Chapter Meeting Thursday, November 5th!

11/05/09. 7:00pm. Joe Norton, TU Project Co-ordinator for the Home Rivers Initiative on the Upper Connecticut River, former fly shop owner, steelheader, and guide. The Connecticut drains nearly every flowing water in our Chapter and is critical spawning habitat and refugia for salmonids in our region. Oh, and the fishing ain’t bad. Joe will provide an update on TU’s critically important river project in the headwaters and then treat us to a presentation on and answer your questions about steelheading in his former haunt: the lower Snake River and its tribs. Join us at the Quechee (Ski Hill) Base Lodge, just down and across from the Quechee Club in Quechee, VT. 6:30 Social with cash bar available. 7:00pm Brief chapter business followed by the presentation and Q&A until 9:00pm. Free and open to the public, so bring a friend!

Chapter Meeting, Thursday October 1st!

10/01/09. 7:00pm. Steve Roy, Habitat Specialist for Green Mountain National Forest will give an excellent program on stream restoration projects in the Forest, and he will be adding a special piece about fishing opportunities that we know you won’t want to miss.  Gas up, put a couple of bucks in your pocket, plan to take notes and make sure you’re at the Lodge by seven. This is going to be a GREAT program! Join us at the Quechee (Ski Hill) Base Lodge, just down and across from the Quechee Club in Quechee, VT. 6:30 Social with cash bar available. 7:00pm Brief chapter business followed by the presentation and Q&A until 9:00pm. Free and open to the public, so bring a friend!

ORANGE: Not just for Stimulators anymore!

Hunting season is upon us, folks. Time to dig out your Fall fishing outfit. You know the one. The blaze orange jumpsuit that you purchased back in 1981. Let it see the rapidly diminishing light of day once more. If you are tromping around the hills wetting a line, you might also consider singing. Or just talking loudly to yourself. Supposed to work on bears AND hunters. Your friends and neighbors already think you are crazy.

See you…hopefully not at the weigh station!

June Membership Meeting Minutes

Am I repeating myself so soon? Apologies for getting these out so late.

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Trout Unlimited
White River Watershed Chapter 226

Regular Meeting

June 4, 2009, Quechee Base Lodge, Quechee, VT

President Moore opened the meeting @ 7: 26 PM

Initial topic was to pass out sheets of raffle tickets for a chance to win a 14’ Radisson Marine Square Stern Canoe. This canoe, which is a great fishing platform, was generously donated to our Chapter by member Loye Miller of West Lebanon. President Chris explained that the tickets will be available throughout the summer for $3.00 apiece or two for $5:00 or five for $10.00. The drawing will be held on September 3, 2009 at our initial meeting of the 2009/2010 season. All proceeds will go to the Chapter’s Cold Water Fisheries Projects. If you want to get onboard for a chance to win and also support the Chapter’s works use this link (whiterivertu@yahoo.com) to order tickets.

Chris and Membership Officer Rhona Dallison then passed out Introductory Membership Application Forms. This was followed by a brief discussion on attracting new members to join TU at a great introductory rate. In addition to adding to our membership, the Chapter receives a larger percentage of the first year of dues if they sign up via the chapter rather than national.

Chris announced that the State Council will be holding its quarterly meeting at the West Mountain Inn in Arlington, VT on Saturday June 13 from 10AM to 1 PM. National Representatives will be in attendance. The meeting may be followed by fishing on the Battenkill. Chris Moore and Seth Dunn will be attending and any other member is invited to join them.

The first phase of the Billings Tree Planting took place on Memorial Day with 1,100 willow stakes being driven into the banks of the Ottaquechee River just opposite the Billings Farm by 27 hardy volunteers. Our contingent was lead by Marty Banak ably assisted by Don Hoyt, Ron Rhoades & Ed Finley. The second phase is scheduled for tomorrow beginning @ 9 AM to plant an additional 200+ trees on the upper bank.

Chris then brought forth the topic of the Source to the Sea clean up project that will be held on the Mascoma River this coming fall. He has asked Steve Cole and Seth Dunn to spearhead this project for us and he is hoping that our Chapter will have a very strong showing. This is a multi-organization project and a great place to demonstrate that we do more then just fish. Stayed tuned for further developments.

The Chang Memorial Fly-Fishing event held in conjunction with VINS on May 30th was a great success. There were 44 school age attendees who had a full fun day of fly-tying, casting and fishing instructions and pond ecology studies followed at the end of the day with a splash party in the Callens’ Pond. TU Lead Ed Finley expressed thanks to Chris Moore, Seth Dunn, Doug Neet, Richard Slosberg, Rhona Dallison, & Scott Knapp for making this a great day for the kids. Already, planning is under way for Chang 2010.

VT Fish & Wildlife is hosting a multi-agency/organization study of problem culverts in the state in an effort to identify those most in need of repair or replacement. Site visits will be taking place on June 19 and Vice President Gregg Russ will be in attendance representing our TU Chapter.

On Thursday, June 11, from 7 – 9 PM at the Locust Creek Outfitters (1815 Rte 107, Bethel) State Scientist Leslie Matthews and the White River Partnership will be conducting a presentation to see DIDYMO growing in the White River. This site visit will be followed by a PowerPoint presentation at the Bethel Fish Hatchery. This event is free and open to the public.

Past President Eastman then gave a brief PowerPoint presentation showing his teaching of a River Studies Program involving numerous Home Schooled Children and their fishing adventures following the River Studies.

That concluded the business portion of the meeting and brought about President Moore’s introduction of this evening’s Guest Presenter.

Ted Chivers owns and operates the local construction firm “Four Seasons” from North Springfield, VT during our Spring, Summer and Fall seasons. But then in January the good part comes when he switches hats and operates “Southern Cross Expeditions” where he hosts and guides fishing trips to the Patagonia area of Chile and Argentina. Ted delighted us with a great slide-show presentation of this region of South America. He explained how he organizes these guided trips, taking only two or three people each week to insure that there is plenty of individual attention. His presentation not only showed the beautiful fish that were caught and released but also showed the fantastic scenery of this part of our world. Any one wanting more information can contact Ted at patagonia@vermontel.net.

The meeting adjourned @ 9:15 PM. Next Regular Meeting will be Thursday, September 3rd. at a location to be announced. The next Board meeting is Thursday June 18th, 2009.

You all have a fun filled and safe summer with a lot of ‘Tight Lines”.

Respectfully submitted,
Ed Finley, Secretary

June Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

My apologies for the delay in posting these to our website. Our next Board meeting is scheduled for 16th September in Bridgewater, VT.

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Trout Unlimited
White River Watershed Chapter #226
Woodstock, VT
06/18/09

Board of Directors Meeting

Attending: President Chris Moore, V. Pres. Greg Russ, Treasurer Scott Knapp, Secretary Ed Finley, P/Pres. Ron Rhodes, P/Pres. David Eastman, Directors Don Hoyt, Howard Trachtenberg, Marty Banak, Seth Dunn, Curt Peterson

Guests: Ken Grecsek and Dan McKinley

Absent: Rhona Dallison (Out of town on business)

Meeting opened by Pres. Moore @ 7:15PM

President Moore opened the meeting by offering congratulations to Seth Dunn for catching and releasing the best fish of the day, a 14” Rainbow.

The President then handed out Membership Charts showing the member status of the Chapters throughout the State. We are clearly the largest Chapter in VT with 406 members. This is a slight increase over last year. Two areas where we are lacking members are Student Membership and Female Members.

A graph was also passed out showing the number of members and where they fell in the years of continuous membership.

President Moore will be working with Membership Officer Dallison to address the issue of Female and Student membership.

Chris reported that we currently have $9,055.66 in our checking account. This is not an interest earning account and ways will be explored to have this money earn interest.

Director Curt Peterson was given the floor and he explained the details of the Chapter’s Canoe Raffle. This is a chance to win a 14’ Aluminum Sport Canoe that was donated to the Chapter by member Loye Miller. Tickets will be sold throughout the Summer and the drawing will be held at our September Meeting.

The State Council met in Arlington, VT on Sunday June 7th and Chris Moore, State Council President and Seth Dunn, State Council V. President represented our Chapter. The State Council meeting was attended by all but two Chapters. There were also four National Council representatives and two members of Casting for Recovery in attendance.

Re-chartering of the local Chapters was the main topic of this meeting and it was learned that our Chapter was in good standing to easily complete the re-chartering process. Our activities over the past year had us meeting or exceeding all of the required elements. The Council voted to de-charter the North-East Kingdom Chapter, some of whose members may accrue to our Chapter by choice or direction.

The Council touched on Strategic Planning in an abbreviated session. All of the Chapters expressed very similar issues. Several topics were highlighted for future discussion and action.

At this point President Moore advised that Secretary Finley and Treasurer Knapp would not be seeking re-election to those positions. Scott Knapp would like to remain a member of the Board and Ed Finley was stepping down from the Board.

President Moore and Past President Rhodes then presented Finley with a beautiful engraved wooden fly box made by the Vermont Fly Box Company noting his service to the Chapter. The box was loaded with flies tied by members of the Board. A certificate of appreciation, signed by all of the Board Members was also presented. Finley expressed his deep appreciation for these gifts and for the friendship he has enjoyed with our Board, noting that he intends to remain an active general member.

President Moore then asked for nominations for the Executive offices.
David Eastman nominated Chris Moore for the office of President.
Ron Rhodes nominated Gregg Russ for the office of Vice President.
Ed Finley nominated Ken Grecsek for the office of Secretary.
Howard Trachtenberg nominated Seth Dunn for the office of Treasurer.
Chris Moore nominated Rhona Dallison for the office of Membership Officer.

No other nominations were made and therefore all were elected by acclamation.

As the new Secretary, Ken Grecsek will assume Finley’s position on the Board.

Prior to appointing Committee Chairmen Chris brought up the topic of scattered proposals being aired and how they should receive prior screening by the appropriate committee before being brought to the floor. Ron Rhodes explained that the White River Partnership had experienced similar problems and now has an oversight committee who had the final say in what is or is not a “pet” project.

Ron then announced that the Conservation Committee will meet before September to establish criteria to be ready for the September Regular meeting.

Pres. Moore then re-appointed Ron Rhodes Chairman of the Conservation Committee. He also appointed Curt Peterson Chairman of the Activities Committee and he established a new Budget Committee to be chaired by V.P. Russ with Treasurer Dunn and established a Membership Development Committee to be chaired by Rhona Dallison.

The topic of needed expenditures that crop up between Board Meetings was discussed and it was established that those expenditures would be reviewed by the Executive Officers for payment authorization and, if significant, brought to the Board for approval.

The recent tree planting on the Billings Farm land along the Ottauquechee River was discussed and a motion was made by Curt Peterson and seconded by David Eastman to donate $250.00 to the Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District (ONRCD) to help defray the cost of the trees. The motion carried.

(At this point Ed Finley turned the recording duties over to Secretary Grecsek)

Chris Moore then asked each of the Directors to provide possible ideas of where we can focus our efforts for the coming year:

- Increased membership
- Fish passage project on the White River and Chateauguy
- Casting for Recovery
- Increased focus in NH
- Activities that would entice greater attendance from the general membership and the public
- Fund raising efforts
- Better membership communication
- Increase meeting attendance
- Outreach to members who do not reside in the ‘core area’ of the chapter – especially women and children
- Work in the Chataguay area as it is undeveloped, a wild fishery, and a tributary of the White River
- Greater “Basin 10” meeting attendance from our chapter
- Have a presence in the pending Lull’s Brook project in Hartford

Ron Rhodes made a motion to invite Ed Finley to the September Board meeting. Motion seconded by Dave Eastman. Motion passed.

A suggestion was made for consideration that we may want to have designated attendees to regular meetings, such as the Basin 10 meeting, so that we can 1) keep tabs on what is happening with those groups and 2) be sure that the ‘fish’ opinion is voiced.

The next planning meeting for the Lull’s Brook Project (Hartland Conservation Meeting) will take place on 7 July convening at the library parking lot for a site/project walk along the stream and litter pick-up.

A round of applause was provided for the wait/kitchen staff for the wonderful job they did.

Motion made by Scott Knapp to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Chris Moore. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.

Welcome to the 2009-2010 SEASON OPENER!

As in past years, meetings will be held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00PM, with 6:30PM social prior.  Meetings are currently held at the Quechee Ski Base Lodge just down the road and across the street from the Quechee Club in Quechee, Vermont.

I have challenged the Activities Committee to express their inner Creative Director this year, and they have responded with a brilliant line-up of informative and entertaining programs.  You’ll be receiving a full list shortly, but for now, first up will be Casting for Recovery.  Last year the Board identified and approved a small group of partners–among them CFR–whose mission, activities, and local impact align with our own in order to develop meaningful, mutually beneficial working relationships that can leverage limited resources.  This is your chance to learn about this important partner who is doing great work!

09/03/09. 7:00pm. Casting for Recovery.  CFR representatives and participants will give a presentation about the value and process of the forty U. S. fly-fishing retreats the Manchester, VT based organization offers free for breast cancer survivors. Quechee (Ski Hill) Base Lodge, just down and across from Quechee Club in Quechee, VT. 7:00pm brief chapter business followed by our Partner Presentation. Free and open to the public, so bring a friend!

Note: our Fall Fundraiser Canoe Raffle drawing will be delayed in order to make tickets available to a wider audience after the Summer hiatus. Registered ticketholders will be notified. Not quite “according to Hoyle”, but necessary.

ACTION ALERT: Help homeschoolers learn to fly fish

05/19/09 and 05/26/09.  1:00pm to 3:00pm.  On Tuesday, May 19th, Chapter Board Member David Eastman will be teaching 28 homeschoolers how to cast a fly rod. Dave will hold a follow-up session on Tuesday, May 26th to teach the same group how to fly fish in Lull’s Brook. Both events will happen from 1pm – 3pm and all will begin at the Hartland Public Library. David could use your help for either of those dates.  If you are available or would like additional information, please contact Dave in advance via e-mail at Huski@Comcast.net or call at (802) 436-1503.  Thanks in advance for your help and support!

May Meeting Minutes

Reminder that the next meeting is June 4th.  Ted Chivers of Southern Cross Expeditions will present information and slides about fishing in the Patagonia area of South America–in some ways like the American West 200 years ago.

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Trout Unlimited – White Watershed Chapter #226
Monthly Chapter Meeting
Quechee (Ski) Base Lodge, Quechee, VT
May 7th, 2009
Attendance: 20 (18 members)

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Meeting opened by President Chris Moore @ 7:20 PM

With the able assistance of Past President Ron Rhodes and Membership Officer Rhona Dallison, $50.00 in raffle tickets were purchased by attendees.

President Moore began the evening by bringing everyone up to date on the monetary and social success of our recent Banquet. The Coolidge Hotel  has been fully paid, $200 in matching funds was sent to Casting For Recovery based on the winning bid for the Women Only Fishing Trip raffle, $120 was passed on to Joe Norton for the purchase of a second Data Recorder (see April Meeting minutes), and we have slightly over $10,000.00 in the bank. The Printer has yet to submit their bill but that is not expected to be very substantial. Chris, once again, thanked everyone who donated their time and efforts to make this event so successful.

June 13^th the State Council will be meeting in Manchester, VT, and there will be some National representatives there to discuss re-chartering of all VT Chapters and to address concerns of TU in VT.  Chris and Seth Dunn will be attending. All members are invited, so if you are interested in going please contact Chris or Seth.

The Chang Memorial Fishing Fest will be held on May 30^th in conjunction with VINS at the Callens private stocked pond in West Hartford. TU members will be demonstrating Fly Tying and Casting to elementary age children and we need a few more volunteers to assist our expert tiers and casters. Mostly helping them rig a rod and keeping them at safe distances so no one gets hooked. The event is from 9 AM until 2 PM. If you can spare a few hours this is a great event. VINS will be bringing a demonstration bird or two and they might even have a mended raptor ready for release back into the wild. Please contact Ed Finley at  finleyed@comcast.net or (802) 295-7231 if you can give us a hand.

Past President Ron Rhodes and crew will be conducting tying and casting instructions for the Phys/Ed classes from So. Royalton Elementary on May 11, 13 and 15 and then again on May 27^th for the Sharon Elementary School. These events will take place at Paynes Beach on the White River in South Royalton. If you can lend a hand contact Ron at Hanover Outdoors or at rhodes@sover.net.

At a May date to be announced (watch your e-mail) there will be a tree planting on the Broad Brook around the disturbed areas from the culvert restoration project. The culvert work is already showing great signs of success and this tree planting can only help. So look for an update and come out to lend a hand.

Marty Banak reported that he and Don Hoyt have held meetings with the Rockefeller Foundation regarding stream bed improvement on the Ottaquechee just south of Woodstock just beyond the confluence with the Gulf Stream. Willow stakes and trees need to be planted to impede the erosion. The Willows will have to wait until next spring, but if the plans can be finalized with the Foundation, some tree planting may take place this Summer.

Member Loye Miller advised that the Macawee Fishing Club in Bridgewater will be conducting an open house at the club grounds from 1 ‘til 5 PM on Sunday, May 17^th. All TU members are invited to attend and, weather permitting, do a little fishing in their private waters.

Pres Moore advised that he has been researching the Project Healing Waters. They work with disabled veterans in various fishing related activities. Chris asked that if anyone was interested in garnering more information about our possible involvement with Project Healing Waters to please contact him at whiterivertu@yahoo.com. 

Past Pres David Eastman explained that he has organized a “River Studies Class” for Home Schooled students and has approximately 30 children signed up to attend. The classes will be conducted on May 19^th and 26^th in Hartland. Anyone available to lend a hand is requested to contact Dave at huski@comcast.net.

Dave also advised the State Biologist Ken Cox will be making a presentation on the aquatic life in Lulls Brook, a feeder stream to the Conn. River, to the Hartland Conservation Commission on May 13^th, 7:00 PM at Damon Hall in Hartland. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend.

President Moore then asked that everyone give consideration of possible candidate waters that should be considered for an Embrace-A-Stream project. Please forward your suggestions to Chris.

Chris then introduced our Guest Presenter for the evening, Thomas Ames.  Tom is a professional photographer extraordinaire and he has previously published two excellent books, Hatch Guide for New England Streams and Fishbugs. These Fly Fishing staples are now joined by his newest release Caddisflies: A Guide to Eastern Species for Anglers and Other Naturalist. He entertained and educated us with an excellent power-point slide presentation with stories from his newest book. This book is already so highly regarded that Curators from the Smithsonian Institute are using it as a course book for a class on the study of Caddisflies. The magnificent photography really enhanced both his presentation and his books.  Following his wonderful presentation Tom stuck around and graciously autographed his books for those lucky enough to get a copy before they sold out. But if you would like to get your own copy it is available at Hanover Outdoors.

Meeting adjourned @ 9:05 PM

June meeting:  June 4th, 7:00pm, Quechee Ski Base Lodge.  Ted Chivers of Southern Cross Expeditions to present on fishing in Patagonia.

Respectfully submitted by Secretary Finley

Meccawe Club open house for TU members

05/17/09.  1:00 to 5:00pm.  The Meccawe Club of Bridgewater, VT, will be hosting an informal open house / social session for TU members on Sunday, May 17th, from 1-5pm.  A sample of fishing may be available, weather permitting.  Please contact Chapter and Meccawe Club member Loye Miller at loye1@comcast.net for more details and to sign-up so that Meccawe has an idea of headcount.

SKILLS: Conserved Land Stewardship

05/03/09. 8:30am to 2:30pm.   Training Session for New Stewardship Volunteers.  The first objective of the TU conservation approach is PROTECT–protecting the resources we already enjoy from development and degradation.  A key aspect of PROTECT in the world we live in is land conservancy through easements  and other vehicles.  Protecting rivers without protecting the watershed is probably not an effective approach.  Our Chapter has already taken steps to learn about land conservancy through SPNHF, TPL, and others, and has begun to identify key PROTECT candidate tracts within our area.   But, we also need to “develop our bench” by building land conservancy skills into our membership.  So, I call your attention to the Training Session for New Stewardship Volunteers offered by Upper Valley Land Trust located at 19 Buck Road, Hanover, NH 03755 (map).   Stewardship volunteering involves meeting landowners of conserved land, hiking off-trail to find property boundaries with a map and compass, and recording what you see as you become our eyes and ears on permanently protected land.  I realize this overlaps by a couple of hours with our Green Up Clean Up in West Hartford, but some folks may be looking for a full day of activities or have the morning free and not the afternoon.  If this sounds like something in which you would have an interest, please contact UVLT at (603) 643-6626 or email Monica.Erhart@uvlt.org.  If you do attend, please come share your experience and insights at one of our next Chapter meetings on May 7th or June 4th.