KAMO – June, 2025 Newsletter – 4 pages
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s message – Hello everyone,
This is KAMO president Mark Walters with my monthly update. This past weekend I attended a camping trip for KAMO Kids held on Castle Rock lake which was run by the Baraboo River Chapter of KAMO with a lot of help from Dodge County Chapter.
This event which included lots of campfire time, tubing, paddle trolling, fishing, swimming, bingo etc, etc was for myself a major positive of why we do what we do.There was 6 mentors besides myself and everyone played a pivotal part in making this event work, even JIM BRAKER! Jim even got on a tube and Rick Miotke tried pulling him. I took 3 kids on separate adventures and taught them paddle trolling. Each young fisherman caught a walleye and one “Brody” also landed a 30 inch northern pike.
I have to tell you, next year, each chapter should send at least one mentor and KAMO Kid, from Rick’s cooking to Lori Schultz’s excellent attentiveness with the kids in every way it was just as cool as The Joe, just a summer version. Baraboo River does much of the work. Next
year this event will be held on Castle Rock lake on the same weekend.
In closing, sell your raffle tickets, recruit new members and kids, have fun, stay healthy and thank you for all you do for KAMO, we are on our biggest roll since before covid hit!

Mark

MOHEE Follow-up – JIm Braker, Greg Pahl, Lori Schultz and Mike Brown all went to the MacKenzie Center to help run stations at this event. I (Mike) talked to Bob Nack, Linda Xiong (S.W. Hunters Ed OST), Mark La Barberra, his assistant, and others. In other words, the event attracted some go-getters. If you heard that Mike Brown chickened out of his assignment at the treestand station, that did happen. One look at the ?Watch out for poison ivy? signs in the treestand area, and he was off looking for another assignment – the fish I.D. trailer turned out to be in need of a person..

Mark La Barberra (OHEC founder and WWF President) wrote a follow up commentary about the event. Here it is:

Governor Thanks MOHEE Supporters,
Publicly Affirms Value of Conservation Education
by Mark LaBarbera
Hunters, shooting sports enthusiasts, DNR employees, conservation group leaders, and
other supporters and sponsors of the Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo were
pleasantly surprised to see a new video message released this year by the Office of
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. It was good to see what Teddy Roosevelt called the
?bully pulpit,? the chief executive position, being used to support outdoor initiatives like
the SCI-sponsored MOHEE. Long-time partners of the Outdoor Heritage Education
Center group that founded and runs MOHEE appreciated his thank you message and
support of this non-partisan R3 initiative.

Here?s a transcript of the Governor?s public video statement:

?Hey there, folks. Governor Tony Evers here. On behalf of all of us who care
about education and the environment, I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you
for the good work you do to treat thousands of students to free MOHEE field trips each
year.
?Your dedication to conservation, outdoor education, and making outdoors more
inclusive and accessible continues to have a positive impact on connecting youth to the
environment and nature-based activities all across Wisconsin.
?This commitment we share and your great work throughout the year and in
every region of our state provides invaluable experiences for our kids and is so
important for teachers and families too.
?Folks, outdoor recreation, our sporting heritage and proud history of
conservation are part of who we are as Wisconsinites, and through this collaboration
with OHEC you are helping to inspire the next generation of adventurers, explorers and
scientists and continuing our state?s proud sporting and outdoor recreation heritage for
generations to come.
?So, with that, thank you, keep up the great work and take care, folks?

Raffle Tickets – Each chapter has received raffle tickets which are intended to be a state fund raiser.. Remember that this year, an emphasis should be to sell all of them and to forward the proceeds to State Treasurer, Jim before the drawing, which is in early September. Last year, we fell short of selling all of them and some chapters brought their proceeds to the site of the drawing – the Joe planning meeting, where JIm ended up taking valuable time counting money.

A couple general things – The new brochure was sent out to a number of people in the group for them to review and provide feedback. That feedback was few and slow. A little disappointing for the Yeoman. The original order will be printed soon and I?ll send some to each chapter. At 36 cents each, they should be given out prudently.
Another disappointment for your Yeoman when traveling around and talking to mentors at some outings I?ll mention in the next paragraph, has been realizing how few people bother reading the newsletter. I feel it is a quality product, is a fair amount of effort to put together, tells our story, and helps provide continuity to the group. How can you help? Print out a copy of the latest newsletter, take it to your next meeting, take a minute to discuss a portion of it.
On a more positive note: I have been attending some outings attended or run by other chapters just to see what they look like.. Impressive work. We are collectively running outings that are fun for all and high quality – communities are fortunate to have a KAMO in their area.

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter of KAMO held our monthly meeting on June 9th at AJ?s campfire in WI Dells. Our small Chapter reported 218 hours of work to get Kids Outdoors in the past month. This was mainly fishing, camping, and fundraising activities. We further reviewed the May 10th fundraiser and lessons learned.
Our upcoming camping trip at Juneau County Park on Castle Rock Lake will be June 27th?29th. 4 spots are reserved, and we confirmed the Dodge County Chapter will join us again. Menu was decided and plans for fun are set. We again had discussions on a Pheasant Hunt and ATV Safety Classes. If you know of some upcoming classes in the area, please let us know. We divided up our allotment of State Raffle Tickets with the drawing to be held at our September 8th meeting. The tickets are $10 each or 3 for $20 with instructions for all members to sell their allotment. The next meeting will be July 14th at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center.

Thanks

Greg

Coulee – The Kraig Hoff Memorial Fishing Event was well attended by both kids and volunteers. Over 100 kids were on the lagoon at one time or another during the 4 hour event. Kraig?s
parents, brother, and son came from up north. We had 4 RSVP people there volunteering for the first time ever and they did an incredible job. 2 served food and 2 helped kids fish. All 4 said they want to help us again.
The following Saturday, the 14th, we assisted the Izaak Walton League in their first ever event at Goose Island – Celebrate the Mississippi River. We ran the fishing station off a dock and the main fish caught were walleyes! No big ones, but a couple legals. 28 kids and their parents came through.
There are Izaak Walton League chapters in Stevens Point, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Duluth (also serves northern Wisconsin) and La Crosse. This is a premier organization to partner with – our missions have substantial overlap and they are a powerful, nation-wide 501 c 3.
On June 26th, we took the risk of inserting our 3 hour dragonfly event at Vet?s Park in West Salem into Mother Nature?s nasty dishing out of on again, of again storm surges. It paid off when 3 mentors, 5 volunteers, 3 parents, 1 Big Brothers/ Big Sisters staff member with her 9 kids, and 8 other kids showed up.
The kids were excited at the onset with a cube mesh with several dragon and damselflies set out on a picnic table in the shelter. A lesson was given to all present and kids were allowed to handle them and release them. Did you know that a dragonfly captures its prey 95% of the time?
Many of these creatures were caught by the kids in a nearby pond, we returned to the shelter, summarized the pond flies that were now in the cube, we released them, and then we went to a hand washing station before smashing into the Bakalars natural casing hot dogs, beans, and chips. It rained for a while while we were eating, then cleared up just as we were ready to clean up and leave.

Dodge – Our mentors took young fisherman pan fishing on Okachee lake. Between the 6 kids, 104 fish were caught and every one was plate size or better. Also caught was the biggest carp many people have ever seen – 50 lbs and 27″ around. We also had 7 enthusiastic boys and girls participate in a Learn to shoot bow. 3D shooting was introduced to the kids and they loved it. We definitely will be doing it again soon.
I’m writing my part of the newsletter from our actual Co-chapter camp out with the Baraboo chapter at Castle Rock campgrounds in Juneau county. Our fearless Leader ( Mark Walters) showed up and will be taking kids out in his canoe troll fishing. He’s telling tall tales around the campfire. Weather is perfect and the kids so far are having a blast. I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July holiday weekend. Get a kid outside and see what happens.
Jim B.
PS. Our chapter is still looking for a treasurer .If anyone knows someone that would be interested in that position. Have them call or email me.

Meadow Valley – Meadow Valley ? Hello from the Meadow Valley Chapter
Started baiting for the learn to hunt bear this fall.Slow time for Meadow Valley this time of year
Members are selling raffle tickets.
Thanks, and have a great summer

Jim

Northwoods – Hello from the Northwoods!
We cleaned up the mountain bikes and will be giving them away soon on a first come first serve basis. This was a fun project for the mentors and some community volunteers. Our Hooked On Fishing Event will be July 26th at Lake Emily, it’s a different date than normal but is well advertised. It’s been a busy summer with only 1 meeting held so far. A few folks have sold tickets also. Short n sweet on this one, Happy Independence Day to All!

Johnny Johnson from Florence Wi.