Fall is my favorite time of year; leaves change color and fall to the ground, farmers are busy harvesting crops and many animals are out and about gathering food to prepare for the winter. Fall is a time of great change.

Two weekends ago, I was teaching international style target archery to more than 100 youth from the surrounding area. Many of these kids and several of their parents had never had the opportunity to shoot a bow. It made me think about my role and responsibilities as a fish and wildlife professional.

In an age where smartphones and tablets replace fishing poles and shotguns, we, as fish and wildlife professionals, must take the time like our mentors did with us, to work with our youth to inspire future generations of fish and wildlife professionals. We can spend a ton of time and resources on habitat and population management, but if we don’t take the time to inspire the next generation of conservationists, then we have nothing. With that in mind, I’d like to challenge our members to find creative ways, within your organizations, to inspire our youth to ensure that we not only have the resources, but the people too.