Greetings fellow TU-ers,

Here’s hoping all is well with you and you are able to take advantage of some spring trout fishing. By the time you receive this newsletter the Hendrickson’s should be all over the place, banging you in the eyes and crawling up your neck. The hatch this year has been the earliest that I’ve ever seen here in the Berkshires. They were hatching regularly on April 20 in the Housatonic C&R in Lee. Get out there and terrorize some trout if you get a chance.

You will note that this month’s newsletter is longer than usual. It is our last newsletter for the season and a lot of nice things have happened to our chapter and members this past month. You should know about them before our summer break.

For starters, the Partners to Restore Yokum Brook (our chapter is one of them) received the highest honor which is bestowed upon groups such as ours by the President of the United States. Read More about Yokum Brook >>here

Secondly there was the tremendous honor bestowed upon our Paul Knauth by the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen. He made front page news on the MA/RI Council TU web site. Check it out at www.ma-ri-tu-council.org. (More on that follows.)

We had a good turnout at our last membership meeting of the season before shutting down for the summer. We will, of course, meet at Indian Hollow on the East Branch of the Westfield in Chesterfield . (More on that later). The food was once again superb and the folks at Bass Water Grill were very accommodating. Peter Schilling, MA/RI TU Council Chair joined us and said that he had a great time. Glad he could make it.

Dana Ohman, fish biologist from our DFW district gave a very informative talk on the Coldwater Stream Management Guidelines and mapping project. (More on that follows). She also discussed didymo (rock snot). Read more about didymo >>here

Thanks to board members Charlie Waterhouse and Tony Lorio, we had 4 books to give out as door prizes. Alan Gray won the 50/50 raffle and won $42. Incidentally, that amount matched exactly the dollar amount spent on copy and postage expenses for last month’s Backcast.

Over the summer months, I will be matching the TU National membership to our Backcast mailing list. I noticed that there are a dozen or so whose memberships have recently expired or about to do so. Please take time to renew your membership (ed note: and please provide your most recent email address...). I would hate to lose you.

Here’s hoping you can make the Indian Hollow event, but if you can’t, have a safe and enjoyable summer. Good Lord willing and the creek doesn’t rise, we’ll see you in September of before.

Gene (a/k/a Chag)

Dana Ohman’s Talk – Although still in the process of development and too detailed to list in this newsletter, Dana’s talk about the coldwater stream management guidelines focused on: longitudinal habitat connectivity, lateral habitat connectivity, water quantity, water quality, in-stream habitat and stream restoration and how they all interconnect. She distributed stream maps from the three towns on which they will focus this year ( Hinsdale , Richmond and Pittsfield ). Members were asked to point out any brook trout streams which were not listed. When completed, we were asked to drop the off or mail them to Dana on Hubbard Ave in Pittsfield . As you know, we, HVA, DFW and MACC are involved in this mapping project with the hopes that maps can be provided to Conservation Commissions, land trusts and town planners who will then use them to protect our coldwater streams.

A very enjoyable and meaningful weekend - I never see it to fail. Volunteer a prized weekend or do something good for the kids or the environment and you are rewarded many fold. That was the case when Larry Newmark and I volunteered our time at the Berkshire National Hatchery on April 19 and 20.

Larry did the fly tying and I fooled around explaining the various gadgets that I carry in my vest or items that I wear when I go fishing. On Sunday, we taught a dozen or so teenagers how to cast a fly rod. These kids really caught on fast and were casting nicely after a short while. In one case we taught a young lad with his father watching. When we were done teaching the lad, the father wanted to learn to fly cast. After teaching him, he commented that he knew that his father had some old fly rods in his cellar and he is going to get them and go flyfishing with his son. Ooh, I see many enjoyable father/son hours on the stream coming up.

We even taught EPO Melissa Hamm how to cast a fly and she also learned very quickly. She said that she always wanted to learn and that now she probably will take up the sport. Bad news for any violators for she not only may cite you for not having a fishing license, or exceeding your limit, but she may also cite you for poor flycasting form.

We presented one of our salmon posters to the Berkshire National Hatchery and another one to the manager of another the Pittsford, VT Hatchery. The Pittsford manager was so impressed with the poster that he intends to frame his. Both he and Leroy Thorpe, manager of the Berkshire hatchery plan to display the posters at their respective hatcheries.

Later on, LeRoy suggested some Taconic TU/hatchery joint ventures which could involve teaching kids how to fly fish in the hatchery pond which will be filled with hungry trout. This could be a mutually beneficial project which we should bounce around in a future board meeting. That offer, coupled with the offer of LL Bean to provide some equipment……who knows where this could go. It will require teamwork.

Henry Bouchard, an official from the USFW ( Pittsford , VT Hatchery) stated that if we wanted to start a Trout in the Classroom Program, he would provide a chiller free of charge. Very generous offer! All we need are the volunteers, some training and I’ll bet we could have a TIC Program up and running in a local school system next year.

If that wasn’t enough good stuff, Larry and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Bart Miller from Lee. This very knowledgeable and traveled fly fisherman was the fly casting instructor on Saturday. Larry was kind enough to agree to tie him up a couple dozen of his favorite fly, one he uses in Australia (or was it New Zealand ). Bart, in turn, joined our chapter as a sponsor. Welcome aboard Bart!

Acid Rain Monitoring Weekend goes off without a hitch

Many thanks go to Marc Hoechstetter, Lauren Gaherty, Jim Manning, Bob Paradysz, and Richard Greene for joining Jan and me in collecting the water samples from the Berkshire County area. With three new members added to the team it makes things a lot less stressful. Now, we not only have the bodies that we need to collect, but we are in the enviable position of having back-ups. Judging from the e-mails being received from UMASS, they are having troubles getting volunteers in other parts of the state.

Congratulations to Ron Wojcik and Dave Boyce - They have just about completed the Taconic High School fly fishing program for this year. They covered things such as environment conservation, tying fishing knots and fly tying Next they will be teaching the fly casting part at Ron’s private pond. He will cook up some burgers and dogs to go along with their sodas.

Keep track of your volunteer time - A lot of our members are involved in a lot of projects. Please don’t forget to keep track of your time. Our treasurer, Herb Rod has to report all of our volunteer hours to TU National each year. They in turn try to get a handle of all of our volunteer hours nationwide and do something with that.

The following is an excerpt from the web page of the Arcadian Shop in Lenox:

Fly Fishing Trout Day with Trout Unlimited - Join the Taconic Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a day of fun and learning. Experienced fly fisherman will be on hand to instruct on the fundamentals of fly casting, fly tying, equipment, and conservation. There will be hands-on opportunities to learn the aspects of this incredible sport, as well as a showing of the DVD "The Way of the Trout". You won't want to miss out on "The Lore of the Lure", an opportunity to learn the history of fly tying, and to take a chance at it yourself. Stick around long enough, and enter the raffle filled with great prizes. This event is free, and open to the public. For further details, please contact the Arcadian Shop. The event is slated to start at noon on May 24. Many thanks to members Steve Booth, Carl Kronberg, Marilyn and Fred Moran, Katya Bowen and all those who volunteered to help out that day. Spread the word.

Youth Outreach Day On Saturday, June 7, the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen will sponsor a youth outreach day for disadvantaged youth from Berkshire County . The fishing derby takes place on Reynolds Pond in Cheshire . The Adams Outdoor for Youth usually heads this up, cooking, worming the hooks, working with the kids, cleaning the fish, etc. The County League buys all of the fishing equipment that is needed and the kids get to keep it. If you have some time, please join TU member Dave O’Clair and help them out.

BOW Program Looks like I have been drafted to teach the Becoming an Outdoorswoman fly tying course again on Sunday, June 6 at Eastover Resort in Lenox. Jim Lafley from the Pioneer Chapter of TU will teach the flyfishing part of it at the Alford Brook Club. Dave O’Clair will help out by making sure the accommodations are in order at the club.

Red Brook Day – Reserve September 14 to take a trip down to Wareham and attend the Red Brook family day. Check out what all the fuss is about. (The Southeast East Chapter and others are restoring Red Brook and the salties (sea run brook trout) are being restored.) They are receiving national recognition for their efforts. The Red Brook family day features a picnic, raffles and prizes. It is a good stopping point if you are heading for the Cape. Read more about Red Brook >>here

Indian Hollow Weekend - It is a chance to test out our camping and fishing gear; a chance to renew old friends and acquaintances from other chapters from across the state and Rhode Island; a chance to see if our old bones can withstand another night sleeping on the ground, or perhaps sleeping in snow; a chance to see how many blackflies we can inhale, eat or generally tolerate before going mad. Directions to Indian Hollow >>here

Seriously, there will be interesting and lively meetings, raffles, a picnic, and bonfires. Who knows, we may be entertained by some harmonica and jaws harp music while sitting around the campfire. With a background of glowing embers and a crackling fire, we look forward to hearing about some of the hair raising and hilarious outdoor sagas that the Ouellette’s have experienced. Yes, some of them we have heard many times before, but each time we hear them again, they seem to get funnier and we laugh even harder. I am not sure if the tears that I shed are from the nostalgia, laughing too hard or the fact that smoke from the bonfire singles me out all of the time.

An old tradition will be renewed utilizing the late Fred Langevan’s bottle of Yukon Jack and Paul Knauth’s goblets which he won some years back at the Pioneer Valley ’s banquet. (Space does not permit further write-up on these topics……….you’ll have to come to find out).

It’s a chance to go to sleep to the sound of hooting owls or the yipping of coyotes and wake up to the sound of wild turkeys gobbling in the nearby hills or the gravely sound of ravens or the screech of a bald eagle soaring high above or the soft coos of the morning doves. It’s a chance to see bears, deer, moose, beavers, muskrats, fisher cats, otters, ducks, and killdeers. If you are a birdwatcher, bring your binoculars and book for you will have a chance to see all kinds of beautiful songbirds. If you are a hiker or mountain biker, there is a nice 10 mile trail across the river. Oh yes, it’s a chance to do some trout fishing, too. The river will have been heavily stocked before we arrive. The Pioneer Valley Chapter will assist the DFW in that.

If you can’t spend the night, do not despair, for many people make day trips to Indian Hollow to share in some of the events, do some fishing, etc.

On Saturday morning (and maybe Sunday), Doug and Gail Yates will prepare us a wonderful breakfast. In spite of our attempts to reimburse them for the grub, they politely decline, stating that it is their way of contributing to the chapter. After that, you will have a chance to see your MA/RI Council in action, discussing and voting on important matters and determining the course of events for the upcoming year. Lots of important business will be conducted during that meeting.

After the Saturday morning Council meeting, the Council will have a free cookout. The Council will be raffling off one or two nice fly rods which were generously donated by TU Nat’l, and other stuff, all for the benefit of Red Brook. Later on that day, we hope to do some fishing and when done, we will meet around the campfire for another cookout that evening. This cookout is a “bring-your-own- food and beverage” affair. You never know what there is to eat. One year, Fred Rugo (Narragansett Chapter) brought delicious elk burgers.

The Council rented a large tent, so if the weather is inclement, we can seek shelter there. Marc Hoechstetter promises to have another large bonfire like he did the last several years. We have use of the campground from Friday afternoon until Tuesday noon . (May 16 to May 20). Some of us will be staying Sunday and Monday nights. All this is free to TU members! Hope to see you there .

Wait, there’s more. I’ve saved the best for last .

Taconic TU receives a very important award - On Friday, May 2, Dave O’Clair and I traveled down to the USFW Region 5 Conference Center in Hadley to attend a ceremony put on by an outfit called the Coastal America Partnership to recognize the Partners to Restore Yokum Brook. Earlier, we were quite busy shutting down the Friends of the Williams River (another important story which will have to wait until this fall) and quite frankly we were luke-warm to spending yet another day of TU volunteer time. There have been a lot lately.

When we were seated, we were introduced to Tom Healey, Acting Northeast Regional Director of USFWS, Virginia Tipple, Director Coastal America, Mary Griffin, MA DFW Commissioner, Philip Griffiths, Undersecretary MA EOEEA, Chris Kearney, Deputy Asst Secretary U.S. Dept of the Interior, Colonel Curtis Thalken, Commander of the NE District of the US Corps.of Engineers, Joan Kimball, Director of Mass. Riverways and a whole slew of other state and federal dignitaries. WHOA!!

Then we found out who the Coastal America Partners were: Executive Office of the US President, Departments of: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, HUD, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, EPA, NASA and Nat’l Science Foundation. Hit me, somebody!!

Then we found out that the award that we and our Yokum Brook Partners were about to receive was the highest honor bestowed upon groups such as ours by the President of the United States . It is the highest environmental award given by the President of the United States . You gotta be…….!!

There were several speeches, but one that struck me was the one that Chris Kearney gave. “your success on how to cooperatively handle projects is on the screen in Washington . You have laid the foundation for other areas of the country. You have created something much bigger than yourselves. You have shown how to handle projects such as ours, established children relationship and trust and your work benefits lawmakers.” He reiterated, “You have started something here that is much bigger than anyone realized”. Then he read the letter from the President (last page).

All of the Yokum Brook partners received a plaque and the thank you letter from President George and Laura Bush. When Dave and I went up to accept our chapter’s award, I heard Ms. Tipple comment that the Taconic TU was in this project at the inception right up to the very end. She made comments about our involvement in the ASERP program in the Becket-Washington School .

Plaques and letters were presented to over 30 partners in this project, too numerous to mention here. But I will mention a few local ones: Becket-Washington School, Crane & Co, Foresight Land Services, DFW Western District, the Nature Conservancy, Northeast Utilities, Town of Becket, Westfield River Watershed Assn., CT River Watershed Assn., 4 Winns Production, our old friends at Mass Riverways Joan Kimball, Karen Pelto and Tim Purrington and of course us. Dave and I were very proud to represent our chapter at the meeting…….it was time well spent.

Last but not least

On May 3, nearly 20 Taconic members and guests joined a nice crowd in attending the Silvio O. Conte Memorial Dinner to honor Paul Knauth as the 2007 Berkshire County League of Sportsmen’s, Sportsman of the Year. In last month’s Backcast we listed his achievements. Actually, we forgot to mention his involvement with the Casting for Recoveries Program. And, as you very well know, he was a key reason why we received the above mentioned award. I almost goofed by donating one of our salmon posters for the raffle (worth $1,000) but fortunately Homer Ouellette won it and donated it back to the club. See picture of Paul receiving awards from BCLS President Mark Jester and another one with Lifetime Achiever Wayne Tinney. Tinney is responsible for organizing the Youth Outreach fishing derby mentioned above.