Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9309260021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Last week, Bub Bristow, director of the department since June 1990, announced he would resign, effective Oct. 16. The word came at a time that the wildlife resource agency is in a do-or-die effort to obtain additional operating funds from the General Assembly and from hunters and fishermen.
Walter P. Conrad Jr. of Norfolk, the department's board chairman, praised Bristow for making the agency more responsive and sensitive to its constituencies at a time when revenues were declining and responsibilities were growing.
But Bristow never quite gained the confidence of some of his staff, and he also lacked the support of a couple of board members.
"I just didn't think we were all together at times, like we should be, and like we have to be," Bristow said.
During the past 13 years, the department has had four directors, which makes Bristow's 3 1/4 -year tenure about average.
That kind of instability might be viewed as an omen for young career wildlife professionals who have what it takes to be director but can't afford to be a casualty of budget shortfalls and bickering.
The resignation capped a difficult month for the department:
An audit revealed that finances were being poorly handled, although Bristow and his staff said most of the problems had been solved before the Auditor of Public Accounts made its unfavorable report.
A board meeting in Virginia Beach was marred by reports that three male board members and a male and female staff member acted improperly in a hot tub, a caper that Bristow, who was not involved, had to report to the governor.
A front-page story in the Roanoke Times & World-News contained criticism from a game warden officer who said the department was de-emphasizing law enforcement, and that had resulted in increased boating accidents on Smith Mountain Lake where warden patrols had been cut back.
A feeling of puzzlement mounted over the governor's failure to appoint or reappoint four board members scheduled to begin new terms July 1.
All this made it difficult at times for the agency to focus on what it was calling its "Vision 2003," a new strategic plan designed to address the wildlife resource needs of the 21st century.
When the department was formed more than 75 years ago, it was designed to serve a sport hunting and fishing constituency, but in recent years the constituency for wildlife has changed rapidly. Hunters have declined, along with the revenue they provide to pay the department's bills.
At the same time, the department has been given growing responsibility to manage all wildlife, not just species hunted or fished. Yet it is the hunter and fisherman who continue to carry the financial load, with little help from those who enjoy nonconsumptive wildlife ventures.
Out to change that, the board recently published a 70-page document titled the "Board of Director's Funding Initiative." Now it appears that the board won't have a director by Oct. 16.
Time will tell whether Bristow's decision to step aside will benefit or deter the move toward new funding and new direction.
"It is a critical time," Bristow said. "Hopefully, we won't switch directions. That would be my worst nightmare. The board doesn't want that, and I sure don't want that."
The strength of the department now lies in its excellent staff, its dedicated board members and the outdoorsmen across the state willing to help it through some tough times.
by CNB