Mending Youth into Leaders

Trout Unlimited is only as strong as its membership base. Without our 150,000 plus volunteers over the nation, and over 10,000 volunteers in Colorado, we wouldn't be able accomplish what we do. In order to instill a passion for conservation into future leaders, CTU works to foster the next generation of conservationists through our Youth Programs. Starting with the Colorado TU Youth Camp, participants learn the skills and knowledge to become leaders in their high school or college clubs. From their leadership roles in college, they have the skills to become the leaders of tomorrow- not just in TU but their chosen professional fields.

Myles Brown- 2012 Camp Alumni

“What I thought the camp would be about was a strict camp with a really tight schedule and very strict instructors.  But the camp was totally the opposite.  All of the counselors were cool, willing to teach and give us time to learn about conserving our ponds, lakes rivers and stream.  Most of all, getting better at fly fishing!  Now fishing is a part of me with lots of awareness and cautions.  I learned that the sport of fly fishing attracts many people coming from places all over the world.  They come from many different backgrounds but on the river, we are all the same.”

The CTU camp that I was lucky to attend in my freshman summer going into high school was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. I really do think it was one of my best fishing experiences ever. I was able to share a common interest with everyone that I was fortunate to meet. I was able to share not only the amazing hobby of fishing but to help out and better the life of not only me but the fish and future fishermen and women. While I was there I shared many experiences and moments that I will treasure through my whole life. One moment that I remember clear as day was the chance to be one with the water and look to what fish refer to as, food. I was able to clearly see and extract many bugs in a stream that was abundant of fish. It was also a very humbling experience because I was able to see how we as a youth group could really impact the future of fishing and to ensure the maintenance to keep our fishing in Colorado going strong. I am very grateful of what I was able to learn in the short amount of time I was there. I would have been okay if it was all summer but I still am very grateful for the chance to attend an amazing camp full of amazing people.

Now I am a senior at Chatfield Senior High and I just finished my fourth year of football and am in the middle of my senior baseball season. Even though I am jam packed with the sports I love to play I am still able to squeeze in time for what I love the best, and that is to fish. I enjoy all types of fishing but nothing beats that with a fly and a fly rod. I make sure that the trips that I take are around a place that I can get my line wet. Next year I am attending Montana State University Northern in Havre, Montana. I will be getting my major in Diesel Technology and Field Maintenance. I look forward not only to the awesome school but being close to one of the best places to fish in North America. I am excited to further my career and lead a good life but will never leave my passion of fishing behind.

Tyler Bowman- CU Club Alumni

"In today’s world, fisheries conservation programs can be vast and vague.  It is important that conservation organizations like Trout Unlimited focus their efforts intelligently and appropriately.  Programs like the CTU Youth Camp are well worth the time, money and commitment.  The key to future conservation efforts is teaching today’s youth the importance of conservation and stewardship and there is no better program than the CTU Youth Camp to accomplish these goals.  Take an interest in the CTU Youth Camp today; our fisheries and youth depend on it."

The Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Camp may be one of the foremost building blocks to instilling the principles and values of ethics, conservation and good stewardship into the youth of Colorado and the West.  The CTU camp, its leaders and volunteers do an amazing job to educate our youth about the values of stream conservation, catch and release trout fishing and the importance of understanding entomology and its effect on our trout streams.

Many of the leaders and volunteers involved in the CTU Youth Camp have originated from the University of Colorado fly fishing club.  The CU Fly Fishing Club is a wonderful fly fishing group that is part of the University of Colorado club sports program.  The club focuses on teaching the art of fly fishing, fly casting and fly tying to all experience levels and is a place where anglers can share fishing information and form life long friendships.

Members of the club have fished extensively and instigated conservation efforts to unique destinations stemming from Alaska to New Zealand and everything in between.  Whether the destination is freshwater or saltwater fisheries it is certain that members of the CU Fly Fishing club have been there and are willing to share information about the fishery.

Perhaps, camaraderie and stewardship can best describe the CTU Youth Camp and the CU Fly Fishing Club, where sharing a passion for angling has united people across the country and beyond, while at the same time inspiring our youth to continue a tradition of angling and conservation.

The CTU Youth Camp and the CU Fly Fishing Club could not be made possible without the efforts of Larry Quilling and Shawn Bratt, who have taken it upon themselves to teach and mentor countless people.  Their efforts have touched the lives of many and created lasting programs to benefit the fisheries of the west and more importantly preserve the tradition and legacy of fly-fishing and conservation for generations yet to come.

Dick Shinton, Youth Camp Volunteer

"Our campers have gone on into careers in science, law, engineering and other pursuits. Because I have stayed in touch with many of them over the years, I know that our graduates not only continue to enjoy fly fishing, they maintain their interest in river conservation and many participate in Trout Unlimited projects and in TU chapter activities. One young man has started a TU chapter at his university and has thus involved many other young people in TU conservation projects and fly fishing. One of our campers returned several times as a youth counselor; she’s now a full-fledged adult volunteer member of our staff. Another was on the USA National Youth Fly Fishing Team that won a world championship. This program works."

Our campers have gone on into careers in science, law, engineering and other pursuits. Because I have stayed in touch with many of them over the years, I know that our graduates not only continue to enjoy fly fishing, they maintain their interest in river conservation and many participate in Trout Unlimited projects and in TU chapter activities. One young man has started a TU chapter at his university and has thus involved many other young people in TU conservation projects and fly fishing. One of our campers returned several times as a youth counselor; she’s now a full-fledged adult volunteer member of our staff. Another was on the USA National Youth Fly Fishing Team that won a world championship. This program works.I’ve been involved in youth programs with my local TU chapter, St Vrain Anglers, and with CTU’s Youth River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp; this will be my ninth year as a counselor at the CTU Camp. In that time I’ve seen nearly 200 teens from all over Colorado come through the program. They’ve ranged from hip Denver kids to dyed-in-the-wool ranch and farm kids and everything in between. One thing they have had in common is a love of being outdoors, learning something about the environment, and a desire to protect it.

Using fly fishing, a passion shared by everyone involved in the program, as a vehicle for teaching young men and women about the environment while in that environment really drives home the lessons they learn. It’s one thing to talk about aquatic macroinvertebrates, it’s quite another to capture them and examine them close up, and tie a fly that represents that insect and catch a fish with it. Learning about watersheds while standing in one, looking around to see how water flows down mountainsides, gathering into rivulets, becoming creeks, then rivers, can’t be replaced by looking at a topo map. Hearing a presentation by a local oilman about his efforts to protect the land and water while providing the energy we need makes a dry headline about fracking come to life. Learning that water doesn’t belong to everybody, but is governed by complex laws is an eye opener. These experiences prepare our campers for a greater awareness of the fragility of the world around us and the need to protect it, especially the watersheds that are so critical to trout and salmon.

State of TU

Watch Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited, deliver the 2016 State of TU speech at the TU Annual Meeting in Bozeman, MT.

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Mick McCorcle, Chair of the National Leadership Council, gives the 2016 State of the Grassroots in Bozeman, Mt.

On the Public Lands Campaign Trail

As a 501(c)(3) organization, Trout Unlimited cannot endorse any political candidate, but that doesn't mean TU can't campaign for the issues that matter to us. Through TU's Sportsmen Conservation Project (SCP), the voice of anglers and sportsmen are being represented all over Colorado to ensure that public lands pristine to fishing and hunting, are kept in public hands. SCP is currently working on campaigns all over the state to protect areas important to sportsmen and women. These campaigns range from providing ideas and visions to local agencies during planning processes, helping protect areas from irresponsible use, keeping areas wild and native, and just offering a voice for anglers and hunters.

Rio Grande Watershed

Planning for the management of 1.8 million acres of the Rio Grande National Forest is no small task. The Forest has officially begun its revision process of the 1996 Rio Grande National Forest Plan. This plan revision is the first of its kind in Colorado since the adoption of the 2012 National Planning Rule. In the plan revision is the opportunity to participate in the next 15 plus years of management on Colorado's largest tract of National Forest. Trout Unlimited has already participated in many different levels and is currently putting forward a “Sportsmen’s Vision” for the forest which focuses on hunting and fishing resources, and puts watershed health and native fish first as a management priority. For more information on the Forest Plan Revision process on the Rio Grande NF, go to http://trout.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ee32de170ad3433abd61485987a5ec09 (Please contact Garrett Hanks for more information).

Thompson Divide

The Thompson Divide is a pristine 221,500 acres of federal land in Pitkin, Gunnison, Garfield and Mesa counties south of the Roaring Fork Valley. Thompson Divide contains some of the state's best habitat for big game, cutthroat trout and numerous other species. Tens of thousands of big game hunters practice their passion in the timber and meadows of the Thompson Divide every year. The Divide is also home to the headwaters of several of the most popular fisheries in the state including the Roaring Fork, Crystal and the North Fork of the Gunnison.

In order to help keep the Thompson Divide free from energy development, Trout Unlimited created Sportsmen for Thompson Divide to provide a sportsmen’s voice to the effort and work with a coalition with an array of interests to protect the area permanently. The BLM is expected to announce their decision to cancel the leases within the Thompson Divide late fall of 2016.

While the canceling of these leases is a victory for sportsmen, the effort needs to continue on in order to ensure permanent protection for the Thompson Divide. TU is working with and encouraging the counties and politicians to introduce and support legislation that will keep the Thompson Divide from being offered for mineral lease permanently once what is expected to be a favorable Record of Decision from the BLM is announced. (Please contact Tyler Baskfield for more information).

Upper Gunnison Watershed

A Public Lands workgroup of Gunnison County has been meeting monthly in 2016 to discuss the possibility of expanded permanent protections of lands in Gunnison County. Trout Unlimited has a representative on the committee and originally submitted a proposal to the workgroup for consideration. TU’s asks center around Sportsmen’s Emphasis Areas and protecting cutthroat watersheds. For more information, check out this summary from the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative: http://www.gunnisonpubliclands.org/workinggroup (Please contact Garrett Hanks for more information).

South Park MLP

South Park may be one of the most popular places in Colorado for sportsmen of all kinds to practice their craft due to it's world renowned  public fishing opportunities, big game herds and vital source of drinking water for Front Range residents.

South Park is currently undergoing a Master Leasing Plan by the BLM. This type of planning focuses on ensuring oil and gas development on public lands occurs in a balanced, responsible way. Master Leasing Plans are designed to help protect public lands and resources, including national parks, wildlife habitat, clean air and water, as well as other uses such as outdoor recreation, hunting, fishing, farming and ranching.

TU has worked to ensure sportsman’s interests in South Park are represented in the BLM’s Master Leasing Plan. These include: setbacks from surface water bodies, limiting oil and gas activity during winter months in elk wintering areas and other sensitive areas, phased leasing options and specific mitigation measures that protect clean water and area wildlife resources and protecting some critical lands by directing energy development outside of specific areas.

The BLM will announce its draft alternatives to the South Park’s Master Leasing Plan early winter of 2016. TU will cooperate with sportsmen, landowners, oil and gas interests and land and wildlife management agencies to make sure South Park continues to provide sportsmen with opportunities for outstanding hunting and fishing in the future. (Please contact Tyler Baskfield for more information).

Lower Gunnison Watershed (and beyond)

Currently under review is the BLM’s Uncompahgre Field Office Resource Management Plan. These plans are similar to a Forest Plan in that management guidelines will be set for the next 10 to 20 years. In this planning effort, multiple major watersheds are being considered for management changes. The lower Colorado, the Gunnison, the San Miguel, and the lower Dolores all are included in the Uncompahgre RMP footprint. Along with these larger landscapes, smaller scale analysis is being done in regards to impacts to Colorado River Cutthroat and Greenback Cutthroat lineage fish. Likewise big game habitat and migration corridors are all affected by the decisions made in this Resource Management Plan. You can participate in this process and submit your own comments here: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/ufo/uncompahgre_rmp.html (Please contact Garrett Hanks for more information).

Upper Dolores Watershed

Recently Trout Unlimited submitted comments to the Rico/West Dolores Travel Management plan. This evaluation of Forest Service motorized vehicle use was an important opportunity to protect some of the amazing landscape of the upper Dolores watershed. In particular, TU was engaged in stream protection buffers and responsible alignment of trails and roads with an eye toward coldwater fisheries and big game habitat. Of particular concern was a proposed motorized trail paralleling Spring Creek, which TU had previously worked to designate as Outstanding Waters. We are hopeful that hard work done in the past, with ongoing participation in our public land management will continue to forward our mission for healthy watersheds. More on the Dolores Travel Management Plan can be found at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=44918 (Please contact Garrett Hanks for more information).

Colorado’s Gold Medal Waters

Protecting and increasing extremely productive fisheries and access in Colorado is a mission that resonates with the vast majority of sportsmen in the state. The Gold Medal Waters Campaign focuses on increasing the miles of Gold Medal and Outstanding fishing waters in Colorado while also identifying and analyzing threats that have the potential to negatively impact waters that currently meet Gold Medal criteria. TU continues to work with sportsmen, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, landowners and land management agencies to protect and increase world class angling opportunities for sportsmen in Colorado. (Please contact Tyler Baskfield for more information).

Visible ID on Colorado’s OHVs

When used responsibly, Off Highway Vehicles (OHVs) are an outstanding way to recreate in and gain access to Colorado’s backcountry. As more people move to and recreate in the state, OHVs have become substantially more popular. TU is working to ensure that sensible measures are taken to protect sensitive wildlife habitat and the solace and safety of other backcountry recreationalists. TU is working with a coalition of stakeholders to require OHVs on public lands in Colorado to have an identification sticker with an individual number that would be visible from a distance. The purpose of allowing OHVs to be identified from a distance is to establish a mechanism that would allow OHV users to police their own community and other recreationalists to be able report users not following regulations.

As part of the campaign to limit irresponsible OHV use, TU also monitors and contributes to Travel Management Plans on public lands throughout Colorado to ensure the protection of high quality fish and big game habitat. (Please contact Tyler Baskfield for more information).

The Animas: a vision of health

By Randy Scholfield

Take a look at this picture. Yes, there is hope for the Animas River.

You remember the Gold King mine spill from last August, which dumped 3 million gallons of toxic heavy metal sludge into the upper Animas and sent a yellow-orange plume sweeping downstream through Durango and on into New Mexico.

Amazingly, the spill didn’t seem to immediately impact the Gold Medal trout population through Durango. And a recent survey of the fish population confirmed that they’re doing well.  Again, that picture, taken during the survey, speaks volumes.

But the fact remains that the Animas—and many other rivers and streams across the West—remain  impaired by day-in, day-out toxic mine seepage. On the Animas watershed, the discharge amounts to a Gold King spill every few days. You can’t see it, but it’s there—and has been for decades.

That’s why the upper few miles of the Animas, below Silverton to about Cascade Creek, are largely barren of fish and aquatic life.

A couple weeks ago, I met my colleague Ty Churchwell for a tour of the new Superfund sites in San Juan County, including the Gladstone area, home of the Gold King Mine. It was eye-opening.

The abandoned mine complex surrounding the town of Silverton is extensive and daunting. Amid the spectacular fall colors and scenery, the mountains are pockmarked with leaking adits, tunnels and waste piles. For years, Churchwell told me, the Animas River Stakeholders Group has worked to identify and characterize each site – what’s the chemistry of the discharge, is the site public, private or abandoned?

The ARSG identified roughly 60 trouble sites, a mixture of point- and nonpoint-source (the former could be a leaking mine opening, or adit, the latter is more dispersed runoff, such as from a waste pile). And they set out to address some of the sites they could legally clean up (the non-point source sites).

Of those 60 sites, four are particularly bad and make up the lion’s share of pollutants entering the Animas watershed. These four mines alone contribute some 800-1,000 gallons per minute. That’s about 1 million gallons of toxic water flowing every 3 days out of these tunnels—the equivalent of a Gold King spill.

The EPA, in creating the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site, included 47 sites that together discharge about 5.4 million gallons a day into the Animas. That amounts to almost 2 Gold King spills every single day.

“The trout are the canary in the coal mine—they’re an indicator species,” says Churchwell. “We’re trying to bring back water quality in the Silverton area that will support a healthy ecosystem—that, in turn, will support a variety of uses, from recreation and agriculture to community water supply.”

Silverton is beginning to recognize the economic opportunity of a healthier river—cleaner water quality could lead to expanded opportunities for fly-fishing and tubing. And the Superfund remediation work itself could put many locals to work cleaning up mines.

Under the Superfund plan, the present temporary water treatment plant below the Gold King mine will eventually be replaced by a permanent water treatment plant that will tap the runoff of the four worst mines (all within a half-mile of each other) and pipe it to the treatment plant, where it will be brought up to standards and then discharged back into Cement Creek.

Good Samaritan legislation also remains a top priority for Trout Unlimited. Put simply, Good Sam creates a new discharge permit category that makes it easier for qualified Good Sam groups to help clean up abandoned mines. The permits allow for a lower standard for cleanups (30-50 percent, say, not 95 percent as under current Clean Water Act regulations) and there’s a sunset clause that doesn’t hold Good Sam groups responsible for cleanup costs in perpetuity– that’s been a financial dealbreaker for most groups.

The Bandora mine, which we reach on a rocky, bumpy four-wheel-drive road, is a great candidate for Good Sam, says Churchwell.  We park and huff up to an old wooden mine structure, with orange runoff leaching down the hillside into South Mineral Creek, which eventually flows into the Animas.

Pointing to a broad valley below us, Churchwell says it’s a good place for a “bioreactor”—basically, a created marsh area that will naturally filter and clean the water over the long-term.

Taken together, these cleanup approaches could eventually bring the upper Animas below Silverton to a level of water quality that will support a healthy trout fishery.  It probably won’t ever match the Gold Medal waters through Durango, but it could be a local source of pride and offer several miles of quality fishing.

Take another look at that trout picture. The Animas is worth fighting for—and TU is in it for the long haul.

Go to the We Are the Animas website to learn more about TU's efforts to clean up this great Western river.

Randy Scholfield is TU’s communications director for the Southwest region.

TU's Jason Willis Wins Watershed Award

Trout Unlimited's Mine Restoration Field Manager, Jason Willis, was awarded with the 2016 Excellence in Project Implementation award from the Water Quality Control Division – Non-Point Source Program (NPS) at the Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference on October 10-13. The award was for work on finishing up the Kerber Creek project on June 30, thus closing out two phases of 319 Non-Point Source grant funds. The project includes restoring just under 11 miles of stream through installation of in-stream and bank stabilization structures, as well as treatment and revegetation of over 85 acres of mine tailings along the floodplain. This puts the restored portion of Kerber Creek at 43% of the total 25 miles in length from headwaters to confluence with San Luis Creek.

"It's gratifying to receive an award like this from a partner organization in front of all of my peers at the Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference, especially when there are so many other talented people working in this field," said Willis. "It also means a lot to TU because not only does it highlight a great project achievement, it also recognizes the ability of Trout Unlimited to conceptualize and carry-out successful mine reclamation clean-up projects."

TU is currently working on three other NPS funded projects on the Illinois Gulch (Breckenridge), Evans Gulch (Leadville), and Leavenworth Creek (Georgetown) watersheds. The Environmental Protection Agency describes Non-Point Source Pollution as pollution that, "results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters."

Along with the three NPS programs, there are mine reclamation efforts taking place at the Akron Mine (White Pine), Minnie Lynch Mine (Bonanza), and Santiago/Waldorf Mines (Georgetown) in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, other agencies, and private partners such as Freeport McMoRan and Newmont Mining. All of these projects encompass improving water quality by reducing non-point source contamination through the use of applicable best management practices.

"There is a lot of work to do here in Colorado and the western US, so hopefully this is the first of many awards to follow in the name of improving our water quality."

Fly Fishing Rendezvous

The Fly Fishing Rendezvous - A Rocky Mountain Proud Fly Fishing Show on a Mission

Fly Fishing Rendezvous

Where: Jefferson County Fairgrounds - Golden, CO

When: November 5th - 6th; 8:30am - 5:00pm

Cost: $8 in Advance, $10 at the door

Website: www.flyfishingrendezvous.com

If you want to start thinking like a fish and fishing like a pro, the Fly Fishing Rendezvous happening November 5th - 6th 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 Pat Dorsey, Robert Younghanz, Duane Redford, 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!

Gore Range Chapter Lady Anglers Night

Article by: Phil Lindeman of Summit Daily posted on 10/18/2016

Most folks would quit a puzzle with no solution. Then again, Kristina Dougherty isn’t your average puzzlemaster.

“I’ve always looked at the river like a giant puzzle,” said Dougherty, a guide with Anglers Covey in Colorado Springs and member of Gore Range Anglers, the Summit County chapter of nonprofit Trout Unlimited. “When you can crack that code — when you find the right combination of flys and small adjustments to get a fish — it’s the best. I love the fact you can never learn it all.”

On Oct. 20 (as in tomorrow), Dougherty and another female guide, Summit resident Sarah Barclay of Blue Quill Angler in Evergreen, bring their love of fly-fishing, rivers and all the associated puzzles to the monthly meeting of Gore Range Anglers. The topic for the month: how female guides across the state and nation are breaking into a sport that’s traditionally been dominated by dudes. Officials with Gore Range Anglers asked Dougherty and Barclay to talk about their wildly different experiences with fly-fishing, but it’s still no surprise that the two share a passion for the small and sometimes frustrating aspects of the sport.

“It’s the consummate riddle that’s never solved, when you’re on the river and fishing,” said Barclay, a real estate agent with Slifer, Smith and Frampton who’s been moonlighting as a guide with Blue Quill Angler for more than a decade. “And it takes you to beautiful places. Just don’t wait for it to show up on your bucket list — get out there now.”

That’s exactly what Barclay did 12 years ago, when her boyfriend bought her waders and boots for Christmas. It became the best Christmas gift she ever received, she said, and she soon fell head over heels for everything angling: the flys, the technique, the water, the serenity.

Along with her angling career — she’s been a guide for more than a decade and regularly works with at-risk youth — Barclay also plans to talk about one of her favorite locations: the Bighorn River in Montana, a tributary of the Yellowstone River. She discovered it not long after discovering the sport, and today she considers it her home river.

“A guide friend told me: ‘Have a river that you fish and know intimately, all times of the year and in all conditions,’” said Barclay, who travels north to the Bighorn at least four times per year. “So I followed what he said, and now I fish it in winter and summer, all year long, from low flows to high flows.”

Dougherty’s introduction to the angling puzzle came about 15 years ago, when she was fresh out of high school and learned to fish with her dad.

“A lot of people learn from their dads, but we went through the process together,” Dougherty said. “We had a lot of laughs that way. I’ve always been kind of a daddy’s girl, so if he was going to do it I wanted to be there too. He didn’t realize he created a monster. The addiction took root right away.”

In March, Dougherty turned her addiction into a full-time guiding gig with Anglers Covey, which boasts six female guides. She regularly fishes the South Platte and Arkansas rivers and joins trips across the region with a female-friendly group, Pikes Peak Women Anglers, with nearly 30 members in Colorado Springs. She also leads mother-daughter trips, like an excursion last week when one of the novice mothers caught three fish in 30 minutes. She must have heeded Dougherty’s advice: “Don’t overthink it.”

“By experience, women pick up the sport faster than men,” Dougherty said. “They use more finesse, they pick up on casting quicker, and all of that is important when you’re starting. Just try to learn as much as possible in your own time.”

Barclay’s advice for ladies? Follow her example and give it a go.

“There are so many people who would love to teach you and help you,” Barclay said. “We are blessed in our county to have over six fly-fishing shops, these star-studded rivers, and it’s a really fun demographic to be a part of. Everyone is fired up to help everyone else.”

Live Plants Mean Live Streams

A lot of the on-the-ground conservation work done by Trout Unlimited and its chapters involve planting willows or other stream-side vegetation to help the river. But how do plants on the land exactly affect the stream?

Most of the vegetation work done by TU projects involve planting Willow Trees. The reason behind the Willow is that they are a durable plant for fluctuations in their surrounding environment. Willows are able to absorb chemicals that may hurt the water quality, stabilize soil, and grow in saturated areas.

Planting Willows is a big part of the Fraser Flats Habitat project as the willows and other native plants improve bank stability and provide cooling shade along this open meadow stretch of the Fraser River. The shade allows for trout to seek cooler water when flows are lower or air temperature is higher.

Willows are not the only plant commonly used on river banks to help stream quality, the best plants are the native plants. And on the contrary, invasive plants could be the worst. Russian Olives have been being removed by TU and other partners along the stream due to the negative effects they cause.

At the Colorado TU Youth Camp, campers helped remove Russian Olive Trees from the the banks of the Purgatoire River. Russian Olives deplete the water resource by consuming large amounts of water while also limiting human and animal use of the waterway.

Native plants work best on streams for obvious reasons as they have been adapted to the environment around them. Plants that don't use a lot of water, but offer shade to the trout and micro-invertebrates allow streams to remain healthy. A lot of native plants are also able to withstand higher flow rates and don't break off into the stream in case of a flood.

Plants are also available to provide a food source for species in the aqautic ecosystem, (as well as the the entire ecosystem). Especially the micro-invertebrates that trout rely on. These bugs find their food source in the riparian zone- the area between the upland zone (the area of the watershed that does not receive regular flooding by a stream) to the aquatic zone, the area of the stream channel covered by water, controlling the flow of water, sediment, nutrients, and organisms between the two.

Fraser Flats Habitat Project

Grand County residents have been at the forefront of water issues in the West. They were the water supplier of the first major trans-mountain diversion project in Colorado and since then have been supplying water to Front Range municipalities. These diversions have also led Grand County residents and Trout Unlimited to be at the forefront of a new initiative- Learning by Doing. Learning By Doing (LBD) is a collaborative group of water stakeholders — including water utilities, nonprofit organizations and county agencies — that meet regularly to monitor river health and undertake projects that safeguard Grand County’s home waters.

LBD has already solved some issues including sending additional flows in Ranch Creek, Vasquez Creek and the Fraser River to benefit aquatic life. Full operation of LBD is expected to start in 2018 when approximately $2 million and 1,000 acre-feet of water will be dedicated to the cooperative effort after final permits are obtained.

Although full operation hasn't begun, the pilot program of LBD was launched this fall as the Fraser Flats Habitat Project. The project plans to improve a degraded 0.9-mile reach of the Fraser River just south of County Road 83. The project builds on restoration of the river upstream on the North 40 and in the Town of Fraser. Fraser Flats will extend improvements to fish habitat on the river.

Fraser Flats combines adjoining public and private sections to maximize efficiencies in costs and to set the stage for future public-private partnerships that benefit river health. County Road 83 will also open for public access and fishing when the project is completed.

The total cost for the project is $200,000 and is funded by a combination of funds committed by LBD cooperative efforts from Grand County, LBD partner contributions, a private landowner, and a Fishing Is Fun grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Design and permitting is currently underway and revegetation of the reach will begin in the Spring of 2017. In fall 2017, construction in the river will take place. That work will concentrate flows into a narrower channel and provide a series of riffles and pools to enhance fish habitat.

If you're interested in helping volunteer to plant willows, you can sign up here.

CTU Fall Board and Leadership Meeting

Registration is now open for Colorado Trout Unlimited's Fall Board and Leadership Meeting. This meeting is a great opportunity for you to network with other TU leaders in the state and learn about what projects are currently happening. There will also be a tour of Hermosa Creek where participants will get a first hand look into a collaborative conservation project. This meeting will be held in Durango, CO the weekend of October 22-23.

Click on the registration link to find the agenda and learn more about the details of the weekend.

https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7023/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=84398