The Conservation Obligation... Why It's Important
By Paul Prentiss
Last Saturday I had a CTU Board of
Directors meeting in Durango.
Its a very long drive (7 hrs.) and not a bargain in terms of lodging and
food. Needless to say, I was not overjoyed at the prospect. I
packed up and headed west a couple of days before the meeting. Along they
way I reconnected with why I spend my time and money working for TU. I’ll
let the pictures along with a few comments tell the story.
***
I stopped and fished the Arkansas during the first evening at Big
Bend in a fishing access that was the result of work undertaken by
the Collegiate Peaks Chapter. The river was high (maybe 1800 to 2000 cfs)
but fishable along the banks. Around 8:00 in the evening it clouded up
and looked like rain but the storm passed me by.
Friday morning I headed for the RIO Grande and South Fork
The
South Fork was in premo condition and I lucked into a huge stonefly hatch –
orange bodies on bugs 1 1/2 to 2-inches long. the fish were going
crazy….it lasted for three hours. The spot I fished on was open due to TU
an landowners cooperation. As the day went on, I wandered further up the
river towards Wolf Creek Pass. The size of the fish dropped a but their
enthusiasm to take drys was not diminished.
As I headed over the pass and looked
down the valley at the West Fork of the San
Juan as it ran through Boot Jack Ranch. I
stopped on the East Fork near a campground but I didn’t have time to
fish. I could see fish rising along the far bank.
I spent the night on the Piedra River
catching a few fish on caddis flies as the day faded away. Time for my
favorite beverage with a steak on the grill
Our meeting was over at 3:00 pm and
I headed home. I wanted to fish a stretch of the Rio Grande on the Collier Lease but my time
was running short so I picked out a spot on South Fork and had a great evening
fishing 2 elk hair caddis flies rigged in tandem
I decided to skip the Rio Grande because it was a long drive home but as I
dropped into South
Park, I couldn’t resist a
side trip over to Terryall Creek on a DOW fishing access
I think these pictures tell you why I do what I do. Do you want to keep
what we have in Colorado?
It doesn’t happen without meeting your conservation obligation. Everyone
needs to give something towards this end…
Paul Prentiss
By John Trammell
I know I volunteer because I love trout, trout habitat, and trout fishing. Of those three, I think it's the habitat I love best, and not just because without it we can't have the other two. It's because I just love it, everything about it. I get a thrill every time I approach a trout stream.
The best way I can express why I volunteer is that I really believe in TU's mission statement (which, by the way, was modified when I suggested changing "enhance" to "restore.") Every time I manage to do something that helps the mission (e.g. my work on Trapper Creek), I get a very satisfied feeling about myself. Not much else can do that.
John Trammell
Why I Volunteer for TU
by Sharon Lance
Often times I am asked by family, friends, and clients why I volunteer so many hours for Trout Unlimited. It is not an easy question to answer in a few words, but I have many precious memories that I can share. In sharing them with you, I think you will understand why I donate my time.
Some of my favorite memories happened on our annual chapter trip to the Bighorn River in Montana. One of my first memories is on the Bighorn in May. As my husband and I were floating down the river, we stopped to say hello to some fellow chapter members. I did not recognize one gentleman who seemed to be having some difficulties with nymph fishing. I went up to him and introduced myself and asked him his name. I asked him if I could look at his rig and then asked if I could make some changes. I must be very careful when I do this since most men are not used to women helping them with their fishing. He graciously accepted my offer. We continued to fish together and I then asked him about how he came to be on the trip. He said a friend in the chapter talked him into coming on the trip. He said his wife had died ten years prior and this was the first time he had been fishing since her death. He thanked me for my help and proceeded to catch fish.
Another gentleman, a few years later, Fred, came on the chapter trip. Fred was over 80 years old and was having some difficulty seeing the strike indicator, but he was an excellent fisherman and I could tell he had been fishing a long time. Fred and I became friends after I stopped to help him. We shared some stories together at the end of the day over a glass of wine. He told me about his love of the outdoors and how he and his wife raised six children who also share his love of the outdoors. He caught one of the biggest brown trout of his life on that trip and he still comes to our chapter meetings and always has a big smile on his face when I see him.
I also remember a special moment when I asked a gentleman in the chapter who was “new” to fishing to consider being vice president of the chapter. Harry said he did not know anything about fishing and did not think he could do it for that reason. He had been very successful in business as a human resource manager for a large international company and had lived all over the world. I told him that TU was a “conservation” organization and not a “fishing” organization and that he did not have to know that much about fishing to run a chapter. He accepted my offer and I mentored him as vice president and later as president of the chapter. Harry did an outstanding job and continues to be a tremendous presence on our board. He continued the work on the Cheesman Canyon Restoration Project when I went to work on the state council.
He also came on the chapter Bighorn trip one year and I stopped to say hello and see how things were going. He was embarrassed but said the fishing was tough and he was not having much luck. I then proceeded to help him and soon he had a large wild brown trout on the end of his line. I helped him follow the large fish down the slippery river bottom and landed the fish for him. Mark, my husband, took a photo of both of us and to this very day, it is one of my favorite pictures.
My other favorite moments in TU are related to the work I have done with youth through the Boy Scouts of America and through our Colorado statewide youth camp which I helped start three years ago.
We are partners in a Trailblazer Adventure Day with the National Sportsman’s Alliance and the Boy Scouts. So one Saturday every year we help teach cub scouts about fly fishing. We tie flies, teach them about entomology and fishing. There was one boy that I had watched and worked with off and on all day. He definitely had a natural passion for fishing. His father came up to me at the end of the day to thank me and told me how special this day was for his son. He said that fishing is the only time his son ever slows down. He is always bouncing from one thing to the next and has a difficult time focusing on anything. However when he takes him fishing, he can fish for hours upon hours at a time when he is not even catching anything. I think many of our youth today are “starving” to be introduced to the outdoors
And last, but not least, I would like to share a story about our annual youth camp in Colorado. We introduce 20 to 25 fourteen to eighteen-year-old boys and girls to Colorado water law, water appropriation, healthy watersheds and water quality, among fly fishing opportunities. There was a boy I worked with the first day of the camp and I thought to myself that I had never experienced any one so uncoordinated in my life. His line was in the bushes every cast and we lost a lot of flies. I thought he would never catch a fish. I asked him if either of his parents ever took him fishing. He said his mom did not fish and his father was a fisherman but was always traveling for his job and never had time to take him fishing.
On the last day of the camp, sure enough, he still had not caught a fish. So I took him aside and told him we were going to catch a fish that afternoon or into the evening or even midnight until he caught a fish. We went to the river and I was looking up and down for rising fish. I kept looking upstream while he was fishing down stream. He had definitely improved since the first day. All of a sudden I heard a splash and he had caught a fish on his own and I landed it for him. He proudly told me that it was a beautiful brown trout and pulled out his camera so I could take a photo of him. He released the fish perfectly on his own. That was a special moment for me and one that I will cherish forever.
Yes I am passionate about fishing and about saving our coldwater resources, but I am also passionate about the individuals I have met through my work with TU. These people are some of the reasons I donate my time to TU. I hope it will inspire you to share your stories or donate more of your time to TU.
Sharon Lance is a member of the Trout Unlimited Board of Trustees, Past President of the Colorado Council and Past President of the Cutthroat Chapter.