Minutes from Schoharie County Conservation Association Meeting held at Middleburgh Road & Gun Club On December 18, 2003

* -Fellow Sportsmen & Sportswomen- *Attendance is needed from each club For their input on their clubs activities* The meeting was called to order at 7:20 with a salute to the American flag. Present were representatives from: Middleburgh and West Fulton Rod & Gun Clubs, Central Bridge and Richmondville Fish and Game Clubs, Trout Unlimited, the Schoharie County Chapter of Whitetails Unlimited, the Long Path North Hiking Club, Coby Fish &Game Club along with several SCCA associate members. Treasure’s Report – The monthly budget was discussed, reviewing the expenses and receipts. Willy Karu & Ed Zamjohn made a motion & second to pay our annual Dues $200 to NYSCC. Please send in your club updates so addresses can be passed on to the state council. A motion to accept the treasurer's report was made and then passed. Treasurer has been working on a budget, which will be submitted to the Schoharie County Treasurer. The Schoharie County budgets $1000 for the SCCA, if approved. We haven’t received this for at least ten years. Also discussed was a check made out to the NYSCC for $250 last March which was never cash. This was a donation to be used for supporting Wally John, our legislative Vice-President lobbing in Albany. A motion was made to contact the NYSCC office and reissue the check. A meeting was held to discuss the Dorwin Hamm Memorial Scholarship fund. There is currently $8908.92 in this fund. A decision was made to change the requirements. A bigger emphasis will be placed on conservation projects approved by Kevin Berner and less on student's Quality Point Averages. Don’t Forget Your Dues!!! Clubs $30 & Associates $10 Your dues help in producing this newsletter, as well as all the other activities and donations SCCA gets involved with each year. Secretary’s Minutes – Inquires or questions concerning the minutes were asked for, however none was made. A motion was made to accept and was then passed. There will be Club officers elections this coming meeting. Anyone interest in holding office contact Dave Wood. Association News - Ray Zeh is iniating a letter to the Governor concerning the State taking money from the Conservation Fund to pay the salaries of its employees. These employees aren’t even DEC staff members. They are having people retire early, and not replacing lost positions within DEC because of the lack of money, yet they can use the money from the Conservation Fund to pay salaries of people not involved with conservation? Ed is looking for signatures from each club in the Association, contact him to ensure your clubs represented. We are again raffling off the canoe that we had for the fair this past summer. The canoe cost about $700.00, so there are 140 $5 tickets being sold only to club members & SCCA associate members. Dave Wood is the point of contact on these tickets. The drawing is scheduled for the SCCA February meeting. We always buy a new canoe for each year’s fair raffle. So far there has been $300 turned from this raffle. The DEC is looking for fishermen/women willing to keep a fish diary for the Schoharie Creek this year. This information is needed to help convince DEC that we need more walleye stocking in the Schoharie Creek. Please contact Ray Zeh 234-8804 for more information. Ray has already received 11 names willing to keep the fish diaries. Ray Zeh meet with Al Martel, from the DEC Stamford office concerning the construction of the boat launch near Sloansville and Esperence. Letters will now be sent to Assemblyman Hooker and Senator Seward regarding the matter, now that DEC has been involved. Ed Zamjohn will be setting up a meeting with Senator Seward, and will be discussing the boat launch, as well as the access issue for Otsego Lake. The Venison Donation Coalition reported that 1080 lbs. of venison was donated this year to the Schoharie County Action Program. Twenty-five hunters donated deer this year. It was reported that they have $1200 in the fund, and the State matched that total. They will have approximately $600 in the fund for next year, which the State will match as well. It was also reported that Schoharie County and Chenango County are being used as examples for the program. Walter Scram, from Berne, was the winner of the Black Powder Gun drawing, which was donated by Whitetails Unlimited as an incentive to donate deer to the program. The problem with reporting the deer kill was also discussed. Many hunters experienced difficulty in reporting their take to the DEC. The DEC office in Stamford will be contacted regarding that. The DEC reported that the ECO Academy is going on with 35 individuals. Graduation is scheduled for June. The graduates will be all ECON Officers. No Rangers this class. The numbers are out for 2004 fish stocking. Schoharie Co. will receive 410 rainbow trout and 2420 brown trout during the spring, which will be stocked into the Schoharie Reservoir (Gilboa Dam), Mallet Pond, Westkill, and the holding pond, town of Cobleskill. These will be a mixture of 9" and spring yearlings. There has been some discussion about a restriction being setup for an antler 3X3 either by region or state level to increase the buck size. An example of this was done in the state of Pennsylvania 3 years ago. New York Power Authority is having an annual Winter Festival coming up on February 21. For more information contact 607-588-6061. Representative of NYSCC - Ed Zamjohn (234-2098) - Ed reported that the Council remains in a membership drive, seeking new members and encourages current members to become more active. Ed reported that many times resolutions are brought forward by individuals and clubs directly to the NYSCC. However, these resolutions must first be presented to the Region before it is presented to the State Council. The teacher’s workshop is being cut back one week because of a lack of participation. The workshop needs teachers and educators, is there anyone you think would enjoy it or benefit from it from your local school? Nominations need to be turned in soon for next year’s workshop. Contact Ed with your choices. The Annual Region 4 Meeting will be held at Boreali’s on March 13, this is a change from the originally scheduled date. However, they still are looking for speakers and presenters, contact Ed if interested or have contacts that would be interested. New York State Conservation Council: Become a member and support the council. If you want to be informed of the conservation issues in the state or want to get involved in these issues then become a member. Visit our website at: www.nyscc.com to join. If you are currently a member, please encourage others to sign up. These memberships would also make excellent gifts for friends and relatives, both boys & girls. The cost is $25 for Guardian, $60 for Defender and $250 for Life Membership. This includes a monthly newsletter called the Grass Roots News with your membership. The Council is pushing sporting clubs that are in cities throughout the state to join as well. They are also hoping for local club to donate $1 per member again this year. Last year there were 5 different clubs in Schoharie County that did this. Any Clubs that are interested in getting permits to hunt watershed lands should contact Jennifer A. Cairo, NYCDEP at (845-340-7517) or e-mail jcairo@dep.nyc.gov. Fish & Wildlife Management Board – The ECO Academy has started up this past Monday. The new boat launch site at Esperance was tuned in to the FWMB and forward on to the NYS advisory board for funding approval from funds raised from Habitat Stamps sales. Every sportsperson license buyer should purchase a Habitat Stamp when buying your hunting or fishing license. This is an extra $5.00 charge, which must be used for the benefit of all sportsmen. Remember for each dollar raised, we (sportspersons) will be in line for matching funds Example- (Parking lots for fishing & hunting access, opening up hiking trails, installing boat launches) - Next meeting will be 02/25/03 at the Middleburgh Diner 7:30 PM. Chairman McLean request that a list of access sites that need improvements be brought to the meeting along with new sites, which are needed and doable for projects for the coming year. Middleburgh Rod & Gun Club – John Bloomer has stopped running Trap Shooting on Friday nights, but will start again in early spring. The December Raffle has concluded and again was a big success. Thank you to everyone who participated in it and congratulations to all the winners. The kid’s archery program has begun, contact Ed Labaida 868-2025 or Neal Bauman 295-7669 for more information, and let’s make this year as successful as last year. Adult archery has begun and will be run on Tues., Thurs. & Saturday nights. Black powder shoots have started, every 1st Sunday of the month, at 11:00 AM through June. We have a new treasurer, John Lowe. A big thanks to Jim Getmen who has been treasurer for the past two years. He will be working out of the state for the next year. We had a presentation on Lyme disease by Brain Nicol, a Nursing student from Bassett Health Care. Visit the Rod & Gun Club’s Internet website: http://www.middleburghrg.com and then contact John Osisinki 827-5429 or Pete Lucas 827-7620 with information to update the site. Central Bridge Fish and Game Club – Skeet shoots every Sunday morning, starting around 10:00 am. There is also shooting on Monday nights. They are having another raffle to send two youths to camp again this summer. February 15th is deadline for DEC Camp applications. Prizes will be lottery tickets again, with the drawing being held in June. Meetings are held the 1st Friday of each month. $20 annual membership dues are due. West Fulton Rod & Gun Club – The club’s annual dinner was held at the West Fulton Firehouse on December 6. Seventy-five people attended and everyone had a great time, and good food. Dan Jorgenson was the winner of the big buck contest (gun) with an 8 pointer, and there was no archery big buck winner ($75 toward next year’s contest). A reminder to everyone, that 2004, $10 membership dues are due for the year. The club also had a fall raffle to help raise some needed funds to help pay the club’s liability insurance bill for 2004. Frank Finilli, (works at Watervliet Arsenal) was the $500 winner, ticket sold by Mike Zeh. Meetings are held every month on the 1st Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. SUNY Cobleskill Fish and Wildlife Club – The club announced that May 1st would be the date of the Annual Fish & Wildlife Festival next year. Long Path North Hiking Club – Harold Guest reported that the next two hikes during the months of December & January have been cancelled. They are working with County officials on a hiking map showing elevation for Schoharie County. The next meeting will be held at the West Fulton Firehouse on January 22 at 7:00. Guest speaker will be Art Johnson from the Schenectady DEC Office.

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