BCHC Mid Valley Unit President's Monthly Message

Howdy, members.

Our monthly meeting was pretty normal with the usual reports given and discussed. The next big event will be Bishop Mule Days happening in two weeks. Your intercollegiate pack team will have one more practice before the big weekend of competition. We will only have one pack team this year where other years we have had two. If you have time on May 21st, at 1:00 p.m., feel free to come out to our place and cheer on their last practice. They will be having a pack-off to see how they will get paired up. UC Davis and Cal Poly University are our big competitors in the arena.

Our Senior High Camp is coming soon, July 21-23. I've been contemplating for some time the reason we aren't getting much interest in our camps. We seldom have much interest until the last minute when enrollment is due. It is sure not the price, location, or access to stock. I believe with all my heart today's society is programming youth, and us, to bypass the important things. Kids follow the trends of the times and the family unit is weakening. Our adult girls, Carmen (34 years) and Corrie (32 years) are both married now. They played softball in high school and played travel ball also. Now it is just a memory of what was a fun and busy time in their youth. The one thing they both love to still be around is horses, mules, and the mountains. Yes, it is difficult to have livestock in California, because of the cost, but it is not necessary to own stock to enjoy them and the experiences. Our youth can still experience this today which can lead to future jobs such as Natural Resources, logging, forest management, National Forest, rangeland management, FS internship program, and the list goes on. Our youth camps can give these kids a glimpse of what the forest has to offer them. The absence of phones and outside distractions give them the place and time to learn some self- preservation and other skills learned at camp. These are things you don't learn in school sports and I'm not saying school sports are wrong. I'm just asking the question that isn't it also very important for our youth to expand their knowledge of the more subtle areas of life that need protection and management.

Well, I will get off my soapbox and let you get back to what you were busy doing. In closing, I encourage you to look up the word volunteer. Our unit is looking for folks to be volunteers to help with service projects and leading them. We need your help. Give me a jingle and we can talk about it, it's not difficult.

Blessings,

Doug Dollarhide, President

(Our President writes a message every month for the newsletter.)