June 2025| View Upcoming Events

June 2025 Newsletter

Welcome to the June 2025 newsletter. Happy Father’s Day! Flag Day! and a gaggle of other holidays. Some others worth noting include Sunday, June 2, Native American Day, and June 19, known as Juneteenth, originally the Texas slavery Emancipation Day from 1865, nearly a month after the U.S. Civil War ended.

June begins summer, and the opportunities for more outdoor adventure, fishing and conservation activities abound. My grandmother once told me you only have about 80-summers, so make the most of them. Similarly, we have limited time available for our conservation efforts with Trout Unlimited; we must make the most of our time. Please consider helping with our efforts whether it be with conservation work, youth education, or work toward conservation focused legislature.

This past month has been a challenge for conservation focused hook and bullet organizations as well as all outdoor recreationists. Through Trout Unlimited’s national effort and local efforts spearheaded by Michael Cravens on Arizona Wildlife Federation, soliciting our support and letter writing campaigns to our U.S. Congressional Representatives, we were able to stop a late night proposed Federal land sale of 1.5 million acres. This only happened because sportsmen and women and outdoor recreationists like you spoke out and held your representatives accountable. Thanks to all for weighing in.

Perhaps an optimistic by-product of this recent Public Land grab is the renewed interest in the bipartisan Public Lands in Public Hands Act H.R. 718, prohibiting the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, and for other purposes. We hope the senate will propose a similar bill.

With our dry spring, please be extra careful in the mountains. The eternal optimist in me and various local lore says – if we had a dry winter and spring we should have a great Monsoon this summer. Let’s hope so. 

June also begins our sixth season of Arizona Council Trout Unlimited – Grand Canyon Council Fish Camp beginning Sunday, June 8, 2025. We have two sessions this year. We’ll have more about fish camp in next month’s newsletter.



As we reported last month: The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is being inducted to the Wildlife for Tomorrow's Outdoor Hall of Fame. See the article later in the newsletter. The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is helping sponsor this event and is sending registration information soon. We expect to have a couple of tables supporting the council and hope you can join us. Tickets for the event are $150 and includes your choice of Meat or Vegetarian. You can reserve your spot now by clicking this link and pay online. Be sure to specify your meal choice and the names of those attending. 

Finally, we would like to thank all our volunteers and supporters for their continued dedication to Trout Unlimited and our mission. We could not do what we do without your support, and we are grateful for each and every one of you.

Zane Grey Chapter is expanding, so we’ll have a series of Pint Nights around Western and Northern Arizona. We visited Prescott at Brown Bag Brewery, on April 15. Sorry if we didn't get a chance to say hello ...

Watch for our announcement regarding our next Pint Night.

We plan these events as an occasional series of live meetings for our members, and to make new friends. So, stay tuned … there are more to come! We'll determine our next event during our board meeting and let everyone know where we take our act on the road next.

Your ZGTU board asks that as you read this newsletter, please think about how you would like to join in and help promote fishing, conservation, education, and love of nature. You may contact me or any board member to let us know about your ideas.

We hope you can join us, or better yet volunteer to help with these many and varied activities. 

Until then, 

Tight Lines. 

Alan Davis

Coming up in Zane Grey Land

Arizona Fly Casters' monthly meeting will be Tuesday, June 10th at the American Italian Club 7509 N. 12th Street, Phoenix, AZ. Meeting starts at 7p.m. We will have Chase Newlon with the Arizona Game and Fish Dept giving a Entomology 101 presentation. This is great information to know when choosing flies for specific waters you are fishing!

Desert Fly Casters' monthly meeting will be on Wednesday, June 11th at the Elks Club, 1775 W. Chandler Blvd, Chandler. Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Come meet Kris Bare of Pheasant Tail Fly Shop who will speak about fishing in Arizona. Learn about the proper gear and techniques you can use across the state!

And, if you need to renew your TU membership you can do it here easily. This link should take you directly to the renewal page.

BREAKING NEWS!

On May 30th the Tonto National Forest Service has urged those visiting Apache Lake to take precautions when recreating in the water after an algae bloom was discovered.

During a routine sampling at Apache Lake, Arizona Game and Fish Department officials noticed a change in the water's color where the riverine section was bright green. A water quality specialist at the Game and Fish Department analyzed a sample of the lake water and found dolichospermum, a cyanobacteria which is a human health concern.

Visitors are advised to avoid contact and ingestion of the water and urge children and pets to stay away from the algae in the water and on shore. Visitors are also urged to not eat any fish, drink any water, or use Apache Lake water for cooking until the bloom dissipates.

May Meeting Summary

The AZ Council of Trout Unlimited Public Policy Committee (AZTU-PPC) held its normal monthly meeting on May 8, 2025, at 7:00 pm. The guest speaker was Josh Goodfellow who is a Water Laboratory Manager with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. He spoke on the Department's process to identify lakes and streams for testing and determining the number of fish samples to determine if the fish species are safe for human consumption. Surprisingly, the fish species in the urban lakes tend to be the safest fish species for consumption because of frequent stockings by the Arizona Game & Fish Department.

Legislative Update

The 2025 state legislature is still in session and bills have been drafted and are in various stages in the legislative process. We are monitoring twelve bills of interest and reporting on them to the AZ TU community. Certain members of the AZTU Council attended a "Support Public Lands" rally at the Capitol on Thursday, March 27, 2025, sponsored by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and the Arizona Wildlife Federation. It was attended by approximately 250 individuals from numerous organizations. We learned that Arizona has more anti-public lands initiatives/bills than any other western state in the US.

Nate Rees reported at the AZTU-PPC Strategy Summit on March 1, 2025, that there are two bills that TU opposes HB2083 regarding the AZ Game & Commission board members and SB1278 regarding a commission to oversee the sale of private lands. It appears that both bills have stalled in the legislative process. The 2025 Legislative Session is suppose to end by June 30, 2025, once the budget is approved. The AZTU-PPC meeting on June 12, 2025, will provide an update on the status of the various bills of interest.

Arizona Water Management

Tom Osterday - Past Chair AZTU PPC

Tom continues to participate in the Rural Water Working Group (RWWG), advocating for local control of groundwater when it is threatened. Senator Dunn proposed SB1520 which would provide limited relief to 4 groundwater basins in AZ but would make it virtually impossible for any other basins to receive protection in the future. This bill passed in the Senate on March 13 and passed the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water (NREW) Committee on March 25th.The RWWG held an event urging bi-partisan legislation that same day in the Capitol Rose Garden. If it does pass the House, Governor Hobbs is expected to veto it.

We believe that negotiation between the Republican and Democratic leadership is the only way we are going to make progress in protecting groundwater in Arizona. We believe it is essential that we address rural groundwater in this session because negotiation on the Colorado River Water is going to consume everyone's attention next year when the current agreement on Colorado River Water expires.



Upcoming Public Policy Events

The next regular scheduled AZTU-PPC monthly Teams meeting will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 7:00 pm. Our guest speaker will be Ed Sanchez the Chief of Legislative and Government Affairs with the Arizona Game & Fish Department.

The AZTU-Public Policy Committee hosts a virtual meeting on the second Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM. If you are interested, please contact Ron Stearns at PublicPolicyChair@az-tu.org.

Conference Presentations Available 

The 16th Annual Native and Wild Trout Conference was held on April 17^th.

Don't miss the 10-minute video with Chris Wood, TU’s CEO and President, where he offers praise commending the success in removing the Apache Trout from the Endangered Species List and partnerships for the restoration of the Gila trout. 

The presentations can be found at AZTU Conservation.

Join us as we host a series of Salt River Saturdays with our Fishing Club partners, Desert Fly Casters Club (DFC), and Arizona Fly Casters Club (AFC), and of course with the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD).

Stay tuned for the next season of Salt River Saturdays later this fall!

Wildlife for Tomorrow announced today that the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is to be inducted into the Arizona Outdoor Hall of Fame.

In response, Chairman Alan Davis stated:

The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is honored to be inducted into the Arizona Outdoor Hall of Fame by Wildlife for Tomorrow and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. This recognition celebrates our longstanding dedication to conserving and restoring Arizona’s cold-water fisheries and aquatic habitats.

We proudly join an esteemed group of individuals and organizations committed to protecting Arizona’s outdoor heritage. This honor fuels our passion to continue advocating for healthy waterways and thriving ecosystems for future generations.



Thank you to Wildlife for Tomorrow and all who support conservation in Arizona—we look forward to celebrating at the induction banquet on August 23, 2025, at Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak!

You can join the fun too! The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is helping sponsor this event and is sending registration information soon. We expect to have a couple of tables supporting the council and hope you can join us. Tickets for the event are $150 and includes your choice of Meat or Vegetarian. You can reserve your spot now by clicking this link and pay online. Be sure to specify your meal choice and the names of those attending.

The Arizona Council consolidated the Arizona Trout Unlimited chapters. Effective January 1, 2025, much of eastern and southern Arizona, Kingman and Navajo County east and south including White Mountains: Show Low, Greer, etc., is becoming a part of the Old Pueblo Chapter based in Tucson.

The Mogollon Rim, and areas west of Kingman, including Flagstaff, Lees Ferry and the Colorado River down to Yuma become part of the "new" Zane Grey Chapter based in Phoenix. The below map will give you some idea of the new alignments. The Green areas are the new Zane Grey Chapter, while the Blue areas are the Old Pueblo Chapter's new alignment. The non colored areas are National parks, Military reservations, or other government areas, do not have postal delivery Zip code, and few if any residents.

The Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation (AZSFWC) license plate fund is derived from the sale of wildlife conservation license plates and member organizations as well as non-member organizations are eligible to apply for those funds. 

The Arizona TU Council and Chapters have received funds over the past thirteen years to support the Annual Native and Wild Trout Conferences, Fish Camp, Trout in the Classroom program and various conservation projects.

The next time your registration comes up for renewal, choose the conservation license plate option at registration to show your support for conservation and our projects. 

Social Media: 

Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zanegreytu Check out the Instagram page for

Arizona of Trout Unlimited: @Trout_Unlimited_Arizona

If you're more traditional, try signing up for the private Facebook group: Arizona Women of Trout Unlimited.

Below is a list of fishing organizations in Arizona. Feel free to join, explore, visit their websites or attend a meeting to find out more information:

Make sure to follow our Instagram @Trout_Unlimited_Arizona



You may access our calendar here. 

Zane Grey Trout Unlimited