WILD BILL

Outdoor Writers Association Should Stay Focused on Business

By Bill Schneider, 6-29-06

I have just returned from the annual convention of the Outdoor Writers Association of America in Lake Charles, Louisiana. For decades, the OWAA was a mildly boring group that met once a year to party and network and hear presentations on how to somehow make a living by going fishing every day and writing about it.

That changed two years ago at the Spokane conference when a huge controversy erupted and almost destroyed the organization. OWAA survived, barely, and now, the group of outdoor communicators really needs to stay on track, focusing on its core mission instead of getting into eco-politics. But will this happen?

For decades, OWAA was another name for Huntin' and Fishin' Writers of America. Then other outdoor activities started to show up in columns and radio shows, green things, like birding, rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking.

In addition, many outdoor writers started covering environmental issues, mostly but not completely because land use policy affected the future of hunting and fishing. That trend evolved into new members coming into OWAA who were pure environmental writers not concerned on hook and bullet issues, but writing about things like global warming, air quality, population control and recycling.

Then, the ultimate sign of change. The Sierra Club started its Natural Allies program to build a political bridge between hunters and non-hunters, and OWAA not only accepted the Club as a supporting member but allowed the group to sponsor events.

In Spokane, the Sierra Club had sponsored a breakfast and gave a brief conservation message about saving habitat and working together to save wildlife, wilderness and a clean environment for all. The Club also criticized some politicians for supporting legislation that would destroy wildlife habitat and praised others who were fighting to save wildlife habitat. The Club's message at this breakfast and in its Natural Allies program was fairly simple: Less habitat means less game means less hunting.

Later, that day, the National Rifle Association had its turn when it sponsored a luncheon. NRA President Kayle Robinson sharply criticized the Sierra Club and the Natural Allies program and claimed it was only a front for the anti-gun movement. He went through the list of politicians criticized by the Sierra Club and said they were strongly pro-gun and those the Club praised were anti-gun.

Actually, to me, that all seemed like little more than a common disagreement OWAA members had already heard a hundred times, but then, regrettably, the OWAA Board of Directors wrote a letter of reprimand to the NRA for comments made at the luncheon. This board action caused a major upheaval in the organization.

The NRA took its guns and quit the organization. In its parting shot, it made the ridiculous implication that OWAA was an anti-hunting organization. Hundreds of members followed NRA's lead and resigned, as did several other supporting members like the National Wild Turkey Federation. Some hunting magazines vowed to no longer accept articles written by OWAA members, reversing a past policy of almost requiring them to be members.

A year later, after a white-hot debate, the OWAA board apologized to members for sending the letter and creating the controversy, but the damage was done. Membership had shrunk by 20 percent.

At this year's conference in Lake Charles, you could still feel the lingering impact of the contentious dispute. When at NRA competitor, American Hunters and Shooters Association, applied to be a supporting member, members focused on Second Amendment rights encouraged OWAA to reject AHSA's support, claiming it was no more than a front for anti-gun democrats..

You might ask why is a group of journalists so focused on everybody else's eco-politics. I certainly have been asking that question for years.

Right now, OWAA has a litmus test for supporting members but not active members. In other words, a new member could be completely opposed to hunting and still be accepted as an active member as long as he or she had a sponsoring member and met membership criteria. The new member does not have to sign a pledge to support hunting and gun ownership to become a member, but in eccense, a supporting member does.

To me, it seems quite out of character for professional journalists to have a closed mind policy to alternative viewpoints and not accept support from those who might view the outdoors as something besides a playground for hunters and anglers.

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