Orvis Great Giveback Days!

Throughout September, Orvis is making it easier than ever for our customers to support the conservation initiatives they are most passionate about. During the past two years, Orvis has raised over $100K for many different organizations in our local store markets, including Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters, Project Healing Waters, pet adoption groups, and more.

Donate online now to the Trout Unlimited Embrace A Stream program or donate at your local Orvis retail store. Either way, this September, when you give $10, you get a $10 Orvis Savings Card.

Click image above to donate now.

Volunteers Needed for this Saturday, 9/19

Dear CVTU members & friends,

I hope this email blast finds you all well and you have had a wonderful summer.  Patricia Barkman (Al's trail founder, who helped secure grant dollars for tree plantings along Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River), has reached out to me, looking for support this Saturday (9/19) to help with clean up the Al's Trail in the vicinity of Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River confluence.

Due to the recent storms, there has been some brush and limbs that need to be cleared, in addition to invasive growth.  We will be practicing good social distance measures (masks required) and I'm only looking for 3-4 volunteers so we can keep our distances.  I will provide all the tools necessary to complete our work.  Please bring work gloves and wear long pants and long sleeves.  We will be meeting @ 9 am at the Deep Brook kiosk off Old Farm Road in Newtown, behind the "Park & Bark" dog park.  I figure we will finish no later than one o'clock but I am appreciative of whatever support you can volunteer.

Please email me at neil.baldino@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering.  I will then finalize all details by Friday evening.

Neil Baldino

203-400-0374

VP Candlewood Valley Trout Unlimited

Guide Strategies for Great Lakes Winter Steelhead

It’s getting to be that time of year when CVTU members start dreaming of the late fall/early winter trips to Pulaski and the Salmon river. Steelhead are the fish of dreams, and the Salmon river is a world class Steelhead river. We’ll start switching from tying nymphs & dries to neon eggs patterns & gaudy bright stoneflies. Stories of past trips to Pulaski will be told and re-told. Lies will be embellished.

Of course we’re not sure if we can pull off a CVTU trip this year, due to COVID. However, this article from Fly Fisherman magazine should help us get prepared for the bitter cold, but extremely rewarding Steelhead season. Lets hope we can make a trip in the coming months to chase some chrome.

Guide Strategies for Great Lakes Winter Steelhead

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Great American Outdoors Act Becomes Law

House bill H.R.1957 was signed by the President Tuesday, August 4th and became law. While most of us were sheltering from Tropical Storm Isaias, this bill was signed into law establishing the “the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund”, to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands. This is something that TU has been supporting throughout the bill’s journey through Congress.

You can find out more about the TU response here, along with a short video thanking our political allies.

If you would like to read the entire bill, you can find it on this link on the 116th Congress website.

An interesting side note about this bill, is that it was originally sponsored on March 28, 2019, by the late Representative John Lewis. RIP and thank you sir.

The Next Step in the Fight for Bristol Bay

Meghan Barker of TU Alaska, who spoke at our June virtual chapter meeting, has informed TU Leaders of the final release of the Environmental impact Statement (EIS) for the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay. Meghan has provided us with the following information on EIS below. It is a lot to digest, but it’s all available for us to learn and take action.

If you happened to miss our June meeting and Meghan’s presentation titled “Fishing The Last Frontier: TU’s Efforts to Protect Bristol Bay, you can find it here on the CVTU YouTube channel.

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“The fight against the proposed Pebble mine has reached another critical milestone with the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) on Thursday, July 23, 2020. 

Produced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Final EIS is the risk analysis document that should review all the potential impacts the project could bring to the people, fish, and fish-based economies in southwest Alaska. More importantly, the Final EIS serves as the basis for the record of decision, which will grant or deny Pebble its most important federal permit. This decision could come as soon as August 19, 2020.

In 2019, Trout Unlimited, multiple federal and state agencies, and 685,000 individuals submitted comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, all noting the inadequacies in the Corps’ initial document. Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan even weighed in, saying that if the Corps doesn’t address all the issues raised in agency comments in the Final EIS, they should not issue the permit.

Even from reading the executive summary, it is clear that the Corps has not evaluated Pebble beyond a conceptual level plan, and hasn’t fully accounted for every way Pebble would impact Bristol Bay, which is a failure of their duties under the Clean Water Act.

See the FEIS here and TU’s analysis here.

With a record of decision issued as early as next month, we are nearly at the end of the permitting process. We’ve called on the Army Corps, our Senators, and even the President to stop Pebble, and now they need to hear from people from across the country again. Head over to www.savebristolbay.org/tellpresidenttrump to send a note to the White House -yes, again- asking them to do all they can to stop Pebble in the permitting process”.

Additionally, you can take action by signing the Petition urging President Trump to deny the permit application; savebristolbay.org/tellpresidenttrump

Penfield Reef Sunset Surf Trip - CANCELLED

We received some unfortunate news today from the Town of Fairfield. Details of the message are included below and were provided by CVTU member Ryan Knapp. CVTU Board Member and event organizer, John Hildenbrand, contacted Fairfield Police today to confirm the restrictions, and they told him we will not be able to park at Veteran's Park, or have access to the beach and the reef. 

Therefore, we will have to cancel this Saturday's event. We hope to reschedule it in September, if restrictions are lifted. These are challenging times and we must flex our activities in accordance with local regulations and restrictions. As your Board, we will keep working to plan exciting and pertinent activities that support CVTU's goals and mission.

Respond to John Hildenbrand with any questions; Jhildenb73@gmail.com or 845-242-7730. 

Note from the Town of Fairfield

An Update Regarding Town Beaches:

Hi Fairfielders,

I received numerous emails from residents over the weekend with concerns surrounding our beaches, parking, non-residents and enforcement.

I want to provide a brief update because I am simply unable to respond to the many Facebook posts I'm tagged in.

At the outset of the pandemic I signed an emergency declaration and completely closed all the town public spaces including our beaches. When we reopened, I made the decision after consultation with the Emergency Management Team to limit parking to residents only. We were able to restrict it temporarily because we are in a State of Emergency.

In normal times, because the Town received federal funds for our beaches, we are not allowed to exclude non-residents at Jennings Beach.

Several weeks ago, because we were not reaching capacity at Jennings Beach, and because non-residents were already walking on to our beaches and parking elsewhere, we decided to allow a limited number of parking spots to non-residents. We have adjusted that number a few times while closely monitoring crowding at the beach. Sunday was the first time we had to turn residents away from Jennings Beach - which is unacceptable to me and we immediately increased capacity to allow more residents in.

My first priority is to ensure our residents can safely enjoy our beaches. Our Emergency Management Team's planning committee and I have been monitoring the beaches every week and taking into consideration input from residents. We've taken several steps to address previous concerns:

• We added No Beach Parking signage and police enforcement at Bob's parking lot with cooperation from management

• We increased patrol and enforcement for parking in the beach area and have given out a record number of tickets over the last several weekend.

• The Police Commission voted to increase parking fines from $80 to $200 to help deter illegal parking. I hope the increased fine will cut down on non-permitted parking.

• We have added more garbage bins and an extra dumpster and social distancing signage at the beaches.

Given the huge increase in people walking on to our beaches whether via Uber or walking from parking spots miles away, I have asked our Town Attorney to get clarification on what we can legally do. Assuming we can legally and logistically prevent non-residents, it's a challenge because our beaches have countless points of entry.

We are going to research solutions and see if we can come up with a proposal that mitigates the issues we are experiencing at our beaches.

I want residents to know I am frustrated too.

I have asked the Emergency Management Team's planning committee to meet again this week to discuss how we can plan to address the problems we have been seeing in the beach area. I will update residents through my weekly newsletter. Please know I want to ensure our beaches are safe and that our residents are able to enjoy them.

Jerome Alexander "Jerry" Rekart

Hello Chapter members and friends of CVTU. I hope everyone is well, finding your way during the covid crisis and doing your best to live as normal a life as possible. 

I am writing to share the sad news of the passing of one of CVTU’s longest continuous members, Jerry Rekart.

Jerome Rekart Obituary

Write a Memory on Jerry’s Memory Wall

Jerry was a wonderful man, devoted to his family, and a true friend to many members of CVTU. He was passionate about the projects and work that CVTU has done over the past 30 years and was always one of the first to volunteer for any project or event.  He had a generous spirit and always had a smile and a joke for those in attendance. Jerry held many CVTU board positions over the years. He was always willing to share his knowledge and guidance gained from military service as a B-52 pilot, his years as an airline captain for TWA, and his years of public service to his hometown of Brookfield, CT.

He was instrumental in the creation of our chapters TIC program, successfully building it to over 30 classrooms, and making it the largest TIC program in Connecticut. He had a hand in all aspects of TIC from connecting with teachers and students, fund raising and finally releasing the trout in the spring. In 2010, Jerry was recognized for and awarded the Distinguished Service in Education award from TU national.

Although I have known Jerry for a number of years and considered him a friend, I reached out to some of the members of the chapter who knew him best. Here are a few things that they shared with me…

“Jerry was often the first person you would see at a CVTU event, his smiling face welcoming you with a familiar greeting or simple joke”

“He was a tease, an imp with his funny barbs, and always ready to volunteer”

“Merchants and volunteers found it hard to resist the twinkle in Jerry’s eye when he was requesting support for TIC or the CVTU banquet. He was also a fun fishing and social companion from Cape Cod and Nantucket to Maine, Massachusetts, western NY and the Delaware River”

We will all remember his smiling face, great nature, sense of humor and willingness to do whatever he could for CVTU. My hope is we will be able to meet in the near future and at that time we will raise a glass and toast our friend Jerry.

My best to you all, be well, stay safe and tight lines.

Mike

Mike Fatse; tfm2013@aol.com

Mike Fatse; shflyguy@gmail.com

Meghan Barker of TU Alaska Presents to CVTU June Chapter meeting

“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

— Aldo Leopold

Originally from Colorado, Meghan Barker came to Alaska in 2015 while in college. Her initial visit to the nation’s biggest state cemented her love of this beautiful landscape. After graduating she fulfilled a promise to herself and returned to Alaska to take a job with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in Homer. Within a year she joined TU to take on the role of Bristol Bay Organizer. She is very passionate about her participation in TU’s crusade against the Pebble Mine project. TU has been addressing the Pebble Mine issue for over a decade and Meghan serves to connect anglers in Alaska and the lower 48 with this important issue.

On Thursday, June 18, Meghan gave a presentation to CVTU members on our June Virtual Chapter Meeting. It was clear from the outset of the presentation that Bristol Bay is a fishery like none other on the planet. It’s rivers run red with Sockeye Salmon through a protected and largely untouched wilderness.

Meghan has allowed CVTU to publish her presentation on our YouTube channel so that those members and friends that missed her presentation, can view it at their leisure. You can find the presentation video at the link below.

Fishing the Last Frontier: TU’s Efforts to Protect Bristol Bay

You can find additional information about Bristol Bay including some incredible video at the links below.

http://www.savebristolbay.org/

http://www.savebristolbay.org/see-bristol-bay

https://gifts.tu.org/bristolbay

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CT DEEP - A Focus on Wild Brook Trout

A Random Revisit of the Statewide Stream Survey Project

The CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Fisheries Division conducted a statewide survey of Connecticut’s rivers and streams between 1988 and 1994 (Hagstrom et al. 1996). The intent of this comprehensive project was to collect data on fish populations, physical habitat, macroinvertebrates, water chemistry, fishing effort, and socioeconomic value. The findings of the statewide stream survey project enabled the Fisheries Division to prepare a trout management plan, which could be sustained by Connecticut’s stream resources and also meet the needs of Connecticut’s anglers (Hyatt et al. 1999).

To determine the status of Connecticut’s wild Brook Trout populations and to compare to historical statewide stream survey data, the Fisheries Division implemented a two-year resample of former statewide stream survey sample locations, begging in 2018 and concluding in 2019. The resampling was conducted by randomly selecting a set of former statewide stream survey sites that had wild Brook Trout present. The outcome of this finite, short-duration, probability-based sampling project enables the Fisheries Division to make statistically valid statements about wild Brook Trout on a statewide level.

On Monday June 22nd at 7:00pm join the CT Council of Trout Unlimited and TU staff via Zoom, as we talk with Mike Beauchene and Brian Eltz of the CT DEEP on the new report they just completed - “A Random Revisit of the Statewide Stream Survey Project” - which found a nearly 30% drop in Brook Trout in a one-year survey, versus results from a comprehensive study 30 years ago. While the study is only a snap-shot in time from 2018-2019, the results are concerning. Join this important call to learn what was found, what the DEEP and TU are doing to protect our state's native trout, and how you can help.

To attend this meeting, you will need to register at the link below

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A1IUwgSyR5if--Uc2GwxmA

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CT DEEP Fish Community Data

CT DEEP and UCONN have collaborated on a project to make the state’s freshwater fish data available to the public. For some additional information and data on fish counts and macroinvertebrate samples, please with the following websites.

https://cteco.uconn.edu/projects/fish/index.htm

https://cteco.uconn.edu/projects/fish/viewer/index.html

CVTU Online Content and TU's Brand Guidelines

As our new website cvtu.org approaches its 9 month anniversary, it is clear that the content is dynamic and interesting to our members and the broader public. The tie-ins that we have with our CVTU Facebook page and Instagram story also help to broaden our reach and keep members and friends engaged. The goal of the website is to provide informative content on our chapter’s mission, updates on projects, broadcast announcements on meetings and events, and share member content on their passion for fishing and conservation.

In order to keep our website and social media platforms fresh and vital, we need to constantly update our content. If you visit our website regularly you’ll note that we post content in the “News” section multiple times per month. These blog posts are always shared directly to the CVTU Facebook page. Our Calendar Events are also shared to Facebook. Our website pulls content from the CVTU Instagram story for display in our “Gallery” section. Tools we use to share content allow us to provide new and interesting content easily, enhancing our on-line presence and increasing web and social media attention and traffic. That’s all very positive for the chapter.

In order to maintain this momentum we need to keep this content coming. More stories, more pictures, more events and projects, more information about TU National’s efforts, and more stuff that keeps us all engaged.

Do you have a story you want to tell? Do you have pictures of your latest fishing trip? Have you seen something on-line that augments or strengthens our message on conservation? Any of these would help keep our site vibrant and fresh.

TU does have brand guidelines we need to follow, and members of your board will ensure that content meets those guidelines before posting. We have listed the TU guidelines for photography here for all to review. Keep these standards in mind when taking your pictures out on the river.

If you would like to submit a picture or story for the web, you can send an email to secretary@cvtu.org. Attach your picture, include your story, or paste a link to other on-line content (note: you should check with the content owner before including the link).

Do you have technical skills that would contribute to the enhancement & management of the CVTU website? Do you want to get involved in developing & maintaining our on-line presence? If so, please contact secretary@cvtu.org and find out how you can help.