By the time you read this our Youth Hunter Education Camps, the Outdoor Youth Seminar and the Provincial Hunting Day events will be in the books. These events were held at our Alford Lake Conservation Education Center for Excellence and require a vast number of volunteers to make everything happen. Without these remarkable people we would be hard pressed to deliver the quality programing we have become known for.
The search for volunteer assistance is always an ongoing process. We never cease to need help at our numerous camps and other events such as sports shows and other in-store promotions. We also continue to look for volunteer help at the office with our regular daily routines. If you or any of your friends have some spare time and wish to become part of something bigger please let us know. Paying it forward has great personal rewards. Give me a call if you are able to assist and I will get you going.
Thanks to everyone who continues to help out by volunteering. Your continued commitment is very much appreciated. Volunteers are the lifeblood of everything A.H.E.I.A. does.
With this in mind I will be making a special effort to recruit new volunteers. We will be providing special workshops for new and existing volunteers to expand their knowledge in various outdoor pursuits. The plan is to offer workshops in some of the areas we are traditionally short of assistance with. The more volunteers who have training in these disciplines the better it is for A.H.E.I.A. and the volunteers as they go back into their communities. To begin with we will be offering basic sessions in black powder, crossbow, archery and shotgun coaching. These sessions will be held at our Alford Lake facility just west of Caroline. Future sessions could include rimfire, centerfire, fishing basics etc. If you are interested, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
We are also looking to expand our firearms Proctors in the Edmonton area. Changes to the Canadian Firearms Safety Course materials and Instructor Agreements were implemented in July 2016. Following these implementations, the Alberta Chief Firearms Office heard from A.H.E.I.A. and a number of our Firearms Safety Course Instructors that the new changes, which eliminated the use of non-designated assistants for the administrative positions in the classroom, resulted in our instructors having to dedicate extra time to complete the necessary paperwork for the Firearms Safety Course. Following lengthy discussions, both locally and with the Canadian Firearms Program Headquarters, the Safety Course Standards Agreement was modified to allow for administrational assistance. The new assistant is referred to as a Proctor. Once designated, a Proctor can assist an Instructor in the set-up of a room for a course or test, administer the course report and test paperwork, supervise a test room to ensure fairness during the written CFSC/CRFSC test and score written tests.
For more information on becoming a Proctor simply contact me directly and I will guide you through the process. For those instructors out there who wish to start utilizing Proctors contact me and I will get you started.
Look for reports on our Outdoor Youth Seminar and Alford Lake Provincial Hunting Day events in our winter Conservation Education magazine issue.
Until next time.
Take care and enjoy the Great Outdoors.
