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The Bays de Noc Gobblers host numerous Wheelin' Sportsmen and JAKES activities each year. |
Bays de Noc Gobblers active in Michigan
The Bays de Noc Gobblers in Scanaba, Mich., have done an impressive job with both their JAKES and Wheelin' Sportsmen programs in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
According to NWTF Regional Director Keith Rubin, volunteer Ken Buchholtz is a big part of the chapter's success.
"Ken is a remarkable volunteer, chapter president, district director and state board member," Rubin said. "He never missed a step following a kidney transplant and all the associated medical challenges and sickness. That's an incredible achievement, in my view, due to the illness he has overcome and kept on working to fulfill the NWTF's goals."
NWTF, Forest Service help those
with special needs in Texas
The NWTF, partnering with the USDA Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife and other agencies, bring the outdoors to the residents of the Lufkin State Supported Living Center every year with the Bream Buster event.
Now in its 10th year, the event created by the Living Center's Lynn Hopper and NWTF Pineywoods Chapter President Dale Bounds gives residents of the Living Center an opportunity to cast a line in a pond and pull out a bream. The participants ranged from ages 10 to 40.
"This event focuses on the abilities of our residents and not their disabilities," Hopper said. "It's an easy event to get them outside and experience something new."
She praised the volunteers who helped make the event a success.
"We have so many volunteers that if someone is in a wheelchair and trying to get over stumps and rough terrain, we have people who move them. If they need help holding the fishing rod, they'll have help," she said.
A conservation education booth staffed by employees of the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas and partners from Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas Forest Service presented an Urban and Rural Connections Program where the Amigos del Bosque (Friends of the Forest) team, made of bilingual students and community members, spread it's conservation message.
The booth also featured Making Tracks, reptiles for participants to interact with, and the FOCUS (Forests, Oceans, Climate and Us) mural. FOCUS is collaboration between the Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Wyland Foundation that features of murals of oceans, forests and everything in between.
Appearances by Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl brought smiles to the group.
"They were more open to new things," Hopper said of the participants. "The smiles they had were beautiful. They were happy in the outdoors." — Adrian Delgado