bp-Outdoors :  The AuCoin Report News Briefs from the Great Outdoors!  Covering Boating, Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Hiking and more. Topics include: New products, environmental news, conservation, legal issues, gun ownership, celebrity news and industry alerts.

 

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• With the U.S. pulling out, U.N. delegates from 180 other countries meeting in Bonn, Germany failed to agree on modifications to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. They'll try again in October in Morocco. Only one country – Romania -- has ratified the agreement. 

• The U.S. House Resources Committee voted 29-12 to send the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) to the full House. If the act passes, $3.1 billion over 15 years goes toward conservation, parks, and historic preservation. Utah Republican Jim Hansen, committee chairman, said he was satisfied rural communities would be paid for protected federal land if it were excluded from their tax rolls. 

• An advisory board urged the National Park Service to change its mission from promoting tourism to protecting the park system's biodiversity and aquatic systems. Park Service Director Fran Mainella said the report embraces many of the goals of President Bush's Park Legacy Initiative. 

• The U.S. House of Representatives passed major parts of President Bush's energy development plan, including oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Tax breaks and incentives for energy producers, solar-power, and energy-efficiency total $33.5 billion over ten years. The Senate votes in September or October.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would require General Electric (GE) to spend more than $500 million to remove PCBs and other contaminants from the soil and the water column in the Hudson River. 

• The Denver Rocky Mountain News reported that juvenile drug and alcohol offenders on a state-funded camping adventure turned hostile, threatened to kill their supervisors and left the camp, only to return when they got scared. Mesa County deputies hiked into the Uncompahgre Plateau and arrested five of the nine teens. 

• Firefighters contained four large western state fires, but three new fires erupted. More than 1.5 million acres of national wild-lands have burned this year; that's less than the 10-year average. Experts testified at a congressional subcommittee that fires will get worse because of the policy of suppressing fires rather than letting natural fires destroy accumulations of timber and other forest fire fuels. 

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service produced a new video to show electric power producers ways to prevent electrocution and other injuries to birds. Perching raptors and other birds with large wingspans are especially vulnerable to electrocution because their wings can close a circuit between two wires.

• The International Sailing Federation will ask International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, a yachtsman himself, to move the 2008 Olympics in China from July to September to avoid the typhoon and monsoon season.

• American Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France bicycle race for the third year in a row and announced he'd compete again and again so long as he felt the passion. "I love my job," he said.

• One or more people broke into the Key West Aquarium. They speared and stole 20 groupers, snappers, spotted weakfish, and lobsters. 

• Should snowmobilers wear personal flotation devices? Could be if they persist in hydroplaning – "skipping" in the vernacular -- their high speed machines across bodies of water, not ice. The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission took up this and other vexing issues Thursday. 

 

 
 
 
 
 

• U.S. Sens. John Breaux (D-La) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex) introduced the Freedom to Fish Act (S.1314). It prevents government from closing areas to sportfishing unless it can be shown that recreational fishing affected that area adversely. Once targets are reached, the area must be reopened.

• The California Supreme Court ruled 5-1 that victims cannot sue gun manufacturers when their products are used illegally. The ruling grew out of a case in which eight people were shot and killed in a California skyscraper in 1993. 

• A survey of 200 law enforcement officers in a southern agency showed that eight out of ten, motivated by self or family protection, own and keep personal firearms in their homes. The research showed 60 percent stored their guns unlocked, 68 percent kept their guns loaded, and about 44 percent stored them both unlocked and loaded. Details are in the August issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 

• Team Adventure, a 110-foot catamaran, will not break the transatlantic sailing record. The vessel, moving at 30 knots, lost a bow section a day after its departure from New York. Earlier, it narrowly avoided a collision with a container ship. A French crew set the 1990 record, 6 ½ days.

• Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources reported wolf packs killed four dogs being trained for bear hunting in northern Wisconsin in three July incidents. Officers said the wolves, with cubs, appeared to be protecting their home territories.

• The U.S. Forest Service invited public comment on a proposal to limit the number of people who may use the Chattooga River without paying a fee. It would increase outfitter opportunities. The movie Deliverance was filmed on the Chattooga, which comes out of the North Carolina mountains and races down the border between Georgia and South Carolina.

• About 200 athletes from 10 countries compete August 18-19 in the X-Adventure mountain race. Racing by foot, in-line skates, mountain bike and canoes, teams composed of men and women will cover 100 miles between Salt Lake City's Salt Palace, scene of the outdoor retailer trade show, and Park City, Utah. 

• Kevin VanDam of Michigan, named Angler of the Year three times by Bass Angler Sportsman Society, won the 2001 Bassmaster's Classic in New Orleans, televised by ESPN, new owner of B.A.S.S.

• A new biography of the man who founded Bass Angler Sportsman Society and created tournament bass fishing is on the market. Bass Boss, by Robert H. Boyle, is subtitled, The Inspiring Story of Ray Scott and the Sportfishing Industry He Created. Info online at rayscott.net. 

• Smart Business magazine's September issue ranks outdoor retailer REI seventh on its list of the Top 50 U. S. companies using the Internet. Lands End is eighth. 

• Features editor Marcus Woolf will succeed Joan Alvarez as editor of Outdoor Retailer magazine.

• Dick Genth, a 40-year marine industry veteran and innovator, was named president of Tampa-based Westship World Yachts, succeeding Herb Postma.

• Advertising executive Preston Bealle replaced Jonathan Guttenberg as CEO of GORP.com, adventure travel web site.

• Biologist Brian Sullivan, NatureBent.com, has launched a free online newsletter, Bent on Waterfowl.

• Two weeks ago the California Supreme Court ruled that gun makers could not be sued if their products were used illegally. This week a lawmaker introduced legislation that would repeal the state law upon which the court based its decision.

• To avoid the gun control controversy, Procter & Gamble pulled advertising from a repeat episode of Family Law featuring the defense of a woman whose child is accidentally shot by a gun owned by the woman.

• Forty large fires are burning in nine states, involving nearly 30,000 firefighters and support people. Pacific Northwest is the hottest spot.

• Departments of Interior and Agriculture launched Firewise, public service messages telling homeowners vulnerable to wildfires to take responsibility to clear out brush, leaves and firewood around their homes.

• Illegal, unreported and unregulated catch of Patagonian toothfish -- Chilean sea bass, on North American menus – is probably four times what had been estimated, according to a new report by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring organization. The report points blame primarily at Spanish interests with vessels flying flags of convenience like Panama.

• West Virginia wildlife officials said less hunting and trapping for raccoons has resulted in a rapid spread of rabies in about half of the counties. The state will airdrop fish-scented vaccine pellets next month into infected areas.

• With less water available for irrigation, taxpayers are giving Klamath Basin farmers and other landowners $20 million to help them cope. Recipients must agree to adopt water conservation methods.

• A U.S. federal judge ordered an immediate reduction in cruise ship activity in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park. National Parks Conservation Association brought the case, alleging pollution from the cruise ships.

• Zeiss Sports Optics said it would sponsor two experienced birders to search the swamps and bayous of Louisiana's Pearl River basin for 30 days for the extremely rare and possibly extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker 

• Outdoor Intel of Boulder will create CD ROMs and other digitally-based consumer products using data from Fishing Hot Spots with TOPO software from National Geographic Maps. The three companies will collaborate on marketing and sales programs, including customized maps-on-demand at retail locations and the internet.

• Battery-powered duck decoys are so effective that populations of mallards are declining too quickly, according to California wildlife officials, now considering a ban for part of the season.

• Wisconsin's first mourning dove hunt in decades opens Sept. 1. Or, does it? An organization called Wisconsin Citizens Concerned for Cranes and Doves has asked for an injunction to stop it.

• Hooked on Fishing International has issued its annual call for organizations to host fishing derbies for kids in 2002. Go to www.kids-fishing.com to request the official information packet.

• Record blues. Charles Ashley caught a 116-pound blue catfish in the Mississippi River near Memphis, a new Arkansas blue cat record and probable world record. In late July Conrad Hawkins of Jacksonville caught a probable Florida record blue marlin -- 1,046-pounds – trolling the Gulf of Mexico's 100-fathom curve off of Destin, Florida on the Lucky 2, a 51-foot Bertram. 

• Budweiser.com opened voting for its Outdoorsman of the Year. Finalists are Mark LaBarbera of North American Outdoor Group, Tom Baker of The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Earl Groves of the National Wild Turkey Federation, and Dr. Tom Thompson of Quail Unlimited.

• Sugar produced in Alabama and Texas – not the Florida everglades -- is being packaged under a new brand called "Save our Everglades," sold in Publix, Winn-Dixie and Albertson supermarkets. 

 

• Two pilots died in a mid-air collision while dropping aerial retardant drops on a wildfire in Mendocino County, Calif.

• The Florida Supreme Court will consider a case filed by organizations supporting the clean-up of the Florida Everglades. The suit says Florida citizens passed a constitutional amendment requiring that those who pollute, such as sugar cane growers, must pay for the clean-up but that, instead, innocent citizens are being charged.

• The numbers confirm it, says marine industry statistician Jim Petru; the boat and motor industry is in a recession. Petru, of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, pointed to a 10-point spread between boat shipments and boat registrations. It should be more like 2 or 3 percent, he said.
• A judge approved a motion by creditors to convert the bankruptcy of Outboard Marine Corporation from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 liquidation. Secured creditors did not oppose it.

• Coastal Conservation Association of Florida asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to re-evaluate the biological status of the Florida manatee. Worried about more decrees setting aside manatee safe havens, CCA said it wants to see the science before additional regulations are put in place. A CCA study suggests that manatee populations are recovering and that the species no longer fits the definition of endangered.

• A Wisconsin judge blocked the start of the state's first mourning dove hunting season, due to start Sept. 1. Circuit Judge Daniel Moeser granted the request of "Wisconsin Citizens Concerned for Cranes and Doves" to stop the hunt until its lawsuit is heard.

• Bypassing the lure of slot machines and shows, Nevada's Commission on Tourism announced it would launch an aggressive promotion for its outdoor adventure travel opportunities.

• Watermark Gear said it will buy Sospenders, which makes an approved personal flotation device that inflates with carbon dioxide. Scott Swanby remains as president of the Fruitland, Idaho company.

• Bombardier introduced power assisted steering for its personal watercraft. Earlier it announced a four-stroke engine for its Sea Doo PWCs. The company believes the benefits of better steering and a quieter engine will mute complaints about personal watercraft.

• Correction. Shakopee, Minn.'s Mark LaBarbera, nominee for Budweiser.com's Outdoorsman of the Year Award, was formerly senior vp at North American Outdoor Group. Mark is a life member and proactive volunteer for numerous outdoors and hunting groups. Online voting is open now. Winner to be announced at the 2002 SHOT show.

• Rocky Mountain Adventures, a river rafting business, uses pigeons to shuttle film to the store for development. Entrepreneur Dave Costlow sells the photos to customers when the rafts land. Mechanical breakdowns do occur. Costlow's fleet is down to 17 pigeons. Three are missing, believed attacked and killed by hawks.

• AuCoin Report Salute: CampCompass.org is entering its fifth season taking inner city kids deer hunting.

• Leverage King (www.leverageking.com) drew large crowds at the National Hardware Show in Chicago. It turns out the wrist support for fishing rods and nets also eases work and carpal tunnel pain when attached to long-handled tree pruners, paint rollers, shovels, hoes, and other tools. 

• Take the mosquito repellent challenge: Do you like Deet or its newest challengers, catnip and garlic? Two Ames, Iowa entomologists – those are bug scientists -- say catnip oil is 10 times more effective than diethyl-mmeta-toluamide (DEET). Mosquito Barrier Co. says garlic is better because mosquitoes hate its natural sulfurs and will leave the sprayed area. However, the company does advise spraying garlic on golf courses, not skin. 

The AuCoin Report is a service of AuCoin & Associates, Inc. 

Communications for the Great Outdoors, St. Petersburg, Fla. 

A&A specializes in marketing, corporate and public policy communications for boating, sport-fishing and outdoor recreation organizations. 

Contact Bill AuCoin at: wmaucoin@tampabay.rr.com