[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
NFC: RE: Increase awareness of nfc
I'd be
wary of giving awards out to "the most" or "the biggest" because that usually
entails having a big budget, which would exclude so many projects that are great
in educational value but small in size.
But I
do agree that we need to give a lot of attention to AATP and give special
recognition to the projects that are successful. I also think if we see
projects that are languishing, we need to see if there is anything we can do to
guide that project back to success. IMHO, every AAT project tank should
have an NFC sponsor to serve as an advisor when
needed/wanted.
The
children are definitely the future. I remember as a young boy, my
grandfather took me to a camp every spring in New London, PA for a small
organization that started a second chapter in Pennsylvania. The name of
the organization is "Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock". I know all the pervs
out there giggle when they hear that name but the name is of a jungle
fowl. Anyway, BotJC is a fishing camp held every year where an adult
sponsor takes a number of kids fishing, and while they're having a good time
teaches them about the delicate balance of nature and why it is important to
preserve the environment. My grandfather would always sponsor my way, and
also take along a few other boys. He used to teach a class their on
saltwater fishing and in later years I helped him to teach that class. All
of those kids right now like me are now twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings
and out of the ones I have talked to since, they all have a keen awareness of
how important it is to preserve our environment in order to make game fishing
possible for future generations.
Now we can't really do any kind of national gathering
yet that will draw that many people. But BotJC started out, as I
understand, with just a few guys in Maryland taking a number of neighborhood
kids fishing for just one weekend. Every year they added a few more adults
that each took a few kids with them. I think that, regionally, we can do
something similar with collecting trips. Doesn't have to last a whole
weekend but just one full day on a good river with knowledgable collectors could
be a memory of a lifetime for boys and girls of all ages to participate
in. They may not get into native fish, but they will think about
how important all of those tiny fish are in the grand scheme of things. We
will have made an impact. Some kids will latch onto this and
bring some of their friends next time. I'm looking forward to the spring
when I will take along some college and high school students collecting.
Some have been with me before. The others will be the friends that they
want to bring along. I can see them looking at the river differently now,
recognizing which habitats would likely support a large darter population, and
which stretch of river is likely to have large numbers of chub. They're
starting to realize what it takes to grow a big fat bass. I know that when
they go fishing now, instead of buying bait (which almost certainly isn't native
to our waters) they capture some native fish to use as bait so they can easily
turn the surplus loose at the end of the fishing trip. Small changes like
these in the minds of young people do make a difference as you expand the base
of young people that you influence, and then those young people grow up and
become elected officials, active voters, corporate officers, and others who make
a difference.
Sorry to ramble.
I was just thinking of ways for nfc to become more known out there in the
world, and one way would be through the Adopt a Tank Program. Maybe this has
been brought to light before but I thought maybe some kind of competition
could be added to the program. Some examples are: an award to the class or
school that has the best natural looking aqua scape, or the class or school
that has a good breeding program, or the school that has collected the largest
number of different types of fish. Just an
idea.
nickel
References: