Connecting with the Community: Colorado Trout Unlimited Trout in the Classroom Program

The Colorado Trout Unlimited Trout in the Classroom program is more than just an educational initiative; it's a bridge that connects students, educators, and the broader community through a shared passion for aquatic ecosystems and trout conservation. One of the most impactful ways we foster this connection is through our release events, where students have the opportunity to release the trout they've raised into local waterways.

Engaging with the Community

Our release events are a celebration of learning and conservation, bringing together students from various schools to sites like the Carson Nature Center. These events are not just about releasing trout; they are enriched with additional programming that enhances the educational experience. For example, the Carson Nature Center features a portable water table that allows students to see how a river is formed and understand its effects on the local landscape. This hands-on activity helps students grasp the dynamic nature of rivers and the importance of maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems.

Highlighting CSU Spur's Homeschool Event

A standout moment in our community engagement efforts was the recent trout release event hosted by CSU Spur. This event was particularly special as it connected us with a part of the community that doesn't have a traditional classroom setting—homeschoolers. CSU Spur's Water Education Coordinator, Stefan, led the event, where visitors helped release trout into the South Platte River behind the campus.

CSU Spur's event marked the first time they hosted a trout release on campus, making it an exciting milestone. The program aims to foster a deep appreciation for aquatic ecosystems and trout conservation among students, and releasing trout into the stretch of water by the campus was a thrilling experience for all involved. CSU Spur plans to continue these events, inviting more community members to join in future releases.

Looking Ahead

As we continue to grow and expand our Trout in the Classroom program, we remain committed to deepening our connections with the community. Future release events will continue to be inclusive, educational, and fun, providing opportunities for everyone to get involved and make a difference.

Stay tuned for more information on upcoming events and how you can participate in our efforts to conserve Colorado's aquatic ecosystems. Together, we can inspire the next generation of environmental stewards and ensure a healthy future for our trout and their habitats.

CTU Camper Registration Now Open!

Experience the CTU River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp

Do you know a teen who loves the outdoors, is curious about conservation, or wants to learn the art of fly fishing? The CTU River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp might be the opportunity they’ve been looking for.

Taking place June 8-14, 2025, at AEI Basecamp in Almont, CO, this camp offers youth aged 14-18 a chance to explore river stewardship, science, and outdoor recreation. Since 2006, our camp has introduced more than 250 teens from Colorado and beyond to conservation and fly fishing while building valuable skills and friendships.

What Makes This Camp Special?

Our camp combines STEM-based conservation education with hands-on fly fishing instruction. Campers learn about conservation by engaging directly with the natural environment they’re working to protect. Activities are designed to be fun and welcoming, connecting a passion for the outdoors with a commitment to conservation.

Here’s what campers will experience:

• STEM education: Learn about river ecosystems and water management in the west.

• Fly fishing instruction: Gain skills through one-on-one and group lessons.

• Conservation projects: Participate in activities that make a tangible impact.

• New friendships: Meet peers who share similar interests and values.

Who Can Apply?

The camp is open to youth aged 14-18. Applications are open now and must be submitted by April 1, 2025. Campers will be selected based on their responses, including an essay about why they want to attend. First-time applicants will receive preference.

Costs and Scholarships

The 2025 camp tuition is $700, with an additional $50 registration fee. These fees cover meals, gear rentals, and other necessary costs. Campers aged 16 and older will also need to purchase a Colorado Fishing License.

To make this experience accessible, many local Trout Unlimited chapters offer tuition scholarships. If financial assistance is needed, applicants can indicate this on their application, and we’ll work to match them with a scholarship opportunity.

Why Choose CTU Camp?

CTU River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp is about more than just learning new skills. It’s an opportunity to develop a connection to nature and gain practical knowledge in a supportive environment. Campers leave with new abilities, friendships, and an understanding of how conservation efforts and outdoor recreation intersect.

For nearly 20 years, our program has brought together teens with shared interests in conservation and fly fishing. Campers take away valuable experiences that help them grow as individuals and future river stewards.

Apply Today!

Spaces are limited to 20 campers, and applications are due by April 1, 2025, so don’t wait to apply. The application process is straightforward, and scholarships are available to help make camp accessible for everyone.

Don’t miss this chance to learn, grow, and enjoy a week in Colorado’s beautiful outdoors. Apply today to take the first step toward becoming a river steward and fly fishing enthusiast.

Trout in the Classroom Eggs Have Hatched!

We are thrilled to announce that 65 TIC tanks across Colorado received Rainbow Trout eggs, donated by CPW’s Crystal River Hatchery, in late October. These eggs have now hatched and are in their alevin stage! Check out some of our outstanding TIC Sites and Students as they celebrate this incredible program!

Video from Estes Park Elementary School

Video from the Academy of Charter Schools

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We need your help to support the Trout in the Classroom program across the state of Colorado.

2023 River Conservation & Fly Fishing Camp - Building Leaders While Building Leaders

This year’s CTU River Conservation & Fly Fishing (RCFF) Camp was June 11th - 17th in Almont, CO, and was a huge success! After receiving several camp counselor applications (from 2022 campers and returning Junior Counselors) as well as new camper applications, we had the excellent idea to not only accept 20 awesome campers but also accept 12 Junior Camp Counselors at this year’s RCFF Camp!

Each of these Junior Counselors had already completed camp. This year, they had the opportunity to build up their leadership, teamwork, and angling skills as they helped lead small groups, guided campers, and helped the Seasoned Counselors keep camp organized.

This morphed beautifully into incredible relationships between our Campers, Junior Counselors, and Seasoned Counselors. Seasoned Counselors introduced discussion topics, while Junior Counselors led small groups of interested Campers. Campers received one-on-one tips from leading Seasoned and Junior Counselors as they fished, tied flies, designed posters, and even learned how to build their own fishing leaders!

Campers grew in their angling skills and confidence throughout the week, and Junior Counselors grew in their leadership skills. This leadership model for CTU’s River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp helped streamline some of the organizational parts of the camp. Still, it also allowed us as an organization to promote our ‘Stream of Engagement’ model for the CTU Headwaters Youth Programs. Through this program delivery model, we strive to engage new participants in our Youth Programs and ensure that people of any age can "plugin" to TU and continue their relationship with coldwater conservation and fly fishing through various age-appropriate opportunities and programs.

CTU’s River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp is not only teaching how to build fishing leaders but also building leaders within Trout Unlimited and fostering the next generation of river conservationists and anglers! Thank you to all the Camp Counselors, Volunteers, Campers, and Camp Supporters! We could not do this without you!

CTU Youth Programs Update

First off, thank you to everyone who donated and supported CTU Youth during our Colorado Gives Day campaign! We accomplished our goal and then some, for a grand total of $7,675! Thank also to Barbara Luneau and Mark Rayman for offering a matching incentive and helping to double our donor’s donations by $2,500.

2023 is looking bright for CTU’s Headwaters Programs. We are beginning to plan out our 2023 STREAM
Girls and STREAM Keepers schedule. If you are interested in offering a STREAM Girls or STREAM Keepers program in 2023 fill out the forms below.

• 2023 STREAM Girls Inquiry Form

• 2023 STREAM Keepers Inquiry Form

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Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is looking forward to 2023, as well. We will be installing a new TIC Community Tank at the CSU Spur Hydro Building in late December or early January. We hope to have the tank working and fish swimming by the time The National Western Stock Show is running. If you are going to the Stock Show be sure to visit the new CSU Spur Hydro Building and TIC Community Tank on the second floor.

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We are excited to announce our 2023 River Conservation & Fly Fishing Camp will be June 11 - 17, 2023. Registration is now open for Camper applications and Camp Counselor applications. Visit our Camp website for more information.

Want to help CTU’s 2023 River Conservation & Fly Fishing Camp? Below are some great ways to show your support.

• Help us spread the word!

  • Download and share our 2023 River Conservation & Fly Fishing Camp Flyer.

• Sponsor a Camper!

  • Camp Registration is $600 per camper. If you would like to sponsor a camper please email Barbara Luneau or Natalie Flowers.

• Volunteer!

  • Camp Counselor applications are now open. Click here to apply to be a CTU Camp Counselor.

Thank you for all the support in 2022. We can’t wait to continue fostering the next generation of conservations and anglers in 2023!

If you would like to increase your impact, please contact Natalie Flowers and/or visit our Supporting CTU Youth page to see our greatest needs, sponsorship opportunities, and more.

STREAM Girls in 2020

STREAM Girls is a watershed education program created through a partnership between Girls Scouts of USA and Trout Unlimited with the goal of engaging elementary and middle school girls in STEM-based exploration. In addition to STREAM Girls getting its name from the focus on watersheds, STREAM also stands for Science, Technology, Recreation, Engineering, Art, and Math. The program is divided into eight activities highlighting each of these subjects. Girls learn about stream flow measurements, aquatic macroinvertebrate life, riparian habitats, and fly fishing throughout the program. Through inquiry-based learning, Girl Scouts get to know their local watersheds, develop new outdoor skills, and increase their understanding of real work applications of STEM.

After a successful year of hosting 6 STREAM Girls events in 2019, Colorado Trout Unlimited was excited to carry the momentum into 2020 with six more scheduled programs. Unfortunately, 2020 plans were stifled by the COVID-19 global pandemic. With public health orders restricting group size and concerns surrounding shared gear utilized during in-person programming, CTU shifted STREAM Girls to a virtual platform. To facilitate this transition, CTU staff and volunteers created several videos and sourced additional existing educational resources to support the STREAM Girls activities.

Over the course of fall, CTU hosted STREAM Girls programming through four virtual/self-guided events with the support of local Trout Unlimited chapters. The four STREAM Girls programs engaged 59 girl scouts from across Colorado. Beyond the Girl Scouts who received STREAM Girls patches, the virtual programming engaged entire families in getting outdoors to explore and learn about local watersheds.

To understand the efficacy and impact of the virtual STREAM Girls program, CTU asked Girls Scouts and their parents to complete a post-program survey. Colorado Trout Unlimited was pleased to have 100% of respondents note increased knowledge of their local watersheds, heightened interest in STEM-subjects, activities, and careers, desire to further develop fishing skills, and recommendation of the program to other girl scouts. Participants provided additional positive feedback, which included:

• “This is a great program to introduce girls to fly-fishing and knowledge of local streams. It was a well-thought out, self-guided program that covered a great deal of information. We had a fun time doing all of the steps.”

• “It is a wonderful break from our overwhelmingly electronic world! I thought it was a great way to introduce different aspects of stream science so that have it in their head as they are thinking about future endeavors.”

• “It is a great activity to get outside and bond/enjoy the time with your girl.”

• “A great way to get involved with your Girl Scout and learn as a family with specific detailed tasks to help you learn about rivers, fly fishing, etc.”

• “It was really fun and would like to do it again in person. All the activities were awesome!”

A big THANK YOU goes out to Girls Scouts of Colorado, Pikes Peak Chapter, St. Vrain Anglers, Rocky Mountain Flycasters, Gunnison Gorge Anglers, Grand Valley Anglers, and all of the volunteers who helped support these events! Additionally, we would like to acknowledge Orvis, New Jersey Audubon, The Stroud Water Research Center, Arizona Department of Water Quality, and Arizona Game and Fish for allowing Colorado Trout Unlimited to use educational videos for STREAM Girls.

Colorado TU was the first to pilot and host virtual/self-guided STREAM Girls events across the country. CTU is proud to have shared our success and lessons learned with Trout Unlimited staff and volunteers

across the country. We look forward to further developing these resources to help support STREAM Girls events in the future!

By Geoff Elliott, CTU Youth Education Coordinator

The CURRENT Podcast | Episode 5 featuring CTU's Trout in the Classroom

The CURRENT is a low-key, light-hearted fly fishing podcast hosted by Will Rice. With some recently found free time, Will will be thumbing through his Rolodex of accomplished anglers and friends in the fly fishing industry to talk about what's going on in their neck of the woods.

After visiting with friends from a variety of fisheries across the US, host Will Rice welcomes Bianca McGrath-Martinez from CTU, Bill Gilmore and Guy Grace from Littleton Public Schools to talk about the Trout in the Classroom program.

This environmental education program allows for elementary, middle, and high school students to raise rainbow trout eggs to fry as a vehicle to understand ecosystems. At the end of the program, the students typically release the fry into a local fishery with help from CPW. Will explores the fate of these trout with the recent shutdown of schools.

For more on the CTU Trout In The Classroom Program: CLICK HERE

You can find the podcast on Apple Music, Spotify & Stitcher. If you enjoy what Will is putting together with The CURRENT podcast, we ask that you please rate it and leave it a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify! Thanks for listening!

2019 Summer Youth Camp Video features youth learning about rivers and fly fishing

Greenback and CTU volunteer, Emma Brown, put together a great feature about the 2019 CTU River Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp in Almont, CO. Check out the great video she filmed above!

The River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp is a week long camp designed to educate 14 to 18 year old students on the importance of cold water conservation and provide hands-on fly fishing instruction. Approximately 20 students are selected each year based on their qualifications and a written essay on why they would like to attend the camp.

Camp classes include: Principles of Ecology, Hydrogeology, Aquatic Vertebrate and Invertebrate Sampling, Hydrology, Trout Behavior, Trout Stream Entomology, The Biology of Pollution, Acid Deposition, and Politics of Conservation and Human Effects on the Rocky Mountain.

In addition, the camp will include hands-on instruction on Fly Tying, Fly Casting, Stream-side Ethics, Angling Literature, Stream-side Botany, Wader Safety and Survival, and The Evolution of an
Angler. The campers will also participate in a watershed project to repair habitat in a nearby stream.

Polar Plunge Raises Money for Local Youth

What do an Elementary School Principle, fisherman, third grader, and town Mayor all have in common? Well, in Estes Park, they all braved the icy waters to raise money for Trout in the Classroom!

Colorado Trout Unlimited and our local chapters are proud to support environmental education programs that get kids outdoors and bring unique learning opportunities into the classroom. Trout in the Classroom is one such project. The program works with teachers to raise trout from eggs to fry throughout the school year, providing unique teaching opportunities along the way and culminating in an end-of-year release. Unfortunately, the equipment required to grow fish in a classroom isn’t cheap.

Fortunately, local businesses and leaders in the Estes park community refused to let costs stand in the way of bringing TIC to their school. Led by local resident, Joe Bottoms of Trout Haven Resorts, the town organized a Polar Plunge in the middle of one of the snowiest winters in a decade. Here’s how it went:

Local elementary school Principle, John Bryant, takes the plunge to help raise money for TIC tanks in his school.

Story by: Joe Bottoms

The 2019 Polar Bear Plunge was held at Trout Haven Resorts on March 2 with a great turnout, despite the weather.  The first annual fundraiser was held to start a Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program in the Estes Park Elementary School. Community members and local business teams took the plunge to raise the money for two state-of-the-art aquariums that are now installed in the third grade department. Starting March 12, students will be working with a fisheries biologist to hatch and raise rainbow trout, with in-depth lessons in trout ecology at each life stage. 

Third graders were chosen as the beneficiaries of this project because the TIC program aligns with the Colorado Department of Education's third grade standards for learning, but the program is going to grow to other grade levels as well as the middle and high schools as the program evolves. This year, third graders will be learning about the rainbow trout's life cycle, habitat selection, temperature-dependent growth and development,  and general trout ecology. They will also be doing dissections, which is always the favorite lesson. We are partnering with the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition to do a field trip to streams that are scoured and streams that have been restored after the 2013 flood to identify good trout habitat and demonstrate the benefits of freshwater conservation and restoration. 

Local students take the plunge!

The 2019 Polar Bear Plunge raised $5,300, which funded the two aquariums to be used this spring. The remainder is being donated to Trout Unlimited to carry the TIC program forward and expand trout conservation in the Estes Valley. Over 100 people attended, and over sixty took the plunge themselves. Among notable jumpers was the principal of Estes Park Elementary School John Bryant, President of TU's Alpine Anglers (chapter #453) Mike Larned, Mayor Todd Jirsa, and an a number of third grade students excited about their new aquariums!

Thanks to all who contributed and participated; we hope to get third graders excited about environmental conservation and that some of them will go on to do great things in the Estes Valley and Rocky Mountain National Park!

Local 3rd Graders make the leap to help raise money for a TIC tank in their classroom!

President of Alpine Anglers Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Mike Larned, prepares his jump!

Meet our new CTU Youth Outreach VISTA staff

Bianca McGrath-Martinez has joined the Colorado Trout Unlimited team as the new Youth Outreach VISTA staffer to grow our capacity for implementing youth programming across the state.

Bianca graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore county in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies, focusing on environment, development and health. She also received a minor in Geography. Prior to joining CTU as their AmeriCorps VISTA, Bianca served with AmeriCorps at an education nonprofit in Compton, California. Bianca’s hobbies include hiking, reading, listening to music, and traveling.