I’ve got mixed feelings about the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes organization deciding to make a leap into the officialdom of nonprofits by hiring its first executive director.
On the one hand, I’ll miss referring to the Friends as an all-volunteer organization. There is power in the statement, which declares that every dollar donated will go directly toward preserving and improving the lakeshore.
On the other hand, it’s time. The Friends group counts among its supporters more than 500 volunteers who give a combined 11,000 hours to better Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It was a fledgling organization when I returned to Leelanau County in 1997, three years after it formed. The organization seemed and remains blue-collar to me, understated compared to its mission. I can’t recall flashy fundraisers or pleas for financial help.
I don’t think people felt leveraged to get involved. They just wanted to.
A lengthy — and flashy— job description is posted on the Friends website, with applications due Friday. The Moran Company, which conducts nationwide searches for nonprofi t executives, is compiling resumes. The pay scale varies from $95,000 to $110,000 plus benefits to be determined.
The move should be seen as a monumental accomplishment by the Friends volunteers, and especially its Board of Directors including president Kerry Kelly. The Lakeshore is a better place because of your quiet volunteerism, which is the best kind.
Just think what you’ll accomplish with some paid help.
••• As of Friday about half of the openings had been reserved for a hunter safety “field day” sponsored by the Cedar Rod and Gun Club.
The class as put on by the club is always fun and enlightening — and required for a hunter safety certificate. Also needed is passage of an online course offered through the Michigan MDNR website.
That website is also the place to reserve a place at the field day, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the gun club. It’s located off Sullivan Road between Maple City and Cedar. The maximum number of participants is 50.
••• I wasn’t in a panic, but I figured renewing my concealed pistol license would prove to be a pain after receiving a letter explaining that my current license would expire in six months. The part that had me worried stated that I needed to complete “at least three hours of review of the required training and at least one hour of firing range time …” When would I find time for that? Could I reserve time to meet with Mark Stephens, a shooting instructor whose class I attended years ago as part of my CPL training?
After talking with Mark I was relieved. Yes, I did need to review my firearms safety material and it is necessary to spend time practicing to safely handle a firearm. Those are responsibilities left solely to me. I likely will have to sign a statement confirming the tasks were completed, but I did not need the co-signature of an instructor.
Although I have a CPL I very rarely carry a pistol in public settings. In fact, I can’t recall the last time I did. We live in a safe county. I don’t feel threatened.
(Thank you Sheriff Mike Borkovich, deputies and other law enforcement officers.)
But I was left wondering how many people allow their licenses to lapse because they did not want to — or lacked time to — attend a class to renew.
This is a heads up to others who receive a renewal letter that no further class time is involved.
••• Salmon fishing off the west coast of Leelanau County may be slowing as more adults make the turn around Northport and head to West Grand Traverse Bay toward their spawning gravel in the Boardman River.
But it’s still very good fishing. Kevin and Megan Beindit of Harsens Island hosted their son Owen and his girlfriend Kate Bennett Monday morning on a trip out of Leland hosted by captain Wes Smith.
Kate caught the biggest salmon, a king that pushed 20 pounds. Three other salmon were boated.
“My arm was pretty tired, but it was fun,” she reported.
••• After talking with two members of the Natural Resources Commission, I get the feeling that major changes are coming in 2025 for deer hunting regulations.
Commissioners Tom Baird, who I had interviewed twice before, and John Walters are both adamant that more does need to be shot in lower Michigan. And I got the impression that neither is willing to wait for hunter attitudes to change in favor of evening the doe-to-buck ratio.
One option that has been discussed is instituting an “earn-asecond buck” rule. Presently properly licensed deer hunters can shoot two bucks in the fall without harvesting a doe. The new rule would require a hunter to shoot at least one doe before being issued a second buck tag.
I’m all for such a change. Expect the discussion to continue in February or March with plenty of time to include the new rule in 2025 hunting guides.
