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VOLUME 24 NO. 10 December 2005
S S A Welcomes New Members
S S A Early Bird Membership Draw J . Ford Again, this year, we are having an Early Bird Membership Renewal Draw. This is a draw for renewing members only. If you pay your dues at the December general meeting, you will get 2 free chances on this year ’ s draw, which is a Smoker and rod and reel. As each month passes, the number of free chances decreases. For those of you who renew by mail, we will complete the appropriate number of ballots for you. We now have a debit and credit card machine at the meetings for your convenience. We hope to see you at the meeting on December 1 at 7:30 pm . Please support the following business who are storing a couple of our Derby trailers indoors. K.S. Craig Storage - Business-Commercial - Residential Storage Ron & Kelly Craig - R.R> 8 Owen Sound - (519) 371 6595 Gate Key Change in 2006 The locks and keys for the gates at the club property will change in 2006 . The effective date is April 1, 2006 and this is straight, not April Fools. We have the new keys at the meetings and will exchange a new one for your old key or you can purchase one for $2.00 as long as your 2006 dues are paid (unchanged from 2005). If you aren ’ t able to attend the club meeting (the easiest way to get an exchange), perhaps you could have a friend pick one up for you. I plan to choose a couple of nights in March to be at the clubhouse to help you exchange keys and will put the dates in the March newsletter. The only other way to get a key is to call me at 519 934 0410 and make a trip to Keady. J. Ford THE PRESIDENT ’ S CORNER I am pleased to announce that the Sydenham Sportsman ’ s Association have won the very prestigious ‘ Deryln K. Valley Memorial Trophy ’ for the club doing the most for conservation in Zone H. This was presented to us at the recent OFAH Zone H annual meeting and Awards Banquet on November 11/05. Having won this category will now allow us to compete for the Mary Pickford Award in the OFAH provincial contest, which the winners will be announced at the OFAH Convention in February 2006. I would also like to congratulate Murray Smart for receiving Honourable Mention for the OS Mac Arthur Award and getting presented with an Award of Merit.
It ’ s that time of year again to elect a new slate of officer to carry our club into the new year of 2006. If you know someone interested in standing for election to the Executive or if you yourself are interested, please put the name/names forward at the next meetings. If you are nervous about putting your own name forward at a meeting just drop me a note in the next few weeks indicating your intent to stand for election and I will add your name to the list. We certainly welcome some new blood, some new ideas and some fresh approaches to help carry our club into the future. Bill Douglas, President FISHERIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE After going through our egg sorting machine our salmon eggs are just about ready to hatch out. With natural mortality we are down to about 100,000 eggs from our original collection of 118,000 eggs. By the time of this newsletter we should have received 80,000 brown trout eggs from the M.N.R. Normindale hatchery. To make some room in our trays we will be moving out some 30,000 rainbow trout for stocking and holding over the remaining 20,000 fingerlings for the winter to be stocked in the spring. It appears that our waste management plans have finally been approved and some estimates for the work may be asked for this winter with probable construction in 2006 Mike Prevost F.A.C. Chairman FORESTS & WILDLIFE ADVISORY COMMITTEE The year is grinding down to a close. It is time to consider what the SSA has accomplished for wildlife in the past year, what our members have enjoyed and to look forward to what we might expect to do in the upcoming months. The fall hunt is gradually coming to an end and all reports are that the deer hunt was superb ask Verle Barfoot, who virtually stepped out into his backyard, downed a nice buck and hung it up in his outbuilding in less time than it took for his morning coffee to get cold. Nice going, Verle you carried efficiency to the nth degree. Now will come the time for the hunters with hounds to pursue the rabbit, the hare and the coyote -an outdoors winter in the great white north. We don't know what. kind of a winter is coming but we do know that if it is a bad one, the deer and turkeys might need help. If the SSA holds true to form, we will be there when needed. We'll surely miss good old Fred Hunt when it comes to winter wildlife assistance. He was indeed a mountain of help for winter-stressed wildlife. The wildlife committee is pleased to see our junior committee revving its engines and getting set to learn about hunting, fishing and the environment. The juniors are organizing to work in the demonstration Wildlife management area this year. We look forward to their help. Verle Barfoot's wood duck management crew (i.e. Cliff Springer) did a dandy job on wood duck houses and is all set to go for more in 2006. They work in very important waterfowl wetlands and the wood duck population is demonstrably better for it. Doug Murdoch has put in countless hours reforesting and improving wildlife habitat in the Long Swamp , as well as the Walker tract. Keep up the good work, Doug. Lorne Smith and Gerry Powers have once more put in a terrific effort to increase the Grey/Bruce bluebird and tree swallow populations. They are already planning and working on next year's projects. Lloyd Jackson is making moves towards the construction and erection of another one of his magnificent bat hotels. We don't know just where or when Lloyd's erection will occur, but we'll let you know when it is about to happen. The Isaac Lake woodcock restoration project proved to be quite successful in enhancing degraded habitat with an accompanying increase in the woodcock use of the area. Bob Payne did a shotgun survey of the woodcock project's grounds and reported that everything was going the way it should. The upcoming year will see major repairs to the cattle-excluding electric fence. The Daves, Arnold and Hartrick, have done yeoman's service in the woodworking shop, turning out the very necessary products to help make our world a better place for wildlife. The club thanks you and the wildlife thank you, Dave and Dave. We owe thanks to the MNR's CFWIP and Stewardship Ranger programs. They both helped tremendously with important wildlife projects that otherwise would likely not have been carried out. One thought regarding an ongoing issue some SSA members are dissatisfied with the way the executive operates. Some members might like to be on the executive, but for some reason or other are hesitant to stand for election. Some members feel that a few people on the executive exert undue influence over club activities. Some members just plain bitch about what the executive does. If you fall into any of the foregoing categories, please step up and stand for election. Help us to be a better club. It would be wonderful to see more people step forward to serve as SSA directors. It does take considerable behind the scenes time and effort to organize all of the clubs activities, but our club is only as good as the efforts of our members. If we are to maintain our position as one of the foremost conservation clubs in the province, then our members have to be prepared to go the extra mile to make it so. You can make the difference so let's do it. So, goodbye to the old year, and hello to the new. To all our members, good health and great times in the wonderful world of the outdoors. Blake Smith, Chairman, Forests & Wildlife Com.
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© 2001, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association |
