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.

Fly Fishing Rendezvous

Where: Jefferson County Fairgrounds – Golden, CO When: May 20-21 8:30-5pm

Cost: $8 in Advance, $10 at the door. Scouts in uniform and kids under 12 are free. Use the code "CTU" when purchasing your ticket for a discount!

Website: www.flyfishingrendezvous.com

If you want to start thinking like a fish and fishing like a pro, the Fly Fishing Rendezvous happening May 20-21 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden Colorado is a must visit event!  There will be more than 30 hours of classes and clinics from the region’s best instructors, authors and fly tyers, including Phil Iwane and Rick Tackahashi.

You can check out the full vendor and class line-up and purchase your tickets online at: www.flyfishingrendezvous.com.

The Fly Fishing Rendezvous has partnered with Colorado Trout Unlimited and Project Healing Waters to highlight and support the vital work they are doing in conservation and support of our country’s veterans.  In addition to raffles and silent auctions held at the event that support both of these groups, 10% of the admission fees go to support Colorado Trout Unlimited, and we encourage every angler to join TU and Project Healing Waters on mission in the conservation of our waters and support of the troops. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.

As much as any of us would love to have a stretch of river all to ourselves, an isolated fishing hole where big trout eagerly rise to our dry flies, and the lack of cell phone reception gives us a few hours respite from the demands of life, fly fishing at its core is a social sport.   For most of us, it was under the guiding hand of a parent, grandfather, or friend that we tied on our first fly, struggled through the basics of casting, and eventually netted our first trout.  There is a unique joy in sharing the water with family and friends, seeing the passion for fly fishing awaken in a new angler, and the excitement of working out a difficult drift with your fishing buddies until one of you finally catch that elusive trophy brown that has evaded you the past several hours.

Born from a passion to make the sport of fly fishing accessible to all, and to equip Rocky Mountain anglers with the knowledge and gear needed to experience greater success on the water, the Fly Fishing Rendezvous has become the fastest growing and most eagerly anticipated fly fishing show in the Rockies.  Featuring only the region’s best fly fishing companies, fly tyers, authors, and guides, the Fly Fishing Rendezvous focuses exclusively on local waters and local companies, and equips anglers with local knowledge for success on our waters.  With its emphasis on educating anglers, the Fly Fishing Rendezvous has broken the mold of other fly fishing shows by giving participants access to more than 30 hours of classes with fly fishing’s best recognized authors, fly tyers, casting instructors, and fly fishing geeks.  The topics of these classes are as diverse as the waters of our region: How to Fish Colorado’s Technical Tailwaters, How to Match the Hatch and Hack Hatch Charts, How to Sight Fish Trophy Trout on the Taylor River, as well as fly tying demonstrations with the industry’s best tyers.  In addition to accessing an impressive line-up of classes, participants of the rendezvous will have the ability to interact with and buy gear or trips from more than 30 Rocky Mountain fly fishing companies.   Whether it’s a new fly reel from Ross, waders from Simms, $10 dozens on flies from Ascent Fly Fishing, or a guided trip on private water, there will be something for every fly fisher at this show!

Rendezvous 2017 Recap

This past weekend, over 100 chapter leaders, volunteers, Trout Unlimited staff, and partners joined Colorado TU in Keystone for the annual Rendezvous spring meeting. This year the theme was Homewaters where participants learned more about specific issues that are affecting not only their homewaters, but the homewaters of all Colorado chapters. These issues included mining projects, protecting public lands, creating healthy urban watersheds, connecting local communities to their homewaters, partnering with agriculture, and learning about water laws in Colorado. Participants in the weekend heard from National TU staff, chapter leaders, professionals in the related fields, and locals from various watersheds throughout the state. Each session focused on various aspects of each issue affecting watersheds all over. The presentations from various sessions can be found on the Rendezvous page!

Included in the presentations from National TU Staff was the keynote speaker at the Saturday Night Banquet, TU President and CEO, Chris Wood. Wood spoke about the future of TU in the midst of an uncertain political climate. Wood reassured everyone that TU will continue to not only defend our prized fisheries and public lands but go on the offense and fight for protections of areas. We will also make sure we are working for our trout and salmon as opposed to working party lines.

The banquet also included the presentation of chapter, volunteer leadership, and partner awards. The awards included:

• John Connolly Outstanding Chapter Communications Award:  West Denver Chapter
• Exemplary Youth Education Award:  Gunnison Angling Society
• Exemplary Project Award:  Dolores River Anglers
• Outstanding Volunteer Awards:  Mark Hanson, Dustin McCory, Tim Toohey
• Exemplary Chapter Award:  Five Rivers Chapter
• Distinguished Service Award:  Gil Hassinger
• Exemplary Guide & Outfitter Awards:  Telluride Outside, Trouts Fly Fishing
• Trout Conservation Award:  Paul Bruchez
• Bruce Hoagland Award for Leadership in Conservation:  Buck Skillen
• Silver Trout Foundation also recognized Rick Matsumoto and John Aaron with the Silver Trout Award.

The weekend started off with the a Cast N' Sip event where guests were treated to a "Seven Deadly Sins of Casting" presentation by Johnathan Walters. Afterwards everyone could apply their newfound knowledge and participate in casting games like tic-tac-toe. Beer was provided for the event by Upslope Brewing Company.

New to this year's Rendezvous was a poster session in which chapters from around the state made a poster highlighting their chapter and the work they've accomplished over the last year. Throughout the weekend, guests were able to walk around and read the posters to gain a better of understanding of what each chapter is doing on their homewaters.

Saturday morning, before the Homewaters sessions began, Colorado TU held it's spring board meeting. The council went over the current "State of CTU" and discussed other pressing topics including the Parks and Wildlife Financial Sustainability Bill.

Also at the board meeting, the Council awarded six Gomolchak mini-grants from CTU to help with a chapter project. The following chapters were awarded grants of $1,000 for their specific project.

• Cheyenne Mountain: Greenback youth education publication.
• Colorado River Headwaters: Fraser Flats project.
• Gore Range: Blue River Explorer hike.
• West Denver: Clear Creek Habitat Improvement Project.
• The Greenbacks: Rock Creek-Black Canyon greenback barrier design & construction.
• Denver Chapter:  South Platte Stream Management Plan.

At Rendezvous each year the election of CTU's Board of Directors takes place and this year the positions up for election were the President and Vice President. Former Vice President, Cam Chandler, was elected as President of the Board of Directors. While former Director-at-Large, Dick Jefferies, was elected Vice President of the Council.

Congrats to our Spring Raffle Winner

Congrats to the 2017 Statewide Raffle Winner, Doug Nielsen. Doug is the winner of a two-day, one-night float trip through the Gold Medal waters of the Gunnison Gorge for two with Black Canyon Anglers. The trip also includes one night’s lodging and dinner for two at Gunnison River Farms the night prior to the launch.

The Gunnison Gorge is home to some of the state’s Gold Medal Waters and is a world-class fishery for large rainbow and brown trout. And is one of the best fishing trips in the lower 48 states.

Black Canyon Anglers have been guiding on the Gunny for over a decade and have knowledge about the fishing, geology, and wildlife in the area. Along with the excellent fishing, there is beautiful scenery and the occasional encounters with big horn sheep, mule deer, river otters, and eagles.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the raffle, helping Colorado TU raise over $7,000 that will go towards on-the-ground projects to help protect and restore Colorado’s fisheries and watersheds.

2017 Rendezvous: Homewaters

Registration is now open for 2017 Rendezvous! The agenda for Rendezvous Weekend can be viewed here!

Rendezvous will also be featuring a Women's Weekend complete with massages, brunch, and much more!

This is the largest annual meeting held in Colorado for TU members, chapters, leaders and supporters. This 3-day weekend is packed with workshops, presentations on important conservation issues and current projects, the annual business meeting for Colorado TU where new officers will be elected, plenty of time for networking, sharing ideas and socializing, and a Saturday evening banquet featuring delicious food and presentation of CTU's annual awards plus a keynote address from National TU CEO/President Chris Wood. This weekend is great for all members (new and old), chapter leaders and anyone interested in what Trout Unlimited in Colorado needs to accomplish this year to protect our cold water resources.

The theme for Rendezvous 2017 is Homewaters. Colorado contains 24 local chapters with their own homewater rivers and streams that all face unique challenges and issues. This year's Rendezvous will help chapter leaders and TU members tackle the issues happening in their own backyard with help from National and Colorado TU staff,  industry experts and organizational partners! From agriculture partnerships to mine drainage to urban rivers, we'll have sessions covering all different types of challenges facing our rivers so those in attendance can take back to their chapter useful information on protecting and restoring their local homewaters and fisheries.

We have lined up speakers this year that will help us explore solutions, inspire new ideas, and develop projects on your chapter's local waterways. We also want each chapter to share their homewater projects and success stories with us! New this year, we will be featuring a Poster Session that will be set up all weekend including for the Saturday night cocktail hour. These posters will help share each chapter's stories on the projects and issues facing their homewater streams. We hope that all 24 chapters are represented in this poster board session (even if no one from the chapter can make Rendezvous, we hope you can send a poster board to share your local work with other TU members!). Please contact Shannon Kindle for details on the poster session!

Friday afternoon will consist of a Chapter Leaders Summit that will address the challenges facing all chapters from retaining members, to developing projects, to diversifying your membership. Friday evening we will hold a social event complete with beer, heavy hors d'eouvres, and casting! There will be a silent auction plus fly casting demos, instruction, and contests for a chance to win some awesome prizes and connect with other TU members and professionals. On Saturday, we will hold the CTU board meeting and begin our Homewaters workshops. The Saturday night banquet will feature a delicious meal and presentation of CTU's annual awards to chapters and volunteers for their distinguished work. We will also be hosting Trout Unlimited CEO and President, Chris Wood, as the keynote speaker.

Sunday morning will contain more Homewaters workshops and a chance to network with other chapter and state leaders. This is a weekend you don't want to miss!

For more information, please contact Shannon Kindle SKindle@tu.org.

Headwaters Chapter on Fraser Flats

On March 11, Colorado Headwaters Chapter President, Kirk Klancke, and chapter board member, Anna Drexler-Dreis, joined Good Morning Grand County to talk about water. Klancke was joined by Grand County Water and Sanitation District Manager, Bruce Hutchins, Klancke and Hutchins talk about the issues facing the water supply in Grand County and how the Learning by Doing initiative will help protect stream flows and temperatures of the Fraser River.

Klancke also speaks about the Fraser Flats River Enhancement project. Part of this project will include revegetation along the Fraser as well as stream channeling. Stream channeling will create a smaller river bed within the natural river bed to keep water consolidated during the low flow periods. This will keep the water moving faster, colder, and provide holding areas for trout.

Part of the project will also include a half mile of the river being open to the public for fishing. "We can improve the stream sections of the Fraser and its tributaries to the point where it will be healthier now than it was when I started fishing there 46 years ago," said Klancke.

Drexler-Dreis talked more about the Fraser Flats project, the first Learning by Doing project since its inception. The first step in the Fraser Flats project will entail planting willows along the Fraser River for just under a mile in an area that was heavily overgrazed. With willows in place, the river will experience more stable conditions and improve the stream banks to provide more trout habitat. Volunteers will help with the harvesting and planting of these willows.

The segments below were from the Good Morning Grand County episode on March 11, 2017. If you wish to view the whole episode, you can check out their YouTube channel!

2017 River Stewardship Gala

Visit the 2017 River Stewardship Gala page for more information including tickets, sponsorship, auction items and more!

The CTU River Stewardship Gala is a celebration of Colorado’s rivers and world-class fishing opportunities. The Gala is the largest conservation and fishing-oriented auction in Colorado with over 350 guests in attendance in 2016 that helped raise over $60,000 for conservation efforts throughout the state. Funds from the River Stewardship Gala go towards CTU’s work in youth education, protecting statewide instream flows and temperature, reintroducing and protecting native trout, and preserving and restoring the state’s fisheries and their watersheds.

CTU will present its 2017 River Stewardship Award to the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) in recognition of their leadership in promoting river and watershed health statewide. In the past year, the CWCB spearheaded development and initial implementation of the Colorado Water Plan, including a strong emphasis on healthy rivers, collaborative multi-purpose projects that include environmental benefits, and funding for Stream Management Plans. In addition, for more than 40 years, the CWCB has grown its instream flow program to expand streamflow protection in basins across the state. Collectively these actions are providing the state leadership to build an enhanced Colorado culture of river and watershed stewardship.

We also want to thank Denver Water for being this year's River Champion title sponsor at the event!

Prizes will be available ranging from fishing trips, fishing gear, nights out on the town, art, and much more! There will even be great trips around the state and even a trip to fish in Argentina!

Click here for more information about the Gala including a few of the featured prizes!

Fly Fishing Film Tour Premieres in Denver

The 2017 Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) Premieres in Denver this Saturday, January 21 City Hall Amphitheater! The tickets for admissions are $18. A portion of the funds raised at F3T go towards conservation efforts. In 2015, the film tour helped raise over $300,000 that was donated to conservation groups such as Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Bonefish Tarpon Trust, Utah Stream Access Coalition, Stop Pebble Mine and many more.

Along with many awesome videos, this year's event will feature a TU sponsored film: Old Friends New Fish. According to the F3T site, the film features "Three women who return to the rivers of Montana where they met and became friends twenty years earlier. Much has changed in their lives, but fishing still unites them and serves as a metaphor for much of the joy and challenge along the way."

Other films feature Tarpon fishing, fly fishing in Russia and Siberia, a film that focuses on the relationships with our favorite waters as well as the importance of family and friends as well as our responsibility to share healthy landscapes with future generations. Check out the F3T site for information on more films as well as the descriptions and trailers!

This weekend the Greenbacks of Colorado TU will be there with chances to win a Surface Film photograph! Stop by and say hi to the Greenbacks and learn more about their upcoming projects and events. There will also be some chances to win other prizes at the event!

Get into State Parks Free this Black Friday

Entry to all 42 Colorado state parks is free on Nov. 25 for a new Colorado Parks and Wildlife tradition called #FreshAirFriday. Colorado Parks and Wildlife offers this opportunity to those who have signed the pledge to head outside on the day after Thanksgiving. More than 50 retailers in Colorado and nationwide are closing their doors on Black Friday and multiple states are urging people to go outside instead of joining the rush inside to shop this year. “It is a long-time Colorado tradition to get outside,” said CPW Director Bob Broscheid. “This Black Friday we invite you to start a new family tradition of enjoying the Colorado state parks together for free if you aren’t shopping.”

Great Outdoors Colorado is covering all costs for access to the state parks on Friday.

“On behalf of the GOCO board, I’m pleased to announce GOCO will fund CPW’s #FreshAirFriday for a second year. We happily join our partners at CPW, and many other forward-thinking organizations, in this movement to change how we all spend our time on Black Friday,” said Jason Brinkley, chairman of the GOCO board of trustees. “We hope droves of Colorado kids and their families take advantage of this opportunity to make visiting our incredible state parks part of their holiday traditions. We’ll see you out there!”

CPW offers family-friendly activities, fun-filled adventures and opportunities to learn and try new things at state parks. Check out the Park Finder map or the events calendar on the CPW website. Plus, ideas for ice fishing, skiing and snowshoeing, sledding and skating, snowmobiling, hiking, lodging and wildlife viewing can all be found on CPW’s winter activities page. Please note that activity fees may apply.

Learn more about #FreshAirFriday and watch the video here.

Year End Giving to CTU

In order to continue to protect Colorado's rivers and water quality, engage the next generation of conservationists and anglers, and to improve fishing throughout the state, we rely on funds raised by our members and supporters. As we approach the end of the year, a time when most look at their organizational giving, Colorado TU offers different ways to fund our projects and missions. CTU uses collaboration and volunteers to leverage every dollar received and turns it into $10. And donations to Colorado TU are fully tax deductible!

Colorado TU welcomes donations of any amount!  To join Century Club, our largest group of loyal donors, donate $10 or more per month.  Join our flagship donor program, the River Stewardship Council, for $100 per month. These donations help improve our work throughout Colorado.

In 2015 Colorado Gives Day raised more than $28 million in funds and supported  over 1,800 non-profits. In 2010, Community First Foundation created Colorado Gives Day as an annual statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving.

If you want to get in on the excitement of Gives Day and support healthy rivers and fisheries, check out ColoradoGives.org/ColoradoTU to schedule your donation or head to the site on December 6th to help out!

On November 29th, #GivingTuesday takes Social Media by storm. Last year over $116 million was raised for charities in 70 different countries all through online donations, powered through Social Media. On Colorado TU's Facebook page there is a "donate button" that allows followers to donate to our mission through the excitement of #GivingTuesday!

While shopping on Amazon this holiday season, be sure to use, Amazon Smile to help fund our work of making fishing in Colorado better for everyone and protecting our rivers. A portion of your sale will be donated back to Colorado TU from Amazon.

Give to CTU by giving a license plate. Through ProtectOurRivers.net a $25 donation to CTU will provide you with the certificate you need to obtain your Protect Our Rivers license plate or give the license plate to someone else as a gift this holiday season!

Thank you from all of us at Colorado TU for doing your part to protect and restore Colorado’s rivers and fisheries!