124; e-mail: ralph.dobson@verizon.com

Treasurer — BJ Thornily; 63 Redmond Rd., Republic, WA 99166; phone: 509-775-2936;
e-mail: bobbiemike@yahoo.com

NTA Director — Bob Maier, 38 Francis Dr., Walla Walla, WA 99362; phone: 509-529-9568; e-mail: bob_maier@hotmail.com

Membership options:
• Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $30
• Junior (under 18) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $15.50
• Associate (non-trapper) including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller— $15.50
• Senior Citizen (over 70) including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $10.50
• Lifetime membership — $250
• Lifetimer subscription to The Trapper Predator Caller — $10.50

Dues entitles members to all newsletters, meeting notices, discount entry to workshops and the annual rendezvous. All monies are used to protect your right to trap.

Complete membership application on first page of
association section and send dues to:
WSTA
(A non-profit organization.)
P.O. Box 12669
Mill Creek, WA 98082

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Hello all,

As I write this it is about a week after our fur sale at Borst Park. We had a pretty good turn out, but I would say the amount of fur sold was down considerably. As I remember, I only wrote 10 checks to sellers. Prices were down a lot from last year although that was expected. The quality of the fur ran the gamut, some very well handled and some that didn’t look so great. There seemed to be a lot of interest in a workshop on fur handling so I will see if I can set something up.

We had a few foul ups in our bookkeeping at the sale and I believe we shorted four people a bit on their checks. We are making it right and I apologize for any errors. Basically there were all new people running the sale so a few snafus were to be expected. We should do better next year.

Miss Rodeo Washington was there and pretty much spent the whole day. We presented her with an otter vest. Again we have Amanda Platoni to thank for manufacturing it. It looked very nice.

I should thank everyone that helped during the sale and those that stayed after to help clean up. Unfortunately, my memory fails me as to everyone who helped so I’ll just thank everyone in general rather then run the risk of an omission.

On to politics: It seems that every day brings something new from the legislature. One day I’m sure we have a chance to get the trapping laws changed and the next it seems hopeless. I reported that it looked hopeless at the fur sale and then a few days later I find out we are not completely dead in the water.

By the time you read this, I suppose it will all be decided for the year. It is very hard to write anything of substance for this column because of the lead time. I don’t know how the trapping bill will turnout, but it does look like we will be seeing an increase in all hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and tags to the tune of an average 20 percent. It won’t be across the board so some more than others. Still up in the air as to who gets hurt the worst.

 Political Representation:

1. Ed Owens is technically WSTA’s Lobbyist through our membership in Washingtonians for Wildlife Conservation (WWC) and WWC’s membership in the Hunters’ Heritage Council (in all, HHC represents approximately 58 groups). However, his contract is with the HHC.

2. Ed has tried to accommodate and respond to contacts from individual WSTA members in the past, but can no longer do so. His time available is a factor — considering his responsibilities to his various clients, of which HHC is just one. As an example, since the start of the legislative session he has received over 8,673 e-mail messages from various individuals/groups asking him to do various actions in the political arena or in response to his alerts, etc.

He tries to read all of them, but to respond to each is overwhelming, considering the time he spends at meetings, etc. on our behalf. The other is that to do so (deal directly with individuals) potentially raises contract problems for him under state law.

3. Effective immediately, potential contacts/comments/suggestions with or for Ed need to be channeled through Bruce, as our President, or Bobbie, as WWC’s representative to the HHC. They are Ed’s official contacts and chain of command for his lobbying and other political responsibilities via the HHC on our behalf.

When Bruce or Bobbie forward a request to the Board or general membership from him for comments, responses need to be sent to them and they will compile and send them on to Ed.

4. This is simply a means of streamlining our communication process and does not mean or suggest that individual members shouldn’t contact legislators if they feel there is a need to do so, but they must be sure to make it clear that they are speaking as an individual — not as a spokes-person for WSTA. At this time Bruce, Ed and Bobbie are the only spokespersons for WSTA. Hopefully this will clear up some of the confusion that has existed in the past.

Spring Business meeting: We will be holding our annual spring business meeting at North Bend on May 16. Ralph will be sending out a flyer with directions. Please note that this is the only meeting where we conduct business for the association. All board members (this includes all officers, regional directors and county representatives) should be there. This is always a very important meeting, but it takes on even more importance this years as we will be considering changes to the bylaws. Of course any member is welcome and I would encourage anyone in the association to show up and be involved in the governance of the association.

— Bruce Vandervort

Related Posts

  • No Related Posts Found

Leave a Reply