Almost Final Speaker Lineup for 2024 WOCA workshop
A message from WOCA President Pat Durkin:
Greetings WOCA members!
We’re less than three months from our annual summer conference at Trees for Tomorrow (Aug. 2-3), and I’m hoping you’re planning to attend. We’ve lined up a strong slate of speakers on a good range of topics, starting with a visit Friday night from Bill Smith, chair of the Natural Resources Board. It’s been a long time since we’ve had an NRB member join us, so I’m looking forward to Bill’s talk, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of questions for him.
On Saturday morning, we’ll also hear from Dan Storm, the DNR’s lead deer researcher, who will discuss the agency’s comprehensive study on southwestern Wisconsin deer, predators and disease. The 7-year-old project is still providing data, but is now wrapping up. Storm will share the most up-to-date info, and his thoughts on the study’s findings.
I also decided to build our schedule around the work of several WOCA members who published/produced everything from books to movies the past couple of years. I realize I haven’t put a spotlight on the broad range of talent and production capabilities of our members, and will try to make up for it during this year’s conference.
Meanwhile, Tom Luba and I will soon start soliciting door prizes and auction items for the annual WOCA scholarship fundraiser. Let us know if you have any hot leads. Also, if you have any hunting, fishing, camping or other outdoor gear you’d like to donate to the auction, just let me know. We’d be happy to put it up for the silent auction. Just remember this isn’t a junk sale. If your choice is the garbage can or WOCA, please send it off to the landfill.
As we might have mentioned in a previous newsletter, we’ve lost our sponsor for the Friday night cookout. That means our “free” lunch is over. Accordingly, Laurel has adjusted
the conference registration fee to accommodate Friday costs and various other price increases that have accumulated over the years.
As always, let me or Laurel know if you have any questions, and we’ll do our best to answer you quickly.
— Pat
2024 Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association Annual Meeting
Trees For Tomorrow Conference Center, Eagle River, Wis.
Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association
Trees For Tomorrow Conference Center, Eagle River, Wis.
Friday, Aug. 2
5 to 6:25 p.m.: Dinner and Social at Trees for Tomorrow, The meal will feature grilled “fireman’s corn,” and brats and/or hamburgers/cheeseburgers. Location: Outside the dining hall.
Evening Session. Location: Trees for Tomorrow main classroom/conference center.
6:30 to 8 p.m.: Bill Smith, Chairman, Wisconsin Natural Resources Board
- A few minutes with the NRB’s chair and longest serving member. Remarks and Q&A.
8:05 to 9 p.m.: Nick Vander Puy, author and correspondent
- WOCA member Nick Vander Puy will discuss his recent book, “Water Protectors: The HELP Campaign to Save the Penokees.”
Saturday, Aug. 3
7 to 7:30 a.m.: Breakfast
7:35 to 7:45 a.m.: Welcome to Trees for Tomorrow, Cheryl Todea, Executive Director.
7:45 to 8:45 a.m.: Nature’s Beauty Through the Eyes of a Photographer
- WOCA member Robert Haase, Veteran nature photographer and WOCA vice president.
8:50 to 10:20 a.m.: Latest Insights: Southwestern Wisconsin Deer & Predator Study
- Dan Storm, Chief Deer Researcher, Wisconsin DNR.
Break
10:30 to 11:45 a.m.: Wisconsin’s Bowhunting History, and the Legacy of Racine’s Roy Case
- WOCA member Bill McCrary, author of the books, The History of Wisconsin Bowhunting and Roy Case: Wisconsin Bowhunting Legend; and Teresa Case-Doney, Roy Case’s granddaughter.
11:45 a.m. to 12:15: Silent Auction Closes, Prizes Awarded; Group Photo at Education Center entrance
12:15 to 12:55 p.m.: Lunch Break
1 to 2 p.m.: How Controlled Burns Help Woodlands and Fight Tick-Borne Diseases
- WOCA member Mark Horn discusses why Wisconsin needs Prescribed Burn Associations, like the one in Sauk County where members help each other conduct burns on their properties. Prescribed fire reduces invasive shrubs and buildups of fuel loads that threaten catastrophic wildfires. Regular burns also help reduce tick populations while decreasing the odds of contracting tick-borne illnesses.
2:05 to 3:05 p.m.: Preserving and Enshrining Gordon MacQuarrie’s Writing Legacy
- WOCA member Dave Evenson has put many of Gordon MacQuarrie’s best newspaper columns and magazine articles into four books since 2018. The books are titled, “Right off the Reel,” “Dogs, Drink & Other Drivel,” “Found Stories of the Old Duck Hunters,” and “MacQuarrie on Muskies.”
3:15 to 4:15 p.m.: “People & Wolves” Documentary Film
- WOCA members Rachel Tilseth, director/producer; and Manish Bhatt, co-producer; created an award-winning film on Wisconsin’s wolves, titled “People & Wolves: A Story of Coexistence.” The movie details the wolf’s comeback here, and its centuries-long connection with the Ojibwe people.
Break (and/or “Rain Date” for group photo session)
4:25 p.m.: WOCA Business Meeting
- 2024 WOCA Scholarship presentation to Mallary Bade of Frontenac, Minnesota; and Northland College.
- Review of WOCA 2023 minutes, WOCA budget and finances; Room/conference rates, Laurel Steffes.
- Donations for 2023-2024, Scholarship Program update: Laurel Steffes, Art Barlow.
- A few quick thoughts from WOCA president Pat Durkin, and discussion.
- Elect/appoint WOCA officers and BOD representatives.
- Dates for next year’s WOCA conference at Trees For Tomorrow: Aug. 1-2, 2025
4:45 p.m.: WOCA door prizes5 p.m. Adjourn.
Mallary A. Bade at Northland College is the 2024 WOCA/OHEC Scholarship recipient
On her application, Bade outlined her passion for outdoor writing and education:
“When I was twelve, I joined an outdoor organization called the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) in Red Wing, MN. My very first trip,
I fell in love ….with the outdoors… through this program and after many false starts at trying to pin down what I wanted to study in college, to do for a career, I came back to my first love, and finally came face to face with what I knew all along, my passion for people and the outdoors fit very nicely into this little thing called outdoor education…I find a lot of joy in writing and a lot of joy in sharing my work with others, I think it’s one of my best ways of communicating…”Deciding to combine these two loves of mine into one amazing melting pot has always made perfect sense to me. My ultimate dream is to have the ability to go outside and write about my experiences. I hope that this will encourage others to make spectacular memories of their own outside and inspire them to want to protect these amazing outdoor spaces we recreate in. In this way, I hope to leave a legacy by helping others to create their own legacies.
“I honestly cannot believe that an official organization like yours exists for exactly the kind of work I hope to do in the future! I truly think my love of the outdoors and passion for writing about it would make me an excellent recipient for your scholarship and I look forward to hearing from you!”
The WOCA Scholarship Committee is Dave Zeug, Art Barlow, and Laurel Steffes.
For your calendar
The 2025 WOCA workshop will be held August 1-2, 2025 at Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River. Mark your calendars!
Laurel Steffes, WOCA Sec. Treas.