PSAH Conversation Committee Information

If I were to give you my PSAH business card, you would see on the back our Oath or Pledge as some may call it. It’s a reminder to everyone that the primary purpose of PSAH and our Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is Conservation. Here it is:

I’ll always remember my first PSAH meeting almost 15 years ago. It was a slide presentation by Andy Houser. He was speaking about flora and fauna in the habitat in our area. What amazed me was to hear the hunters around me calling out the names of the plant species on the screen before Andy said anything. Then I realized that I was among people very knowledgeable about the environment. I have been pleased to be asked to be Conservation Chair. After reading the info here, if you have any suggestions for me and the committee or you would like to book a seminar or workshop, please contact me: garyblack14@gmail.com. Thanks.

Members of Conservation Committee: Chuck and June Frail; Bob Mitchell; Al Kuzmyk; Bruce Hatt; Phil Black; Peter Van der Valk; Doug Meadows; Michael Corson and myself.

Here is a summary of the Conservation Committee’s work:

Donations to Conservation Partners: Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve; Shawanaga First Nation and any Conservationist Speaker who attends a monthly Club Meeting and talks to us about their particular environmental expertise and community involvement.

Advocacy:

• Reduce Road Kill: We sell Animal Alert Whistles to mount on the mirror stems of vehicles to stop wildlife from wandering onto the road in front of the vehicle. (A controversial topic that I personally advocate from my own experience of reducing at least 2 roadkill/Injury situations every year for the past 15 years). We also encourage members to keep a shovel in the trunk to gently pick up turtles off the road and move them out of harm’s way.
• Letters to staff in district municipalities to encourage them to sustain Milkweed along the roadside.

Fund-raising: Mostly done through the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters annual Lottery. (A few years ago the main prize was won by a Parry Sound resident).

Conservation Projects: All of our projects are funded by our club and committee members donate their time. They are advertised by the partner hosting the event and on ParrySound.com

• Our most popular project is templating Bird House Kits and going to local libraries or Fall Fairs and teaching and assisting children to construct them. Committee members and myself attend and some parents and grandparents also assist with younger children …about 5 – 6 years old.
• We also make kits to construct: Bat Boxes; Duck Boxes; and we are working with GBBR to design a kit to protect turtle nests.
• Trees and Shrubs are available annually for members and non-members. We only ask people to let us know where these will be planted. (For 2021 they will be available in the fall. Look for notice in local online newspapers).

River Rehabilitation: Michael Corson can speak to this better than I can as he has done this work. Basically it’s returning rivers to their original course so that fish spawning and other habitat activities can occur once again. (During the logging industry period, rivers were straightened to expedite running logs to a mill source).

The OFAH lottery no longer provides commission to us for sales (they are now done directly from their web page). We also get Conservation revenue from the Sportsman’s Gun Show which we have not been able to conduct last year and this. Right now our main source of revenue is donations.

For the conservationist, there are various handy forms below (in .PDF format) with information on becoming active and involved…