Latest Additions

June

• Two local students attend TU’s Youth Camp. Connor Murphy of Fort Collins and Josh Morris of Loveland were selected to attend the CTU 2009 River Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp. Rocky Mountain Flycasters made a scholarhip presentation at the May meeting.
• Million’s Big Straw Draws Wyoming Fire Second Wyoming Public Meeting planned for comment. Your input can make a difference in this proposal to drain water from the Flaming Gorge Resevoir and transport it to Colorado’s Front Range. Read more.

May

• Monday, May 11, 6:30 p.m. The Board of Larimer County Commissioners has scheduled an additional public hearing on properties near Drake, Colorado—rescheduling the decision on the disposition of the properties. The hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2009, in the 1st Floor Hearing Room at the Larimer County Courthouse Offices Building, 200 West Oak St., Fort Collins.
  The Commissioners will look at options being recommended by the Parks Advisory Board regarding the sale of these particular properties on the Big Thompson River associated with the Hayden Subdivision. The public notice was posted May 5 at http://www.larimer.org/news/newsDetail.cfm?id=388. You will notice that the procedings will be streamed on the Larimer County internet site.
• Monday, May 4, 6:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m. Larimer County Commisioners are to hold a public hearing to hear public testimony and recommendation by the Parks Advisory Board regarding Hayden Flood Parcel Disposition. The hearing will be in the Hearing Room, 1st Floor of the Larimer County Courthouse, 200 West Oak, Fort Collins.
  The Larimer County web page (www.larimer.org/bcc/bccsched.htm) shows that a decision will be made on policy at this meeting so this will be the last opportunity for public input before the decision is made about the Hayden parcels. The meeting will also be televised on Fort Collins cable 14 and Loveland cable channel 16. It will also be broadcast on the internet at www.larimer.org/bcc/broadcast.cfm.
• May General Meeting on May 20. The Program will be a presentation by Kirk and Laurie Bien of Kirks’s Fly shop of Estes Park on “Fishing in Rocky Mountain National Park.” Following the presentation will be the raffle drawing to benefit the Behnke-RMF Fellowship. There are some terrific prizes benefiting this worthy objective so be sure to get your tickets before the drawing. You can get tickets by mail or at the general meeting.
  Behnke-RMF Fellowship Raffle Prizes announced. This spring we are holding a raffle to raise money for the Behnke-RMF Fellowship. Some terrific prizes have already been donated. See the selection and get your raffle tickets by mail or at the general meetings before the drawing on May 20.

April

• April 20: Flaming Gorge Pipeline - Green River Scoping Meeting. Public meeting at Fossil Ridge High School 5400 Ziegler Rd, Ft. Collins April 20 6:30-9 p.m. There is a proposal to build a 500-mile pipeline to bring water from southwest Wyoming to Colorado’s Front Range. Read more about this volatile issue.
• Phantom Canyon Adventure Days have been set for 2009. Registration starts on April 8.

March

• The Larimer County Parks Advisory Board will meet April 14 for final discussion and decision about selling public lands on the Big Thompson in the Hayden Subdivision. The meeting is 5:30-8:30 p.m., Boyd Lake Room, Larimer County Courthouse Office Building, 200 West Oak, Ft. Collins, CO
  The Board will receive public comment and consider a staff recommendation on proposed options for parcels owned by Larimer County adjacent to the Hayden Subdivision, near Drake, CO, on the Big Thompson River. Following public comment and Board discussion, the Board will vote on a recommendation to the County Commissioners on this issue. Forty minutes are set aside for public comment between 6:10 and 7:00 p.m.
  The issue involves selling public land to individuals and it seems that those who are interested in buying the land are planning on restricting access—specifically fishermen—to river banks in those areas. RMF as well as other local and state recreation groups support keeping the land public.
  See the Larimer County site for meeting information. This may be the last opportunity to express an opinion on the subject before a decision is made.
• March Board meeting minutes
• Review the general meeting slides (pdf 240 KB) from March 18.
• Volunteers for the nation-wide River Clean up and Eagles Nest in July as well as the Flycasters’ Board
• Are you as "sure footed" as you would like to be? Are you ready for the spring run-off? The raging spring torrents will soon be upon us. It could be that you might need a wading stick. Here's how to build one out of inexpensive/used materials. Phil Wright put together this helpful HOW-TO (pdf 412 KB) so you can have your own hand-crafted wading stick.

We have posted some pictures from the All-Tiers meeting in January. See some of the great fly tiers in our area. If you missed the meeting, you missed some great tips and tricks for flies and fishing.

Behnke-RMF Research Fellowship

Rocky Mountain Flycasters is currently conducting a fund drive to support the Robert J. Behnke-RMF Research Fellowship. We need to raise enough for this year's fellowship and we are actively seeking additional donations so that the endowment may become self-sustaining in the future.

Read more about the fellowship and you can use this Donation Form to make a contribution. This fellowship helps a Colorado State graduate student with research and honors the continuing contributions being made by Dr. Behnke.

Trout Unlimited Celebrates 50 years

Started in 1959 by 16 fishermen in Michigan who wanted to protect their local river, TU has grown to 140,000 members in 400 local chapters throughout the country. TU has created a special 50th anniversary website where you can find anything and everything related to this anniversary.

Stop cross-water contamination!

Whirling disease. Dydimo. New Zealand Mud Snails. Chytrid fungus. These are very real threats to our waters. If you follow some very simple, inexpensive procedures, you can help curb the spread of these diseases. See Common Sense Disinfection Procedure by Phil Wright. Coming soon! Another article from Phil Wright about an inexpensive home-made wading staff from recycled materials.

Flycasters’ Forum

Screen shot from the forum

We have added another feature to our offerings on the Internet. We've created an additional site where we host a forum/message board for sharing information about our organization, our goals, our concerns, and some of our fun. Initial topics include places to discuss local, state, and national issues. RMF Board Members will have special access to sections pertaining to Board activities and discussions.

Head on over to Forum.RockyMtnFlycasters.org/phpbb and sign up to join the fun. Sign up soon so you can have the user name of your choice. Since we have just started, the field is wide open.

Annual Report

See what Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter has been doing over the past year. Meetings, conservation, scholarships, and more.

Land and water issues

At the October 2007 Board meeting, Gina C. Janett presented information about the Clean Water Act and the Hardrock Mining and Restoration Act that are coming up for action in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some changes and interpretations of the Clean Water Act make it imperative that we get Congressional support for continuing protection of 75% of Colorado's streams and rivers. The hardrock mining issue seeks to update laws established in 1872 before the knowledge of damage done by mining was well understood. See this article for more information about this legislation.

Phantom Canyon Adventure Days

(Formerly known as Phantom Canyon Public fishing lottery.)

The Nature Conservancy and Rocky Mountain Flycasters have been working together to provide educational opportunities in the Phantom Canyon area. Plans for summer of 2009 Phantom Canyon Adventure Days have been completed and registrations start on April 8.

Current Issues

Rock Snot

Is didymo invading your favorite stream? Read this article and Phil Wright's about decontamination.

Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness legislation

Senator Salazar hosted a listening session on October 25th in Loveland to further gauge local support for protecting the Park’s wild backcountry. Dave Piske attended the meeting and provides this report.

Eagle’s Nest Open Space

April is a great time for spending time at Eagles Nest. Check out the smiles on the faces of this crew from April 20, 2008

They just keep coming, these fine days up at Eagles Nest Open Space and the North Fork! More on the July '07 watering....

April 14 '07 What a glorious day to be playing around on the North Fork! OK, if we had been fishing, it could have been even nicer! See this update.

Contact Guy Turenne by phone (377-2814) or email to join in this worthwhile project or if you need more information.

Rocky Mountain Flycasters’ members continue to contribute hundreds of hours for stream bank restoration to help make this a welcome Open Space. See more articles in our Chapter Activities.

Call for Volunteers

Volunteers

In addition to volunteers needed for the Eagle's nest project, there are several other opportunities to contribute to the conservation, protection and restoration of local trout fisheries and watersheds. Below is a partial list.

• Rocky Mountain Flycasters
  We can always use members who are willing to make a contribution to the organization. Whether you use your executive skills to contact and organize, your muscles to swing a pick axe, your knowledge of ecology, biology, and/or fishing to present a program, RMF could use your skills. There are occasionally Trustee positions that need to be filled and the Leadership Council can always use help with running the many programs we sponsor. Contact a board member at one of the monthly general meetings or use our list of Board of Directors.
  
  
• Internship Program Opportunity:

  U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Region 8
  Office of Ecosystems Protection and Remediation
  Denver, Colorado
  Project # EPA Water 2006-66: An internship is available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 8 office in Denver, Colorado. See the internship page for more information.

• Phantom Canyon: There is an occasional need for volunteers to assist in maintaining the trails at Phantom Canyon. Many times after trail work is done, volunteers are able to use artificial flies on barbless hooks to catch and release "samples." Volunteers should contact Ken Eis or Scott Baily. Additional information about Phantom Canyon and the Nature Conservancy, see www.nature.org/colorado.
• Rocky Mountain National Park: Help with providing park users with information or assist wildlife biologists with research. Options are wide-ranging and open to suit your needs. See RMNP Volunteers.

Mud Snail Threat

See Conservation News for information.