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Governing
Board Reports to the
Current AFS President from the WD AFS
2001 Mid-year Report
To: Carl Burger
From:
Bill Bradshaw, President, Western Division
Subject:
Mid-Year Report
Date:
February 20, 2001
Action
Requested: None
Recommended Motion: None
Minority View: Not Applicable
Background for Motion: Not Applicable
Charge
or Annual Program of Work: No Charge or Program of Work Defined.
Outcome
and Accomplishments Organized by Major Goal and Subgoal Reference.
MS
1.1
Continuing Education workshops were hosted in 2001 by the Colorado/Wyoming (Aquatic
Insect Identification and Ecology), Arizona/New Mexico (Whirling Disease), Oregon
(Watershed Management), and Montana Chapters (Managing Fisheries in Drought
Situations).
MS
1.4
The Division Time and Place Committee has been 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. It is expected
this will be done with assistance from the Computer Users Section and accomplished
by use of an email survey.
MS
1.5
The Division will award 3 $1,000 graduate student scholarships through the Eugene
Maughan Student Scholarship program.
The Montana Chapter is actively recruiting and mentoring 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 is establishing a student scholarship fund to honor the memory of long-time AFS member Miles McInnis.
The
Colorado/Wyoming Chapter has incorporated the University of Wyoming student
chapter as a student subunit. An endowed scholarship fund is being developed
to promote and assist graduate student fisheries education.
MS
2.1
The 2001 Division annual meeting will be held in conjunction with the AFS annual
meeting in Phoenix. All Chapters will have hosted an annual meeting by
mid-May of 2001. Division officers attended Chapter meetings in Alaska,
Montana, Oregon, Bonneville, Idaho, Arizona/New Mexico, and Colorado/Wyoming
by the end of March. The California/Nevada, Humboldt, and North Pacific
International Chapter meetings will also be attended by a Division officer.
The Hawaii Chapter meeting was not attended and no there are no plans to visit
a Mexico meeting.
The
Greater Portland Chapter is attempting to re-establish their annual meeting
to serve the 200+ members.
The
Arizona/New Mexico Chapter is hosting the annual AFS meeting in 2001 – a most
serious undertaking!
MS
2.4
The Division is co-hosting 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 is co-sponsoring 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.
As agreed during the Division retreat, 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.
Monthly conference calls are used to convey information between the Division
and Chapters.
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 has not been 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.
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. It is anticipated that liaison functions
will 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 will be perpetuated as a Division budget line item.
MS
4.4
Diversity concepts were consciously considered when developing 2000/2001Division
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 has been prepared and will be reviewed and refined.
The current goal is to present a plan for adoption at the 2001 annual meeting.
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. By unanimous agreement of all attendees, another retreat is
planned for the late fall of 2001.
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 will receive 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.
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 NW environmental news broadcast
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
continue. The Division must also consider some of the same issues that
prompted AFS to decline participating in this meeting. While the potential
benefits of a participating in this meeting are widely recognized, key Division
participants remain unidentified, it is unclear if Division criteria for joint
meeting participation can be met, the Division will have an opportunity to combine
with the annual AFS meeting hosted by a Western Chapter, and the financial risk
seems high.
ITO
3.2
The Division President contacted the President and President-elect of The Wildlife
Society and discussed ways to institutionalize relations between organizations.
It is anticipated that liaison functions will become the responsibility of the
Division's Riparian Committee by the time of the 2001 annual meeting.
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 is
currently under review by the Policy Review Committee and submittal for publication
will follow a peer review of the final protocols.
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 is 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 will participate
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
Greater Portland Chapter is collaborating with the Oregon Chapter, the North
Pacific International Chapter, and the Canadian Aquatic Resources Section to
organize the 2001 International Salmonid Nutrient Conference in Eugene, Oregon
(April 24-26).
AS
1.5
Through the efforts of President-elect Eric Knudsen and Vice-president Don Mac
Donald, the Division is sponsoring a featured symposium on fisheries sustainability
at the 2001 AFS annual meeting.
AS
2.5
The Division continues to administer a Grants program to distribute up to $10,000
in grants to Subunits promoting AFS goals. An ad hoc committee charged
with developing an investment strategy for long term grants funding at the current
spending level has developed draft guidelines to accomplish this.
The
Montana Chapter awarded about $15,000 from their Resource Action Fund to promote
native fish restoration projects.
AS
3.3
A representative of the Western Governors Association (WGA) was contacted and
preliminary discussion regarding Division involvement in ENLIBRA implementation
was discussed. ENLIBRA is the set of principles adopted by the WGA to
guide resolution of environmental issues throughout the west. Incorporating
science-based information is a key ENLIBRA element and seems to offer some potential
for Division participation and heightened visibility. This has been discussed
with a former staffer for Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and The Idaho Chapter
EXCOM has also been approached about their potential involvement (a WGA meeting
is scheduled for August 2001 in Idaho). Initial interaction will likely
center on ways to increase awareness among WGA members about AFS.
The Montana Chapter hired a lobbyist to promote fisheries issues and interests as efforts to “gut” environmental protection laws begins under new gubernatorial and legislative leadership.