Clearing a few issues

This is going to be a busy weekend. If you haven’t heard, the sixth annual Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show opens at noon today and runs until 7 p.m. at the Menard sports complex in Wasilla. The show continues through the weekend, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday.

More than 140 vendors are scheduled to be present and seminars on a wide range of topics will be running every afternoon. Fish and Game will present three different seminars today on fishing the Valley lakes, king salmon and northern pike regulation changes made recently at the Board of Fisheries meeting, and the status of various game populations in game management units 14A and B and 16A and B. The hunter education folks from Fish and Game will also have the laser shooting range set up in the main show area and will be open to questions about the Hunter Education Program here in the Mat-Su.

I’ll be helping out with the hunter education booth this afternoon and will be presenting a seminar on Saturday and Sunday about hunting in Alaska with muzzleloading and black powder cartridge firearms. I’ve done similar seminars in years past, but this one will concentrate more on the types of firearms used, what are legal firearms for hunting different species, hunting regulations involving muzzleloaders and/or black powder cartridge firearms, hunting small game and so forth.

I’m not planning to talk much about loading techniques or other considerations in actually firing the gun, other than some practical things to know if you are traveling with a muzzleloader or black powder cartridge firearm. You’d be amazed what TSA and other airport/airline personnel don’t know about this type of firearm. Stop by at either the hunter education booth or the seminar room and say hi.

I only just found out about this next event because of a mix-up on mailing lists. You’ve read in this column before about the Brianna Gregory Foundation and its mission of improving the quality of life for children with life-threatening illnesses. Neil and Lindy Moss, Brianna’s parents, established this foundation in memory of their daughter, who passed away from cystic fibrosis in 2003. To raise funds for the foundation’s work, several themed and costumed murder-mystery dinners have been held over the last few years.

The themes have ranged from Old West to Knights of the Round Table, pirates to pre-World War II African spy intrigue. The theme of tomorrow’s mystery dinner is “Lust in Space or Poof Goes the Bride.” The story is set in outer space on a remote moon in the year 2169. A wedding is held at the local planetary resort and the bride is mysteriously vaporized. Costuming can be as simple as gluing a third eye to your forehead or as elaborate as you feel inclined to go. The dinner is being held at the Grouse Ridge Shooting Grounds north of Wasilla. Grouse Ridge’s facilities are great and the main building is beautiful. If you’ve never visited Grouse Ridge, attending this dinner would be a good time to support a very worthy cause and learn about one of the premier shotgun shooting facilities in Alaska and the entire northwestern United States. I’m hearing the dinner and related activities are expected to make a fun evening.

Tickets are available until about noon tomorrow, Saturday, from Neil and Lindy Moss. Call Neil’s Lock and Safe at 373-0961 to buy your tickets or stop by the shop. It’s located on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway very near Wasilla Lake. You’ll see the sign.

While we’re on the subject, here’s a heads-up for another event sponsored by the Brianna Gregory Foundation coming up in just a few weeks. On May 14, the Brianna Gregory Memorial Super Shoot will be held at the Grouse Ridge Shooting Grounds. This is a sanctioned sporting clays shotgun event involving individual and team events. Trophies and prizes will be awarded in numerous shooting classes and for various events. I plan to write more about this in upcoming weeks as the time gets closer, but if you would like more information about this event or any other facet of the Brianna Gregory Foundation, visit briannashope.org/supershoot2011.html.

And finally, it’s that time of year again. The Legislature is winding down and last-minute items like confirmation hearings for various appointed positions are being held.

One you’ve already heard reported was the House hearing on Cora Campbell being appointed commissioner of Fish and Game by Governor Parnell. I think she still needs to go through a hearing in front of the Senate Resources Committee before the entire Legislature convenes to take a final vote. There will also be hearings for three people for the Board of Fisheries, possibly the current three members or perhaps some new blood. The governor has yet to announce his selections.

All of these hearings are important to the future of how our fish and game resources will be managed in Alaska. Campbell has the baggage of having a strong commercial fisheries association throughout her career, being quite young (she’s only 31), and having no biological or natural sciences educational background. She has, however, won the support of several important fisheries-related groups throughout the state and, I would expect, will be confirmed as commissioner.

I still have not taken a position on her nomination. I watched her at the recent Upper Cook Inlet Board of Fisheries meeting. She did nothing to impress me. She also did nothing to distress me. I haven’t seen enough one way or the other to take a position. Time will tell.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.