President’s Message:
Dear Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited Members,
Our next meeting will be Tuesday April 4th at the Conley Street Hy-Vee in Columbia. The meeting room is on the second floor above the restaurant. The address is 25 Conley Rd, Columbia, MO 65201. This is in the strip mall just north of East Broadway near US 63 exit to East Broadway.
This is an exciting time of year. The trout parks are open and I had the opportunity to go to Montauk for the opening day. I had never seen an opening day in a Missouri trout park and have wanted to for quite some time. I was not disappointed. There was so much energy. I didn’t stay to fish though and went on downstream to fish after watching the fun for a while. John Wenzlick was with me and he found out that only about 1,400 tags were sold for opening day. This is far less than what has been sold in the past and that was the only thing about the day that was a bit sad.
At our March meeting Jen Girondo, Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Biologist for the Maramec Watershed, gave us a very informative slideshow about the year to year changes in trout populations and size in the watershed. In the presentation was some data from the monitoring devices that MMTU helped purchase a few years back. There was some discussion about the reduced number of brown trout as of the last few decades and what has been done and is being considered to address the situation.
The chapter is going on a fishing trip to the Wisconsin Driftless region from May 18th to May 21st and it will again be at Jerome’s Campground. Basically you just show up when you want, leave when you want and you can come earlier or leave later. You just pay Jerome for the days you want to stay. You can find more information about the trip and a review of last year's trip at https://www.midmotu.org/post/announcing-our-2nd-annual-driftless-trip. Travis Figg is the contact for this trip.
The chapter is also planning a trip to the Flattop Wilderness near Yampa Colorado from August 14th to August 18th. The Forest Service describes the area as follows: “The Flat Tops are part of the White River Plateau with an average elevation of about 10,000 feet. Approximately 110 lakes and ponds, often unnamed, dot the country above and below numerous flat-topped cliffs. Roughly 100 miles of fishable streams are in the Wilderness.” This is will be a largely unstructured trip like the Wisconsin trip. Everyone will be arranging transportation individually and there will be a number of folks traveling together. Many of us will be glad to have additional passengers to share the expense so please come join us. Mike Kruse will be the contact for this Trip.
Tri-Lakes Fly Fishers invited Trout Unlimited to their annual exposition in Clinton on March 11th so Eric Cunningham, John Wenzlick and I were there to meet people and to promote Trout Unlimited. We provided a handout with information on how folks could become new members at a reduced price of about 50% and with information about some of the things we have done as a chapter. If we do have some folks sign up for our chapter there will be some money coming back to us from national.
It sure is good to be back at the Hy-Vee for meetings. There are lots of good food and drink possibilities. Well hope to see you all at the next meeting.
Doug Grove
douggrove@yahoo.com or 573-999-5114
Avoid the AC Commuter Parking Lot
Bill asked me to include a note in the newsletter advising against leaving cars at the AC commuter lot while fishing. Mike left his Tacoma there Monday, and someone stole the catalytic converter.
TU Western Regional Rendezvous
Doug and I will miss the Wisconsin trip because we will attend the Western regional conference in Taos, NM, May 18-21. There will be several interesting sessions including an in person presentation by TU’s lead scientist, Helen Neville, titled Trout and Climate Change and How You Can Help. She is down to earth, but an extremely knowledgeable speaker. Helen highlights the tremendous stream side work TU does to adapt to changing conditions. As John can tell you an added bonus is fishing with the locals. Shelley and I will drive out and we could take a couple more. Let me know if you have questions or would like to ride out with us. You can find more information and register at https://www.tu.org/get-involved/volunteer-tacklebox/volunteer-leader-trainings-events/annual-meetings-regional-rendezvous/regional-rendezvous/western-regional/
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says urgent climate action can secure a liveable future for all
The IPCC report was written by nearly 200 scientist from 65 countries. It was released from Interlaken, Switzerland, March 20, 2023 -- “There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today. “Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” In 2018, IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C. Five years later, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.”
To read more follow this link to see a presentation https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6syr/pdf/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SlideDeck.pdf
I am convinced TU members, as part of a conservation organization, can do our part to slow climate change by reducing our individual carbon footprints and by advocation for legislation to shift to lees carbon intensive energy sources.
President
Doug Grove
Vice President
Travis Figg
Past President
John Wenzlick
Secretary
Nathan McLeod
Treasurer
Brandon Butler
Banquet Chairs
Alternative Funding Committee
Travis Figg
Education Director
John Wenzlick
Membership
Curt Morgret
Conservancy
Bill Lamberson
Conservancy
Sam Potter
e-Newsletter
Jeff Holzem
Web Master
Ty Figg
Facebook editor
Ben Moore