Looking Back & Moving Forward!

By Sharon Lance

 

Greetings Colorado Trout Unlimited members and anglers across the state,

2004 was a busy year for us and 2005 will prove to be no different. Since I took over as your volunteer president in mid-April, we have become involved in youth education on a state level by partnering with various organizations. We began a partnership with the Boy Scouts of America in May in Elbert, Colorado. 

On that one-day event, we introduced 200 parents and cub scouts to fly tying, entomology, fly casting and fly fishing. It was a great success and there are already plans to repeat the event this year.

We are expanding our youth education goal to a weekend kids conservation camp. This camp will introduce students not only to fly fishing, but the science behind a healthy stream and the ways humans can positively or negatively affect coldwater resources.  This will be a partnership with local high schools, Colorado Youth Outdoors and the Boy Scouts. My goal is to take the camp all over the state.

We sponsored our first annual Statewide River Cleanup in September with around 700 volunteers throughout the state. We cleaned the Roaring Fork, Clear Creek, Bear Creek, the Eagle, the Animas, the Arkansas, Elevenmile Canyon, the South Platte, the Big Thompson, the Uncompaghre, the Gunnison, the Fraser, the Blue River and Boulder Creek.

We hosted the National Trout Unlimited annual meeting in September with over 15 states represented and around 200 TU leaders.

Dave Nickum, our executive director for the past 10 years, co-chaired the South Platte River Protection Plan, which was adopted after 7 long years of negotiations among conservationists, local governments and Denver Water.

We began this new partnership with High Country Angler to communicate with our members and non-members across the state. This will help get the word out to the general public on the important work that we are doing not only on a state level, but on an individual chapter level as well.

I do hope that all of you can join us for our annual conservation auction on Wednesday, March 16th at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (Donald Seawell Ballroom). If you’re interested in tickets, see our CTU ad in this issue. Please come and bring a friend. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Here’s to a great 2005!

 

About The Author

Sharon Lance is President of Colorado Trout Unlimited, and a self-proclaimed “fly fishing addict.” For more about CTU, visit www.cotrout.org.