KAMO – January, 2022 Newsletter
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s remarks – Hello to all KAMO members and friends,
This is KAMO President Mark Walters with my monthly report. Last Thursday I attended a meeting at the New Lisbon high school where they are starting a fishing club. There is powerful enthusiasm by a lot of students that want to be involved. In my opinion if this is handled correctly by the Meadow Valley Chapter of KAMO, the problem with not enough kids is over. There were twelve kids in attendance and more that wanted to be but had other obligations at the time. About allI can say is seize the opportunity while it is there.
This Saturday I will be attending a kids fisheree and I believe several members of Meadow Valley will also be helping. This fisheree is held by Bires Northside Mobil and is extremely well run with a 160 kid max and each kid gets a pole and a bag of gear.
I have not been hearing from the following chapters, Lake Wisconsin “Poynette” and Yellow River “Marshfield”! Your chapters are too important to just vanish. Our other five chapters are steadily working their way through the Covid horror story and we are in a place to be very strong and soon. Bob and Linda, Brad Allen please contact me.It is time to get back on the horse and get things done, even if it is baby steps, hold meetings, talk to me, submit to the Newsletter. If
you want changes at the top let me know, I will work with you and we will keep your chapters going instead of letting them simply vanish.
The State Meeting for KAMO was held 15-years in a row. Covid whacked that. At the very least we need to hold a BOD meeting. I have been laying low on this subject to see if Covid would subside and whether someone else would like be willing to take on the task of being KAMO
President as that would be a big change for our meeting. I can feel the temperature of KAMO and always have, we are ready to get things done but we all have to be a part of the task.
As always, thank you for all that you do for KAMO!
Mark
Gmail accounts/ Forms
Chapters have begun setting up Gmail accounts and having forms submitted to them. These forms include: a copy of our proof of insurance, a certificate of exempt status (shows our tax exempt number), the KAMO directory, policies and bylaws, electronic enrollment forms, and logos. They should all be saved in your chapter?s gmail account drive.
Once your chapter has an account and have had the forms sent to you, the first natural step is to send each person in your mentor group a profile form to fill out. This provides information about your mentors that loads in a spreadsheet in your drive and can be compared later to the spreadsheet of kids from families that have submitted them.
To send your mentors the link to the profile form. you can either copy it as a link or do a copy and paste from the address bar and send it to the mentors email address. When the mentor opens that email and clicks on the link the profile will appear on their computer screen. They simply complete it and submit it – the information will automatically load in cells in a spreadsheet in your chapter?s drive.
Now that you?ve practiced on your mentor group, you can now send the kid profile link to your parents using the same steps and you?ll have both mentor and kid profile spreadsheets in your drive.
Looking for more kids? – Schedule and hold activities. Invite the public. During the activity, let families/ kids know about future activities. These families/kids will advertise for you – soon their friends will be coming to your stuff too.
Get email addresses from these families, so you can send them the kid profile form link.This will allow your chapter to keep track of the kids you are working with and you will also have the family contact information to communicate about upcoming activities with them.
Fishing is year around and kids are generally interested in it. A fishing activity is likely to draw interest.

Board of Directors Meeting – Teleconference – No, we haven?t met yet, but need to. Discuss 2022 dues payment, activity ideas – especially that would be interchapter, set a date for the state convention (whether in person or via teleconference), other.

Inter-chapter outings – The ice fishing outing on February 19th in the Oakdale area hosted by the Meadow Valley chapter was canceled due to accessibility issues.
See notes on Grampa Rays in Meadow Valley?s report.

R-3 Grant- Fishing – The information below is from the third round of annual grant applications from the DNR.The objective of the grant is to reimburse groups the expenses they incurred after their grant was approved related to educating the public about fishing. Each grant has been slightly different. If KAMO was interested in doing this as a whole, we would have to decide well beforehand that it fit with our mission,which chapters may be interested, whether our chapters could meet the requirements to begin with, etc.
If a chapter wanted to do this on its own, there’s still time to apply in this year’s cycle. KAMO members could use the DNR?s R3 program without grant support as well. There may be some training involved.
When the grant is announced, typically in February, the timeframe for application submission is short – under two weeks.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is accepting Angler Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation Grant applications now through 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2022.
The Angler Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation Grant Program provides financial assistance to partners who support the angling community through local fishing programs and activities.
Eligible Applicants Include:
Wisconsin counties, towns, villages and cities
Wisconsin universities, colleges and technical schools
Wisconsin governmental units, as defined in s. 66.299, Wis. Stats.
Wisconsin tribes
Wisconsin school districts
Community-based organizations (nature centers, social service agencies, public health centers – particularly those that serve communities of color)
Food security and local foods organizations
Conservation organizations (local rod and gun clubs, sporting organizations, local chapters, and national organizations)
Grants aid in enhancing angler education programs at schools, increasing fly-fishing classes for women and veterans, helping to train anglers who are disabled and building capacity for fishing programs at camps. Funding can also aid in the creation of family and youth angler programs at community and recreation centers.
Grant funding is provided through the Dingell-Johnson Sportfish Restoration Act, a federal aid program supported by taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel. This grant will be administered as a reimbursement program.
Apply by visiting the DNR?s Angler Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation Grant Program webpage.
Grant Cycles, Priorities
Grant cycles are for two years, and funding is available to the recipient when a grant agreement is signed by all parties, approximately one year after the application is submitted. Only expenses incurred after the grant agreement is signed will be covered as a reimbursement grant. Available funding totals $75,000 with a cap of $15,000 per grant.
Programs or projects that concentrate on underrepresented groups in the fishing community are strongly encouraged to apply. Programs for other adults who are new to fishing and youth programs spanning longer than one-day events will also be considered.
Chapter Reports

Baraboo – Group did not meet in January.

Coulee – We put closure to our 2021 activity archive document in January. This document is handy for: showing tentative sponsors what we accomplished over a year. Reminding us about the date, duration, activity type, participation rate of our outings.
Mike accompanied a local WIFA team out on Lake Onalaska on a Saturday to participate in a statewide tournament. The Genoa Fish Hatchery recently canceled their kids ice fishing day in mid-February. This event has been our go to February outing over the years.

Dodge County Conservation – Dodge County Conservation KAMO will be having a table at Cabin fever fest Being held throughout the city of Beaver Dam on January 29th. Our KAMO table will be at Crystal lake beach warming house serving Hot chocolate and handing out information. February 12th we will be having our winter fun Day and participating in Fish Tales Jamboree fishing weekend. We will be having skating,sledding and outdoor games at Crystal lake beach just East of Beaver Dam on Hwy 33. This will take place from 1-4 pm . Our table at the Jamboree fishing tournament will be Saturday Feb 12th from 6-12 pm in the big tent off of the county Park on Blackhawk trail on Fox Lake. Kids can sign up from 6-9am and we will give our prizes away at noon. We have some things in the works for March and we are also planning on having a Raffle as well. Jim Braker is planning on attending the local sportsman’s club meetings to let them know that they too can be involved with Dodge County Conservation KAMO as well.

Meadow Valley – We had 7 members present with no visitors at our January meeting.
Mentoring activities included Janine/Allison rifle hunting.
We have finalized the scholarship wording and now will offer scholarships at both New Lisbon and Necedah schools this year.
Our google drive forms/email has been established. “KAMOmeadowvalley@gmail.com
Jeff reported our fisheree at the local cranberry pond had to be
canceled due to issues with lake access. Outdoors Forever (county
conservation club) is having a fisheree on Feb 5th thus we are going
to tag along and participate in this event.
One of the teachers at the New Lisbon School is starting a fishing team and has asked KAMO to assist. Aaron has been the contact thus far but we do plan to take some kids to the Feb 5th fisheree. This could be an opportunity to get new kids involved in KAMO.
Pheasant hunt in January was canceled due to kids being sick. Grampa Rays Outdoors (GRO) is holding their annual one day festival Feb 19th. Proceeds from this festival will go to KAMO. Aaron is looking for KAMO representation to participate in this event. This is a great opportunity for KAMO. Please contact Aaron if you are
available to help.

Upcoming events include:
Feb 5th fisheree in Mauston
March – Maple Syrup day

Northwoods – The Northeast chapter held a meeting last week and decided to go ahead with an ice fishing outing on Lake Emily on February 19. We plan to have another meeting on February 8th to finalize some things for the event including potential plowing , set up etc. . A couple people donated gear for the event and gift cards for door and fish prizes.. We currently have a donor for a chainsaw to set up this spring for a fundraiser raffle to run into fishing season. We are hoping for good weather as always.
Stay warm,

Johnny Johnson – NE chapter president