AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 /Jan Ua Ry 2019 2019 EXCELLENCE in CRAFT AWARDS See Who Took Home the Coveted Awards | P
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
de cemberAUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 /jan ua ry 2019 2019 EXCELLENCE IN CRAFT AWARDS See who took home the coveted awards | p. 14 Getting outside in the winter, honorary award & recipients AND MORE. Outdoor Writers Association of America FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Our mission: improve the professional skills of our members, set Turning up a treasure the highest ethical and communications standards, encourage AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 | VOL. 80, NO. 5 arlier this year, I ventured spective members of OWAA. The public enjoyment to Missoula, Montana, on a list includes such luminaries as Nash and conservation of Emission. Buckingham and Zane Grey. natural resources The goal was to unlock two OWAA At a follow-up meeting, Ackerman and mentor the next storage units to see what was there, was named OWAA’s first president; generation of profes- CONTENTS what to keep and what to discard. Taylor, honorary president; Gregory sional outdoor communicators. Jessica Seitz and her husband, Tuck- Clark, vice president; Johnson, treasur- er, came over from Washington with er; and Patterson, secretary. NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS several file cabinets filled with OWAA According to later OWAA history 2814 Brooks St., Box 442 records. Paul Queneau chipped in with books, El Comancho is identified Missoula, MT 59801 extra muscle, as did my brother-in-law as W.L. Phillips and described as “a 406-728-7434, Fax: 406-728-7445 12 and travel partner, Jay Snyder. rugged individual who supposedly [email protected], owaa.org Over the course of several days, we lived with the Comanche Indians as a STAFF consolidated the holdings to one site youngster.” Executive Director: Phil Bloom while donating odds and ends (such as The Nebraska Authors website entry Conference Services Director: Jessica Seitz 10 box fans) to Goodwill and shred- on Phillips identifies him as Walter Publications Editor: Suzanne Downing ding around 2,000 pounds of old bank Shelley Phillips, so W.S. and not W.L., Designer: Betsy Alvarez statements and EIC entries from as far but it supports the notion he spent PRESIDENT back as the 1980s. time with several Indian tribes in Ne- Tim Mead, North Carolina Office furniture, artwork, memora- braska and accompanied an Otoe chief OFFICERS 8 11 bilia, copies of every issue of Outdoors on buffalo hunts. A self-taught writer 1st Vice President: Pat Wray, Oregon Unlimited and significant records are and illustrator, Phillips wrote a na- 2nd Vice President: Christine Peterson, now securely stored under one roof. tionally syndicated newspaper column Wyoming p.8 | VERMONT WELCOMES OWAA p.12 | STORY OF JACK MINER ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Among the treasures was an item (Teepee Tales) and in 1904 founded Secretary: Tom Wharton, Utah By Gary W. Moore Treasurer: Tom Sadler, Virginia PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE p.4 that I had never seen. the Pacific Sportsman Magazine. p.14 | 2019 EXCELLENCE IN CRAFT It is a framed copy of the program For what it’s worth, the back side BOARD MEMBERS p.10 | WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BE AWARD WINNERS NEW VP AND SECRETARY p.6 from the 1927 Izaak Walton League of the framed historic document John Kruse, Washington AN OUTDOOR WRITER? HONORARY AWARD RECIPIENTS p.9 of America convention where OWAA reveals the program and the menu for Ann Simpson, Virginia By Bob "Greenie" Grewell p.24 | WINNING PHOTO ESSAYS Danielle Taylor, Pennsylvania BOOKSHELF p.29 was formed. The place was the Hotel the IWLA gathering. Attendees were Sherman in Chicago. served cream of asparagus soup, filet Ruth Hoyt, Texas p.11 | HIDE, SURVIVE OR THRIVE? ASSOCIATION UPDATE p.30 What’s truly special about the mignon, potatoes O’Brien, and other Ken Keffer, Iowa By Peter Schroeder document is the back page, where our delicacies. Shawn Perich, Minnesota founders scratched out the following The featured speaker was Herbert Nick Lowrey, South Dakota statement and dated it April 9, 1927: Hoover, then U.S. Secretary of Com- Gary Moore, Vermont merce. When he ran for president a Emily Stone, Wisconsin We, the undersigned, being agreed that couple years later, Hoover described COUNSELS an organization of recognized outdoor Prohibition as a “noble enterprise” and Attorney: William Jay Powell, Missouri writers should be formed in America, for vowed to enforce the law banning the Medical: William W. Forgey, Indiana the purpose of bettering our profession, to sale of alcohol. Supporter Liaison: Katie McKalip, give stability and standing to the same, If you don’t see the irony in Hoover Montana and eliminate untruths from stories of speaking at the event where OWAA Copyright August/September 2019 by Outdoor the outdoors, do hereby form the Outdoor was founded, you’ve never attended a Writers Association of America Inc. Reproduc- Writers Association of America. hospitality room at an OWAA confer- tion in whole or in part without permission is ence. prohibited. The contents of Outdoors Unlimited do not necessarily represent the opinion or en- Below that proclamation are dorsement of OWAA, its staff, officers, directors ON THE COVER signatures from Morris Ackerman, — Phil Bloom is OWAA's interim ex- or members. Outdoors Unlimited (ISSN 0030- BY LEFTY RAY CHAPA | "2 Poles” won second place in the EIC People category. Chapa, from San Antonio, Texas, took home four Peter P. Carney, Cal Johnson, Buell A. ecutive director. Reach him at pbloom@ 7181) is published bimonthly by Outdoor Writers Patterson, Ed G. Taylor, Jack Miner, owaa.org or 406-552- Association of America Inc., 2814 Brooks St., Box EIC awards at the Little Rock conference, including two first-place winners and two seconds. 442, Missoula, MT 59801. Periodicals postage El Comancho and Mrs. Hal Kane 4049. paid at Missoula, MT, and additional mailing Clements. offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Another 30 names fill the bottom Outdoors Unlimited, Outdoor Writers Associa- tion of America Inc., 2814 Brooks St., Box 442, half of the page representing pro- Missoula, MT 59801. 2 OUTDOORS UNLIMITED | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 OWAA.ORG/OU | OUTDOORS UNLIMITED 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Federal aid of facilities for the public’s enjoyment of where know best is the Eastern cottontail. state wildlife lands (for wildlife-related Though its local numbers fluctuate, it is spending reply recreation) are also allowed expenditures. generally abundant. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service audits Steve also objected to restrictions on state PR expenditures at 5-year intervals to road access within state wildlife lands. A hero’s regard Stephen Carpenteri’s letter, printed in ensure compliance. “Many (roads) have been gated off to keep OU’s April/May issue, warrants reply by In supporting his call for a narrow appli- hunters out of the very land they had its misrepresentation of the Federal Aid in cation of PR funds, Carpenteri oversim- paid for,” he wrote in his OU letter. My att Nickell was among the day I’m going to make videos like Kris Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robert- plifies the status of several wildlife species, state, Pennsylvania, has 1.5 million acres folks I floated 187 miles down Millgate.” or “I’ll get a dog named Bella son), its inaccuracy about the conservation especially cottontail rabbits. He wrote, of “state game lands,” where it expends Mthe Grand Canyon with last and become a famous duck hunter.” You status of popular wildlife species, and, “…the brush-loving cottontail rabbit is PR funds. As a hunter who has helped to fall. At the outset, Colleen Miniuk, who get the idea. more subjectively, with an eye toward the already listed as endangered in some East- support these lands’ acquisition and man- put the trip together, had us introduce How should you act to earn a hero’s kinds of experiences we hope for ourselves ern states.” In regard to the cottontail with agement, I do not wish them to be widely ourselves. After I finished brief remarks regard? as hunters. which hunters are most familiar, Carpen- open to motorized access, as Steve would identifying myself as a retired academic, I was sure my career would be first base Steve asserts that any use of Pitt- teri’s statement is untrue. have them. Colleen said, “He didn’t tell you, he also for the Tigers or fishing editor for one of man-Robertson funds by state wildlife Three species of cottontail rabbits Neither do I wish every acre of state writes books.” the “Big Three.” Other factors intervened agencies for activities other than “habitat inhabit the eastern third of the country. lands to be intensively managed with So, I was “outed” as an outdoor writer. and I drifted into academic life. About 35 management and improvement” is inap- These include the ubiquitous Eastern “chain saws and bush hogs,” as Steve After asking what sort of things I years ago Ken Dunwoody, then publisher propriate and counter to the legislation’s cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), the advocates. I understand the merit of these wrote, Matt was sure he had read some at Game and Fish Publications, asked me intent. Steve also makes it clear that his Appalachian cottontail (Sylvilagus obscurus) practices and support them as part of OWAA President Tim Mead is a free- of my pieces. Almost every day on the if I’d ever written any outdoor items. I interpretation of habitat management is and the New England Cottontail (Sylvila- well-planned strategies to benefit a range lance writer and photographer from trip, he was certain he had seen my work, explained to Ken my youthful goals but more narrow than both the law’s original gus transitionalis). Overwhelmingly, the of early-succession wildlife, including North Carolina with hundreds of credits though he could not recall which article said, “No.