An international organization of builders, paddlers, and admirers of wooden and bark canoes.
The WCHA is a charitable organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The President's Deck
Happy New Year! 2026 is already looking to be a fantastic year for the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association. At our first board meeting in January, we welcomed Serge Lemay and Zack Smith, our newest members of the WCHA Board and thanked Glenn MacGrady for serving a second term. I’d also like to thank Pete Shea and Annie Harris for their time and contributions as former board members. Thank you for your service to the WCHA! I am always impressed (and thankful) for the time and energy that people put into both maintaining and pushing the organization forward. It’s a team sport!
We are kicking this year off with a flurry of activity aligned with the strategic plan we renewed last year. The Assembly Team is focused on the early stages of preparation work for Assembly in July. The theme is Watercraft of New York and we look forward to seeing everyone at Paul Smith’s this summer. We are financially stable and continuing to evolve to protect that stability. The Board is also
Photo Credit: Betsy Wilson
addressing succession and contingency planning for the future. Over the years, the complexity of what we do has increased. We have a dedicated team that keeps the gears turning in the background and we are setting out to document the ‘what and how’ such that, as life happens, others can jump in to help and enable smooth transitions. Maintaining relevancy in this day and age is important and we want to capture all the behind the scenes work that makes that happen.
​
Speaking of relevancy, I hope you have been able to explore the new Member's Dock area of the website. Web traffic has steadily increased to the site and we are continuing to add content. This is an exciting new benefit for members that we rolled out last year. I will admit, it is pretty fun to go hunting through the canoe builder catalogs and look for the specific years/models of canoes I own. Have you tried it yet? Enhancing the website and other goals in our Strategic Plan will continue to be the focus of the Board as we launch into this new year. Despite being a lover of all things snow, I will admit I am looking forward to some warmer weather in the north allowing for some spring paddling.
But in the meantime, enjoy the possibilities that winter offers...
​