Erich Schuttauf, Executive Director
Washington State Department of Natural Resources and AANR Working Together There have been some positive moves regarding nude recreation on public land in Washington State. Under Washington law merely being nude on public land is not unlawful. However misunderstandings by both nudists as well as public officials have often led to serious problems for nudists and unnecessary user conflict between nudists, non nudists and landed governmental agencies.
Following up American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) successes on public lands in other states, your AANR Public Land representatives entered into discussions with Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The purpose of these discussions was to create an understanding between the nudist community and DNR to try and increase the opportunities for lawful nude recreation on public lands, while reducing conflict with non-nudists.
The first step was gained in April by a meeting between Mark Mauren DNR Assistant Division Manager, Asset Management and Recreation Division, Larry Raedel, DNR Chief Law Enforcement Officer, Erich Schuttauf AANR Executive Director and Steve Hubbard AANR Public Lands Liaison. A variety of issues were discussed in an open and frank manor and agreement reached on a few key points.
The most noticeable move, in the near term, revolved around an initiative regarding DNR lands that are adjacent to the 4 existing AANR resorts in Washington and open discussions on formalizing the unauthorized trails originating from the resorts. There are a lot of details to work out but it is a start.
AANR is committed to working with the DNR to try and work through the detail to bring this initiative to life, hopefully before the summer “sunning” season is upon us.
These efforts, as important as they are, are just the beginning. AANR’s goal is to continue to work with the DNR to find new and imaginative ways for us to move forward together. We expect to be able to report on these efforts in the near future. Until then, remember your AANR dues allow us to be “the credible voice of nude recreation” and to expand the opportunities for nudist to enjoy their right to recreate on public lands in appropriate settings.
AANR Blog
As you may remember, our good advisor Captain Jack has provided me with numerous tips for increasing the likelihood that search engines like Google will rank us more highly. Among those suggestions was creating a daily (or at least several times per week) Web log (blog).
Today we’re pleased to announce that the blog is officially up and running with many, many thanks to Lynn von Hagel of publications for her hard work. You can access the blog by clicking here: http://blog.aanr.com/.
Named “The Altogether,” the blog is meant to evoke the colloquial expression of “being in the altogether” (naked), but also evoke the fact that we bring events, opinions, and “newsy” stuff altogether in one place.
Thanks for your help in making this happen, Lynn!
Linda Berry, Director of Publications
The Bulletin
The June issue had its final proofing today. We’ll go to the printer on Tuesday.
The Cyber-Bulletin
Read all about summertime fun in the new edition of The Cyber-Bulletin at http://www.aanr.com/cyber_bulletin.html.
Debra Sue Stevens, Government Affairs
REQUEST: Print the following in your Club Newsletter or send to your members in your E-News, when timely and appropriate. We want the members to know what GAT does for them!
Happy Dance News from the Northwest
Contributed by Shirley Gauthier, Oregon State GA Coordinator
Thanks to a lot of AANR members, Oregon State Park employees and a printing company that generously prioritized our requests and demands we have beach cards to introduce at the Rooster Rock “Down by the Riverside” event May 16.
While I can’t thank everyone individually some people were especially helpful. Oregon State Park employee Lisa Midlam who worked with me for several days and really late one evening, Rooster-Sauvie Volunteer Mark Buchweitz, Steve Hubbard, Pat Brown, Erich Schuttauf, and Joseph Gottschall of Bellingham Promotional Products who created the card design and contributed his patience and expertise.
We were on a really tight time line to get them completed before the Rooster Rock May 16th beach cleanup. This is a wonderful example of everyone working together contributing to a great project.
Deputy Sheriff Bryan White of Multnoman County Sheriff’s Office will be presenting a talk on public indecency at the May 16 event, and we wanted to
have the cards ready to use at that time. Special thanks to Lisa Midlam for arranging for Deputy Sheriff White to speak.
I love being an AANR member. It is such a pleasure working with so many volunteers that contribute time and energy adding so much value to my AANR membership. I invite you to stand up and happy dance with me.
Rooster-Sauvie Volunteers will host SOLV’s “Down By the Riverside” Beach Cleanup, Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to noon at Rooster Rock State Park
We’ve got special news. A guest speaker from the Multnomah Sheriff’s Dept. will speak on the issue of public indecency at Rooster Rock and how nudists can help prevent this problem. We will also be presenting new beach cards. The new beach cards provide Oregon State Park information on how to report suspicious or illegal behavior on one side and AANR information on the other side. This is a huge demonstration of the value of our working relationship with OSP, Multnomah County Sheriff Department, and the Oregon State Parks Department who truly value and trust AANR as the credible voice for nude recreation.
Event plans include installing a new parks department sign. The sign will welcome beach users and educate users on public indecency laws. The sign encourages users to report inappropriate behaviors by including law enforcement telephone numbers. Thanks to Shirley Gauthier and Lisa Midlam who worked together to create these historic documents.
We’d also like to remind volunteers that we will now be having potluck lunches. Please bring a little something to eat or drink. We also ask that you bring a re-usable container for water, as we are trying to avoid using plastic bottles.
Please join Rooster-Sauvie Volunteers for this historic event, as we do our part to preserve, protect, and promote family-friendly nude recreation on public lands.
To sign up, go to:
http://www.solv.org/programs/down_by_the_riverside.asp#sitelist then scroll down to the “Rooster Rock Beach Cleanup” event, and click on “Register Now!”
Any questions? Drop us a line at rooster.sauvie@yahoo.com
Momentum Builds for Great Outdoors Week and Month
Your AANR GAT is once again setting another historical record. For the first time, all United States based AANR regions will be represented in Washington, D.C., for our annual trip to celebrate Great Outdoors Week, visit recreational leaders, and pound the halls of your U.S. congress members and senators. We are finalizing our talking points and continuing to confirm appointments. Months of ground work and a very dedicated team of “veteran” volunteers, combined with some new faces, could very well lead us into our most successful journey ever to our nation’s capitol in the name of the credible voice of reason for nude recreation!
AANR Legislative Tracking
Statistics for 2009:
In Session: There are 28 states, DC and US in Regular Session. NJ is in budget hearings. There is 1 state in Special Session. WV is in Extended Session (Recessed).
States in Regular Session: AL, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, HI, ID, IL, KS, LA, MA,ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, RI, TN, TX, US, VT
AANR Statistics:
o 2,915 bills were reviewed personally by AANR in 2009.
o 401 bills have been reviewed in full text by AANR in 2009.
o 171 bills remain on the “2009 Legislative Tracking List”
o 81 bills have been moved to the “Archived 2009 List”
AANR encourages our membership and like-minded nudists and naturists to assist in the process of tracking bills and news impacting nude recreation. Always contact the AANR office before taking action. This ensures that your actions are aligned with the strategy underway for any particular bill or advocacy effort. Remember, AANR GAT works for you!
CAROLYN HAWKINS, PUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATOR
Positive Publicity
Congratulations to Lake Associates Recreation Club in Washington for being voted the #1 Campground in the 2009 Northwest Escapes contest.
http://best.king5.com/winners/northwest-escapes/4261/great-getaways/campground
Special Press Release Just For You
Summer is just around the corner, so we thought you might want to send a reopening release to your local media. Attached you will find a template release. All you have to do is fill in your club’s information. You can send it out through Capwiz, which is a free service to our clubs. Follow instructions below:
Click on { snip – see Carolyn } and it will take you directly to the media area. Click on the state that you are interested in and it will give you all the contacts in that state- print, radio, etc. It will let you check five at a time but you can send it as many times as you want. Once you have checked your five media outlets, go to bottom and you will see “compose message.” Copy and paste the release or your own message into that box. Be sure to include a subject and be sure to add your club information to the release. Give me a call at 800/879-6833, ext. 226 if you have any questions.
You may view the AANR Convention award list here:
http://aanr-nw.org/nude/aanr-convention-awards/
It is long and has been given a separate page.
