On April 24, 1929, 19 sportsmen from the Vancouver area gathered at the old Memory Hall to address common concerns involving issues of fishing, hunting, and wildlife conservation.
Ninety years later, the club they started, the Vancouver Wildlife League, is still active and working on those same concerns today.
The league may be the oldest continuously active outdoors club of its kind in the state.
Those 19 original sportsmen understood that if fish and wildlife were not managed, and the habitats they counted on were not protected, than the traditions of hunting and fishing would eventually be lost right along with the game and the fish.
What concerned Those citizens were what concerns outdoorsmen today. The club’s meeting minutes are full of discussions concerning salmon, big game, dams, fisheries and wildlife legislation, hunting and fishing access, and habitat restoration and protection.
Well-known business leaders and noted citizens joined the club. Claude Snider, a local attorney, remained active in the league until the 1970s, gaining statewide attention and eventually being appointed to serve on the state game commission.
Vancouver’s John Biggs was named Director of Game in 1951 and served in that capacity through 1970. John attended many club functions in his early days as a local game warden.
Over the generations the club has put its muscle, and money, where its mouth is. Their efforts have resulted in many local things we take for granted today.
In 1934, Vancouver Wildlife League members promoted the passage of Initiative No. 77 which banned the use of fishwheels, traps and beach seines in the Columbia.
The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge would likely not exist if not for the club’s efforts to establish it.
Their volunteer efforts and activism kept the pheasant release program from being discontinued. The club still plants the birds today with member volunteers.
Kids Fishing Day
Today’s members follow the traditions of former generations. For instance, Gene Ritter of Vancouver joined the league in 1958, and is still active as the club’s historian and treasurer. He spent some time as the league’s president, too. His father and uncle were also active members.
Ritter was active in one of the groups early efforts to educate young people by offering a kids fishing day. The event was held at a site along Burnt Bridge Creek until 1970.
“Two days before the 1970 kids fishing day we received a letter from the health department that stated the creek was polluted, and we should move the event,” said Ritter. “We had to cancel at the last minute. After that we did not do anything with kids fishing for a while.”
Eventually Klineline Pond was the site of a new kids fishing day, and that event has grown exponentially. Now, with the ardent support of VWL volunteers, the program allows thousands of kids a chance to reel in their first fish, and learn about the rewards of sport fishing.
The league continues to seek new, young members, and provides a youth pheasant hunt every year to offer youngsters the chance to learn about hunting and conservation.
English Pit Shooting Range
The club searched for years for property to purchase for a clubhouse and a shooting range. While the clubhouse property never became a reality, the club did succeed in securing a shooting range.
The club adopted the English Pit, which was an old mining pit in what is now northeast Vancouver. The club’s members dismantled an old commercial business building on 77th Court and moved the material to the pit to build proper shooting ranges. The excess building material was sold off to provide funds for the club.
Two lanes were built and the pit was turned over to the Clark County Parks for operation and maintenance, while the club continued to make improvements.
The parks closed the range in 1981, and the league took over operations. Fees charged to use the pit provided the club with revenues that is used for years. Eventually sold to a private citizen in 2005, the proceeds from the sale of the range provided the club with principal revenue that is still held by the club today.
The club had invested 36 years in the shooting range, and as an investment it has served them well.
The annual banquet has evolved from a game dinner, prepared by club members, to a traditional fund-raising banquet at a local eatery. During the depression people could attend the dinner for 50 cents.
Through it all the club has held true to its principles, including a generous streak toward the community that has supported it.
Chuck Cheshire is the current president of the league, and he has been a member for 35 years.
“We want to give back to the community,” said Cheshire. “We want to extend a helping hand. If someone is new to the area, and doesn’t know how or where to fish or hunt, we’ll help them.”
“I love the club, that’s why I do it,” he added. “The club does so much good for the community.”
Cheshire has been involved with many recent projects, including the new lighting at the Langsdorf boat launch site, and the shooting pavilion for people with disabilities at Vancouver Lake. He is currently heading an effort to create an archery range at the lake.
With such a storied past, what does the future of the club look like?
“I may be somewhat prejudiced, but I believe the Vancouver Wildlife League has a positive future”, said Ritter. “The club motto, conserve and protect, has been around for a long, long time.”
“Any organization is only as good as the people who are actively involved,” writes Ritter in one of his many historical essays about the club. Given the good people that have been part of this endeavor from the start, its likely the club will be around for another 90 years.
