36 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

Nice, can't wait to hear! Thanks for your work on this grant, Josh. I hope it will get better remembered in years to come and more nominations will come in. I really like this idea of yours.

[Casper]

Posted 29 March 2018 - 12:08 PM

Josh Blaylock wrote: A decision has been made.  A formal announcement will come next week.  I want to make sure everything is written up nicely. 

 

 

?

Edited by Casper, 11 April 2018 - 06:00 PM.

[Matt DeLaVega]

 

Posted 29 March 2018 - 12:08 PM

Josh Blaylock wrote: A decision has been made.  A formal announcement will come next week.  I want to make sure everything is written up nicely. 

 

 

?

 

 We are waiting too. Seth submitted our local watershed conservancy non-profit, they are doing some really good work. The best thing is that while interviewing these guys he hooked up his Eagle Scout project. So he is going to be doing educational signage along the river. Sorry, proud dad.

 ? I can help you with spelling again Blaylock.

Edited by Matt DeLaVega, 11 April 2018 - 09:36 PM.
Oh, the scout project was simply a lucky connection made. Nothing to do with grant. I want that clear.

[Josh Blaylock]

For the 2018 John Bondhus Grant we had 3, well deserving nominees this year.

 

 

1: The University of Tennessee Etnier Ichthyological Collection

 

Nominated by member Casper Cox. The Etnier Ichthyology Collection has nearly 425,000 fish specimens from all over the world and serves as a significant resource for the research community. Many specimens in the collection represent type specimens used during the description of new species. Other specimens help scientists study the impact of global warming and water quality on aquatic communities. For over 50 years, the collection has served as a repository and reference for consultants, university researchers and governmental agencies working on the fishes of the Southeastern United States.

 

http://tennfish.bio....ectionMain.html

 

2: Little Miami Conservancy

 

Nominated by member Seth De La Vega. To protect and restore the natural splendor of the Little Miami National Wild & Scenic River by way of purchasing as much riverfront land as possible, and cleaning it up using volunteer work. They also work to increase popular knowledge of the river ecosystem and it's ecological state by hosting educational events. The Little Miami Conservancy also creates and restores riparian habitats by planting native grasses, flowers, and trees, and cleaning up dump sites and removing contaminated soils along the river, including the historic ammunition factory site along the Little Miami River in Kings Mill, Ohio.

 

https://www.littlemiami.org/

 

3: Cuenca Los Ojos

 

Nominated by member Alton Livingstone.The Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation works to preserve and restore the biodiversity of the borderland region between the United States and Mexico through land protection, habitat restoration and wildlife reintroduction. Cuenca Los Ojos, in association with the Yaqui Indian tribe and Mexican Agencies (including UNISON Hermosillo) is working to help save the Yaqui catfish, Ictalurus Pricei. The Yaqui catfish was the only described species of catfish native to the western United States.

 

https://cuencalosojos.org/

 

 

 

The review, committee is composed of Dustin Smith, Derek Wheaton, Josh Porter, David Cravens, and myself. The one the submission deadline ends, each member reviews the submission and independently reviews the website/information for that organization and weighs it's work using the matrix attached. Each member scores the organization, with a total possible score of 100. Once I receive the matrix, I tally the scores and the organization with the highest scores (500 possible) is the winner.

 

 

 

The 2018 winner is Cuenca Los Ojos

 

I will be contacting their personnel to arrange the grant payment and information.

 

I have included the link to each organization in the listing above.  If you, as members, feel like you want to support any of these organizations, please donate to them.  They each have the ability to take donations via their website.  I urge each of you to take a look at what these 3 organizations are doing, they each deserve our support, as individuals and a group.

[Matt DeLaVega]

I have to say, an endemic southwestern catfish is pretty darn cool. Congratulations to the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation!

[UglyJeep]

I have to say, an endemic southwestern catfish is pretty darn cool. Congratulations to the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation!

They are! Hopefully they can be reestablished in the US.

 

Here's one we caught last year.

[mattknepley]

Congrats Cuenca Los Ojos! Three great choices, thanks to the crew for working through them!

[Dustin]

I want to take a moment to thank Josh for all of his hard work on this grant, both as a whole and specifically as it relates to this specific grant cycle.  Josh volunteers his time to coordinate this review which is a daunting task.  On top of that, he has overhauled the grant review process for this specific grant over the last few cycles to include well defined selection criteria, a logical scoring system and qualified reviewers (maybe with the exception of myself).  I find the submissions fascinating and varied which makes the selection extremely difficult.     

 

Josh's dedication to the organization with his many volunteer "jobs" sets a high bar and great example for the rest of us to try to follow.

[mattknepley]

"Josh's dedication to the organization with his many volunteer "jobs" sets a high bar and great example for the rest of us to try to follow."

Ditto that!

[Josh Blaylock]

Garwsh you guys

 

[fundulus]

It seems to be an excellent choice, thanks for making it.

[FishGuyJosh]

Thanks for letting me part of the decision making process Josh, and thanks again for all your hard work!

[Matt DeLaVega]

I agree with all you guys. Keep doing what you're doing Josh. Same goes for the rest of the review committee, good job and thanks for doing it.

[Casper]

I am disappointed that the 2018 NANFA John Bondhus Grant was not awarded to The University of Tennessee Etnier Ichthyological Collection but i respect the decision by the committee of 5 NANFA members.  Josh Blaylock has now presented well the selection process and details.

Congratulations to the 2018 awardee "Cuenca Los Ojos".

 

Prior to submitting my grant application I contacted NANFA members who had a relationship with Dr. Etnier and asked them to consider co-endorsing the grant application i had written.  13 responded in their support and several offered suggestions and edits to the application process.

 

With the grant's application declined i notified the 13 co-endorsers and suggested we each make a personal contribution.  ( It's easy to ask others to give, however when one gives personally it speaks well of their actual support. )  Nearly all of the co-endorsers reached into their own pockets and contributed over $3800.  And, as i presented in the grant application, Dr. Etnier himself will match this amount from his own personal assets making for a minimal contribution of over $7600.

!

I'm very impressed with my contributing co-endorsers, two of them having reached especially deep into their own pockets to reach this total.  I'm quite pleased by my co-endorsers personal commitment.

 

Dr. Etnier has assisted the NANFA membership well over his many years.  From my limited perspective as a NANFA member he enthusiastically agreed to speak at the 1998 NANFA convention in Chattanooga regarding the Snail Darter issue in retrospect and lead our Saturday field trips to the Conasauga River.  He has described many species of fish and various critters and authored the wonderful Fishes of Tennessee with Wayne Starnes, that many of us use and is now available as a digital download.  He also lended support and assisted in my letter to TWRA urging them to rethink their bait fish regulations and acquired the permits for our extensive convention activities back in 1998.  And now in regards to maintaining the extensive fish collection he is matching any contributions, dollar for dollar, from his own assets.  This collection and maintenance of the Etnier Ichthyological Collection will aid enthusiasts and ichthyologists for many years to come.

It has been an honor to know him.

 

 

If you would like to make a contribution  to Etnier Ichthyological Collection there are two ways to contribute.  ..

 

CHECK:

The check should be written to The University of Tennessee.  In the notes, you should write: Etnier Ichthyological Collection.

 

Send your check to the attention of Marva Anderson at...

 

The University of Tennessee

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

569 Dabney Hall

Knoxville, TN  37996-1610

 

or use the...

 

ONLINE DONATION LINK:

 

giving.utk.edu/biodiversity

[Casper]

Only $540 away from matching Dr. Etnier's $15,000. grant.

What ever one gives Dr. Etnier will match dollar for dollar from his personal funds.

I wish NANFA would make up that last bit, capping a successful fund raising for the Etnier Fish Collection and its ongoing maintenance.

 

Last day to receive the matching funds from Etnier is December 31, 2018, just days away.

[Josh Blaylock]

well I cannot make that decision concerning this Grant. You may want to appeal to the board quickly to see if that's something we could do.

Sent from my ONEPLUS 5 using Tapatalk

[Michael Wolfe]

FYI, he did and we did NANFA is providing the remainder to make sure that the full match is achieved.