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

June Currents

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next week on the Great American Outdoors Act, providing full dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and providing $9.5 billion over five years to help address deferred maintenance needs on public lands. CTU thanks Senators Bennet and Gardner for their support of this important legislation. We also thank our many members who have reached out to their elected officials in support of public lands; your voices have helped build the political momentum that is propelling this legislation.  If you haven’t yet done so, consider taking a moment to thank our Senators for their efforts on this bill by clicking here. 

Additional stories include:

• CTU Introduces Virtual Happy Hours

• Now Hiring: CTU Youth Coordinator Full-Time

• Keeping it Close to Home: Pike, Bass and Panfish on the fly

• Colorado Water Plan Listening Sessions

• Featured Fly: Matt Callies’ Hare’s Ear Nymph

• Spring 2020 High Country Angler

• Featured Business Partner: Anglers All and more!

May Currents: Public Lands Photo Contest & TU Teens Live

Celebrate Locally

Public Lands Day May 16, 2020

As Coloradans we are blessed with a tremendous wealth of Public Lands – more than 23 million acres worth, or more than the entirety of 13 other U.S. States.  From State and National Parks to BLM lands, wildlife refuges to National Forests, our public lands provide a place for us to recreate, a driver for local economies around the state, and a means for Coloradans to connect with nature and recharge our minds, bodies, and spirits. In these challenging times, the importance of these treasured lands is as apparent as ever as thousands of us flock to our public lands to enjoy Colorado’s great outdoors in beautiful settings where we can maintain safe social distancing.

To highlight the importance of our public lands, Colorado celebrates Public Lands Day each year on the 3rd Saturday of May. With Public Lands Day 2020 just around the corner, here are a few ways you can celebrate:

• Opt outside and visit public lands near your community. Under Colorado’s safer-at-home guidelines, outdoor recreation like fishing and hiking on public lands close to your community offers a great way to celebrate. Don’t forget to share your photos on social media! #COPublicLandsDay

• Ask Congress to support our Public Lands.  Senators Bennet and Gardner both are sponsoring the Great American Outdoors Act, which would permanently fund the highly successful Land and Water Conservation Fund to invest in outdoor recreation and public lands as well as providing funds to address much-needed maintenance projects for public land facilities. Click here to ask your legislator to support the Great American Outdoors Act!

• Take part in online seminars and sessions celebrating public lands this week.  From a panel on the history of public lands (tonight) to a workshop on how to participate in volunteer monitoring of recreation impacts on public lands, there are a variety of virtual events in which you can participate.  Check out the calendar.

• Add something on public lands into your streaming.  For example, Amazon Prime currently offers Ken Burns’ outstanding documentary series The National Parks – America’s Best Idea. For kids K-12 a beautifully illustrated book, National Parks of the USA, by Kate Siber, can be found here.

• Share your favorite fishing or outdoor photo taken on Colorado's public lands and tag us, @colorado_trout_unlimited and use #COPublicLandsDay on Instagram for a chance to win a 4 piece Hardy fly rod by May 26, 2020. See details below.

However you may celebrate, all of us at Colorado TU wish you and yours a safe and enjoyable Colorado Public Lands Day!

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!

We are TU: Meet Barbara Luneau

Repost from National TU blog by Jenny Weis

We care about clean water, healthy fisheries and vibrant communities. We roll up our sleeves to volunteer, we sit on our boards, and we strategize as members and leaders of staff. We want you to join us.  

Thanks to initiatives such as TU’s decades-old Women’s Initiative – now Diversity and Inclusion Initiative – and those of our partners, new groups have engaged in coldwater conservation and the sport of fly fishing. The aim of this blog series is to highlight these friends, in hopes of making many new friends of broad stripes. In this series you’ll meet people of diverse communities – our good ideas, what we have in common, and where we differ. Know someone we should feature? Nominate them here. 

Since it’s not possible to sit down and have coffee or spend an afternoon on the river to show you what we’re up to, a blog post will have to do. As you read, we hope you’ll consider joining us. We need your ideas to help make a bigger impact.   

Together, we’ll help protect the special places we love.   

Barbara’s nomination detailed a long list of activities she undertakes for TU. We were curious as to what motivates her to make time for all these events and responsibilities! Reviewing her answers, we’re moved by her motivations and convinced there’s a lot she can teach us.  

Introducing: Barbara Luneau. (Instagram @baluneau) 

Hometown/current town: Longmont, Colo. 

What’s your history with conservation? I grew up with a conservation ethic, and have always believed being a steward to the environment was important. I joined Trout Unlimited and started volunteering about 12 years ago. I have served as chapter secretary, president, and conservation chair. Through TU, I have engaged more directly in my community to be a voice for my home waters and contribute to restoration and water management issues. Currently I also serve as a regional vice president on the Colorado State Council and I am chairperson of our Headwaters (Youth Programs) Committee. I also serve as co-director of Colorado’s River Conservation and Fly Fishing camp.  

My present focus in conservation is mentoring youth and working to inspire the next generation of river stewards. 

I know better than to think things will take care of themselves, it’s our civic responsibility to engage and continue to protect what’s important to us.

Barbara Luneau

Briefly, what is your history with fishing? I moved to Colorado in 1987 and was first exposed to fly fishing then. I fished on and off for a number of years, but became serious about fly fishing in 2005 when faced with becoming an empty nester. I’ve been avid about fly fishing since then. My husband and I fish all over Colorado, and many places beyond. 

Describe one challenge you face & how do you overcome it. I think that my greatest challenge as a TU leader is inspiring leaders with a new face to step forward and take on expanded roles. I believe that if we want to be different, we have to look different from the top down. I’ve been addressing these challenges by seeking out people that don’t meet the typical TU profile and finding opportunities for them to engage that align with their personal goals and passions. I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome it, but I’m working on it. 

[Giving back] means doing the hard things, seeing a need, and using your skills to address the need while improving the organization for the next generation of leaders. 

Barbara Luneau

What does ‘giving back’ mean to you? For me giving back is having an impact that you don’t even realize. I see this all the time working with youth programs, particularly our camp for teens.  It means doing the hard things, seeing a need, and using your skills to address the need while improving the organization for the next generation of leaders. 

Describe a perfect day. A perfect day is taking my 4-year old grandson to the pond on a sunny afternoon and catching bluegills all day.  

What would you grab if your house was on fire? (Don’t worry! Your humans/pets are already safe!) I probably should grab my laptop and disks, but I’d probably grab my ukulele.  

If you could squeeze just one more thing into your regular routine, what would it be? More fishing days.  

What do you want to see in the future of Trout Unlimited or in conservation? I want to see TU continue to become a more diverse organization that is sought after as a conservation partner in home waters across the country. 

What is an example of something awesome you’ve seen that helps make conservation or fishing more inclusive to new groups of people? I think an invitation is an awesome opening for inclusiveness. Seeking out partnerships where both groups have something to gain seems to be powerful for many programs including youth, veterans, cancer recovery. 

Name a person you admire. Why do you admire them?  Jimmy Carter. He values people, dignity, and the outdoors. 

Why  Trout Unlimited?   We humans are consumers of everything, TU is focused on conserving and protecting at the grassroots level, a person can really connect with their local community and water issues in their community through TU where ever your interests lie. As a TU volunteer, you can do a little or a lot, it’s fully up to you. Fly fishing is my meditation, and it’s better than it’s ever been because of actions that TU staff and volunteers take. I know better than to think things will take care of themselves, it’s our civic responsibility to engage and continue to protect what’s important to us. 

If you want to join Barbara and grow the community and work of Trout Unlimited, we encourage you to become a member! For a discounted first-time membership, click here: https://gifts.tu.org/we-are-tu 

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.

Over 300 trout released in this year's Trout in the Classroom Release!

Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is a conservation-oriented, environmental education program for elementary, middle and high school students. Throughout the school year students raise their trout from egg to fry, monitor tank water quality, engage in stream habitat study, learn to appreciate water resources, grow to understand ecosystems and begin to foster a conservation ethic. At the end of each school year, TIC classrooms release their trout into a state approved stream.

In the state of Colorado, there are 12 schools that take part in this program with a total of 17 tanks. Each program is led by educators dedicated to growing the next generation of environmental stewards.

On May 28th, Vanessa Grenader, a 5th grade teacher from Blackhawk, brought her students to Mayhem Gulch to release their 170 pet rainbow trout. Vanessa was accompanied by volunteers from the West Denver Chapter who talked with the students about water quality. Read more here.

On May 24th, Mike Sanchez’s high school class was joined by Bianca McGrath-Martinez of Colorado Trout Unlimited and Emma Brown of the Greenbacks for a release field trip at the Carson Nature Center in Littleton. The students were able to stock the South Platte with their trout, explore native plant species, and go on a nature walk.

On May 23rd, Todd Johnson set out on his first release field trip accompanied by the Denver Trout Unlimited chapter. Todd’s 3rd graders were able to release 60 trout — most of which have names.

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.

ELK and CTU partner up to teach Denver youth fly fishing

CTU Youth Outreach Intern, Nicholas Krishnan helps students with attaching their leaders to their fly lines. Photo credit: CTU/Annie Smith

On August 8th, 2018 a group of 10 Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) Urban Rangers - youth leaders who help teach ELK programs for other kids- along with Colorado Trout Unlimited volunteers headed up to Clear Creek in Jefferson County to spend the day learning about trout and fly fishing. All of this was put together by CTU's Youth Outreach Intern, Nicholas Krishnan. He has been working with this summer to identify and organize a collaborative program to provide Denver youth an opportunity to get outside and learn all about fly fishing. ELK graciously agreed to participate in this collaborative effort and without them it wouldn't have been possible. A huge thank you to them for helping make this a success. Please consider checking out ELK as they are empowering Denver's youth through outdoor learning. 

The day consisted of a little bit of everything to maximize our time on the water. Students learned all about trout including the different species, biology, diseases, and invasives that affect their habitat. From there, gear was distributed to each of the students including a fly rod, reel, fly line, leader, tippet, and a stocked fly box. Gear was generously donated by Eagle Claw Fishing Tackle, Orvis Park Meadows, Cabela's Lone Tree, Anglers Accessories, Denver Angler and CTU. Flies were tied by Liz Smith, Dick Shinton, Ryan Riley-Buttram from the Greenbacks, Dr. Jacob Kinnard and Will McDonough. Professional photography services that day were provided by Catherine Belme and Shaw Taylor. 

After a full day of learning and fishing, the students enjoyed wading in to cool off! Photo credit: CTU/Annie Smith

The students practiced their casting, knot tying, and setting up their fly rod before hitting the water. Each student was paired up with one of our volunteers providing one-on-one teaching. Everyone enjoyed wading out into the river and one of the students caught two fish! Towards the end of the day, many of the students decided to cool off by wading in waist deep to the middle of Clear Creek. You could overhear one of the students exclaim, "I feel like a kid out here". Check out some of the pictures from the day below. Again a huge thank you to all the volunteers, ELK students and staff, donors, and most of all, CTU Intern Nicholas Krishnan for organizing the whole thing. Great job everyone!

Photo credit: CTU/Annie Smith