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President's Report

Once again "SUMMER RENDEZVOUS" has
come and gone and an excellent time was had by all. I would
like to thank the Rendezvous Committee for a very excellent
job and thanks for all the hard work they have done to make
sure it was a success. Marshall as chairman and Chris and Sue
worked very hard the past few months in putting it together. I
will leave the details of the week-end to the committee to
report on the events and thanks to our many sponsors and
donors to our auction. However I want to personally thank Fur
Harvesters Auction for sending Dave Bosma down to represent
them and to be our auctioneer again this year. Dave does an
excellent job on representing Fur Harvesters and trappers
enjoy the time in talking with him on trapping issues. Also
Thanks to the Fur Harvesters for their generous donation again
this year. I also want to thank NAFA for having Brian attend
to represent them and for their generous offer also as it was
greatly appreciated. The Wild Fur Shippers Council this year
had Kirby Burtt (Atlantic rep) and Bill Mackowski from
Maine(US rep) attend for the week-end to promote the WFSC.
Thanks to Bill for putting on muskrat and beaver
demonstrations they were greatly appreciated.
A thank-you to all the board of Directors who were able to
make it to the Friday night directors meeting and many
traveled a long ways to attend. This shows your dedication for
your council and the Federation.
One disappointment stemming from the meeting was a letter from
the Minister of Natural Resources explaining why the Province
will not be adopting an earlier opening date for muskrats.
After different approaches to dealing with this decision, a
motion was passed that we write back to Minister Wally Stiles
voicing our displeasure with his department’s decision and our
intentions of taking it up with the incoming government. So
speak to your MLA'S and voice your concerns prior to the
election.
Trappers are being asked to watch for and or report any
collared coyotes this year as the State of Maine has collared
and ear tagged some for research. One has been reported in the
Fundy Park area so do your part and report any catches.
I was approached by Gord Stickles of Ontario that he is
interested in purchasing beaver castors directly from the
trapper and would be paying a premium price for well handled
legal castors collected by trappers and NCO'S. Mr.Stickles has
been invited to attend the work-shop at the winter convention
that will once again be held in Fredericton Motor Inn to
demonstrate the grading and handling procedure to trappers to
ensure top dollar. This will certainly add to the value of
beaver trapping and takes a short time to prepare castors for
market . Convention details will be in the next issue so stay
tuned.
Marshall will have been to the CNTA meeting in Alberta to try
and resolve their issues and get it up and going to represent
trappers from across Canada in a unified voice on the National
and International level as it was originally created to do. It
is a must that all provinces belong to it with equal voting
privileges and hopefully funding put aside to assist provinces
that have low finances. Failure to do so could find New
Brunswick withdrawing its support to the CNTA and work to
revive the ATLANTIC ALLIANCE as before to give the Eastern
provinces a unified voice.
Once again funding has been assured by the Wild Life Trust
Fund for the TRACK TRANSECT lines so make sure to contact
Marshall on the information as this is a very important year
for making the study on the results being compiled over the
past few years.
I hope you all have a great summer and hunting season along
with a prosperous trapping season .See you at the Convention
Dale Clark
President NBTFHF
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