OutdoorindustryJobs.com a good resource

It seems like if you’re not looking for work, you know someone who is! OutdoorIndustryJobs.com bills itself as “the ultimate destination to find a job in the Outdoor Industry.”  Check out its website and sign up for the weekly newsletter, or hey, add this site to your Twitter account or Facebook friends. See http://www.outdoorindustryjobs.com/

Another use for a breakfast tray

Does your neck ache from reading your computer monitor?

Do you need to raise your monitor and don’t want to attach something to your wall near your desk?

My husband reclaimed his ammo boxes from under my monitors (Yes, I confess, I use two of ‘em to put together The Women’s Outdoor News fast!), so I needed new stands. I checked at the big box office stores and only found poor substitutes. It’s hard to beat an ammo box. Then, I stopped by the Apple store last week in Huntsville, and a rep there said to try a breakfast tray from Target. Voila! It works beautifully and offers a shelf, to boot!

Check it out!

Retail: $14.99

Forget the 4th – How about celebrating the 8th?

Well, this is very interesting, and everyone will be amazed. The 8th of July! What is so different about the 8th of July this year?

At five minutes and six seconds after 4 a.m. on the 8th of July, the time and date will be 04:05:06 07/08/09. This will never happen again.

I think we should use this unique day to reflect on our distinctiveness.

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Got a photo for Arizona’s wildlife calendar contest?

People who enjoy taking photos of Arizona wildlife may win cash for showing off their skills. This year’s Arizona wildlife calendar photo contest is offering a top prize of $400 to the photographer whose work is selected as “best in show.” Twelve more first-place winners (one for each month of the year) will win $250. Entries must be received by July 6.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department hosts the annual photo contest to showcase the state’s diverse wildlife. Contest entry is free, and all winners will see their work published in the 2010 Arizona Wildlife Calendar. Winning photos and those receiving honorable mention also will be published in a slide show on the contest’s Web site.

The calendar will be available for sale for $3 this fall at all Arizona Game and Fish Department offices or by downloading an order form that will be available this fall at www.azgfd.gov/publications. Proceeds raised from calendar sales fund the contest and production of the calendar.

People who think great wildlife photographs can be taken only in wild and remote areas should think again. Botanical gardens, state parks, arboreta and wildlife areas are located in or near some of the state’s largest urban centers. Many birds visit urban backyards, and just about any body of water can yield up a sighting of a great blue heron or a flock of waterfowl. By being ready and alert for that wildlife encounter, anybody can capture an image that may be worth $400 in prize money.

Still, amateurs and professional photographers alike find photographing wild animals to be a good test of skill.

“It’s not always easy to catch that image of a wild animal,” says Arizona Game and Fish Photographer George Andrejko. He should know: Andrejko has been taking photos for the department for 20 years, winning many national awards in the process.

“To get that ideal shot requires knowledge of animal behavior, technical skill, and an idea about how to tell a story through a camera lens, as well as lots of patience and now and then a little luck,” he says.

Those patient and lucky enough to catch a winning image still have time to turn their photograph into cash. The deadline for entering the 2010 Arizona wildlife calendar photo contest is July 6 at 5 p.m. MST. Entries must be received by that time; postmarks don’t count. Contest rules and an entry form are posted at www.azgfd.gov/photocontest.

Tisma Juett – Member of The WOMA

Tisma has a passion for enjoying the outdoors with friends and new friends to be. She hunts upland birds, turkeys and deer, and fishes for anything that swims. She likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.

ArcheryFit & BowFit a winning combination

Injury stalled my budding bowhunting career last year. Part of the trouble with my back and shoulder began with a nasty fall down the stairs. While recuperating from that mess, I thought I was getting strong enough to continue learning to shoot my new bow. I quickly found that to be a mistake. I kept having pain while I worked out at the gym or practiced my shooting, and it kept me awake every night.

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Shooting a bow for the first time

My husband, Rick, was so excited when I told him I wanted to learn how to shoot a bow. I’d never shot a bow in my life, and never really had an interest until last year, when my dad, Rick and I went spotting on my grandparents’ land. I had never before seen so many big bucks at one time. At that moment, I decided that I wanted to learn archery and to kill a big buck with a bow. I want to be the first woman in our family to take a big buck and to shoot one with my first bow.

I received my bow on a Thursday. I was all excited, but waited to open it until Rick was around so we could share the excitement together. I really appreciate his patience and kindness in teaching me the sport of hunting. I worried at first that he might be upset with me for wanting to learn something that he was involved in, and thought he might tell me, “It’s a guy sport–you wouldn’t like it.” But instead he welcomed me into the sport. He really enjoys my company and is thrilled that I’m doing something with him that he enjoys too. And I have my pink bow, and it’s beautiful.

I was all set up with my gear to shoot. But something happened–I couldn’t pull the bowstring. My husband was encouraging me, saying, “Pull! pull! pull!”  But I couldn’t do it–I was not strong enough. I thought, How can I get into archery if I can’t pull my bow? I was upset and disappointed about my upper body weakness.  So I asked Rick if he could help me draw the bowstring, so I could at least shoot the bow for the first time.  He helped me, and I lined up my target through the peephole and I shot the target. Rick was impressed–he didn’t think I would be able to hit anything. But you know what, I hit that target and we both laughed. I may not be able to draw my bow yet, but I do know how to aim.

Since I really want to go archery hunting this year, I have been working out every day since I shot my bow. I’m determined to build up enough strength to pull the bowstring on my own without my husband being there to help me. Plus, I don’t want him taking the credit for helping me with my first deer with my first bow. I want to do it all on my own.

The Stone Agency’s Michael Drake awarded Tamarisk Bio-control Project Management Contract

Michael Drake of The Stone Agency has been awarded a contract to manage a tamarisk bio-control project for Painted Sky Resource Conservation and Development Council in Delta, CO.

Tamarisk, an invasive Eurasian shrub, is destroying wildlife habitat, sucking up ground and surface water, adding salt to soil surfaces and drying up wetlands along western rivers. Public land managers in Utah and Colorado have had success in controlling tamarisk with another exotic species, the tamarisk leaf beetle. The State of Colorado has approved the beetle as a safe and effective bio-control.

This summer, Painted Sky, together with Delta County, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the City of Delta and the Palisade Insectary is launching a tamarisk control project using the beetles. The public-private partnership headed by Painted Sky, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 conservation company based in Delta, will start a $62,688 three-year tamarisk bio-control project in Delta County. For the first time, the insects will be eating tamarisk leaves on private lands instead of public. Colorado Division of Wildlife and NRCS will help fund habitat restoration after the tamarisk has been destroyed. Landowners can contact Painted Sky to be considered to receive beetle introductions. Four private land sites in the North Fork Valley and lower Gunnison Basin will be chosen.

Painted Sky also wants help from hikers, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts who are vested in winning the war against tamarisk. Starting in July, “tamarisk spotters” can enter data on locations where they find tamarisk on a new website. Prior to July, spotters can call Painted Sky with GPS coordinates or location description.

Current cost estimates to eradicate tamarisk infestations through traditional mechanical and herbicidal means average $700 per acre and $4 million dollars for just the Gunnison and Uncompahgre River corridors. One of the project’s goals is to determine the cost per acre of using beetles with only limited mechanical control with chain saws and herbicides. A fact sheet based on what researchers learn from the study will then be available for landowners, federal agencies, municipalities and other organizations in Painted Sky’s coverage area.

As is common in predator-prey relationships, the tamarisk beetle, which only eats tamarisk, won’t completely destroy its food supply. Mechanical removal of the tamarisk by heavy equipment or chain saws and herbicide must be used to finish the job, but at only a fraction of the cost of removing an entire infestation.

No one knows for certain how tamarisk was originally introduced to the West, but it has spread from Mexico to Montana and California to Kansas. Land managers have been
battling the deceptively attractive shrub since the 1960′s-and losing the war. Tamarisk has infested over 1 million acres.

For more information, contact Michael Drake, project manager at 970-527-4535 (office) or cell 801-710-8372.

The Stone Agency provides project management services for conservation work, as well as editorial and photography support for conservation, energy development, hunting and the shooting sports. Michael Drake has had a 35-year career as an engineer leading projects to solve system problems in such diverse fields as automotive and aerospace. I am now putting those skills to work for conservation projects as a Stone Agency consultant for Painted Sky Resource Conservation and Development Council. For more information, log on to www.marilynstone.com.

Paige Eissinger – Member of The WOMA

Although a newcomer to the outdoor industry, Paige Eissinger is no stranger to the outdoors. She lives with her husband, Richard, on 113 acres of beautifully wooded property overlooking the Big Dry Fork Creek in central Missouri. Populated with deer, turkeys and other wild game, Sunnyside Farm is an ideal hunting spot for Paige and Richard.

Owner since 2000 of 2 Smart Chix LLC, a one-woman web and multimedia design firm, Paige is the web administrator for The WOMA web site and author of Tech Talk, a regular column on the site. Her background is in the technology field as a web site designer, blogger and podcaster. She hopes to bring a taste of technology to the many women (and men) who not only enjoy the outdoors but want to stay up-to-date on the latest tips, tricks and tools the Internet offers for their business and personal technology needs.

You can hear Paige “Chicki Chicki” Eissinger and co-host Kim Beasley, The Blog Queen on their bimonthly podcast, Views from the Coop, at www.viewsfromthecoop.com, or live on Blog Talk Radio, www.blogtalkradio.com/viewsfromthecoop.

Job opportunity with company in Wyoming

See http://www.himtnjerky.com/jobs.html

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