Chapter #1

A force as big as all outdoors:

Meals: $165  Fishing license: $30   New boat and trailer:  $52,000   ATV: $6,000

Motel: $69.95 x 5 nights   Boat registration: $60   Hunting license: $50   Gas: $75

Two weeks’ groceries: $300  GPS and walkie-talkies: $295    Gas $115

Polarized sunglasses: $90  Fish finder: $360   Boat winterization: $300

New rod and reel: $295   Flowers for my wife for letting me go fishing: $45

New rifle: $785   Cabin: $25,000  Property tax: $4,200  Hunting land : $115,000

Chain saw: $189     Trolling motor: $280    New boots and coat: $325

Taxidermy (with any luck): $450

A  dollar here .  A hundred dollars there .   It adds up to more than you might think.

America’s  34 million hunters and anglers are an  economic  powerhouse , driving  the  economy.  They’re  passionate about their pastimes and  they  spend passionately too.

Multiply individual  spending by those many millions of  people , and  you’re  talking  a major  force in our economy, through  booms as well as  recessions .  They directly  support 1.6 million jobs .  They  spend more than a billion dollars  just  on  licenses,  stamps ,  tags   and  permits, and  they generate  $25 bi l l ion a year in  federal , state and local  taxes .

By  any  measure , hunters and  anglers are among  the most  prominent  and  influential of all demographic groups. Hunters and  anglers  support  twice as  many  jobs  as  the combined  civillian  payrolls of  the Army, Marine Corps , Navy and  Ai r Force .

$208 million a day. $1.5 billion per week.  Annually hunters and anglers  spend  $9 billion to  lease and purchase land for their sports . That’s  enough  to purchase  27,000  new homes or rural  acreage larger  than  the states of  Rhode Island  and Delaware  combined.

No mortgage crunch here. Without  hunters and anglers, our economy would be a lot   smaller. $76 billion smaller, in fact. That’s how much they spend  each  year on their pass ion for the outdoors.  If a single corporation grossed as much as hunters and anglers   spend,  it would be among America’s  20  largest ,  ahead of  Target , Costco and AT&T.  Buthunters’  and  anglers ’  influence  goes   even  further.  They  create an economic “ r ipple effect “.  They keep people working: not  just   in  typical  hunting and  fishing  jobs ,  but also in ga s stations,  retail , restaurants  and hotels  throughout  every  state and  congressional  district of  the  USA.

There  are  other  numbers ,  too.  For   instance ,  Americans  spend more   time  hunting and  fishing  each  year  than days  spent running  the Federal  government   (737 mi l l ion days vs . 486 mi l l ion) . Together, hunters and anglers are a significant voting bloc. In fact, their voting potential was 31% of all votes cast in the 2004 presidential election. Eighty percent of sportsmen are “likely voters,” far more than the national average. They can change the tide of elections. And, as you might guess, they tend to favor pro-sporting candidates.

$8.6 million an hour. Spending by hunters  and anglers  is  more than the revenues of  Microsoft , Google, eBay and Yahoo—combined                                 (76 billion vs . 73.6 billion)

Higher earnings than high-tech. (34  MILLION VS . 27  MILLION ) More  people  hunt and fish  than watch the  nightly newscasts of  the three major  networks—ABC,  CBS, and  NBC.  Breaking news.  Hunting  and fishing  Americans  out  number motor- sport  fans  by more  than 2 to 1.   In  fact ,  they could  fill  every NASCAR  track 13  t imes over.

Racing ahead. If  the $76 billion that  sportsmen  spend on hunting and  fishing were the Gross Domestic Product of  a country,  sportsmen as a nation would rank 57 out of  181 countries .

On  lodging  alone,  hunters spend more than the annual  revenues of  Comfort  Inn, Comfort  Suites, Quality Inn,  EconoLodge,  Rodeway  Inn and Sleep  Inn  combined. Sleep on it.

By Susan Varno

Photo by Susan Varno / Contributing Writer

Mill Creek is shown after George Bartmess stripped vegetation from the bank in 2008. His property ends where the trees and vegetation begin.

By Contributed Opinion – Gulf Islands Driftwood

Recent criticisms about the proposed Riparian Areas Regulation (RAR) bylaw and the process for its implementation seem to have lost sight of its primary purpose. That is, to regulate activities on land that could result in contamination of critically important streams, lakes, wetlands and other water courses. Surely public health, in the form of safe, healthy water sources on our island, must be a clear priority.

The Salt Spring Island Water Council, comprising over 50 organizations, agencies and individuals involved with providing, protecting, conserving and managing drinking water on the island, strongly supports the overall intent of the proposed bylaw. We recognize that protection of fish habitat through the implementation of the RAR will also have the effect of enhancing the protection of our drinking water.

Water Council also agrees with the creative efforts of the Local Trust Committee to implement the bylaw in a way that would reduce the costs to applicants and expedite the approval process, provided it does not compromise public health concerns in the protection of vital drinking water supplies.

I’d like to address some of the criticisms being raised about the proposed bylaw.

The suggestion that this bylaw is being rushed through the process is emphatically wrong. The requirement to comply with the provincial RAR was made in March 2006 and, perhaps, should have been addressed in my term as a local trustee for the Islands Trust (2005-2008). However, a review of the development permit areas was planned but not undertaken over this period due to considerable work on other revisions to the OCP. Another two and a half years have passed. With extensive public input, a revised Development Permit Area 4 bylaw, incorporating RAR, has been proposed and is long overdue.

Concerns have been expressed about the scale of mapping that is needed. Since RAR applies to all defined “streams,” whether mapped or not, detailed mapping is not necessary to implement RAR. However, the Trust has proposed a reasonable compromise by identifying RAR designated watersheds on the island, within which the RAR would apply to a 30 m setback from any “streams.” In practice, according to staff estimates given in last week’s Driftwood, less than 10 per cent of the island land base could be affected.

Critics have proposed more certainty for landowners through detailed mapping of all possible “streams” that would be subject to RAR including ground-truthing and private landowner consultation. The costs are unknown, but likely high for the taxpayer and would further delay the bylaw. Even with such mapping, a site-specific assessment by a Qualified Environmental Professional could still be required for each application, at the applicant’s expense, at the time the application is made. Given the relatively few development permit applications that are filed and the proposal to have Trust staff provide an initial screening of applications, the proposed watershed mapping appears to be the most cost-effective approach.

I was pleased to read in last week’s Driftwood that the Trust is exploring a way to address the sensitive issue of roadside ditches, perhaps through a clear definition of ditches that would be subject to RAR with reduced setbacks and those that would be exempt. This would reduce the area of land affected even more.

In view of the above, and the urgency of protecting our increasingly threatened drinking water sources, Water Council urges the Local Trust Committee to proceed diligently with a final bylaw at the earliest opportunity accompanied by the proposed community information program to assist landowners and the development community.

Peter Lamb is coordinator of SSI Water Council and a former Islands Trustee.

Not only has fishiding artificial fish habitat been used in private lakes and ponds for aquatic balance, but the pro’s in bass and crappie fishing on getting on-board fast. Since hitting the market just over two years ago, fishiding artificial fish attractors are taking fish habitat to a whole new level. For years fisherman and pond owners have been putting an array of products in their waters to provide much needed habitat for fish and aquatic life. Natural wood products continue to be used with success, only for a limited time. The industry has turned it’s direction towards artificial pvc products that won’t rot and stay forever in place.

The west Virginia Bass Federation has begun a pilot program with the fishiding fish habitat products to see if they can resolve a problem they have in many of their waters. Seems that they have trouble getting algae to grow quickly if at all on fish structure they have used in the past. These guys and gals put in countless hours of their own time to build, install and maintain hundreds of fish structures throughout the state.

What we know about fishiding is that it grows algae fast everywhere it has been installed, now in over 40 states. High water and flooding has kept the units from being installed but soon will be in the water holding fish. Much better than buried in a landfill.

The Bass Federation is hoping to install fishiding artificial fish habitat products throughout the state waters as well as all the states but two in the nation. Only Hawaii and Alaska do not have a Bass Federation chapter , with all the others eagerly involved. Stay tuned for results and information as to where the units have been installed.

Recently, fishiding.com was contacted by the West Alabama Crappie association and the Tenn Tom Crappie Club to sponsor their next two tournaments. These folks love to fish and install habitat, especially for crappie. Numerous sizes and models of fish habitat made from reclaimed pvc will be raffled off and awarded to winners at various events. Fishiding products are all made with an entirely green approach from the pvc material to the cardboard and newspaper used in shipping. All measures are taken to re-use and reclaim products to save the environment as well as the final cost.

Fishiding.com offers sizes of fish habitat from small Koi and garden pond fish made from fine strands of pvc, to large 84″ diameter fish attractors with wide flat limbs to cast maximum shade for the largest of predators.

Coming soon will be pre-packaged bundles of rigid sticks of pvc to be used as stakebeds. This stiff, long lasting material will hold crappie right where you want them and only you will know the spot.

Another often forgotten or looked over step in the process is actual fish habitat design. In the past only a few types of artificial fish habitat were available and manufacture’s seem to assume folks know what to do. We have learned that there is a great deal of thought that can and should go into habitat placement planning. With the various sizes, textures and shapes of fish attractors fishiding.com now offers, the blueprint for sucesss has never been so attainable. Depending on a clients goals, many choices are available. Shallow water cover to protect and grow fry and forage is now available exclusively with the fishiding cradle and garden pond sizes. Mid depth fish structure comes in the safehouse model, designed to give fish a route to follow as they move from 2-4 foot depths in to the 6-10 foot range. Once fish have grown to the optimal predator size, they will hide and hunt in the deeper water on the edge of the main lake basin. This is where the keeper model excels in holding large fish.

No matter what your goals are, or what shape your fishery is in, fishiding.com has fish habitat custom tailored to help your fish grow big and healthy. We will work with your budget to come up with a plan to keep your fish safe ,happy and full. After all, it’s about the fish.