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Benjamin C. Jones

President’s Message – Summer 2024

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by Benjamin C. Jones, President & CEO Our English setter, Pax’s, name came from the genus for American woodcock: Scolopax. Pax is also Latin for peace, although he often missed that memo. He lived every day of his 13 years to the fullest. He was a cover dog by breeding and those of you who participate in field trials or have tried to tame such a beast to a foot companion know what I mean. He had speed and determination! But he was also an affectionate, biddable friend. During his semi-retirement at age seven (following the removal of a 6-pound spleen...

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President’s Message – Spring 2024

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by Benjamin C. Jones, President & CEO A thought keeps crossing my mind heading into the new calendar year. The seed was sown over the holidays with a toast offered by Glen Blackwood, our Eastern Great Lakes development director and avid upland hunter. Glen toasted to health and happiness but also to what he called “the other 300 days.” For roughly 65 days during hunting season, he explained, grouse and woodcock are front of mind for most of us. But for RGS & AWS staff, the forest bellwethers occupy our time for the remaining 80% of the year too. There’s a lot...

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President’s Message – Winter 2023

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by Benjamin C. Jones, President & CEOPhoto by Diane Grace Close to Home It’s early October. My road partner Phoebe and I will soon set out from Pa., weaving through the Upper Midwest, then back again. I’ll meet with supporters, attend RGS & AWS events and of course spend time with this little English setter in some of the best grouse and woodcock covers around. All good! Yet there’s something subliminal slowing me down with trip preparation. Like there’s a stretch of quicksand between my gear closet and the truck. What? Why in the world would my feet drag before a 2,000-mile upland...

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President’s Message – Summer 2023

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Seeking Solutions by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO photo by  Asbed Iskedjian The National Forest System is important to many of us. It equates to tens of millions of acres for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation. The majority of our members have a national forest within 100 miles of home, or even right next door. I killed my first white-tailed deer on a national forest and I’ve enjoyed countless memorable hunts since. Indeed, national forests are meaningful, and their management is an ongoing priority for RGS & AWS. Not many single landowners hold as much habitat opportunity as the U.S....

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President’s Message – Spring 2023

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by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO Our RGS & AWS mission work is beautifully connected with the greater fabric of friends, family and communities. It’s true that in simplest terms we’re drawn together by reverence for ruffed grouse – not just your average bird, mind you, but the Ambassador, the Bellwether, the King! Yet this enterprise connects us in so many more ways. This was brought home for me quite literally over the past several months. Our family is stewarding a homestead that dates back to the late 1800s. We are only the second family with this responsibility...

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President’s Message – Winter 2022

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by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO Like many of you, I love to see habitat improvement – crews working in the woods, logs going to market and young forest springing up to support wildlife. The ability to get our hands dirty drives all of us at RGS & AWS. With that said, there’s an equally important part of our work that often takes us far from the woods. The past several months have highlighted the importance of RGS & AWS’s seat at the policy table. It seems everything is in a state of flux economically and societally...

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