Why the States?

By Amy Hatfield

megaphone

Over the years, I’ve found myself overusing the word “grassroots.” Something about the idea makes me want to align myself with such efforts. If I’m uncensored and just say what comes to mind, “grassroots” makes me think of:

Grinding it out
Paying your dues
Authenticity
Not trying to make a big splash
Winning hearts and minds, one person at a time.
Starting small

Now, the true definition:
grass·roots: 1 : basic, fundamental 2 : being, originating, or operating in or at the grass roots.
Merriam-Webster

As one who has earned a living in public relations, “grassroots” is to my trade what “elbow grease” is to a car wash. The approach smacks of hard work and persistence, and I like that.

Last week, Patrick Durkin, the ATA’s contributing editor, wrote a piece about the ATA and its investment in state wildlife agencies. The ATA’s on-the-ground effort and its commitment to communities at the local level is the core of what grassroots means to me. Durkin’s column will appear in the September/October issue of Archery Business, and it’s worth a thoughtful read. It’s a primer on the ATA’s strategic partnership, how the association arrived at it, and where the effort is getting us.

Today, the ATA considers itself an “investment partner” with state and federal agencies, not a grants donor and investor of private programs. The agencies’ permanence, or staying power, is the first of three vital attributes the ATA values in its government partnerships. State agencies also …

control and regulate bowhunting seasons, including bag limits, equipment restrictions and special hunting opportunities.
control how to use revenues collected from hunting-license fees, federal FET contributions, and legislative appropriations.

Durkin’s column also reminds us that the ATA is equally focused on developing archers and providing shooting opportunities. Archery and archers are as valuable as hunting and bowhunters to state and federal wildlife agencies. We say that for two reasons:

Archers and archery, not unlike bowhunters and hunting, generate revenue for state wildlife agencies, because archery equipment is subject to FET.
If a person is shooting a bow and using archery equipment, that individual has a better chance of becoming a bowhunter than someone who has never before picked up and used the equipment.

To find out more about the strategy behind this partnership, and efforts made to ensure the ATA’s investment, read Archery Business, one of three trade publications provided free to ATA members. Inside Archery and ArrowTrade magazines also serve the archery and bowhunting industry.

Did You Know?

The ATA spent more than $15,000 to hire the services of a landscape architect to design archery parks and facilities for many state wildlife agencies.