Recognition!

The Law Student Organization page now lists the Fieldsport and Angling Society! It's a slightly less direct method of notification than I was expecting, but it works. Anyone interested in an inaugural round of sporting clays prior to the first day of classes should drop me a line.

Budget Proposal

We have submitted out budget proposal for next year to the SBA, and it contains requests for some exciting opportunities to share our love of the sporting lifestyle with the law school community. While we have no guarantee that we will get any money at all, if we do we can expect to fund one or more of the following :

• Fly Fishing on the Lawn: During the fall semester the Fieldsport and Angling Society will host an "Introduction to Fly Fishing" event where any member of the Law School who has never fly fished before could come out to the Law School lawn and have a professional fly fishing guide teach them the basics. For most beginners the hardest part is the mental barrier of "that looks really hard." This convenient and free opportunity would let interested persons give fly casting a try. Most people find that not only is it not overly difficult, but casting is also a lot of fun. The Society will hire a local guide to provide professional instruction and Angling members of the Society will also be on hand to help instruct and to let students know about area fly fishing in general. There is an abundance of wonderful fly fishing practically in Lexington's back yard and many students will enjoy fishing these streams once their appetite has been whetted on the Law School lawn.
• Conservation Easement Speaker: Conservation easements are a way that private land owners can use property law to preserve habitat for wildlife and access for sportsment. We would like to bring a lawyer who has experience in these instruments to come talk to the law school about the role of legal professionals in this rapidly growing and sometimes controversial practice.
  
• An introduction to Claysports: This event is designed to get people their first taste of sporting clays in a friendly and relaxed environment. We will reserve the facilities at The Glorious Twelfth, a local sporting clays business, for 4-5 hours, and allow students to sign up for 15-20 minute blocks for one-on-one lessons with the shooting coach.
  
• BBQ meetings each semester: This activity is designed as a social and planning event for old members and new. The event will be open to anyone in the law school community, including professors, with an interest in fieldsports, angling, and associated legal issues. We will discuss activities, assign planning duties, and calculate our upcoming expenditures. This will be an opportunity for people to find an informal clayshooting group or fishing buddy for the relief of stress throughout the upcoming semester
• Promotional Activities: One of our biggest goals for 07-08 as a new organization is to expand our membership and student awareness. To accomplish this goal, we will create a F&A webpage, recruit new members at the Organization Fair and keep our bulletin board updated throughout the year with information on upcoming events.

Of course, each of these events is contingent on recognition and the allocation of SBA funds, but even if we remain a secret society funded by our own meager pocket books, next year is still going to be a blast.

Wildlife Ringtones

Okay, so this is just a tad over the edge. The Arizona Game and Fish Department has a set of wildlife ringtones so you can truly mark yourself out as a wildlife geek. Just imagine; next time your phone goes off in class, the professor hears this.

AZGFD also has a pretty good selection of videos, like this one on drahthaar pointers.

Conservation Reserve Program under fire

Ducks Unlimited has an action item concerning the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP):

The future of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is in jeopardy and needs your help! A recent proposal by the USDA would eliminate enrollments into CRP for the next two years. This comes at a time when over 4 million acres of CRP will be expiring. This program has been vital to conserving waterfowl breeding grounds in the Prairie Pothole Region of the Dakotas, Iowa, Montana, and Minnesota by allowing farmers to convert marginal cropland into grasslands vital as nesting habitat in return for rental payments. In addition to the removal of the CRP enrollment option for landowners, rental rates being offered to landowners on current CRP lands have not kept pace with the market values of their lands.

Check out this and other wetland and habitat conservation priorities in the 2007 Farm Bill at the Ducks Unlimited Conservation page.