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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• Security restrictions limited recreational boating and fishing on both coasts, particularly around military installations and sensitive areas. MarineMax of New Jersey changed the name of its fall color cruise up the Hudson River to Getaway for Liberty. American flags will wave Friday from 30 Sea Ray vessels cruising proudly past the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline.

• Public hunting access was eliminated or severely restricted at Fort Pickett, Fort A.P. Hill, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, and other military installations. Bow hunting programs continue, however.

• Companies in the Outdoor Industry Association, partnering with AmeriCares, sent supplies to relief workers in New York City. The initial shipment included 200,000 energy bars, 14,000 pairs of stocks, 3,600 pairs of socks, 1,000 energy drinks, 800 pairs of gloves, 700 flashlights and headlamps, 200 tents, 2,000 goggles and eye protection devices, 1,500 water bottles, 400 inflatable cots, and $100,000 in cash. 

• Attack on America will not stop the people of the outdoors industry from conducting the business of the outdoors. Decision makers in the tackle industry meet this week in Orlando. The Outdoor Network reports that its informal survey confirmed outdoor recreation and environmental conferences will be held as planned in October and November.

• Colorado ski resorts say bookings for November and December are down 20 to 40 percent. Layoffs and/or much lower levels of hiring will occur. Construction projects have been postponed. Industry officials say all this, plus tougher enforcement of immigration laws, will prevent the regular employment of up to 10,000 Hispanic workers.

• What's hot and what's not? A major study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA.com) shows trends for 33 outdoor activities from 1987 to 2000. Of note: tent camping, bird watching and national park visits are up. Hiking, fishing, snow sports, water sports, and shooting sports are all flat.

• The University of Alaska has proposed adding three outdoor industry programs, one four-year BS degree in education, a two-year AA degree in the applied science of outdoor education, and a certification program for professional guides.

• The St. Petersburg Times reported that the U.S. Government will collect arsenic samples from soil near wooden structures at public and private playgrounds across the country in November.

• EPA Administrator Christie Whitman lent support to the Girl Scouts, announcing a new Environmental Health Badge. The badge helps the scouts understand sun safety, air and water quality and environmental causes of asthma.

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed more hunting to reduce ballooning populations of snow and other geese. The geese are destroying the fragile Arctic habitat, says USFWS.

• Florida's Citrus County commissioners voted unanimously to oppose a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create a manatee sanctuary in the Blue Waters area of the Homosassa River. They said the proposal was "an overreaction unsupported by facts."

• JAWS author Peter Benchley told travel writers that sharks are getting a bad rap. "What's awry," he said, "is the damage being done to sharks by the commercial fishing industry." He offered tips for swimmers: avoid swimming at dawn and dusk, don't swim where birds are diving, and don't swim if you are bleeding.

 

• Calling it a temporary precaution, Kmart removed firearms and ammo from shelves after the Attack on America. Earlier a federal jury in Utah awarded $1.5 million to a couple after finding that Kmart store employees negligent for selling a shotgun to the couple's schizophrenic, suicidal son.

• A survey of outdoor retailers taken one week after the Attack on America suggests that traffic and sales slipped from 4 to 14 percent, less than feared. The survey was commissioned by the Outdoor Industry Association 

• Skiing magazine put Whistler/Blackcomb ski area in British Columbia at the top of its top ten ski areas in North America. Aspen was two, followed by Vail, Alta and Snowbird, Jackson Hole, Squaw Valley, Mammoth Mountain, Lake Louise, Telluride, and Taos Ski Valley.

• Dean Arnoldussen of Kaukauna, Wisc. caught three walleyes and won $400,000 October 6 in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit Championship, held in Green Bay. Total payout was $1.4 million, the largest in walleye tournament history. RCL stands for the boat sponsors – Ranger, Crestliner and Lund.

• Directors of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) appointed a new president and CEO, Michael Nussman, 47. He succeeds Michael Hayden, formerly Kansas governor. 

• How do you deal with too many deer in residential areas? The citizens of Watchung, N.J. are considering artificial birth control. But an expert has told them that would cost $1,000 per deer and may not work. Officials of Greenwich, Conn., not without citizen opposition, invited bowhunters to reduce the deer population then donate the meat to food relief programs.

• Give them the razor; sell 'em the blades? Austin-Lehman Adventures promoted an outdoor adventure (and wine tour, of course) in Northern California. Airfare from New York to San Francisco is free. The adventure, including hiking and biking, costs $2,545, but that includes rooms, meals and some tips. 

• Antiperspirant prevents foot blisters. The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine said a study of West Point cadets showed almost half got blisters on a long hike. But of those who applied a 20 percent solution of aluminum chloride only 21 percent developed blisters. However, more than half of the antiperspirant users complained of skin irritation. 

• Ron and Lynn Davis of St. Augustine, Florida caught a 13-foot, 900-pound alligator with fishing tackle early on the morning of September 5, the first week of Florida's public alligator hunt. Joe Julavits of the Jacksonville Times Union reported that the bait was animal lungs on a wooden peg. State record for an alligator is 1,036 pounds.

• Hotdoggers on personal watercraft have invented a new extreme sport -- kayak hunting. It is played frequently on the Hudson River off Manhattan, reports The Village Voice. The idea is to spray the mid-town kayaker. You get extra points if the kayak flips. 

• Field officers for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are patrolling nuclear power plants and augmenting security at ports, harbors and other sensitive areas, reported the Gainesville Sun. 

• Calif. Gov. Gray Davis signed two bills requiring new handgun owners to have licenses after January, 2003.

• The San Francisco Chronicle reported that two men who pled guilty to federal weapons charges in San Jose, Calif. were, according to prosecutors, associated with the Animal Liberation Front. They were caught after midnight at a city hall with gasoline, plastic containers, matches and candles.

• Sail America's board of directors authorized The Winds of Freedom and pledged $50,000 toward raising $250,000 for families of the attack on America. The total will be announced at Atlantic Sail Expo, Atlantic City, Jan., 24. 

• The Associated Press reported that James Storm of Rio Linda, California is suing the Rio Vista Striped Bass Festival because it said he failed the polygraph test and therefore did not win the tournament or a new boat.

• Too many deer in residential areas and another long and contentious debate by a town council. The Michigan City News Dispatch said the Beverly Shores Council agreed that firearms should not be used to cull the deer herd but they didn't approve the use of bows and arrows either. 

• Montreal-based Bombardier Recreational Products announced a new line of outboard-powered fishing boats for the U.S. market, Fish Hawk. Bombardier already has Johnson, Evinrude and Sea Doo brands.

• Cobra Electronics introduced a portable two-way radio, PR-900-DX, with a five-mile range in the outdoors. 

• Collapse of the Canary Islands' Cumbre Vieja volcano into the ocean could trigger a tidal wave that would wipe out Florida, according to a study by geophysicist Steven Ward of the University of California at Santa Cruz. The good news is it may not happen for another 1,000 years.

• Genmar Industries of Minneapolis sold yacht builder Hatteras to Brunswick Corp. for $80 million. Brunswick will supply Mercury outboards and Mercruiser inboard-outboards for Genmar's16 boat brands. 

• Brunswick Corp., a marine and leisure industry bellwether, announced lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. Chief George Buckley told analysts Brunswick is "hoping for the best, but planning for the worst." Sales were down 13-14 percent in 2001. Expect another 10 percent decline in 2002, Buckley said.

• Countering claims that wild fish have been infected by more pathogens, a new National Wild Fish Health Survey from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) describes a relatively healthy picture of U.S. wild fish populations. Info at wildfishsurvey.fws.gov.

• A report from the Outdoor Industry Association, based on a Sept. 21-Oct. 6 poll, says Americans view national parks and mountain resorts as the safest weekend and vacation destinations. 

• Congress is working on legislation that gives free entry to national parks to those directly affected by the events of Sept. 11.

• Five Spanish climbers on a 10-man expedition died in an avalanche on Mount Pumori in Nepal's Himalayas.

• A bear mauled an elk hunter near Moran Junction in Grand Teton National Park. Officials believe Conrad Smith, Champlin, Minn., was killed by a sow protecting her cub.

• Lewiston, Maine's Sun Journal reports that mild winters have helped that state's deer herd grow from 160,000 to 292,000 in 15 years.

• Florida's Department of Environmental Protection awarded its first Clean Boatyard Award to MarineMax Associated Marine Technologies of Dania Beach.

• A Royal Air Force mountain climbing team paddled their folding Porta-Bote on a slushy lake at Mount Everest's 20,000-foot elevation. They transported the ultra-light dinghy on the back of a yak. Guinness Book of World Records has been notified.

• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in the wake of you-know-what, said they would not throw pies, get on the runway, or jeer fur wearers at this year's VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. So they were furious, according to New York Post columnist Jared Paul Stern, when Women's Wear Daily rejected their toned down ad. Stern quoted Dan Matthews of PETA saying, "When tactics escalate against fur designers, they'll have Women's Wear Daily to thank" 

• Rumor out West has had it this summer that somebody shot Big Foot and government agents came and took the furry humanoid away in a body bag. No, nada, negative, never happened, said U.S. and state officials, polled by reporter James Hagengruber of The Gazette in Billings. Sounds like an X-Files episode but, alas, it's real life.

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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