SAM Strategic Plan
July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007
This Strategic Plan describes SAM’s priority goals and projects for fiscal year 2007. The Board of Directors and Executive Director prepared this plan during a July 2006 planning retreat at First Settlers Lodge in Weston. This plan replaces the prior plan.
Although SAM’s mission doesn’t change, the organization’s goals and projects vary from year to year, as do the major issues of concern. The SAM board began this planning process in 1995 and has found it very valuable in providing an opportunity, once a year over a three day period, to discuss issues and programs and define and prioritize goals and projects. The process includes adoption of an annual budget for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1 for both SAM and SAM’s Conservation Education Fund (SAM CEF). This year the new budgets were approved prior to the retreat at the Board’s June meeting.
The board reviews the plan periodically throughout the year to evaluate progress and prioritize projects that need immediate attention, and retains the flexibility to make changes during the year as new issues, opportunities and challenges occur. SAM’s staff uses the plan to prioritize their work and keeps the board informed of progress made on priority projects.
SAM’s Strategic Plan is based on the following assumptions:
1) SAM members want influence and information. They want opportunities to influence and impact the outdoor issues they care about – and they want to know what is going on. SAM members should be regularly informed about the important relationship between SAM’s political action committee and the organization’s ability to influence decisions in the political arena from Augusta to Washington D.C. SAM members should be aware that we represent them at all important hearings and meetings on outdoor issues, and that one of SAM’s most important jobs is to serve as a source of new ideas and initiatives that benefit wildlife and the sportsmen of Maine. SAM News is our public face, principle product, and most importantly, a source of news and information for our members. Other media, including SAM’s website, our TV show Wildfire and other outdoor television shows, and sportsmen’s publications are also valuable in getting SAM’s messages to all sportsmen and the general public.
2) SAM must carefully prioritize its work. SAM is widely regarded as one of the most important and powerful special interest groups in Maine. As such, every outdoor project and issue demands our presence and participation. We receive far more requests for assistance and representation than we can fulfill. We can’t do everything. It is critically important that we focus on the most important projects and issues – especially those of statewide significance and impact. We must also concentrate on the things that can be achieved – rather than waste valuable time on issues that can’t be won. To be successful, SAM needs strong grassroots support from its members and a unified sportsmen’s community, and we constantly strive for that. The board carefully evaluates demand on time and resources before committing to new projects, and sometimes seeks volunteers to represent the organization when staff is unavailable. We are blessed with some extraordinary volunteers. Nevertheless, members must understand that SAM is not usually able to intervene on issues of local significance (rule changes on a single body of water, for example) or to assist directly with an individual’s problem (a problem with a state agency, for example).
3) SAM must work cooperatively with other key groups and leaders. Liaisons with other groups (sportsmen, environmental, industry) and good relationships with outdoor and political leaders (at state agencies and the legislature, for example) are important if we are to achieve our goals. SAM must continue to maintain close ties with other groups representing sportsmen. SAM’s Sportsmen’s Congress is an important event that brings these leaders and groups together annually for a day’s discussion of major issues coming to the forefront in the next year.
4) We are the conservationists. This is SAM’s slogan and drives our agenda. SAM members are primarily interested in hunting, fishing and firearms issues although from time to time other issues rise to importance in our Strategic Plan.
Each year new projects are added to this plan, while some projects are completed and others deleted or diminished in importance. The Strategic Plan is divided into five high priority areas of interest: Legislative Action, Information and Education, Landowner Relations, Land and Water Access and Conservation, and SAM’s Conservation Education Fund. All of the projects in this plan are considered important and progress on each is measured and evaluated as the year progresses. Throughout this plan, SAM’s highest priority projects are listed first in each section and highlighted with an asterisk (*). These are the projects that will receive most of our time and other resources this year.
* Maine Sportsmen’s Conference Center
* 2007 Legislative session
* SAM PAC’s political activity for the 2006 general elections
* Recruitment and retention of SAM members
* 2007 Sportsman’s Congress and State of Maine Sportsman’s Show
* Building SAM’s alliance with other organizations
* Implementing the recommendations of SAM’s Deer Task Force
* SAM News
* Fundraising
* Maine Sportsmen’s Conference Center
One ambitious project dominates our time and effort as we move into a new fiscal year: construction of a Maine Sportsmen’s Conference Center attached to SAM’s Augusta headquarters.
Construction of the conference center is underway and expected to be finished by December. The capital fundraising campaign will continue throughout this year, and management and operation of the conference center will be a high priority.
This Conference Center will bring the sportsmen of Maine together in a single location. If Maine sportsmen – and the groups that represent them – meet and work in a single location, we may move forward in unity of purpose and create the strong continuing coalition that is necessary to defend and enhance our outdoor heritage.
The Conference Center will be the rallying point for all Maine sportsmen, the place we gather to plan and implement our programs and projects, to launch our lobbying campaigns, to share our concerns and plot our strategies.
Here we will host receptions for the political and outdoor leaders of our state, present informative briefing sessions on major issues and projects, and create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation amongst all Maine sporting groups.
SAM events like our annual Sportsmen’s Congress will be held here and all sporting groups will be offered the opportunity to utilize the office space and hold their board meetings and other events here.
This Conference Center will impress friends and foes alike, demonstrate that the sportsmen of Maine are a powerful and unified force in this state, elevate our presence in the capitol city, and provide all Maine sportsmen with a sense of pride in their outdoor organizations and heritage. It will be a building that appropriately represents our place in Maine’s history and today’s society.
Top priorities in this category are SAM PAC’s activities leading up to the November candidate elections in 2006, and the 2007 legislative session that begins in January.
* SAM PAC
2006 is a major election year and SAM’s political action committee – governed by SAM’s Board of Directors – is very active in state and federal candidate elections. Years ago the Board established a process it follows for all candidate endorsements. All candidates receive a detailed SAM PAC Questionnaire following the June primary election and must return the questionnaire to be considered for endorsement. Each candidate receives a grade based on his or her responses to the questions. Incumbents are also evaluated on their records, and those who have done a good job for sportsmen are always favored with an endorsement. Candidates for major offices are also interviewed by the board.
* Legislature
The 2007 session of the Maine Legislature is the long six month session, open to all legislation. Pineau Policy Associates (Ed and Cate Pineau) of Manchester will continue to lobby for SAM, with and at the direction of SAM’s executive director who will serve as SAM’s primary lobbyist.
Whenever the legislature is in session, our work there is a top priority and major focus. Because the laws enacted by the legislature govern so much of what we do in the outdoors, we believe SAM must continue to devote significant time and effort to the lobbying function.
In the 2005 regular legislative session, SAM submitted 12 bills and worked on over 125 pieces of legislation. That session was very successful for us, highlighted by enactment of our highest priority bill that named the native Brook trout as the state’s Heritage Fish and protected trout in lakes and ponds that have never been stocked. Much of our attention in the 2005 session was focused on a new two-year budget for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and we achieved many of our legislative goals within that budget.
In 2007 SAM will offer an ambitious and aggressive legislative agenda, and throughout the months of September, October, and November, the staff and board will work to identify all of the bills and issues that make up the group’s agenda. In December, bill sponsors will be recruited and a title and summary of all of SAM’s bills will be prepared. In addition to SAM’s legislation, we expect to work on more than 200 other bills.
Hiring the Pineaus to assist with the lobbying function allows SAM to address more issues and have a much greater presence and effectiveness at the legislature. Term limits make the job more difficult and time consuming, as we must build relationships with many new legislators each session.
In preparation for the new legislative session, SAM will reorganize and reinvigorate its Rapid Response Team of activist sportsmen who assist us in our lobbying effort. A special group of 100 SAM members will be chosen to lead the RRT, and RRT members will be alerted to key issues through emailed messages and post cards whenever action is required. RRT members will be recruited to lobby on their specific issues of interest, and the focus in 2007 will be on building the team in districts where SAM needs the most help with specific legislators.
Lobbying State Agencies
Lobbying and working with state agencies and the governor are important SAM functions. With the arrival of a new governor in January 2003, and the formation of his new administration, SAM began building relationships with the governor, his personal staff, his commissioners and other members of his administration. This is a very important task and it continues throughout the administration’s tenure. Following the 2006 gubernatorial election, even if the incumbent is re-elected, there will be many changes in the administration, and the process of relationship building will again be important.
Although much of our time is spent at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, we are also active at other state departments, particularly the Department of Conservation.
It is important for members to realize that we make every effort to work cooperatively with the state agencies and political leaders, but must offer constructive criticism when it is warranted. Of particular concern, our relationship with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and its leadership is often misunderstood. We are neither the department’s cheerleader nor its chief critic. More often we are partners, in projects like the Hunting Heritage Program. We often generate ideas for the department’s consideration. We criticize department positions and actions when necessary. We work almost every day with department staff and, overall, have a positive relationship with them.
This year, we will continue to push for the implementation of the recommendations generated by outside professional assessments of DIF&W’s divisions, delivered to the department in June of 2004. The assessments were authorized when the legislature enacted a bill submitted by SAM. This past year we participated in the Commissioner’s working group that evaluated all of the recommendations and created a prioritized plan and timetable for implementation of the recommendations. SAM will continue to work to implement all of the high priority recommendations and expects to make significant progress in 2007.
This category includes all internal and external communications, public relations, SAM events, membership programs and services, outreach to other sportsmen’s groups, and participation in internal and external working groups, task forces, committees, and special projects. Highest priorities are the Sportsman’s Congress, State of Maine Sportsman’s Show, Membership Recruitment and Retention, SAM News, fundraising, and strengthening our alliances.
* Sportsmen’s Congress
SAM’s annual Sportsmen’s Congress is our highest priority in this category and a high priority project overall. This year the Congress will be the first major event which SAM hosts in our new conference center, a very exciting development.
Major changes in the Congress were implanted in 2006 to use the event to continue building and strengthening SAM’s alliances and coalition of state sportsmen’s organizations. We work to make the program informative and the event effective in bringing us together for a common agenda.
In early January we will host SAM’s twelfth annual Sportsmen’s Congress. The Congress was created to bring together outdoor leaders and media for a daylong presentation and discussion of issues that are expected to dominate the sportsmen’s agenda in the coming year. The Congress is now a by-invitation-only event.
Over the years the Sportsmen’s Congress has turned into a very significant event. We now have exceptional participation by the state’s outdoor and political leaders and lots of media coverage. From Governors and legislators to leaders of fish and game clubs, this is the single time each year we get together to discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead.
* Membership Levels, Programs and Services.
At the July 2006 planning retreat, SAM’s Board of Directors spent a significant amount of time discussing membership recruitment and retention. This included discussion and adoption of a written proposal prepared by the executive director with significant changes in this program.
Retention of members remains a high priority. We will continue to stress multi-year and life memberships to build long-term stability and limit reliance on annual dues renewals. Fifty seven percent of SAM’s members are now long-term, either life or multi-year members. This has been a major factor in SAM’s growth and stability.
SAM retained 85 percent of its members last year, a rate of retention that national experts say puts our organization in the “Hall of Fame.”
In 2001, the Board endorsed a list of “Fundraising Principles”, one of which was to limit membership dues to 25 percent or less of our total revenue. Historically, SAM was almost totally dependent on membership dues, but with an aggressive effort over the last decade, we have been able to cultivate new revenue sources. This is a major accomplishment that adds stability to SAM’s financial base.
Less than 20 percent of SAM’s total revenue came from dues last year, an indication of the success of the organization’s strategy over the last decade to attract a diversity of sources of funding in order to reduce its reliance on membership dues. That strategy has been an unqualified success. Most membership organizations get 50 percent of more of their funding from dues. Also significant is the fact that only 1,257 SAM members actually paid the full annual dues of $20 last year.
In designing a new membership initiative, one other factor drew the strong attention of the board of directors: of the nearly 3000 donors to the 2004 bear referendum who were given free SAM memberships in return for their campaign donations, virtually none remain SAM members today. Instead of “Fair Weather Friends,” these sportsmen can be called “Foul Weather Friends.” They can be counted on in emergencies, but not for the year-in year-out work that is required to sustain Maine’s outdoor heritage. This knowledge is important as we forge a new plan to recruit and retain SAM members.
Office Manager Kelly Cochara has been designated as SAM’s Membership Director, with responsibility for the membership data base and member services. The board set specific goals of renewing 65 percent of SAM’s annual memberships and retaining 85 percent of all SAM memberships.
Specific goals are to increase the number of life members, encourage life members to move into higher categories of giving, increase the number of multi-year memberships, increase the amount of savings for multi-year members (over annual dues), and offer special benefits and recognition to members who move to higher categories of membership.
As part of this effort, the board voted to increase annual dues from $20 to $25 for individual and family annual memberships. All other categories of SAM membership, including senior and multi-year membership dues, remain the same, offering even greater savings over the annual membership for those members in those categories. The incentive to take the multi-year option will now be significantly increased, part of our strategy for moving members into multi-year and life memberships. SAM’s dues have not been increased in over 15 years.
The new plan includes a significant change in SAM’s membership prospecting program. Simply put, SAM will strive to limit annual memberships to 5,000 (currently annual memberships total about 3,000), in order to maintain stability, increase renewal and retention rates, limit the costs of prospecting for new members, and build a stronger statewide alliance with sportsmen’s groups that provide significant funding and support for SAM.
A centerpiece of this new program will be an initiative aimed at recruiting and activating young sportsmen in SAM’s Outdoor Kids program. Free SAM youth memberships (currently priced at $5) will be offered to all license juvenile hunters and anglers. Instead of the SAM News, these youth members will receive SAM’s Outdoor Kids emailed newsletter. They will be encouraged to participate in our Outdoor Kids website based and other programs, including the annual writing contest. Kids now in SAM family memberships will be moved into this new youth membership category, and promotional material about the membership and program will be distributed at Youth Field Days and other events, and hopefully through DIF&W’s hunter safety course. We will also utilize free media to publicize this opportunity.
SAM will also partner with specially selected retailers to offer point-of-sale introductory SAM memberships, with special financial and other benefits to the retailer, and we will launch a new program with fish and game clubs to offer a combination membership to SAM and the local club. This opportunity will be limited to the clubs that provide strong annual funding support to SAM.
Finally, this year’s membership prospecting program will include a more aggressive effort to promote reduced-price memberships to employees of SAM’s corporate partner program, a benefit that has been offered but not promoted in the past.
Customer service to SAM members remains a high priority. The Executive Director has a priority list that governs his response to inquiries and requests, with SAM members being the highest priority. Nonmembers who ask for SAM’s help generally cannot be accommodated, simply because of the small size of our staff. However, we don’t want to ignore sportsmen who have not yet joined SAM, and we do use their inquiries to encourage them to join the organization. A new office and staff management system has also been adopted, and one result should be improved response to member’s letters, emails, and phone calls (see details later in this plan).
In summary, the new membership retention and recruitment plan is designed to grow the membership, increase stability with more multi-year and life memberships, maintain a high retention rate, limit one-year members to 5,000, and maintain that category of membership through a variety of introductory and renewal programs.
* Building Alliances
SAM recognizes the importance of its position as a leader of all Maine sportsmen, and the need to coordinate and cooperate in the work of all groups that represent sportsmen in our state. This year we will focus major attention on strengthening our alliances, utilizing our new conference center to bring the outdoor industry into partnerships with SAM.
In partnership with SAM, and using our conference center, Bangor Savings Bank will fund an exciting new project of programming and services for the outdoor industry, focusing on micro-businesses. This plan continues to evolve and will be a significant initiative for our organization this year, one of several that will utilize the new conference center to advance the goals of our organization.
In addition, we have been working to establish closer relationships with all statewide sportsmen’s groups, with a diverse group of organizations including those representing large and small landowners, with many of the state’s leading businesses, and with the outdoor industry including guides and sporting camps. This work will be a high priority this year, recognizing that we must reach out to others and strengthen our alliances in order to protect our heritage in the future.
SAM Board members continue to be available to speak to fish and game clubs in their areas, and free copies of SAM News are mailed to all sportsmen’s organizations. And the Sportsman’s Congress continues to be a major priority that fosters our alliances and maintains good working relationships with our allies.
* State of Maine Sportsman’s Show
The State of Maine Sportsman’s Show in Augusta, cosponsored by SAM and The Maine Sportsman magazine, is both a major fundraiser and a rallying point for SAM and the sportsmen of Maine. In fact, it is SAM’s single largest fundraiser each year.
Edye Cronk manages the show for SAM and works throughout the year with Harry Vanderweide, who manages the show for The Maine Sportsman. To emphasize how important this show is to SAM and its budget, the board elevated the show to high priority status this year.
* Fundraising
The Board has adopted ambitious budgets for SAM and SAM CEF. Raising money is a never-ending task and always a high priority. SAM will use a variety of methods from raffles to the annual President’s appeal to corporate partnerships to raise the $500,000 annual combined budgets of SAM and SAM CEF for the next fiscal year.
Of particular note, SAM’s raffles, based on the results of a survey of the members, will be reorganized with a variety of new raffles offered.
The board also endorsed a proposal from SAM’s President and executive director that will give the executive director more time to raise funds for the conference center and for the on-going operations of SAM and CEF.
Media – Website
* SAM News. Our highest priority in this category is SAM News, published ten times per year and mailed to all members. An exceptional amount of information is provided in each issue. A significant amount of the executive director’s time is devoted to writing SAM News. Harry Vanderweide lays out the paper with help from the executive director and Kelly Cochara. The board established a goal of publishing 10 issues of SAM News this year, emphasizing the importance of monthly issues during the busy legislative session when the News is used to keep both legislators and SAM members informed of our legislative work and issues.
An important aspect of SAM’s work is to provide our members, other sportsmen and the general public with information and educational material. SAM members must receive timely information if they are to be active and effective for our cause.
SAM’s on-going work includes free media (news interviews, guest editorials, letters to the editor, talk shows, and press releases). We receive considerable press coverage of our activities and are usually offered opportunities to comment on news stories about outdoor issues. We place a high priority on responding promptly to any media requests.
Another important Information and Education project is the television show Wildfire, co-hosted by SAM’s executive director and Harry Vanderweide. This weekly talk show on conservation issues draws a wide audience and continues to be the only televised forum in Maine dedicated to outdoor issues.
SAM’s website is also a place to go for information about SAM and our issues and projects. Kelly Cochara, SAM’s office manager, serves as our site’s webmaster with responsibility for maintaining the site. The website includes a special section for SAM’s Outdoor Kids program.
Hunting Heritage Program
This purpose of this program is to educate the people of Maine (focused on nonhunters) about why they need hunting and hunters, including an explanation of game management strategies. The essential elements include a media kit, television advertisements, editorial board visits, and a public education campaign. The program is conducted each fall, concentrating the effort in southern Maine. This was a new SAM Information and Education project in 2004. An initial $25,000 grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, with matching funds from the Brook Family Foundation in Norway, was used in 2004 to conduct the campaign, and much of that material continued to be used in 2005.
The project included a media kit prepared by consultant Roberta Scruggs (available on SAM’s website), newspaper editorial board visits, welcome hunter banners, and television ads in partnership with TV 13 in Portland. The project focused on the problems caused by an overabundance of deer: Lyme disease, motor vehicle collisions, and loss of vegetation and crops.
Last year the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife became SAM’s official and full partner in this important project, and the campaign was conducted jointly. We have a written agreement with DIF&W to work together every fall on the various elements of the project, which once again this year will focus on deer issues, with special emphasis on Lyme disease.
Issues Representation
Representing SAM’s members on all important issues keeps us busy and will always be a high priority. SAM’s Board devotes some of its monthly meetings to issue discussions, to help focus the organization on the most important issues and establish SAM’s positions on those issues. The board is responsible for establishing SAM’s position on all issues, including legislation, and spends a considerable amount of time on this responsibility.
SAM’s Wilderness Travel Agency
SAM’s Wilderness Travel Agency, a wholly owned subsidiary, has been reoriented this year by SAM’s board of directors. The agency, which provides travel information and booking services for lodges and guides in Alaska, Montana, Quebec, and Labrador, is staffed on a part-time basis by Edye Cronk.
The new goals established for the travel agency are: to serve SAM’s members, and to broaden and strengthen SAM’s alliance.
The agency will now be a service-oriented benefit for SAM members, providing advice, trip planning, booking, discounts, and an emailable newsletter with information on hunting and fishing trips, lodges and guides.
And in an exciting new initiative, SAM will reach out to Maine lodges and guides to build an organization of “Maine’s Best,” which we promote, represent, and add to our alliance. Trips to “Maine’s Best” lodges and with “Maine’s Best” guides will be offered in SAM raffles and auctions, and we will offer these members of the state’s outdoor industry training, education and other opportunities through our conference center-based programming.
The travel agency’s website will be redesigned by Kelly Cochara and will include stories and photos from SAM members’ trips to favored lodges and guides.
The board has established financial and other goals for the agency and firmly established that the agency will continue to be entirely self-funded, without any subsidies from SAM itself.
One page of SAM News will be devoted to the travel agency with information on discounts and other special travel benefits for SAM members and stories and photos of trips to the lodges the agency represents.
Outside Events
SAM sponsors a booth at the PCCA Show in Orono each year. SAM board member Herb Morse has been in charge of SAM’s booth at this show for many years.
Three years ago we began attending the Presque Isle Sportsman’s Show and have decided to make that a tradition. We do not make money these shows, however.
To address that problem, the board will work on a strategy that would allow SAM to make money at these and other events, including possibly taking an ATV to the shows and paying someone to attend and sell raffle tickets.
SAM board member Dick Kangas has volunteered to represent SAM again at Rangeley Heritage Days so we will have a booth there this year.
Three years ago we created a stand-alone display that can be used at shows and sportsmen’s events, without the presence of a staff member or volunteer. We are willing to sponsor booths at other events if SAM volunteers are available to tend the booth.
Other SAM Events
SAM’s bylaws require an annual membership meeting at which board members are elected. In the past the annual meeting has either been a low-key event and meal shared by activist SAM members, or has been held in conjunction with our fall SAM CEF auction. The board decided to address the annual meeting issue at some point this year and create a new plan for the future. This year the annual meeting will once again be held at the September CEF auction.
In 2002 the board opted to host a major dinner event in September. It included the annual membership meeting. The event was a spectacular success. In 2003 the banquet and annual membership meeting was held at the Senator Restaurant in Augusta and served as the kickoff for the bear campaign. In subsequent years, the Board decided not to host a SAM banquet.
This year SAM will host one or possibly two dinners, focused on special events in our new conference center. Edye Cronk has accepted responsibility for planning and organizing these dinners, with specific fundraising goals.
In 2004, the board hosted a new event: a reception for legislators at the Senator Restaurant in Augusta at the beginning of the legislative session, to introduce our legislative agenda and get acquainted. It was a spectacular success. When the legislature convenes in January of 2007, we plan to host another similar event, at our conference center.
Pickering Rules Commission
This special commission, named for the late David Pickering, its first chairman, is now an on-going project to review all hunting, fishing and trapping laws, rules, and publications, and make recommendations to simplify and clarify the laws and rules and produce publications which are more understandable and informative. The Commission is established in SAM’s bylaws. The work of the commission has been very successful and many of its recommendations for rule and law changes have been enacted.
Last year SAM’s Deer Task Force reviewed the hunting laws and rules and prepared a series of recommendations. This year SAM will pursue the implementation of those recommendations.
Because DIF&W is currently working on a major project to simplify fishing rules and improve the fishing rule book, and SAM is participating in that project, the board decided not to convene the Pickering Commission this year for a review of fishing laws and rules.
Fishing Initiative Committee
This is a permanent standing committee in SAM’s bylaws and consists of an exceptional group of avid anglers who have worked well together to initiate proposals and projects to improve fishery resources and expand fishing opportunities in Maine.
At this year’s planning retreat, SAM’s board adopted an official policy governing the activities and organization of the Fishing Initiative Committee, and officially named committee members. FIC members are: George Smith, Chair, Tom Carter, SAM board representative, Vaughn Anthony, Harry Vanderweide, Ed Courtenay, Steve Brooke, Larry Fiori, Dennis Smith, Greg Ponte, Gary Corson, Hal Porter, John Hunt.
The committee will continue to pursue an ambitious agenda of projects and issues this year. Other SAM members will be invited to participate in FIC’s projects, according to their interests.
Staff
SAM has two full-time positions (executive director and office manager). Funds are also budgeted as needed for temporary clerical and data entry help. SAM pays Edye Cronk to manage the State of Maine Sportsman’s Show and SAM CEF auctions. For the conference room construction project, Cronk is also being paid to serve as SAM’s representative working with the contractor on all issues and decisions.
This year Cronk will be paid to perform a list of office and staff management duties to allow the executive director to redirect his effort to the highest priority projects and programs, including lobbying at the legislature and fundraising. The new office and staff management system will also deliver an improvement in response to members’ emails, letters and phone calls, and fill the new responsibility for management of the conference center. Cronk will be responsible for scheduling and supervision of all events and other uses of the conference center.
The Board also budgeted once again to hire lobbyists Ed and Cate Pineau of Pineau Policy Associates to assist the executive director during the 2006 legislative session. The Pineaus have also been retained to help staff SAM PAC’s activity in the 2006 election.
SAM is offered numerous opportunities to serve on committees and task forces of state agencies and other organizations and projects. SAM’s Executive Director serves as time and priorities dictate. We sometimes seek SAM members to volunteer for these assignments or select members of the SAM Board. We have also created partnerships with state agencies and nonprofit organizations for specific projects. This year, SAM will participate in the following committees, working groups and partnerships.
Kennebec River Initiative
SAM brought this project to the Department of Conservation to create a partnership which has successfully raised $65,000 so the program can be launched this September. In addition to SAM and DOC, the Kennebec Valley Council of Government is a full partner in the project.
The broad objective of the initiative is to secure the future of the Kennebec River as one of the state’s most important scenic, ecological, fisheries, wildlife, recreational, cultural and economic assets, and is so doing, to foster economic growth in the river communities. This project also serves as a prototype for similar efforts on other Maine rivers.
The project’s goals include: 1) enhance the fishery; 2) provide increased access to the river for all uses; 3) identify undeveloped shorelands with significant public values; 4) work with landowners on a voluntary basis to secure protection of these lands; 5) increase public awareness and understanding of the history, culture and other values of the river; and 6) foster opportunities for economic investment and growth in the cities and towns along the river.
The project is directed by a five-person management team including SAM’s executive director. A staff position will be filled soon, with office space provided by SAM and KVCOG.
The first year of the project will focus on building grassroots “River Segment Committees” to advise and support the project, creating the necessary informational data base including mapping, building on and supporting existing private and public efforts with similar objectives on the river, expanding funding sources, identifying access needs and expanding access, and improving the fishery (including an effort to simplify the complex fishing rules that now govern the Kennebec).
SAM is also working independently to convince the Baldacci Administration to fund, in the state’s next biennial budget, a critical research project on the Kennebec River’s striped bass.
Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund
SAM’s President, Edye Cronk, was nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate this year for a four-year term on the MOHF Board. This position was previously held for ten years by SAM’s executive director, George Smith. Smith was term limited off the MOHF board this year but will continue to serve on the MOHF’s marketing committee.
SAM’s continuing representation on this board gives us an excellent opportunity to participate in this program that has distributed over $13 million to wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation projects since its inception. SAM first proposed this program in partnership with the Maine Audubon Society and successfully lobbied it to enactment by the Maine Legislature. Funds are provided by an instant lottery game.
Sportsmen’s/Forest Landowners Alliance
This group of outdoor recreation groups and forest landowners, organized many years ago by SAM, has proven to be a very valuable forum for discussion of key issues in a frank and friendly manner. The SFLA meets quarterly, and Edye Cronk and George Smith are members of the group.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
This is a federal initiative to crack down on criminals who misuse firearms, led in Maine by U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby. SAM Board member and retired Rockland Police Chief Al Ockenfels represents our organization on the task force that is directing this project in Maine. One PSN project identifies the most significant gun crime problems in Maine and develops strategies to deal with them. The other PSN project educates Mainers about gun laws and determines the most effective methods to deter the commission of crimes with guns. Silsby has also initiated an aggressive campaign to prosecute criminals who misuse firearms, emphasizing that “gun crime means jail time.”
Land and Water Access and Conservation
SAM has been actively involved in the land conservation movement, supporting key purchases of fee ownership and easements in many important parcels throughout the state. We believe these projects serve to guarantee that our outdoor heritage and traditional activities on these lands will be protected forever. Since 1997 two million acres of conservation land has been secured, and every acre is available for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities.
Through the Forest Legacy Project, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, and Land for Maine’s Future Program, with letters of support, guidance and advice to landowners and agencies, participation in planning and lobbying, and in other ways, we have been a key player in most of the major land conservation initiatives. SAM has also been focused for many years on the importance of access to water.
The Katahdin Lake Project (in which 4,000 acres were purchased for Baxter Park and hunting and snomobiling banned on that land) – along with the purchase of significant amounts of land by private buyers who do not allow hunting, snowmobiling and other traditional outdoor activities on their land – has caused SAM to re-evaluate both public and private land conservation programs.
This year access will rise to a top priority issue of concern. SAM will focus a great deal of attention on all land and water access issues and programs, and submit legislation addressing our major concerns.
Obtaining new water access sites has been an especially difficult process, and we have taken numerous steps to address the problems, from hosting a statewide conference on water access, to turning out SAM members for hearings on important new access projects. We were instrumental in getting 10 percent of the last two LMF bonds dedicated to water access projects, and we are actively involved with the staff at LMF, DIF&W, and DOC, working to find projects and funding.
We have been working successfully with the Baldacci Administration on a number of solutions to water access programs, including an effort to consolidate state access programs and create a plan that prioritizes water access needs.
We are working with landowners and other allies to address land access concerns and issues, and this will evolve into a major initiative from SAM later this year.
Forest Legacy Project.
This federally funded project provides significant sums of money to purchase conservation easements on forestland to keep the land commercially viable, undeveloped, and accessible for public recreation. SAM Board member Bob Engelhardt represents SAM on the Department of Conservation’s Forest Legacy Advisory Committee, which advises DOC staff on all legacy projects and issues and establishes the state’s list of priority projects. Legacy money has been used in Maine to fund projects around Pierce Pond, Nicatous Lake, the Pingree lands, West Branch of the Penobscot, the Katahdin Forest and other areas.
Department of Transportation’s Water Access Committee.
This committee was created by a memorandum of understanding between the Departments of Transportation, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Resources, and Conservation. The committee consists of representatives from the four departments and SAM, CCA-Maine, and Maine Snowmobile Association. SAM Board member Jim Gorman represents our organization on this exciting project that is creating access to water bodies wherever possible on DOT road and bridge projects.
SAM Land Trust
SAM established its own land trust with bylaws and federal tax exempt status. The purpose of the trust is to accept easements and ownership of land in order to keep it open for hunting, fishing and trapping and actively managed as wildlife habitat. The Land Trust currently owns three small parcels of land in central Maine. We have not had the staff or other resources to do much with our Land Trust to date.
The Board has accepted the opportunity for our Land Trust to hold a significant conservation easement as part of a major lake concept plan proposed by Wagner Forest Land Management Company, and we will be working with Wagner on that project in the coming year. SAM board member John Scales has volunteered to represent SAM on that project.
Landowner Relations
Maine sportsmen appreciate and depend on the privilege of access to private land to pursue our outdoor activities, and good relations between sportsmen and landowners are essential to the future of our outdoor heritage. Maine landowners need help with problems like illegal dumping of waste and damage by abusive ATV riders and should be recognized and rewarded for keeping their land open for public recreation.
In 2002 we completed work on a project, funded by a Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund grant, to study landowner programs in other states and develop recommendations for landowner programs in Maine. The recommendations of that report will continue to guide our landowner relations initiatives. One of the recommendations, a statewide conference on ATV issues, was accomplished by SAM in February 2003 and served as the catalyst for the creation of a statewide ATV task force by Governor John Baldacci and enactment of new ATV laws.
Landowner Thank You Program
SAM has also created a new web-based Landowner Thank You Program that facilitates thank you notes and gifts from sportsmen to the private landowners who allow hunting on their land. That system was launched in mid-June, 2005. This year we hope to substantially increase participation in the program which is available to all sportsmen, not just SAM members. This project is SAM’s top priority in this category.
MOHF Landowner Relations Project Grant
We now have a second grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund for a new landowner relations project. Our partners in this project are the Maine Professional Guides Association, Maine Trappers Association, Maine Bowhunters Association, Maine Forest Products Council, and Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine.
The project includes a survey of landowner and outdoor recreation groups for ideas that encourage private landowners to allow public recreational access to their land, a state conference to build consensus on the elements of a successful Maine landowner relations program, and a task force to prepare specific recommendations that can be enacted and implemented. This project will be implemented this year.
SAM’s Conservation Education Fund
SAM CEF – a fund that accepts tax-deductible donations – remains a high priority with an annual budget this year of $138,000. Much of that money comes from the contributions of our corporate partners and from two auctions in which we offer merchandise donated by LL Bean and other retailers and guns confiscated by state law enforcement agencies. Eighty percent of the money raised at the auction by the gun sales is returned to the law enforcement agencies.
Outdoor Kids Magazine and Website
SAM created this high priority kids’ magazine and website with an initial grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund. After many years of sponsoring TRACKs magazine (published by a Michigan sportsmen’s organization) for elementary school children, with donations from fish and game clubs, we decided to try a new approach: a Maine-based emailable newsletter for children about conservation and outdoor recreation. The website features Maine-based stories on everything from wildlife species to how-to information.
Kelly Cochara is directing this project and has recruited an editorial board to help design and implement the program. The newsletter is emailed to teachers, SAM families, and others who ask to be put on a distribution list, and also available on our website in the Outdoor Kids section.
Cochara has organized three excellent annual writing and photography contests, and this program continues to be a centerpiece of our Outdoor Kids program, with high levels of participation.
SAM won a second grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to add new features to the website, continue to build the email list, train young writers and photographers in a special workshop, and identify new sources of on-going funding for the project. This project will be completed by the end of 2006.
This year SAM will target juvenile hunters and anglers for a free SAM membership, linking them to the Outdoor Kids emailed newsletter and programming.
Wildfire
SAM’s weekly television talk show, focused on conservation and sporting issues, is hosted by George Smith and Harry Vanderweide and produced by URSUS Productions in Waterville. It appears on commercial and cable stations statewide including TV 13 in Portland and TV 7 in Bangor as well as the Adelphia cable network in central Maine.
The show affords SAM an opportunity to reach a large audience with information about SAM projects and important outdoor issues, and to create and foster an image appropriate to Maine’s leading sportsmen’s organization.
When URSUS finished taping shows for the current season, over 375 Wildfire shows had been completed.
Endowment Fund
Four years ago at an annual meeting, SAM’s members enacted a Board recommendation that capped the Life Members Fund at the $250,000 level and directed new life member dues and the Fund’s income into a new Endowment fund. In 2005 the SAM Board adopted the following policy governing the Life Members Fund: The annual income equal to three percent of the total Fund value will remain in the Life Members Fund and any remaining annual income will be directed to the Endowment Fund.
The Board also created a policy and investment strategy for the new Endowment Fund. The Endowment Fund shall be invested with 70 percent in stocks and 30 percent in bonds. The Endowment Fund, both principle and income, may be utilized at the discretion of SAM’s Board of Directors. Only expenditures of $5000 or more may be eligible for Endowment funding, and the Fund will generally be available for projects and programs that are not part of the ordinary budgets and programs of SAM, SAM CEF, or SAM PAC.
The Board offered a few examples of projects that might receive Endowment funding: land purchases by SAM’s Land Trust, political action, procurement of traditional hunting, fishing, trapping and other recreational opportunities on private land, capital improvements, and building/equipment emergencies at SAM’s Augusta headquarters.
The Maine Conservation School remains a major cornerstone benefactor of the new Endowment Fund. In addition to SAM’s annual scholarship aid, requests from MCS for funding for special projects and programs are solicited and considered on a regular basis by the SAM Board.
The Board has also committed $50,000 from the Endowment Fund to the construction of the Maine Sportsmen’s Conference Center.