Thursday, June 11, 2009

Friday's outdoor notes (one day early)

Anyone with even the most minimal interest in Lake Erie will find the latest edition of the Ohio Sea Grant program's "Twineline" newsletter a fine read. As all edition are, in fact.

Take note of the "Gone Fishing" article and which is about the Lake Erie charter boat industry. Check it out.

The Ohio Division of Watercraft is making available an updated version of the agency's all-Ohio boat launch ramp and marina facility guide. It is available online at www.ohiodnr.com or by calling 877-4BOATER.

This guide shows where to launch and dock a recreational boat with the agency also noting that in Ohio the sport has an economic impact of $3.5 billion annually and supports more than 26,000 full-time jobs.

Talk about going in the wrong direction down a one-way street Pennsylvania is on a collision course.

The state's parks system is one of four finalists in the prestigious National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. This award is presented annually by the American Academy for Parks and Recreation Administration as well as the National Recreation and Park Association.

Other contenders for the state park award include those in Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina.

However, at least one version of the state budget has such severe cuts (a loss of $26 million) that the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources would be forced to close at least 35 state parks. Among them would be Ole Bull State Park in Potter County which my wife and I intend to visit this week for some fly fishing.

The Ohio Farmers Union is wanting to roll over and play dead with the radical animal rights movement. In a Wednesday press release the left-leaning farmers' group said it wants to "negotiate" with the radical animal rights movement over the latter's threat of introducing a ballot initiative that would ban certain livestock practices.

Indeed, the Farmers Union doesn't even believe that Ohio's agricultural industry - the largest industry in the state, by the way - could win a ballot issue.

Just think what would have happened in 1977 had sportsmen believed the same thing about the anti-trapping issue or a few decades later when the animal rightists tried to torpedo dove hunting in the state. In each of these cases the antis lost.

At least the Ohio Farm Bureau is willing to standing up to radicalism. So should the Ohio Farmers Union.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

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