A Native Odyssey: A conservation road trip of a lifetime

"The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking, for the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of the present travel."

—Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt was a visionary, having set aside 230 million acres during his presidency for the American public to enjoy. In doing so, he was responsible for founding the U.S. Forest Service, and laying the ground work for the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.

Fast forward a little more than a century. The U.S. government now manages 640 million acres of public land in trust for all Americans, a vast swath of shared real estate representing 28 percent of the American land mass. This large plot of public land in large part supports the $887 billion dollar outdoor recreation economy.

Today, our public land is under threat, with President Trump ordering the review of national monuments, and congress in tow with a push to transfer federal land to states governments that cannot afford it.

For two months this summer, five students from the TU Costa 5 Rivers Outreach Program will embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey in pursuit of 16 native trout species, all on their public land. With support from the U.S. Forest Service, Costa Sunglasses, Simms Fishing Products, Fishpond and Post Fly Box, these students will tell the stories of our native trout, the places they live, and the local economies they fuel.

These students will be chiming in on Trout Unlimited’s and Trout Unlimited Costa 5 Rivers’ social media accounts to document the adventure. They will fish and explore our public lands around the country, unearthing challenges facing our native trout species. In addition to pursuing each species on fly, they will be interviewing local stakeholders, including ranchers, TU Volunteers, TU and U.S. Forest Service staff. They hope to reveal a diverse set of perspectives on what public lands, native species, and clean water means to each region the students visit.

The students will be in Colorado on June 18-24. They will be working with the Pikes Peak Chapter of TU on June 19 learning about the Greenback Cutthroat trout story, tour the Henderson Mine in Empire, CO on June 20 as part of the TU Abandoned Mines program, fish for Cutthroats in Rocky Mountain National Park with the Greenbacks of Colorado TU on June 21-23.

This week we will be introducing this year’s Odyssey participants. Each of these students comes from a unique background, having shaped their conservation viewpoints from their respective fisheries from around the country. Stay tuned to the blog to meet the participants.

To stay up to date with the Odyssey, follow @Troutunlimited, @TUCosta5rivers, @USForestservice, @simmsfishing @Fishpondusa to discover the story of our native trout, public lands, and what you can do at home to keep your lands in public hands.

For additional opportunities to get involved with protecting public lands, please visit standup.tu.org.

Adam Beede wins Dr. Behnke Award

Adam Beede, the 2017 Youth Camp Director, was rewarded as the recipient of the Dr. Robert Behnke Award from the Pennsylvania Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp. The Behnke award recognizes an individual who is a graduate of a TU Conservation Youth Camp, someone who has gone on to continue their river/conservation/fishery studies in college or a career in the field, and has contributed with a leadership role with a state Youth Camp.

The award was established by the Pennsylvania Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp to honor Dr. Behnke for his years of volunteering his time and his talents in teaching at the Pennsylvania camp as well as his educating and mentoring thousands of students during his career as a professor of Fisheries Conservation and Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University.  He was the author of more than 200 articles and papers regarding fish and fisheries and had served on numerous advisory boards for state and federal agencies.  He was the author of several books, including the seminal Trout and Salmon of North America (2002).  Bob began writing the quarterly column About Trout for Trout magazine in 1983.  Dr. Behnke passed away in September, 2013.

Adam is an alumnus of the 2011 Colorado Trout Unlimited River Conservation and Fly-fishing Youth Camp, served as a youth counselor for the camp three additional years, and is volunteering at the 2017 as Youth Camp Director. He is the youngest person to take on this role for the Youth Camp.

"I am honored and extremely excited to receive the selection for the Dr. Robert Behnke Award this year!" said Adam. "Attending the 2011 Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Camp inspired me to start the Gunnison Sockeyes River Conservation Club and also to serve as Director for this year's youth camp."

This Spring, he graduated from Western State University in Gunnison majoring in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry. But he's leaving behind an incredible legacy of coldwater conservation leadership. In 2013, Adam founded The Gunnison Sockeyes, the first TU Costa Five Rivers collegiate club in the nation to found their club based on conservation rather than fly fishing. The club boasts over 160 members and has logged in excess of 220 man hours of service work in the Gunnison Watershed in the fields of Lake Trout Removal, Kokanee Salmon Spawning, Electroshocking, Stonefly Reintroduction and River Clean Ups.

"The Sockeyes logged 568 man hours of community service in the few years I went to Western State and I believe they will continue to put river conservation equal to, or ahead of, fly fishing in an effort to inspire the conservation of our rivers while having a blast in the Gunnison watershed," said Beede.

Adam has been head guide for Harmel's Ranch Resort the past three years sharing his passion for fly fishing and conservation with multitudes of ranch clients.

Colorado TU is extremely proud of Adam Beede for this incredible accomplishment and recognition. The work and leadership he has provided to the Colorado TU youth programs has helped instill the passion of fly fishing and conservation into other groups of kids. CTU is honored to have Adam be part of the Youth Camp team this year.

Adam will be presented the award at the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Rivers Conservation Camp graduation on June 23, 2017 at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In addition, his name will be added to the plaque at the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum's Rivers Conservation Camp exhibit and will receive a certificate, a hand-carved trout pin, and a custom made pen to record his efforts in cold water conservation.

Behind the Fin: Wil Huett

How long have you been a TU member? Hard to answer. In the late 1970's-early 80's I was attending meetings of the Northern Colorado Anglers which eventually became the Rocky Mountain Flycasters (chapter #010). The chapter was chartered in 1983, so I was at least unofficially some kind of 'member' before there was a chapter!  A few years later I had a career change which created an unavoidable conflict with chapter meeting dates and so was relatively inactive for a long time. When I was able to become active again I became a life member - and was surprised when my new life-membership card arrived and bore an expiration date! I thought, how do they know when I am going to expire?

Why did you become a member and what chapter are you involved with?

My initial interest was the 'fishing club' hook which brings so many members into TU. I wanted to learn more about the mythical art of catching trout on a flyrod. I grew up on the banks of the mighty Mississippi and had used a friend's flyrod to catch a few bass in farm ponds. A career change took me to NW Nebraska where I caught my first trout - on another friend's flyrod. I picked up a little more experience in the nearby Black Hills, but when I moved to Colorado and within a few blocks of the Cache la Poudre I was in 'real' trout territory and needed to know more.

What made you want to become involved with TU?

Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi and experiencing its periodic floods gave me no background for understanding the water scarcity issues of the west. When the mighty Miss and its tributaries flooded they used to let us older boys out of school and permit trustee crews from the state prison to help sandbag. It was usually a problem of too much water, so I was fascinated by the complexity of water law created by the scarcity of water and the mission of TU to conserve and correct the mistakes of the past just seemed to me to make manifest sense.

What is your favorite activity or project that you have done with TU?

I love to get involved with our youth activities, and field work. The RMF annual Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Day Camp is one of the highlights of my year. It is such a terrific program I truthfully tell people that in my first year as a mentor in the camp I learned things I hadn't learned in the previous 40 years of fishing, The info these students are presented is that good! (or maybe I was just that slow a learner?)

One of my favorite field work projects was installing plunge pools on the Michigan River near Gould many years ago, with fellow RMF members including "Dr Trout", the late Robert J Behnke, PhD, himself. It was a two day project so we camped out and got rained on overnight. Dr Behnke had not brought a tent so he just rolled his sleeping bag under my jacked-up pickup truck to stay dry. He truly was a man with one foot firmly planted in the field and the other in the academic world!

I am also looking forward to our chapter cooperating with the Alpine Anglers in Estes Park to rebuild the fishing access pier up the Big Thompson, I helped build the original (in '89' or '90') and would love to have a hand in seeing it rebuilt to give the mobillity impaired a better chance to fish the "Big T"

I know you won’t tell me your top spot, so what is your second favorite fishing spot or favorite fishing story?

My favorite fishing spot is any spot I happen to be in which harbors fish. I advocate carrying a flyrod in every vehicle because you never know when you will run into a fishing emergency! Although exotic locales beckon to many I have trouble getting too far away from my home rivers - and ponds. I flyrod a lot of local natural area ponds for warmwater species too. Also take a trip to Canada each June with a couple of RMF's founding fathers, but home waters are the preferred locales since they are close.

One of my favorite memories occurred one week to the day before the 2013 flood devastated the lower Big Thompson and its North Fork. I was fishing the North Fork and saw a rise just inside a culvert under the county road. I watched long enough to see the fish was rising regularly in roughly the same spot, but it was going to be a tough, horizontal, back-handed cast, low enough to get into the culvert and into the feeding lane. I tried and missed. The fish kept rising. I tried again and missed. The fish paused but then resumed. I tried once more and got it just right...and Fish On! It dove into the pool just out of the culvert and bulldogged me. I know it was a big fish for that small stream, but had no idea for a few minutes that it was an 18 inch brown trout! Out of that tiny stream! I have no proof because my camera-bearer had gone back to the truck to escape a light rain and proceeded to fall asleep. So I released the fish and a week later as the flood swept the canyon had to hope he or she could survive somewhere in Nebraska. Once North Fork restoration work is done, some of it by RMF volunteers including me, I hope to find a similar fish hiding in a similarly deceptive spot. And then have to hope I'll be able to reproduce that tricky cast again.

What does being a part of TU mean to you?

TU membership means I am leaving a legacy, giving a gift to the future.

What else do you do in your spare time or for work

It seems spare time is so scarce in retirement I wonder how I had time to work! But I did: 40 years in the broadcast business and then 15 years with the American Red Cross before retiring. I volunteer with Rocky Mountain Flycasters, currently serve in the Trustee slot of Immediate Past President and fill the Community/Media Outreach chair. I think I have about 240 RMF volunteer hours thus far in this fiscal year. Also volunteer occasionally with a couple of other conservation organizations, read voraciously, do handyman fix-up projects on my near 100 year old home, and am finally trying to learn to tie a fly that doesn't look like an insect scraped off a windshield.

Meet the CTU Communications Intern Sam Stein

My name is Sam Stein, the Colorado TU communications intern for the summer of 2017. I am currently a graduate student at Colorado State University studying natural resources and environmental economics. I am incredibly excited at the opportunity to work for Colorado Trout Unlimited, and the ability to help promote conservation, sustainability, and good stewardship.

I caught my first fish on a fly on the Roaring Fork River at five years old, sparking a lifelong passion. Over the years I have fished many places, but few give me as much joy as fishing my local waters. I have translated this passion into working in several fly shops as well as working as a fly fishing guide. My immense interest in fly fishing, paired with the direction of a dedicated college adviser (who happens to be a fisheries economist) shaped my undergraduate studies and kindled my focus in conservation.

Working for Colorado Trout Unlimited will give me the ability to help promote the ideals that this organization so fastidiously stands by, as well as learn immensely throughout the experience. Consequently I hope to determine how to direct my passion into an effective tool for protecting fisheries and the other precious amenities that make Colorado so unique.

Some of the key projects I will be working on over the course of the internship is compiling a history of Colorado TU and key events and projects from over the years. I will also be building the Instagram and social media pages through compelling photos and interesting articles. As well, I will be helping share the great work and project stories from around the state!

With Colorado Trout Unlimited working on incredible projects such as reintroducing Greenback Cutthroats and protecting the upper Colorado River, I am excited to embrace the principles displayed by TU and work with them to continue making a difference in such an important industry.

I can be reached at CTU.CommsIntern@gmail.com. I look forward to working with the National and State Council staff of Trout Unlimited as well as all of the chapters!

Thank you for Celebrating Colorado Public Lands Day!

On May 20 Colorado celebrated the first ever Public Lands Day. As part of this celebration we called on Colorado Trout Unlimited members and supporters, anglers and sportsmen, and overall supporters of our public lands to help celebrate these great places Colorado has to offer. And did you all deliver!

On Colorado Public Lands Day there were over 450 Instagram posts with #CoPublicLands, over 265 tweets, and we received various emails with photos showing your love for public lands.

We tasked our supporters to share public lands fish photos with Senators Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet. There were some awesome photos of fish caught on public lands and some of our favorites can be seen below. There were also photos of people celebrating by hiking, camping, biking, and hunting. These outdoor recreation opportunities through public lands help drive Colorado's economy by generating 313,000 jobs and $34 billion in revenue for the state.

While there is still some uncertainty regarding the future of our public lands in the United States, our voices have been heard before and they will continue to be heard. Both Senators posted statements regarding Colorado Public Lands Day and showed their support to Colorado's 24 million acres of public lands. Senator Bennet's statement can be read here. Senator Gardner's statement can be read here.

Thank you to everyone who helped show their support of these lands! Remember, that it doesn't have to be a special day to show your support for our public lands. You can always share your photos and testimonies with Colorado TU's social media accounts or email! You can also visit standup.tu.org or contact Tyler Baskfield, Tbaskfield@tu.org

The rivers need people like you

Long ago, a wise and influential man told me, in a low and gravelly voice that matched the importance of his words, "The rivers need people like you." Last month, I was reminded of these compelling words when I was honored to receive the Silver Trout Award. The award, given by the Silver Trout Foundation, recognizes individual volunteers whose body of work in support of Colorado's rivers has left a significant and lasting impression.

If you were at Colorado TU's Rendezvous 2017, you heard me nervously stumble through an acceptance speech. I had one memorized in advance, but altered it on the spot because of the way I was introduced. I've since been encouraged to share that speech for others and I welcome the opportunity to deliver it without stumbling!

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Thank you. I've always been honored to work with such a passionate and committed group of people. Now I'm humbled to be in the company of other award winners.

Ken [Neubecker] mentioned that he met me at a volunteer day where I was flipping burgers, and it reminded me of a story that I'd like to share.

That volunteer day, at Buffalo Peaks Ranch in 2008, was my very first volunteer experience with Colorado TU. Sinjin [Eberle] had enlisted my help to cook lunch. Honestly, I wasn't a TU member or even a river conservationist at the time. I was simply helping a friend out.

The last person I flipped a burger for happened to be the late Charlie Meyers of the Denver Post. I shut down the grill and joined him for lunch. I tried to thank him for the media coverage of the event, but he cut me off and thanked me for helping to restore the river.

We talked about a lot of things and I don't recall the details anymore, but I do remember how it ended. He grabbed my arm to make sure he had my attention, looked me in the eye and said, "You know, the rivers need people like you."

He didn't sound like Morgan Freeman, but I felt like Morgan Freeman had just given me my marching orders. Later that day, I told Sinjin I wanted to get more involved in Colorado TU and the rest is history.

So I was a volunteer, but I didn't really become an engaged volunteer until Charlie gave me the push I needed. We all know someone like this, someone who just needs a push to get involved. I want to encourage all of you to push that person - you might be creating a future Silver Trout Award winner. Thank you.

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I added the bit about Morgan Freeman. Sure wish I'd thought to say it at the podium!

For those who don't know, Ken Neubecker is the current President of the Silver Trout Foundation and a past president of Colorado TU. Sinjin Eberle, who was a good friend even before the Buffalo Peaks Ranch projects, is the Director of Communications for American Rivers and a past President of Colorado TU. Both are Silver Trout Award winners.

Charlie Meyers, an outdoors writer for the Denver Post, covered his beats for 40 years. He died in January of 2010 from complications due to lung cancer.

2016 Annual Report

The 2016 Colorado TU Annual Report is now available! This year we broke it down basin-by-basin to show that no matter where you fish, Colorado TU is on-the-ground working to make the watershed healthier, protect the lands and streams, and ensure that the fish habitat is sustainable for future generations.

In the South Platte basin, Colorado TU and chapters worked to engage young, inner city, girls through the great outdoors by introducing them to fly fishing and conservation; CTU worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce the Colorado state fish, Greenback Cutthroat Trout, to it's native watershed along the Front Range; Trout Unlimited tackled abandoned mine issues, and various chapters worked to repair their homewater streams from the devastating floods of 2013.

The Arkansas River basin is home to Bear Creek where the last wild population of Greenback Cutthroat trout were found. The Annual Report discusses how CTU and the local chapter worked to connect this rare fish with the community. The Arkansas River basin also included the Colorado TU Youth Camp where 15 students ages 14-18 were introduced to the basics of conservation and fly fishing.

The San Juan, Animas, and Dolores basins included work on restoring the trout habitat and cutthroat trout populations into Hermosa Creek, rerouting the San Miguel river through the Telluride Valley Floor, and protecting the southwest rivers and streams from hardrock mining issues.

In the Colorado River basin, TU helped secure protections for the Roan Plateau and Thompson Divide from harmful oil and gas development, worked with local ranchers and farmers to improve the health of the Upper Colorado while enhancing agriculture water usage. TU also helped lead the Learning by Doing initiative that, among other things, secured $8 million in funds to protect and restore the Upper Colorado River.

Along the Yampa, Trout Unlimited's Brian Hodge was rewarded the U.S. Forest Service’s Rise to the Future Award for his work restoring miles of streams and trout habitat in the Routt National Forest. The local chapter also worked to engage youth in the basin by connecting them to their local watershed and introducing them to the issues present.

The Gunnison River basin included engaging youth through the Adopt-a-Trout program in Tomichi Creek where students, in collaboration with local agencies, tagged wild trout to study the movements of fish in the creek. TU also worked with local farmers and ranchers to improve agriculture processes and trout habitat in the Gunnison valley.

In the Rio Grande basin, Trout Unlimited worked to protect the Great Sand Dunes Cutthroat from potential changes in the environment. The Rocky Mountain Flyathlon came to Saguache for the annual race and fishing events that help raise money for Colorado TU's work in protecting native trout and their habitats. The local chapter and Trout Unlimited also worked to repair sections of the Conejos and ensure that winter flows were hospitable for trout.

The work we accomplished last year could not have been done without the generous support of our donors and partners listed on page 23 of the Annual Report. All donations to Colorado TU are leveraged through corporate partnerships, volunteer sweat equity, and matching grants to make your dollars go even further!

There are many more stories in each basin and projects from around the state that you can read in the 2016 Annual Report. You can view the report here or make sure you check it out in the Spring edition of High Country Angler!

Senate Committee Kills CPW Financial Sustainability Bill

Last Friday, the  Senate Finance Committee, on a 3-2 vote, killed House Bill 17-1321, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife financial sustainability bill. CTU supported the bill, considering the modest ($12.50 maximum) increase in an annual fishing license fee, along with reinstating a discounted senior fishing license, to be reasonable asks from an agency that has not seen a fee increase in 12 years - even as its revenue buying power was eroded by inflation over those years. Among the priorities that would have been funded through the bipartisan bill were needed maintenance on CPW reservoirs (some of which otherwise may face draw-down orders for dam safety reasons), restored funding for the "Fishing is Fun" grant program to help develop fishing opportunities in communities statewide, expanded investment in public hunting and fishing access, and sustainable funding for aquatic nuisance species inspections of boats coming onto key Colorado lakes and reservoirs.

In recent years  CPW has already cut $40 million and defunded 50 staff positions.  With the failure of HB17-1321, the agency will have to wait at least until the 2018 legislative session for possible financial relief.

Celebrate Colorado's First Ever Public Lands Day

Residents will have the opportunity to celebrate Colorado’s  inaugural  Public Lands Day on May 20. Made official in 2016, Colorado Public Lands Day will be held on the third Saturday of May each year to recognize the contribution of public lands to our state’s economy and its residents’ quality of life. Colorado has 24 million of acres of public lands, nearly one third of the state’s landscape, that allow hunters and anglers to have access to some of the best fish and game habitat in the world. These federal public lands are responsible for boosting Colorado’s economy by $722 million every year and provide 45,000 jobs to the state. Colorado Public Lands Day is an opportunity to publicize how important these lands are to our State and our heritage as sportsmen.

There is a small but dangerous movement brewing in this country that would transfer ownership of federal public lands to the states. TU and many other sportsmen’s organizations have been working to defend public lands from this catastrophic concept. On May 20, Coloradans now have a chance to make our voices heard and show the country how much we care about our public lands in the Centennial State. It's our chance to show legislators and the rest of the country that the majority of sportsmen and residents of Colorado strongly believe public lands need to remain public.

As part of your Colorado Public Lands Day celebration, we ask that you join us in tweeting or emailing a photo of a fish caught on public lands to Sen. Gardner and Sen. Bennet with the hash tag #CoPublicLandsDay and a message reminding them how important federal public lands are to Colorado’s residents. Also, send the photo to Colorado TU's Facebook and Twitter so we can keep track of the impact you have as a member of TU. CTU will be sending out an Action Alert with more instructions to come.  We all enjoy the opportunity to boast over a photo of a fish we have caught, now we can enjoy our accomplishment and help protect the places we love while we are doing it.

For more information on other Colorado Public lands Day event please visit: www.copubliclandsday.com.

TU helps protect Colorado River Gold Medal stretch

Not all of Trout Unlimited's efforts are loud and publicized. In fact, some are quiet and calculated. There are many TU efforts that don’t generate action alerts or require high level discussions with politicians. Recently, TU's work to protect the Gold Medal Water section of the upper Colorado River from 20 oil and gas leases was successful by inserting the voice of sportsmen into the BLM’s oil and gas lease sale process. “The process of commenting on these federal land actions can feel bureaucratic and can be tedious,” said Tyler Baskfield, sportsmen coordinator for Colorado who drafted comments for TU pertaining to the May 2017 Oil and Gas Lease Sale. “But it is critical that we address federal land actions from a sportsmen’s perspective. These leases in Grand County near the Colorado River are a perfect example of what TU staff can accomplish by participating in the process and providing accurate and consistent information to federal agencies.”

The parcels had originally been nominated for the lease sale by the oil and gas industry, but the BLM removed the 20 parcels totaling 27,529 acres in Grand County from the upcoming lease sale citing “concerns raised by Grand County and other stakeholders about offering these parcels at this time,” said acting Deputy State Director for Energy Lands and Minerals, Kent Walter. “We want to be sure they are still appropriate for leasing.”

TU staff along with Grand County and a number of environmental organizations discouraged the leasing of these parcels that were close to both the Colorado River and Rocky Mountain National Park. These areas also contained cutthroat trout habitat. TU and partners commented on the potential impact to the wildlife resources and recreation in the area to the BLM throughout the NEPA process. The other organizations who commented on these potential leases played a large role in the removal of these parcels, but the sportsmen’s perspective that TU provides seemed to be especially influential in many of these efforts.

“TU’s members should feel great about the impact their contribution has to the places that sportsmen are passionate about,” said Baskfield. “It takes several staff members to participate in just one of these efforts. The staff who work on these comments and follow these processes are incredibly passionate, intelligent, and thorough when it comes to producing the desired outcome for the resource. It isn’t the most visible part of the work that we do, but it is rewarding to work with all of those talented staff members and get a win.”