Cherry Valley and Stillwater F&W Meeting about dog training

[Happy Gilmore]

I hope all is well. I'm on the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Snoqualmie River drainage for the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. We are having a meeting on June 4th to specifically address the desires and needs of the dog training community on the Stillwater and Cherry Valley properties. I would like to have a large group of citizens interested in dog training represented in the meeting. I do need some representatives from the pointing dog community to attend. Can you please forward this email as an invitation to attend for all persons whom might be interested in helping us convince the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife that we need Cherry Valley and Stillwater mowed to increase the usability for ALL user groups, not just dog trainers. Cherry Valley has not been maintained in about 4 years and it is time we put pressure on F&W to get it cleaned up. If we gain some traction, I'm going to try to organize a work party to clean up the area and make improvements so we can all have a better place to work/exercise our dogs. A little history for the pointing dog folks, Richard Shoemaker was a long time pointing dog man. He owned the property and made many field champions from his training on those grounds. His younger brother, Paul Shoemaker won the 1964 National and also trained on those same grounds. (retriever) Richard and his partners sold the property to the State. I have been told personally by Paul Shoemaker there was an agreement at the time it would remain open for shooting and dog training. The Dept of Fish and Wildlife does not agree with that claim.



Please forward to everyone in the dog community. If you receive this email and plan on attending, please email me your RSVP so I can give the State an estimated head count. pwinfieldgilmore@yahoo.com. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.



Best Regards,



Paul Gilmore

425-577-8208



The meeting is being held at the old honor farm office. June 4th 6:30pm.

18117 203rd St SE, Monroe WA

[jackelope]

Paul-
Sent you a pm.

[Happy Gilmore]

Thanks- replied. Please plan on attending. I'd like a strong showing of folks who've used the property for years and have been unable to utilize it because it has been completely ignored and put on a "no-priority" list by the F&W Director. The Directors mission statement excludes general public use on pretty much every F&W property. His mission statement is written to guide the workers to only promote habitat and hunting opportunities. As we all know, F&W properties are "PUBLIC" properties and should be recreated on by the people year round, doing outdoor activities they enjoy.

[10Key]

Just came here to post this...thanks Happy

[Happy Gilmore]

Just came here to post this...thanks Happy

Got it from Kevin or Char?

[10Key]

Kevin

[Cascade_fisher]

Paul we will try to come and maybe get Larry if I buy him dinner.

[Bmcox86]

I will try to make it, depending in what happens at work that day.

[Happy Gilmore]

Paul we will try to come and maybe get Larry if I buy him dinner.

He should buy us all dinner-

[Special T]

the WAG has discussed this issue before  "Dr DUX" from E WA who sits on the groups has given some reasons why it should be salmon resturation BS instead of huntable land. From another member on the WAG (Washington Advisiory Group) they have talked about how there is NO money to plant corn or do any other up keep. The WDFW has also stated that they cannot get anyone to sharecrop ( farm and only harvest a portion of the crop) like they do in E WA because of some BS permit that only one person has here on the west side.

Happy I will be sending you a PM

[Stilly bay]

the WAG has discussed this issue before  "Dr DUX" from E WA who sits on the groups has given some reasons why it should be salmon resturation BS instead of huntable land. From another member on the WAG (Washington Advisiory Group) they have talked about how there is NO money to plant corn or do any other up keep. The WDFW has also stated that they cannot get anyone to sharecrop ( farm and only harvest a portion of the crop) like they do in E WA because of some BS permit that only one person has here on the west side.

Happy I will be sending you a PM

GRRRRR.

[amosmoses]

See ya there sport.

[Happy Gilmore]

Yes, Most all is true. Key is that our community is willing to do the work, volunteer, pay for fuel etc. The bottom line is that letting areas go to "natural areas" of no maintenance turns them into canary grass and blackberry jungles. These provide no habitat value for few waterfowl, deer, elk or other managed species. All of the afforementioned species in the valley rely upon farmed land for the majority of their habitat. We have lost a couple active dairies in the last year, more and more land is lying fallow. When the valley loses it's last dairy, we can expect the duck numbers to fall down to almost nothing. Elk and deer will not have the corn fields and grass with nutritional value to eat. Canary grass is not consumed by hardly any animal.

Not to mention, these properties are for the public and to be enjoyed by anyone. Even if, just some kid outside flying a kite. What was F&W slogan for so long? "Get outside" or something like that? F&W properties in this valley are not even usable. Where should F&W recommend we "Get outside" in King County? Certainly not much to do on the unaccessible properties in this unit. They are overgrown reed canary jungles.

[Happy Gilmore]

As an update;

We had a great turnout of folks representing numerous dog related clubs. One thing EVERYONE agreed upon(a major rarity in the dog world) was that we need the grass cut down to nothing as a start.

In a nutshell, DF&W agreed to allow this process to begin in the next few weeks. I have some follow up to do with Brian regarding how this will look and occur. This will mainly be a volunteer effort. Brian has acquired some equipment and qualified volunteers will be able to use it. Hence, we've got some details to work out.

If you are a dog club President, please email me your contact information. I will be the point of contact for the dog training community regarding the property. My goal is to have a weekend work party after we get the first round of mowing done. We'll need to have a plan outlining what specifically will be done. Brian will need to approve all plans and proposed work. The good news is that YES, we will get the property mowed this year according to Brian. Hopefully, in the coming weeks!

my email- pwinfieldgilmore@yahoo.com

Thanks for the support and interest. Now it's time to get our hands dirty. Paul aka Happy

[dkhtr]

This is fantastic. If I am in town would love to help however I can. Shoot me a message when this gets going. Thanks for your work on this Paul!