October 2022
Welcome to the Zane Grey Chapter October newsletter. Fall has officially arrived – we have probably seen our last 100-degree day for five or six-months. Later this month all four-major team sports are playing, and we’ll have the World Series, Halloween, and an excuse to dress-up and eat candy with no one judging our actions. Another plus, the cooler days and nights particularly in the mountain lakes creates fantastic fishing opportunities.
We had an active September and look forward to a busy fall and upcoming activities.
We hope you were able to join us for our
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“Carp on the Fly” fishing clinic, last Saturday, October 1, 7:30 am – 12N, we jointly hosted with Desert Fly Casters Club. The event was going on as we went to press month, so send us some great pics if you were able to make it!
And be sure to join us Thursday, October 6 for:
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Zane Grey Chapter Trout on Tap, a conservation Pint Night, Thursday, October 6, 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Spokes on Southern, 1470 E Southern Ave, Tempe, AZ 85282. Come learn more about what Zane Grey chapter and Trout Unlimited are doing in Arizona and learn how you can help. Signup by clicking here.
Salt River Saturdays return:
Partnering with Desert Fly Casters Club and Arizona Flycasters Club, we plan a series of Salt River Saturdays. We'll hold these events more or less fortnightly beginning in November, and generally follow this schedule:
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- November 5, 2022
- November 19, 2022
- December 3, 2022
- December 17, 2022
- January 7, 2023
- January 21, 2023
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- February 4, 2023
- February 18, 2023
- March 4, 2023
- March 18, 2023
- April 1, 2023
- April 15, 2023
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Come out for coffee, conservation, camaraderie, and an opportunity to fish the Salt River. Oh, and of course we'll have donuts! |
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Additionally, thank you to all who responded to our volunteer survey. We’ve begun contacting those who are interested with more information and opportunities. If you missed the survey, and would still like to participate, you may do so here.
And guess what – we’ve entered the 21st Century . . . we can now text you with important updates, reminders, and other information. We promise we won’t SPAM your phone, the most we’ll send is three-messages a month. But you’ll need to ‘opt-in’ to get our text messages. You can opt-in here
Some other great news; after a half-century of collaborative conservation efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delist Apache Trout. More about these actions and what it means later in the newsletter
Recently the Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited (ZGTU) Board of Directors developed a Strategic Action Plan aligning our many diverse activities and helping better define our mission while setting our organizational course for the next several years.
So, this Fall, we are kicking off our volunteer recruitment in concert with our strategic plan.
Additionally, thank you to all who responded to our volunteer survey. We’ve begun contacting those who are interested with more information and opportunities. If you missed the survey, and would still like to participate, you may do so here.
Scroll down to the volunteer section to learn more.
We thank you for your help and support.
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Board meetings - No meeting this month -
come to the TU on Tap - Signup here
Until then,
Tight Lines.
Alan Davis
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Help Wanted Needed!
Consider volunteering for a position with your chapter. We are currently looking for a number of volunteers. Scroll down to the Volunteer Section for more information. Or, contact any board member, or me.
Here are some of the articles in this month's Newsletter.
- Your Zane Grey Chapter of TU has a great Instagram! Follow us here!
- Arizona TU (@trout_unlimited_arizona)
- Conservation
- Apache Trout Recommended as removed from Endangered Species Threatened List
- Public Policy
- 4Fri Record of Decision
- ADEQ Moving Forward on Surface Water Protection
- Conservation Projects with AZGFD
- Officer Succession Plan
- Howl For Wildlife
- Upcoming Events: Meeting Thursday Oct 13th @ 7PM
- Volunteer Opportunities and Updates:
- See above in the President's Message and below
- ZGTU Strategic Plan Opportunities
- National Leadership Council
- Anglers with a Heart
- Fishing
- Salt River Saturdays Coming Soon
- Other Angling organizations
- ZGTU and affiliates calendar
- Follow ZGTU on Social Media
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Great News – Apache Trout Recommended for Removal from EPA’s Threatened List! |
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Trout Unlimited, along with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the White Mountain Apache Game and Fish Department, succeeded in getting the Apache Trout recommended for removal from the endangered species threatened list. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still needs to provide their stamp of approval, and there will be a five-year monitoring period to ensure the fisheries are not deteriorating.
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Great News, isn’t it? Have you ever caught and released an Apache Trout? How about a Gila Trout? Thrilling, isn’t it? And when you realize they’re the only two Arizona native trout species, it makes you extra-grateful they are still around.
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The goal of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is to conserve endangered and threatened species, and ultimately get them off the list. Learn more here.
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Want to show your support for Apache Trout, and help Arizona Game and Fish programs and efforts? The Gila Trout Chapter of Trout Unlimited sell this great Apache Trout Pin!
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4FRI Record of Decision for the RIM Country Project
On September 19th, the US Forest Service leadership responsible for the Coconino, Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests signed the Record of Decision for the Rim Country Project! Lesley Yen, Acting Supervisor for Coconino N.F.; Neil Bosworth, Supervisor for the Tonto N.F.; and Judy Palmer Supervisor for the Apache-Sitgreaves N.F. declared that the implementation of the Project can begin immediately! This is a monumental moment! The RIM Country Project began in 2016 and is slated to address the thinning of 1.2 million acres over the next 20 years. AZTU has been an active participant in the Stakeholder Group where Joe Miller has been a champion for including aquatic restoration in the scope of the plan. The project will make our forests more resistant to catastrophic wildfire and will improve the health of the watersheds.
ADEQ Moving Forward with Implementing the Surface Water Protection Program (SWPP)
The update for October:
1) We continue working closely with ADEQ on their Technical Paper on the Economic, Social and Environmental (ESE) Cost/Benefit Analysis. We continue to be concerned that the value of fishing, both as an economic driver and as a quality-of-life driver may be undervalued in the model.
2) ADEQ did not update the Protected Surface Waters list to include the 6 waters that are on the AZGFD's Native & Wild Trout list in their Coldwater Sportfisheries Strategy Document for 2019-2029 (which is the foundation of our Arizona Priority Waters List) that are not in the Protected Surface waters List in the ADEQ Draft Rule. They are seeking additional information from us and AZGFD and will consider them for a future release of the Rule.
3) We have drafted our comments for submission to the Notice of Proposed Rule Making and will be formally submitting them this month.
The history from August Newsletter:
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is aggressively moving forward with the roll-out of the SWPP. They have published 5 Technical Papers and the Draft Rule. This Rule includes the list of which surface waters are going to be protected, called the Protected Surface Water List (PSWL). Eighty-five of the ninety-one waters on our AZTU Priority Waters List are on the PSWL and we are working with ADEQ and AZGFD to get the other five added. One aspect that we are watching closely is how the Economic, Social and Environmental (ESE) Cost/Benefit Analysis is going to be modeled. This is the tool ADEQ will be using to determine whether to add or remove a water from the PSWL. We want to make sure that the Social and Environmental value of waters are considered, not just the potential creation of jobs and tax revenues. By statute, the Rule must be finalized by year-end.
Here is a link to the technical Papers and the updated Draft Rule:
We believe that this implementation of the SWPP is critical to protecting our fresh, clean water in AZ as it will dictate how waters not protected by the federal Waters of The US (WOTUS) Rule will be managed.
Conservation Projects with AZGFD - Jim Strogen
Jim S. continues his collaboration with Curt Gill, AZGFD, on the Department’s conservation project list pertaining to priority waters and on how AZTU could assist. Priority projects include: Chase Creek, Dude Creek, Highline Trail Bridge, and Upper East Verde River. The Dude Creek project appears to be fully funded and will have full compliance in October 2022.
Execution of Officer Succession Plan
As we have been planning since November of last year, Ron Stearns has ascended from the Vice Chairman role to the Chairman position effective October 1! Ron was raised in Winslow, AZ into a railroad family. His dad was a fisherman and a hunter and he got Ron started at an early age. He had a bamboo fly rod that Ron started using in high school. Ron received an accounting degree from ASU in 1974, and was able to get a CPA certification a couple of years later. He went to work in Tucson in 1975 with a national accounting firm that transferred him to their Phoenix office in 1995. He had a total of 45 years with 2 firms in the accounting profession. About 10 years ago, Ron started getting active again with fishing and hunting, his passions, after years focused on his career. After retirement, he contacted Alan Davis in February 2021 to get active in the Zane Grey TU Chapter. In April 2021, Tom Osterday invited him to get more involved in the AZTU-PPC committee. Ron took on the Vice Chairman role in May of this year.
Dave Rozema, from the Gila Trout Chapter, has volunteered to serve as Secretary of our Committee. Dave Rozema retired as the Coconino County Attorney in 2017 and has been fly fishing throughout Arizona and North America since then. Dave has a special love for small streams and wild trout. He is a member of Payson Fly Casters and the TU Gila Chapter. Dave has been married to his childhood sweetheart Linda for forty years; they have four daughters, fourteen grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Tom Osterday will continue his participation in the leadership of the PPC as the Former Chairman.
Howl for Wildlife
At our August meeting, our guest speaker was Charles Whitwam, the founder of Howl for Wildlife (Howl). Howl was launched in January 2022 and is a multi-pronged advocacy platform to observe legislative actions and to fight anti-hunting/fishing legislation and boost sportsmen legislation at the state level and national levels. Charles wanted to create a mechanism for sportsmen to unite, to get engaged, and to get their message out. The platform can provide different emails with different subject lines from each individual to legislators, decision makers, in minutes rather than hours to encourage legislative actions. Howl has had approximately one million actions through its platform so far in 2022. Howl will take on legislative issues at no cost. However, there is a membership available to individuals and groups to keep abreast of legislative activities. Here's a link to the Howl website: Howl for Wildlife
Upcoming Events
October Meeting: Thursday, October 13th at 7:00 PM. Our guest speaker will be Kirk Young and he will inform us about the issue of the smallmouth bass in the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry. Our November guest speaker will be Elvy Barton from SRP.
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The AZTU Public Policy Committee (PPC) hosts a virtual meeting on the second Thursday of the month at 7:00 until 8:00 PM. If you are interested, please contact Ron Stearns at PublicPolicyChair@az-tu.org .
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ZGTU Volunteer Opportunities |
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Recently the Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited (ZGTU) Chapter Board of Directors developed a Strategic Action Plan aligning our many diverse activities and helping better define our mission while setting our organizational course for the next several years.
Our focus, in formulating this plan, are the key factors that drive the Zane Grey Chapter as an organization:
- conservation;
- membership outreach;
- external and community outreach;
- chapter sustainability and leadership development; and,
- fundraising.
The ZGTU strategic plan is a dynamic document covering the next three-years and created as a map for ZGTU’s future. Our intention is implementing and updating often. Here is a link to the Plan or click on the picture below.
We are now looking to you, our chapter members, for help in reaching our Chapter goals! We know we have many talented chapter members that could assist in various ways, and we encourage you to become involved. Whether it’s an hour a month or more we want you! This will be a fun and rewarding endeavor! If you would like to know more and or are ready to “jump in” please reach out to:
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It’s simple: Trout Unlimited members care. We care for the environment. We care for each other. And now, since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we can support that also.
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Desert Flycasters, Az Flycasters and Zane Grey Chapter are co-sponsoring Salt River Saturday Conservation and Fishing events.
Dates starting in early November!
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Social Media:
Check out the Instagram page for
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Looking for a Fishing Opportunity? |
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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: |
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AZ Flycasters Club
@ The American Italian Club
7509 N 12th St
Phoenix, AZ 85020
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Fly-Fishing Social Event night - 2nd Tuesday of each month. Great speaker and awesome raffle. Donations support our Community outreach partners from Veterans to Youth activities.
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Desert Fly Casters
Check website for details.
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General meeting 2nd Wednesday of each month. Social Event 6-7 Meeting @ 7PM Great speakers; check website for details.
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AZFISHBOOK offers a variety of social activities. Listed below are some of the activities available.
Check out the AZFISHBOOK Groups at:
Looking for buddy to fish with?
Signup for AZFishBook Newsletter:
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Join Trout Unlimited Today!
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REMEMBER:
Your Conservation License Plate Supports TU Programs
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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 seven years in support of the Annual Native and Wild Trout Conferences and the Trout in the Classroom programs.
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.
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Committed to
Protecting, Connecting and Restoring Arizona's watersheds and fisheries.
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Combined Calendar
AZ Trout Unlimited & Chapters, Arizona Flycasters Club and several other area fishing and conservation calendars
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You may access our calendar here.
Zane Grey Trout Unlimited
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Protect. Reconnect. Restore. Sustain. Conserving coldwater habitat in the desert southwest. |
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