CHICAGO, July 20, 2000 - Bass fishermen join clubs for the fellowship and sport of competition in their own backyards. In the state of Washington, that means more than gathering at a local coffee shop on a Saturday morning to prepare for a bass club tournament.
In Washington, it means volunteering more than 7,700 man hours on youth, conservation, and civic programs-none of them directly connected to rod and reel. The 492 members of the Washington B.A.S.S. Federation did just that last year. As a result, the relatively small group of do-gooders earned a national award today from the 600,000 member Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.).
In a ceremony held during the BASS Masters Classic world championship underway in Chicago and on Lake Michigan, the group was honored as B.A.S.S. Federation of the Year for its tireless efforts to promote youth participation and resource conservation through fishing.
The group was recognized for spending an estimated 3,500 hours alone on youth programs such as BASSMASTER CastingKids with each of its 29 clubs holding one or more youth-driven projects.
"This force of grass-roots anglers are self motivated towards their passions-youth and conservation," said Al Smith, director of the B.A.S.S. Federation's global network of clubs. "They are most deserving of this honor and we congratulate them for the thousands of hours they have spent making Washington a better place for youths and conservation."
In addition to youth activities, members of this busy federation continue to implement the largest lake habitat enhancement plan in state history. The Banks Lake Recovery Plan involves creating spawning structure to improve fish populations, re-vegetating shorelines for fish habitat and food, and establishing shoreline habitat for wildlife.
For the third year, the group has contributed significant time and funds to the Pend Oreille River Habitat Project, a collaborative fish habitat recovery project with the Kalispel Tribe in northeast Washington.
Widely known as "weekend warriors," this group has garnered a reputation as "full time soldiers." One of them received the coveted B.A.S.S. Federation Man of the Year award as icing on the cake to Washington's moment in the B.A.S.S. spotlight.
Jim Owens, a past president of his state's federation, received the award for spearheading Washington's ongoing effort to stimulate growth in the sport through youth involvement. As a result, he received a $50,000 grant from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop youth fishing opportunities in the state. He serves on the Inland Fish Policy Task Force, a ground-breaking force for a state dominated by cold water species such as salmon and trout until recent years.
B.A.S.S. has affiliated clubs in 46 states and Canada. Other clubs are located in Japan, Italy, South Africa and Zimbabwe, all nations where the black bass is a popular game fish pursued by B.A.S.S. members.