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Governing Board Reports to the
Current AFS President from the WD AFS

2001 End-of-the-year Report

TO: Carl Burger

FROM: Bill Bradshaw, President, Western Division

DATE: July 20, 2001

I. Action

Action Requested: None
Recommended Motion: None
Minority View: None
Background for Motion: Not Applicable

II. Outcome or Accomplishments in Relation to the Society's Strategic Plan

Charge or Annual Program of Work: No Charge or Program of Work Defined.

Outcome and Accomplishments Organized by Major Goal and Subgoal Reference.

Member Services

MS 1.1
Continuing Education workshops were hosted in 2001 by these Chapters: Colorado/Wyoming (Aquatic Insect Identification and Ecology), Arizona/New Mexico (Whirling Disease), Oregon (Watershed Management), and Montana (Managing Fisheries in Drought Situations).

MS 1.4
The Division Time and Place Committee was charged with conducting a survey to determine if holding the annual meeting in months other than July would better meet member needs and facilitate attendance at the meeting.  This email survey was sent to all Division members with assistance from the Computer Users Section in early August.  Results were discussed at the Division Excom meeting and the annual Business meeting.

MS 1.5
The Division awarded 3 $1,000 graduate student scholarships through the Eugene Maughan Student Scholarship program.

The Montana Chapter actively recruited and mentored students and has created a Student Subunit at the University of Montana.  Another Student Subunit is being promoted for Montana State University.

The Arizona/New Mexico Chapter established a student scholarship fund to honor the memory of long-time AFS member Miles McInnis.

The Colorado/Wyoming Chapter incorporated the University of Wyoming student chapter as a student subunit.  Endowed scholarship funds are being developed for fisheries graduate students at the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University.  The initial goal of $10,000 for each university was met through outside fund raising ($14,800) and proceeds from the 1999 WD annual meeting ($5,000).

MS 2.1
The 2001 Division annual meeting was held in conjunction with the AFS annual meeting in Phoenix.  All Chapters hosted annual meetings in 2001.  At least one Division officer attended the annual meetings of the Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Bonneville, Idaho, Arizona/New Mexico, Colorado/Wyoming, California/Nevada, Humboldt, and North Pacific International Chapters.  All Chapters but one, were represented at the Division Excom and Business meetings in Phoenix. 

The Arizona/New Mexico Chapter co-hosted the 2001 AFS meeting with the Western Division.

MS 2.4
The Division co-sponsored a ½ day symposium (Special Regulations and Sport Fishing: The Promise of Science Lost?) at the AFS annual meeting with the Fisheries Management Section, North Central Division Centrarchid Technical Committee, and the International Fly Fishing Center.

MS 2.4
The Division co-sponsored the Montana Chapter workshop “Practical Approaches for Conserving Native Inland Fishes of the West”, June 6-8, 2001.

MS 3.1
The Division website continues to evolve and is routinely updated with new information.  Chapter Presidents are notified of updates so they can pass information on to Chapter members accordingly.  Allen Bingham (Alaska) has done an outstanding job of administering the website. 

The Montana Chapter is moving toward use of their website as the location for posting newsletters.

The Greater Portland Chapter currently mails its newsletter (The Confluence) but is moving toward use of the website for posting the newsletter.  The Chapter website is maintained by Robert Bayley, and is a primary source of information for members.

MS 4.1
The chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee was not appointed.  This is an ad hoc committee with no documentation of history or mission readily available. It is anticipated that this committee will be reorganized with an expanded role, perhaps implied by a name change to “Diversity Committee”.  Individuals willing to begin developing a defined mission have tentatively been identified, but the future of this committee remains uncertain.

MS 4.2
The Oregon Chapter annual meeting was held jointly with the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society.  The Division President contacted the President and President-elect of The Wildlife Society and discussed ways to institutionalize relations between organizations.  Liaison functions have become the responsibility of the Division's Riparian Committee.

MS 4.3
The Division continues to sponsor the AFS Equal Opportunity Section's minority student travel program by providing $500 annually to the Section.  This contribution is perpetuated as a Division budget line item.

MS 4.4
Diversity concepts were consciously considered when developing 2000/2001 Division election slate, and similar consideration was directed by Colorado/Wyoming Chapter President (Paula Guenther-Gloss) to her nominating committee.

MS 5.1
The AFS Strategic Plan was distributed to Chapter Officers at the late-October Division EXCOM retreat in Sacramento, and was a specific discussion topic.  The plan is available on the Division website.  Division By-laws and AFS strategic plan were also distributed to all Division and Chapter Officers shortly after the 2000 AFS meeting.

MS 5.2
The importance and utility of Strategic planning were discussed at the Division retreat and all Chapters were urged begin developing their own.  A Division Strategic Plan framework was drafted for review and adoption by the Division. 

MS 5.4
A 1 ½-day Division EXCOM (Division and Chapter officers) retreat was held in Sacramento, California during late October.  Three Division officers (President, President-Elect, Past-President), two Division Committee chairs (Time and Place, Grants Funding), and eight Chapter (Alaska, Oregon, Cal/Neva, Idaho, Colorado/Wyoming, Bonneville, Humboldt) representatives participated.  Interest was high, and only scheduling impossibilities prevented Montana Chapter participation.  Travel funding assistance was offered to all participants, though most did not avail themselves of the offer.  Discussion topics included: AFS, Division, and Chapter governance, Putting the Division's money to work (Grants Funding Committee), Communication between Chapters and Division, Achieving a Quorum at EXCOM meetings, Division and Chapter Committees, Time and place of future Division meetings, Division Awards, Eugene Maughan Student Scholarships, Division and Chapter Advocacy, AFS, Division and Chapter Visibility, Aligning the Division with AFS parent society strategic plan, and Chapter Issues and Concerns.  Plans for another retreat in the fall of 2001 were discussed at the Division Excom meeting in Phoenix.

Information Transfer and Outreach

ITO 1.2.
A Certification Challenge was initiated in 1999/2000 by Past President Ken Hashagen to promote AFS certification.  Members from Chapters agreeing to participate were eligible for an expense-paid trip to the Division annual meeting and would have their certification fee paid for.  The rules simply required that individuals be certified by July 2000.  Though widely advertised, participation was fairly low, and only 13 participants from 3 chapters (Colorado/Wyoming, Oregon, Cal/Neva) were eligible.  A winner was randomly selected from the pool of participants (Heidi Tillquist, Colorado/Wyoming) and received an expense paid trip to the annual AFS/Division meeting in Phoenix. 

ITO 2.1
A ½ day session devoted to effective communication, “Communicating with the Public”, was held at the Oregon Chapter meeting in February 2000.

At the request of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association, the Division helped coordinate local involvement (Montana Chapter) in a workshop planned for April.

Planning for the 2002 annual Division meeting is well under way under the capable guidance of Division Vice-President Don MacDonald.  This meeting will be held in Spokane, Washington on April 27 to May 1, 2002.  Tentatively entitled “Toward Ecosystem-Based Management: Breaking Down the Barriers in the Columbia River Basin and Beyond”, the meeting is being co-convened by the WD, Transboundary Group (government, tribal, and non-governmental organizations with an interest in the transboundary portions of the Columbia River Basin), the Sustainable Fisheries Foundation, and the North Pacific International Chapter-AFS (NPIC).

ITO 2.2
Prepared and distributed a press release about Division comments on the NMFS Draft Biological Opinion on Columbia River hydropower operations.  Release was targeted to about 20 regional (NW) media contacts.  Division President also participated in a phone interview with a northwest environmental news broadcast station regarding the Bi-Op comments.

ITO 3.1
Discussions between the Division and the Council of Aquatic Scientists (CAS) regarding Division participation in the 2005 CAS meeting in Portland, Oregon were discontinued.  

ITO 3.2
The Division President contacted the President and President-elect of The Wildlife Society and discussed ways to institutionalize relations between organizations.  Liaison functions have been made the responsibility of the Division's Riparian Committee.

ITO 5.1
Guidelines prescribed by the by-laws are used to steer Division advocacy involvement.  Recent example include oversight by the Resource Policy Committee applied to development of comments on the NMFS Draft Bi-Op on Columbia River hydropower operations, and process review of ongoing Bull Trout Committee work.  Division advocacy guidelines were discussed at the Division retreat and all Chapters were encouraged to develop an advocacy process (many have). 

ITO 5.6
The Bull Trout Committee continues to progress toward publishing the results of their effort to develop sampling protocols for establishing the presence or absence of bull trout in recovery areas.  The committee's process was reviewed by the Policy Review Committee and deemed thorough, appropriate, and acceptable.  Committee work has been reviewed and submittal for publication in Fisheries is imminent.

Aquatic Stewardship

AS 1.1
The Division was invited to participate in facilitated discussions about state-based conservation agreements as a means of “getting ahead of the ESA listing curve”.  This series of meetings across the US was organized by the T&E Committee of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.  A Division representative, well versed with the issues was selected, and participated in the Las Vegas meeting in late March 2001.  Chris Keleher (Bonneville Chapter) is also Co-chair of the AFS Endangered Species Committee. 

The Montana Chapter's Species of Special Concern Committee is collaborating with the Montana Natural Heritage Program as the transition to a new statewide listing process is implemented.

The Oregon Chapter, Greater Portland Chapter, Canadian Aquatic Resources Section, and North Pacific International Chapter collaborated to organize the 2001 International Salmonid Nutrient Conference in Eugene, Oregon (April 24-26).