Smallmouth Alliance - National Site

[Bterrill]

I'd be careful about assuming anything you do is better than another group. Just because they are called "Alliance" doesn't mean they have any tie other than the name.

 

Now I happen to believe what ISA has done is a great model for us here in Indiana and I am pushing a lot of the same methods. If someone from ISA had started showing up at our meetings and started saying I'll do your newsletter etc... you might have been told to stuff it. Now if WSA ASKS for advice and help...

 

The other question is would a national Alliance do as much for ILLINOIS as ISA? Doubt it. I hope we can say the same in Indiana some day.

[Bterrill]

Nate, you make a really strong case regarding warm water stream conservation.

Excellent post.

 

But reality for me personally rounds out something like this....

When I agreed to handle the overall conservation agenda for the ISA, I had no idea it would evolve into something that almost equates to a full-time job.

When I get a call telling me we need to meet with an IL Senator, or appear in Springfield to represent ISA interests in conservation, that speaks to my passion for IL rivers and streams...but more importantly and to the point- the accountability to our members.

600+ people aren't necessarily contributing faithfully each and every year so that I devote my time towards a national smallmouth conservation agenda. I'm pretty sure that the majority of them would like to see their own favorite watersheds addressed, as we have promised them we would do our very best to represent their interests.

 

For me to dilute my own efforts by dispersing them among national concerns would be doing our members a disservice.

 

I understand fully the old adage "We all live downstream".

That in itself is where the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance is best represented by their Conservation Director.

A case in point-

The Kankakee River continues to receive the brunt of Indiana's narrow-minded thinking where this watershed is concerned.

In order to abate the enormous sediment problem that occurs to this day, the Indiana Smallmouth Alliance, the ISA and those working towards a resolution to this problem should be considering some kind of major effort to put a major hurt on those responsible for affecting the IL stem to the point of killing off the smallmouth bass population.

 

That's where I'm intrigued by a national alliance effort.

One word means business- MONEY.

Everybody lawyers up on every river issue important to their own cause.

The ones with the most money get the most support and the loudest politicians to back them.

 

Back to my original thought.

If I was to begin receiving notes and calls regarding some CAFO or factory destroying a stream in New York, for instance....my defense mechanism would kick in and I'd give everything I have toward saving smallmouth that most reading this will never have a stake in preserving.

 

We pick our battles accordingly sometimes, and in this case I have more right here at home than I can possibly manage as it is.

 

For anyone that does choose to expand their horizons- I'm your biggest fan from the word go.

 

Mike, your Kankakee idea would be better solved in my opinion not by a National Alliance, but by a ISA/INSA recruiting effort in that area in Indiana. The right person recruiting new members in that area of the state could make it more of a focus than we currently are able to have. Since most of us live around Indianapolis, the Kankakee is far from any future effort here. So in that regard, it matters more to Illinois folks than most of the Indiana members who naturally will be centered close to the shows we go to.

 

BT

[Scott Ferguson]

For a National Alliance to justify it's existence, it has to provide something that the individual state alliance cannot provide for themselves. In my opinion, that something, is that of a 501©3, charitable organization.

In the ISA, we have found our members value the conservation aspect of the group, but the main thing they want is a social / fishing club. It is the combination of these two functions that has brought the ISA to where it is today. Take out one or the other, and we loose a significant part of our membership. I believe the state organizations work best when set up as a 501©7, social club. Under a 501©7, we can be both a social fishing club and a conservation group. As a 501©3 charitable organization, due to the pretty restrictive regulations, you can really only be a conservation group.

If the National Alliance was set up to be the conservation base for all the Alliances, we could all keep the conservation portion of our group and take advantage of the tax deductible donations without having to set up separate foundations in every state.

Money raised for example in Illinois might be ear marked first for Illinois projects, just as money raised in Indiana would be set aside for Indiana projects first with a portion of all proceeds to be used where the board saw the greatest need.

The ISA has been discussing setting up our own conservation foundation for some time and has the money available for the startup costs. What we don't have, is the team needed to run a charitable organization.

If someone with the expertise needed to solicit donations, run a grant program and manage a 501©3 were to step up and put together a team of willing VOLUNTEERS from across the country, the National Alliance could be revived rather quickly. Again, the big if is finding someone with the needed experience who will work for free for at least as long as it would take to see a substantial amount of income.

[Mike G]

 

Eric,

 

Thanks for the link to the old page. I can't count how many times I opened on that page and then segued to one of the linked sites. For a long time that was my route to the ISA forum. That picture, Sunlight on Bronze, has to carry a lot of brand identity to this very day.

[Gary L]

I see the National Alliance as a Big Voice for Conservation across the Nation. Even in the individual states it would show as a bigger organization such as that of Trout Unlimited with the same desires for improved habitat of Smallmouth Bass across the country.

[Mike G]

March 15, 2010 THUD! (the sound of this topic being dropped)

 

Since then I did find where Brad Miller had put together a summary on TSA in the past. http://www.flybass.com/html/sm_alliance.html

 

Then click on Smallmouth Alliance http://www.smallmouth.org/ to see the new look for the Alliance.

 

Scarry, huh? But I do like the international look. It goes with my Tenkara Outfit.

 

I knew something like this would happen.

[Dana Lee]

Lot's of great tips on the new smallmouth.org site!!!

[Mike G]

Lot's of great tips on the new smallmouth.org site!!!

This one is the best:

 

通常、融資に伴う審査は、条件の良い融資商品ほど審査が慎重で厳しい傾向です。

 

Best in the original, the Google translation does not do it justice.

[Dana Lee]

I liked the one about tripping your wading partner and fishing the eddy beneath them.