Help save Barrett Lake

[Notafisherman]

A friend that works for California Waterfowl Association sent me this. My apologies in advance because it is a bit long. The point of it all is we need as many people as possible to email San Diego's Mayor about not cutting the funding for Barrett Lake. The focus of the letter is waterfowl but if the money dries up they will close fishing too.

The mayor's email is at the bottom with a example letter. Please send more than one and anyone can send them so tell your friends.

Barrett Lake Waterfowl Hunt reductions - YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED to contact Mayor Todd GLoria
All,
With budget proposals looming at San Diego's City Hall, It’s time to mobilize the Federation organizations as the San Diego City Council is mandating a 2-5% reduction in “City Recreation Programs". The Mayor will complete his recommendations on April 13th, 2024 ( 10 days from now) for submission to the City Council.

Barrett Lake waterfowl and fishing as well as all of the recreation programs on the City Lakes throughout the county are being looked at and considered for these reductions in use cuts. David Blackston and others have been meeting with staff members of the City Councilmembers and others and the best action they recommended we take, starting immediately and leading up to April 12th, is flood the Mayor’s office with emails every day and as many as possible. They stressed the word FLOOD!! No amount is too many .
Please do not dismiss this request thinking enough others will do it. Please take this personally and send an email and have your spouse or significant other and friends send emails as well. We are one group of perhaps hundreds of others that are doing the same thing. We are asking everyone who receives this send it to your membership and then send your own email. Our reach needs to go beyond this group so please convince your friends, families, co-workers, anyone to send an email and send it every day. This is grassroots and this is necessary. You do not need to live in the City for your position to be considered.
Your email can be as simple or as involved as you wish.

The address for Mayor Todd Gloria is: mayortoddgloria@sandiego.gov

The following can be used as a template, or you may modify the email as you see fit. The first sentence alone could be easy enough. Please send something
To The Honorable Mayor Gloria,
I am writing to ask that you do not include any funding cuts or reductions in funding or hunt days of the Barrett Lake Waterfowl program. The City Lakes has had a waterfowl hunt program for over 100 years and at one point included two other reservoirs, Lakes Otay and Sutherland. Those have been shut down for many years. Barrett Lake is the only City Lake left which allows duck hunting. We historically know that any reductions could lead to closures or reductions in our short season in the winter months. Once a program like this is closed, it’s not coming back.

This self-sustaining waterfowl hunting program is probably one of the smallest budget items for the City and any reduction, even minimal, would have a devastating impact to the people of the city and county who rely on a close area to hunt at. A coalition of hunters, including the San Diego County Wildlife Federation, have been working hard the last couple of years to increase hunt participation and we have been hugely successful. We believe we were able to double the revenue of the 2023-2024 hunt compared with previous years and we expect to do better this year.

Additionally, with the limited time citizens are able to recreate while they try to provide for their families in these inflated economies, Recreating outdoors has a positive impact on our mental and physical health and wellbeing. Even you have programs to get people outside and City Lakes is a perfect place to recreate throughout the year, not just during hunting seasons. Other things to take into consideration: 1) There is already a limited time for us to enjoy this uniquely San Diego experience as the waterfowl season is only three months long. 2) Barrett Lake is the only City lake left to hunt ducks in the county. 3) Many of us do not have the time or means to travel to other destinations or belong to a private duck club. 4) This is also a quality-of-life issue.

Please know that we are deeply connected to the outdoors, hunting, and fishing in a spiritual way that is hard to explain. The Sportsmen, Women, and Children of the city and county would hope you take this into consideration when making your budget discission next week.
Respectfully,
Your Name Here you.

[camobass]

Gloria isn’t going to do anything but invest in hillcrest.

[dwaynesda]

Tons of email will help. When they were getting ready to close the lakes during Covid, we organized CARFA and started an email campaign to keep the lakes open. So many fisherman sent emails to the mayor and city council , they told me to tell the group to stop the emails as they were getting flooded. They heard us loud and clear, got the money from the county, $500,000, and kept the city lakes open during Covid.

If we did not get everyone to send emails and to all the city council members, they would have shut down the lakes. The recreation is always the first to be cut. Make your voices loud and clear and they will know we are listening. It works.

[TommyP]

Just finished my email to Gloria......it starts like this...." It seems every time the City makes a decision it ends up on the front page of the UT". I think you get the jist. Please remember these are elected officials and it is an election year(a good point to mention). Be respectful. I even offered to personally escort the Mayor for a visit to Barrett. I also tied in the fishing with the Waterfoul program. I truly believe that both fisherman and hunters need to work together. Together lets see what happens.

TommyP

Ps I am also going to look into what happens to all the $$ generated from the SHARE program.....stay tuned.

[dwaynesda]

Thanks!!

AS explained to me: The SHARE program is a voluntary program that landowners participate in. They donate their highly coveted land to special entry hunting and fishing privileges to the public on a limited basis. They can revoke their participation on a moments notice as it is a privilege, not a right, to a access their land. My guess is the money goes to paying the salary of the SHARE program director in Sacramento and maybe to a program to help the hunters and fisherman in Ca.

There is not as many people trying to access Barrett as you think. I think the last time was just a couple hundred people tried to get the 25 spots available for the 3 days of fishing. If it gets turned into "right" and not a "privilege" lottery program and people start complaining, don't be surprised if the partnership with Barrett survey disappears.