9687 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS William A. Molini It is indeed a pleasure to welcome all of you to this 62nd annual conference of the Western Association of Fish.and Wildlife Agencies and to the 5th joint conference with the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society. It is likewise a pleasure to welcome you to Las Vegas and to the beautiful Tropicana Hotel. This conference was last held in Las Vegas in 1954, some 28 years ago, and although many changes have occurred in Las Vegas Valley in that time one thing has remained constant, and that is the tempera- ture. I hope that most of you have begun to acclimate to this climate and the casino bustle. I believe that you will find that even for us subdued outdoor types, this can be a contagious life-style and one which you may be reluctant to leave at the conclusion of the conference. Many of you may have pondered the subject of why we would elect to hold a conference in Las Vegas in July. I have, in fact pondered that question myself, but I must give due credit to the selection of this location to my predecessor, Joe Greenley. All kidding aside, I believe that you will find Las Vegas and the Tropicana a most acceptable place for this conference. I would like to take a moment at this time to recognize the substantial efforts of Joe Greenley, who was primarily responsible for the planning and organiza- tion of this conference. In fact it was Joe who selected the theme for the conference and it is the theme, "The Allocation of Natural Resources on Public Lands - The Challenge of the 80's", that is the subject of my remarks this morning. I believe that our theme is most appropriate for this conference for several reasons. First, the allocation of resources is probably the single greatest challenge confronting natural resource policy makers, administra- tors and managers today. Whether our concern centers on the allocation of money or manpower resources, fish and wildlife resources, land and water resources, or all of these, their allocation in the most responsible, effective, and equitable manner is a consistent challenge. We shall focus our attention for the next two days on the allocation of natural resources on the public lands, and examine innovative methods of achieving compatibility among the uses of these lands. The central issue which we hope to address is how do we, as stewards of our natural resources, influence the allocation of these resources among competing uses to best meet overall societal demands, and the needs of fish and wildlife. Probably the most difficult step in the allocation decision making process is the objective determination of our societies real demands for natural resources. As wildlife managers we characteristically bear the reputation as obstructionists, and we are often reminded that because of their ability and/or potential to produce food, fiber and strategic 1