The summer heat hasn’t stopped BHA-NY from working hard for our public lands. Over the last few months, BHA-NY has been spreading the good-word across the state at various events and through good ole’ fashioned boots-on-the-ground conservation.
In June, chapter Co-Chair Garrett Burback and board member Glen Stratton tabled at Spey Nation on the Salmon River and signed up nearly a dozen new members. We also held several cleanups across the state. Under the leadership of board member Virginia Glazier, BHA-NY held a well-attended cleanup of Letchworth State Park. Trails were cleared and lots of trash was removed from the area. We also held a cleanup of Monty’s Bay WMA in Beekmantown, NY on August 3rd, organized by board member Carla Denn. Thanks to all those who came out and volunteered your time to make NY public lands cleaner and more accessible.
In addition to hosting cleanups and other events, our chapter has been monitoring several policy issues. Most notably, we signed on with a number of other conservation organizations and sporting groups to urge Governor Cuomo to address the imminent threat of CWD to NY’s deer herd. We hope the governor will take all necessary actions to prevent and mitigate CWD before it becomes a major problem in our state. At a minimum, we ask the state to proceed with expanding the ban on high risk carcasses imported into the state, as well as implementing and enforcing the wild deer feeding ban to minimize the likelihood of future occurrences. We’re keeping a close watch on this developing issue and will report as updates become available.
This year’s NY Chapter Rendezvous was a stunning success in every possible way. We cannot thank Michael Barcone and all the wonderful people at Westkill Brewing enough. This was the kind of rendezvous we’ve been striving for, and it surpassed everything we had hoped to achieve. From the amazing venue, to the fantastic beer and food, to the awesome foraging walk, archery and axe throwing stations, to the spectacular bonfire that burned late into the night, it was simply perfect. We signed up and renewed many new members, and made a ton of money for the chapter, which will enable us to hold even more awesome events in the future. Thank you all for coming or following along on social media if you couldn’t make it. Thanks to all our sponsors for donating and/or discounting our raffle items, and congratulations to all the winners. Special thanks to the BHA-NY officers and board members for their hard work in making this year’s rendezvous our best yet. We can’t wait for next year!
In an effort to increase our outreach capabilities, BHA has begun the search for event coordinators to represent the nine Wildlife Management Units in NY. Thank you to all those who came forward, and you should be hearing from us shortly. If you missed it, feel free to reach out to us as we are always looking for volunteers.
Thank you all for making the first half of 2019 one to remember. We’ve made huge strides as a chapter and we can’t wait to continue our growth and further our goals in the second half of the year. As always, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay apprised of upcoming events and important information, and if you have any questions or would like to get more involved, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
- Cosmo Genova