Sjrwmd North Rac Reminder...meeting 3/15

[N. Cook]

The north region ST. Johns River WMD recreation advisory meeting is 9:30am March 15 at the Welaka State Forrest. Details on calendar.....Those UW-F members who can please attend and post report. Thanks

[duckmanJR]

I think the north RAC is where Oklawaha prarie and Orange creek "hunt fee's" should be brought up.

[Randy Clark]

cant make a 930 am meeting next week at all to much of that job going on. are most of these meetings scheduled during working hours or after or is it just depends.

[N. Cook]

The South SJRWMD RAC meetings begin at 6 or 6:30 pm...you have to go to the meetings, slpeak up and get enough votes on the RAC committee to make the change.....You definitely have a point to make that themeetings are inconvient for the general public and should be the same as the south. The SFWMD recreation meetings start at 4pm.....better, but still hard to get to on time. GOOD LUCK TO ANY WHO CAN GO AND START THIS!!!

[Steve W]

I am still planning to attend.

It looks like this place is located off US17.

Am I just going to take notes or am I supposed to present something?

[Lawrence]

I know I am going to get crucified for this but here it goes. A small nominal fee goes a long way towards limiting the amount of shooters in an area. That prarie fee amounted to 8 dollars if split three ways. The hunting wasn't great but at least people were not sitting in your lap.

I am all for it, if it keeps the pressure reasonable. Now any fee more than that would be unreasonable. Just my .02.

In my experience only dedicated waterfowlers wil pay the small fee. I guarantee the shooter/poacher types will not. Something to ponder.

[N. Cook]

Steve...thanks for attending.....unfortunately we have not been attending these meetings regularly....it is important to get on the "interested parties list as a represenative of UW-F and have the "secretary" at the meeting be sure you get notices of the forthcoming meetings and an agenda.....the agenda is important as then you can plan when we need to present or make comments in advance. Otherwise you just have to "wing it" as you will at this meeting.....Please give them my email as well to be notified so I can post the items on the Calendar. (newtoncook@aol.com) You will have opportunities to "comment". There should be at least one member of the RAC who is a duck hunter and you can usually feel them out on the status of the issues.....UW-F has an objective of consolidating the three marshes, two of which I believe are in the north area, on one "fee" plan instead of the three different plans....(Emeralda Marsh, Ocklawaha Prarie, and Orange Creek). These are "first come first served" permited areas I believe and there should either be a single season fee to cover all of them or a set daily fee, the same for all of them. You certainly can speak to this issue. I am sure you have experience with the marshes in your area and can speak to other issues of access....poorly timed hydrilla spraying etc. that fit into the UW-F mission. Please get a list of all the RAC members, and who the leader of the group is from the SJRWMD board. Thanks Newton