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WE'VE GOT
SMOKED FISH!
Contact Tony or Dee
Torkelson at 509-548-0179 (before 9
p.m. please!) to set up a time to pick up yours. We have full
sides, half sides, and 1/3 sides. The cost is $10/pound.
Get yours before
they're gone! |
The
Conservation Banquet was held at the Enzian Motor in on Saturday, August
2. Over 120 people attended and had a very enjoyable dinner and auction.
The money raised go toward ICTY projects, which include: Salmon in the
Classroom, Kids in the Creek, acclimation/kids fishing pond development,
and multiple other projects relating to the mission to "Conserve,
Protect and Restore" cold water fisheries, their watersheds and
ecosystems, as a means of maintaining our quality of life. We also gave a
grant for continuing education to Cascade High School Senior Christy
Burshek, who will be attending Seattle Pacific University this next fall.
This year's banquet also featured the Whitney West Senior Project,
"Fishing Fun for Everyone." The auctioneer conducted a game in
which we raised over $500 for the project which was matched by the Dryden
Gun Club. The money for her project made her project possible with no
"out of pocket" expenses. The banquet was a total success and
everyone enjoyed the evening.
On
September 20 and 21, the Icicle Chapter held its annual Salmon Barbecue
during the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival. Our dinner featured the famous
Icicle Spring Chinook Salmon along with coleslaw, pears, and a roll.
Thanks to the great organization of chairman Dennis McMahon, and the able
help of multiple TU members, the event was a great success. Our club also
played a financial role by sponsoring "Kids in the Creek," which
conducts in creek surveys of the critters or invertebrates in the water.
This gives the student a better understanding of the water and its role in
our survival.
An
update of the acclimation/kids fishing pond. Currently we have
completed everything leading up to construction. Water permits, Jarpa
permits, access permits, construction drawings, and pump specifications
are all in place and we are currently waiting on the Chelan County PUD to
give the go ahead for construction. We have the contractor ready to roll
when we are notified to begin. This project is sorely needed for it looks
like again this year over 65% of the Wenatchee River steelhead are
straying up and over Rocky Reach Dam. This means that it is very possible
that we may not have a steelhead season this year. The WDFW will revisit
this issue soon and at our October 10 meeting we will have officials who
will address the issue.
On
Sept 10-14, George Lang, NLC representative from the Washington Council,
and Bob Stroup, recipient of the Winn Memorial Award for Sea-Run Fisheries,
attended the National TU Convention in Salt Lake City at the Snowbird
Resort. This event is attended by TU members from throughout the United
States and every part of our country was represented. Multiple issues were
addressed and discussion and action was taken on many fronts. Politics
played a role in this year's convention but everything revolved around our
mission to create a working agreement of win win win for everyone. We had
a chance to observe and discuss many projects throughout our country and I
can assure you that we looked at multiple issues. In our discussions it
was agreed that Washington State is unique with its multiple issues with
international treaties, tribes, dams, salmon, steelhead, trout, warm water
fish, development, etc. It was decided that we need more representation at
the national level. Trout Unlimited pledged to put a staff member1/2 time
solely in charge of issues within our state. This was a huge move for our
Washington Council and opens up better communication with national
leadership on issues that we and only we face in our state. Next year's
meeting will be in Michigan, the home of the first TU, and will be very
special. Bob Stroup will be the new NLC representative, which means that
Bob will have direct contact with national TU on multiple issues. George
Lang will become VP in charge of membership.
Our
next big event will be election of officers: If you are interested in
becoming more involved in ICTU and becoming an officer, contact Norm
Warford at 662-1338 or cell 668-8017 or e-mail Norm at sarge5807@nwi.net.
Bob
2008
Winn Memorial Award For Sea-Run Fisheries Conservation
TU
is proud to present the Winn Memorial Award
to Bob Stroup of the Icicle Valley Chapter in Washington state for his
work to conserve, protect and restore Pacific sea-run fisheries.
Stroup
has been a member of TU for over 25 years. His passion and dedication to
the TU mission and vision are second to none. He has worked tirelessly to
restore salmon and steelhead runs to the Wenatchee, Icicle and Entiat
rivers. He has, along with his chapter, restored habitat, dramatically improved
fish passage through Rocky Reach Dam, set up Salmon in the Classroom
projects in area schools and currently works on a natural steelhead
rearing pond that doubles as a youth fishing pond after the steelhead have
moved on.
"To
be around Bob is to be infected with optimism for the future and the
fish," said Mark Taylor, president of the Washington Council of TU.
"His passion for education and the world we leave for the next
generation inspires us all."
Congrats again, Bob!
Bob Stroup
received the Washington State Trout Unlimited Award for
Conservationist of the Year (Member). He also receive 2007 Volunteer of the Year from the Fish
and Wildlife Employees in the Wenatchee Valley. The plaque reads
"In recognition for unselfish dedication to the support of
Washington's Fisheries Resources in North Central Washington.
Congrats, Bob!
Tackling a big
clog:
Trout Unlimited uses grant money to create kids’ fishing pond
By
Dee Riggs
Wenatchee World staff writer
Posted October 15, 2008
Bob
Stroup, a member of Trout Unlimited, ties a rope to a log in preparation
for floating it and another log out of an old borrow pit that he and
other club members hope to make into a fishing pond for kids and an
acclimation pond for smolt steelhead. The pond is accessed from
Leavenworth’s Enchantment Park. (World photo/Dee Riggs)
“For the
kids.”
This is the
phrase uttered most often when local members of Trout Unlimited are
asked why they joined the group.
“We want
to create an opportunity for generations to come to do things we did
when we were growing up,” says Bob Stroup of Leavenworth. “We want
them to have the opportunity to go fishing in rivers that are now
closed, in places we enjoyed and took for granted.”
To that
end, club members have held several work parties at the site of two
former borrow pits off Leavenworth’s Enchantment Park. The pits, now
filled with Wenatchee River water that seeped in from underground, were
created many years ago when gravel was removed as part of the now
defunct Lamb-Davis Lumber Co. operations.
In the late
1990s, the club used an $80,000 grant from the state Department of Fish
and Wildlife to connect the two pits and make a kidney-shaped fishing
pond for kids. Fishing went well for about two years, Stroup says, then,
because there was no flow either from or to the river, the pond clogged
up with leaves and debris, and the fish died from lack of oxygen.
Now,
operating under a water permit from the state Department of Ecology, the
club is cleaning out the pond and plans to install pipes for water flow
that will create an oxygen-filled body of water.
| At
a glance |
Club:
Icicle Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Purpose: To conserve, protect and
restore cold-water fisheries, their
watersheds, and ecosystems
Activities: Salmon education programs
for fourth-grade students, habitat restoration
on the Entiat River and Wenatchee River
watersheds, a family fishing derby,
scholarships for students at Cascade and
Cashmere high schools, and an annual
fundraising banquet
Began: 1982
Number of members: 82
Age range of members: 6 to 90
Dues: $35, $20 for those under 18 and
those 62 and older, $50 family
Membership: Open to anyone
Meetings: 6:30 p.m. the second
Wednesday of every month at Kristall’s
Restaurant & Lounge in Leavenworth
Information contact: George Lang at
548-5522 or Bob Stroup at 548-7662 or online
at icicletrout.org or www.tu.org |
|
|
When the
pipes are closed, from March through May, the area will be used as an
acclimation pond for smolt steelhead, considered threatened by federal
officials. Smolt is the stage where the fish are most likely to become
imprinted with their surroundings, giving them the ability to return two
or more years later.
In late
May, the piping system will be opened and fish flushed out of the pond.
Then the pond will be planted with sterile trout. Children can then fish
there through October, when fishing season ends.
Stroup says
he hopes the system will be in place later this year.
In early
August, club members worked with city crews to haul out large logs
floating in the pond. It was a mosquito-filled workday, but members
seemed not to mind the insects or the muck they wallowed in along the
shoreline.
“We’re
all friends, and we joke around a lot,” says George Lang, a retired
State Patrol trooper who joined Trout Unlimited in 1989.
Jeff
Phippen, manager of Kristall’s Restaurant & Lounge in Leavenworth,
says he joined a year ago because he liked how active the club is. “We
all have common bonds. We do things that are great for conservation and
fish.”
Dan Davies,
retired fisheries biologist and former manager of the national fish
hatchery near Leavenworth, joined in 1986. He says some of his fondest
memories are of taking his kids, along with kids of other members,
fishing at Lake Wenatchee in the early 1990s. He has also enjoyed
working with club members on salmon derbies for kids.
Jack
Squires, retired director of national accounts for the McCormick Spice
Co., belonged to Trout Unlimited chapters in two other locations before
moving to Leavenworth in 2007 from Scottsdale, Ariz.
He says he
has been impressed with the good relationships the club has with other
agencies in the area, such as the city, the state Department of Fish and
Wildlife and the Chelan County PUD. Because of that, he says, club
members “are not only capable but actually get things done.”
Stroup says
he is looking forward to seeing the club’s efforts culminate in a
functioning fishing pond for families.
“It’s
great to see dad or mom with a son or daughter and the excitement on
their faces when they catch a fish; that brings a family together like
bingo.”
Dee Riggs:
664-7147 deeriggs@wenworld.com
Club
profile: This occasional series profiles local clubs and organizations
that are open to the general public. Once a month or so, these articles
will offer insights into club activities, why current members joined and
what they enjoy about their club. People wanting their club profiled may
contact reporter Dee Riggs at 664-7147 or deeriggs@wenworld.com.
Results
for 2008 Fishing Derby
The
11th annual Family Fish Derby was held on Fish Lake on Sat., May 31. More
than 75 fishermen entered the derby. The winners were: Justin Dobrinic of
Leavenworth won an electric motor valued at over $300 with a 3 lb. 8 oz.
trout. Second prize went to Paul Watson of Lake Villa, Illinois, who won a
4600C4 Abu Garcia fishing reel. Jesse Cearley of Lynnwood placed 3rd and
won a fish finder. Over $1,500 was raised for scholarships.
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