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Conservation Corner
by Heath Wakelee
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Many thanks to Dave Vingom for driving up to Redding a few weeks ago to volunteer at the Northern California Fly Fishing Conclave. Dave helped teach two classes of beginning fly tying and ended up taking his wife and daughter along. Dave’s daughter helped teach the class and I think that was especially noteworthy. Thank you to all of the Vingom family. Are you a “Conservationist” or someone just concerned about the environment? From www.dictionary.com, one definition of conservationist is “someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution [syn: environmentalist].” One key word for me in that definition is “works”, so it is not enough to just “think” good thoughts; you must do some kind of work, and in this case, I like the definition that describes “work” as “the result of exertion, labor, or activity; a deed or performance.” So in order to be considered a conservationist, we must “work” to protect the environment. Leadership in conservation is encouraged by all Granite Bay Flycasters club members. And we hope each member spends at least four hours working at some conservation project each year. It is not enough to think positive thoughts and to comment to our fishing buddies that “someone” ought to do something about this or that. We must take it upon ourselves as users of some pretty outstanding habitat to work to protect and preserve it. Writing this column each month is a real struggle (work) for me, but I don’t count it in my conservation hours/year. Bending down and picking up litter along a stream does count and I’m very glad it does. If you know of an area that needs work, please bring it to my attention and perhaps we can make it a club project for some weekend. Heath Wakelee VP Conservation 916 870 5253 |
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