Hello Everyone!  Hoping everyone is safe and healthy!  Below is the President’s message!

April State Council meeting Update:

Marsha Benovengo is the newly elected state chair for NJ. She will finish Ron's Vacarro's term due to his vacancy and then still has 2 terms left if she so chooses. Ron is thinking more about replacing Kelly Buchta as NLC once her term is up at the end of the year.  Other openings on the council are the Membership slot, Veterans Services and Youth Education if anyone is interested, let me know and we can talk to Marsha about the position

The zoom meeting ran for about 3 hours with 6 Chapters represented (23 people) so there were some communication issues with one person controlling the meeting mute button and half not having video but we muddled through it. Jennifer Orr- Greene National TU Eastern Policy Director gave a talk about ideas to recruit members during the COVID outbreak. She did mention that Chris Woods has offered for front line responders and hospital personnel a years membership for free  so if you know of any that might be interested in joining TU for free for the first year let them know about this offer

Keith Fritschie talked for a few minutes about a few topics including Flatbrook, although nothing can be done yet as all the State parks are closed. He's been modeling floods and water flows and his initial assessment is that only 8% of the 158 stream crossing we did during the field assessment phase needed to be removed or replaced. Also talked briefly about some other projects down the road. Once were all cleared to meet again I will invite him to our chapter meeting so he can go over the project and what and were our help will be needed

John Montefusco talked about the Weis Dam removal on the South Branch right above Shannon's Fly Shop. The County has given this property to the town of Califon and most of the work to remove the dam is complete including State permits. The final issue in the Environmental assessment needs to be completed and the cost is $10,000  John has asked both the council and NJ Chapters to help with the costs. The goal is to have funding by June 1st and have the dam out this summer, hopefully in August. Two points of interest; one, this opens up about .7 tenths of a mile of public water and two, if TU can pull this off this year it will help with the big dam removal below Shannon's which will have a huge benefit on the waters in Ken Lockwood Gorge. At the board meeting earlier this month via Zoom, is was recommended and approved to contribute $1,000.00 to this cause

Lastly, we have unfortunately decided to cancel the 2020 Banquet.  It was a difficult decision to make.  We are giving everyone options.  You can donate 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0% of what you paid to North Jersey Trout Unlimited.  If you do decide to make a donation, please know that we really appreciate your support. If you have any questions, please email Tom Mount at tumount@comcast.net. 

Stay safe, stay healthy and get out and do some fishing!

All for now,

John