May 2026| View Upcoming Events

May 2026 Newsletter

May is here and is the unofficial beginning of summer. We hope you are getting outside to enjoy all that Arizona has to offer. Especially fishing as the many high mountain lakes and streams opening up. During May we also honor mothers on Mother’s Day and honor our veterans on Memorial Day. 

We had a busy late March and April with Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) Outdoor Expo March 28 & 29, our last Salt River Saturday for the winter on April 4th, and the Wild and Native Trout Conference on April 23rd, see article below.

A number of Arizona TU members also attended the Trout Unlimited's Western Regional Conference in Missoula, MT that was held April 17-19th. It was a great conference with Trout Unlimited members from states across the western United States coming together to discuss how we can best move forward TU's coldwater conservation mission.

Fish Camp 2026 - spots are still available. See article below for more details.

We encourage you to join us for our upcoming activities. Click here and our webpage to see the various events we have scheduled. We’ll continue to update these events, so check back frequently.

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.

Should you have questions about these projects, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I can be reached at president@zanegreytu.org.

Tom Goodwin

Chapter President

Conservation

Club Meetings

Arizona Flycasters Club (AFC) is holding its monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 12th at 6pm. Speaker this month is Landon Mayer- Sight Fishing Secrets!

Desert Fly Casters Club (DFC) DFC's monthly meeting is May 13th 6:30pm. You can catch Landon here too! They meet at the Elks Lodge in Chandler.

AZTU Fish Camp

Registration is now open to youth 13-18 years old who want to spend a week in cabins among the tall pines and streams above Payson, AZ June 22-28. This camp is a hands-on immersive educational adventure offered by the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited. Participants will learn the skills necessary to select and tie the proper fly, plenty of fly-casting practice, and fishing. In addition, campers will get their feet wet learning entomology, watersheds, stream health, trout biology, conservation practices, and being stewards of their environment. Instructors learn from experienced anglers, biologists, and conservationists. Campers will cultivate a lifelong love of fishing, conservation, and the outdoors.  Campers return with newfound knowledge, confidence, cooperation, and leadership skills.

More information and registration at  https://az-tu.org/fish-camp/ 

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Casting for Used Fly Lines!

If you have any gently used 4,5,or 6 wt floating or sinking line just sitting around taking up space, we can use it. Your donation will help to replace the well-worn fly lines for the rods used at AZTU Fish Camp this summer. What a great way to recast your line for a good cause. Please indicate wt number, floating or sinking.  

Send by May 11 to:

Arthur Greenway

AZTU Fish Camp Director

12380 N. 129^th ST

Scottsdale, AZ 85259

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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.

The 17th Annual Native and Wild Trout Conference was held on April 23^rd at the AZGFD headquarters with over 100 attendees.

Distinguished Service Awards for Conservation were once again presented.

The Apache Trout Conservation Award was presented to the AZ Fly Shop. The award recognizes organizations for supporting a wide range of efforts to protect and restore native and wild trout.

Daniel Gallegos, with the Mora National Fish Hatchery, was honored with the Gila Trout Conservation Award. The award recognizes an individual who has shown remarkable leadership and commitment to conserve and restore ecosystems, focusing on water, trout, wildlife, and their habitats.



Posting of the conference agenda and presentations will be made available in the June newsletter.



March/April Meeting Summary

There was no meeting of the Public Policy Committee in April 2026 so that members of the Public Policy Committee could attend the Native & Wild Trout conference that was held on Thursday, April 23, 2026.

The AZ Council of Trout Unlimited Public Policy Committee (AZ TU PPC) held its normal monthly meeting on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 7:00 pm. Our guest speaker was Jim Strogen with Trout Unlimited who provided an update on Lake Powell and the rainbow trout fishery at Lees Ferry. Jim is the TU representative that participates in the Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG)-Glen Canyon Dam meetings. He stated that Lake Powell is currently about 25% of its capacity which is an elevation of 3,532 feet. Power production at the dam will cease if the water level drops to 3,490 feet. He also stated that the water temperature coming through the dam in the August/September time frame could approach 77 degrees which is very bad for rainbow trout. The members of AMWG have been discussing, for years, ways to lower the water temperature coming through the dam, but all options are very expensive and time consuming. Besides the water temperature issue, there are also issues with dissolved oxygen levels in the water, the lack of nutrients passing through the dam, and invasive fish species passing through the dam. Until the drought in the entire West ceases and the Lake Powell water level increases, the rainbow trout fishery at Lees Ferry is likely to continue to decline.

Legislative Update

The state legislature is well into the regular 2026 session and the lawmakers have begun to focus on the fiscal 2027 budget. Members of the PPC attended the Western Rivers Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, which was sponsored by Audubon Southwest. TU was engaging and educating certain legislators on why AZ TU objects to large public land sales without Congressional approval, to the rescission of the Roadless Rule by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and to stream restoration projects in AZ. AZ TU is supportive of HB 2197 regarding Not camping within one-fourth of a mile from a natural water hole or a man-made watering facility if the camping denies access to wildlife or domestic stock. AZ TU is following HB 2162 regarding membership on the AZ Game & Fish Commission Board, HB 2147 regarding landowner hunting permits, and SB 1068 regarding Arizona State Legislature and Governor approval of private land transfers to the federal government. AZ TU is also following HB 2758 regarding groundwater that is discussed below.

In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its intention to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule. The rescission notice was posted on August 27, 2025, in the Federal Register. Without the Roadless Rule, 45 million acres of National Forest land across the country, impacting fish and wildlife habitat, will be open to harmful development! The Forest Service has nearly $11 billion of deferred maintenance currently on 370,000 miles of roads in our National Forests; do we really need additional roads? TU National is now encouraging all state Councils and chapters to start a mailing campaign from TU members to congressmen and congresswomen to stop the discontinuance of the Roadless Rule.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) reported in a recent newsletter that in December 2025, the Modernizing Access to our Public Water Act was signed into law by the President. The TRCP stated that the "MAPWATERS Act is A Big Win for public access".

The National Office of Trout Unlimited has created a new TU Advocacy Champions online community group. If you are interested in receiving the periodic emails from the Advocacy Champions, please email Doug Agee at doug.agee@tu.org and request to be put on the email list.

Groundwater Management in Rural Arizona

Tom Osterday - Past Chair AZ TU PPC

We have not seen significant bill movement at the Capitol over the last several weeks as a result of the bill signing moratorium in effect. A few weeks ago, Governor Hobbs informed the legislature that she will veto all bills coming to her desk until they present a legitimate budget for consideration. On Monday 4/27, the House and Senate Republican leadership published a budget and is currently debating this budget. We anticipate, because this is not an agreed upon budget between the legislature and executive, this budget will stall or be vetoed.

There has been little progress on the bills we are tracking closely, including HB2758 the McMullen groundwater transfer legislation. Here's the background on HB2758:

This bill authorizes McMullen Valley Basin water to be transported to Phoenix, Tucson or Pinal to benefit the private equity firm, Water Asset Management (WAM). WAM has purchased thousands of acres, not to farm them, but to sell the water associated with the land. While this transfer is a concern, the bigger concern is that this could become the new standard for taking water from rural communities to support growth in metro areas. At the writing of this newsletter, this bill has passed the House and passed the Natural Resources Committee in the Senate and is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate.



Upcoming Public Policy Events

The next regular scheduled AZ TU PPC monthly meeting will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at 7:00 pm. Our guest speaker for our May 2026 meeting will be Jess Raty the Legislative Policy Administrator with the Arizona Game & Fish Department, and she will provide an update on the 2026 AZ Legislative Session.

The AZ TU 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.



Thank you to 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) for helping us host our Salt River Saturday events this past winter.

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

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