At the Last Chapter Meeting…..06.21.23

Committee Reports

Membership—we have 10 new members as per TU National.  He will try to reach out to them through US Mail and / or email depending on what info is available to him.

Finance—  current balances and spending reviewed.

Conservation—we now have a new committee chairman and he had a lot to report  :

1.  Paulins Kill Cleanup; since we did not do a Flat Brook cleanup this year we may want to participate in this event.  It will be scheduled in November and when the date is picked everyone will be advised.

2.  NJ School of Conservation; this entity is active again after being dormant for a number of years.  In the past, the chapter had participated in some their events.  They are currently doing a water quality study of the Flat Brook.  We have made a contact there and we will try to schedule them to speak at a future chapter meeting.

3.  TU / Fred S Burroughs Flat Brook Study; you may remember that TU was coordinating a project to have culverts replaced to expand Brook Trout habitat in tributaries.  When our key person there left TU the study was suspended.  We will contact TU and see if this can be revived and / or modified; maybe coordinate it with the School of Conservation work.

4.  Stream Habitat and MacroInvertebrate Bioassessment; we now have a  certified member under this program; for a lot of very interesting info about bugs see web page Macroinverebrates.org and click on a bug for more details.

5.  Penn State Study; we are involved in obtaining data for this study.  If you will be fishing in the northeast counties of Pa please contact us and we’ll send you a short questionnaire that you could complete to help.

Recent Events

Sparta Trout Derby—held at Station Park where Sparta arranged to stock the pond, and they announced that TU was on site that morning.  We had approx. half dozen members turn out to answer questions and help the fishers, and we were identified by our guide shirts and our blue vests.  Many fish were caught and although most were sunnies there were trout being caught on a regular basis throughout the morning.  We’ll try to post pictures of the event.

MiJoe trip—salt water trip was a success with over 20 people on board.  (I know we have at least 1 picture showing fish caught).

Hudson Farms Anniversary—for three days we manned a table with Fred S Burroughs banner held high and keychains available for attendees.  Also, we did casting instruction and fly tying seminars.

We offered a mug to anyone who signed up for TU membership and we received 3 completed membership applications which we mailed on to TU; one attendee who appreciates the work that TU does made an unsolicited $100 contribution to the chapter.

Hudson Farms advises they were happy with our participation, and it is possible they will make a donation to the chapter

Future Events

Green Day at the Sussex County Fair—this will take place on August 7 and TU will be there; the hours for our table will be 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM.  Six members signed up at the chapter meeting and an email blast should go out soon for additional members to volunteer.

Chapter Picnic—still discussing the viability to have a picnic this year.

Most likely dates are Aug 5 or Aug 26.

With some concern over the Mohican Camp site, we are considering having the picnic at Milford Beach.  This location is in Pa on Rt 206 just over the bridge and right on the Delaware River.

Will keep everyone posted on this.

Charity Hike at Hudson Farm—this is not a TU activity, but fyi it is a 5 mile hike to be held on Oct 7.  If you complete the 5 miles you will be given the equivalent of 1 dollar per year of your age which you then donate to the various charities that are on site.  Refreshments are provided.

Last But Not Least

Communication Strategy and Initiative

Recognizing that we need to communicate better, we will try to clean-up and bring the website up to date, use Facebook more effectively, and also use email blasts more effectively.  When we want to get info out, it should go out using all three methods.

We have started to make this happen.  A new member has experience with websites and he will join the Initiative.  So look for better communications going forward.

Sparta Glen

As you know, the chapter spent considerable time and money to rehabilitate the brook that runs through the glen.  We thought it would be a good idea if signs were posted on Glen Rd to identify this area.  So we have contacted the town to get feedback as to whether or not this would be a viable project.  Our thought is we would pay to fabricate the signs and the town would do the installation.

…and if you had attended this meeting, you would have learned  :

>>when and where a private group stocked several hundred trout (including golden trout) on the Flat Brook.

>>where to catch wild brown trout up to 18” on the Musky.

Hope to see you at future meetings—next one is Sept 20.  In the meantime, check out the website and Facebook page as they get upgraded and info is added, and watch out for email blasts.  Have a good summer

GD

06.30.23

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Green Day at the Sussex County Fair –

Monday August 7, 2023 from 12:00 pm Noon to 4:00 pm.  Help man a table on Green Day for environmental and educational outreach to children and adults.  Come join us and promote Trout Unlimited, tie flies, and play fishing games with the kids for prizes!  Call George Demby to volunteer and get more details about admission and parking!  973-347-3542.  See you there!