On Wednesday, May 15, the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation (MLSF) – the Advisory Council that works alongside the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus – hosted their 12th Annual Banquet and Auction at the Sheraton Annapolis Hotel in Annapolis, MD.
The Annual Banquet drew together leaders of Maryland’s conservation community, including members of the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus such as Caucus Co-Chair Delegate Wendell Beitzel, and former Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin who was inducted into the Maryland Sportsmen Hall of Fame during an awards ceremony.
In praise of Secretary Griffin, the Chairman of the MLSF, Mr. David Southerland remarked, “future generations of sportsmen count on our current Leadership to provide sustainable natural resources and better access to those resources to continue our hunting and fishing heritage. We recognized one of those leaders this past week at our Annual Banquet, Former Secretary John Griffin. We are counting on the new Secretary, Joe Gill, to continue that leadership on behalf of sportsmen.””
Attendees of the event celebrated the successes of the Foundation/Caucus over the last year, including such groundbreaking work as the Sportsmen’s Marketing Initiative. This new program, which is the first of its kind in the nation, will partner the Maryland Office of Tourism with the sportsmen’s community in advancing a strategy to promote Maryland as a premier hunting and fishing location.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
