Notes-January-2006

Posted by Ed Roden on 20 January 2006 | 0 Comments

Tags: General Membership Mettings, Board

A friend of mine invited me to a local TU meeting several years ago, where I was introduced to fly tying by the great fly tyer Sam Surre. This was my first exposure to Trout Unlimited. Through the meetings and events CVTU held I was able to meet some friends and relax my mind with them on a river nearby and sometimes up north. In recent years, for some reason the interest in the general membership meetings have declined to the point where we are averaging six members per meeting. In the past year we’ve had two members outside the Board attend a general membership meeting. The Board did a study this past summer and found the majority of the membership lives along the Gratiot corridor between Grosse Point and Port Huron. Therefore, we changed the meeting location from Madison Heights to the Macomb County Library on the campus of Macomb Community College on M-59. Membership attendance averaged only eight the past two meetings, with only one member outside the Board attending each meeting. Due to lack of interest in the general membership meetings, it is disappointing for me to announce cancellation of general membership meetings until further notice. A 2006 fall meeting will be considered, but only if the membership expresses interest.

Did you know the current board has been in place for four years, with only one addition? We have three former presidents who have continued to serve on the Board because of their desire to see the mission of CVTU succeed. Ken Koster has served the least amount of time on the board and that is 1.5 years. The average service of the rest of the board is seven years. Please consider what needs to be done to keep the organization operating:

* Attendance at four Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited meetings per year,
* monthly Board meetings to plan upcoming events and conservation as well as educational efforts,
* attendance at the Clinton River Coldwater Conservation Project monthly meetings,
* putting on a fly fishing / fly tying instructional class for the Clinton River Free Fishing Day at Sterling Heights Nature Center (50 students took part, one girl even caught a fish!),
* community involvement at the Stage Nature Center for a Nature / Art show in Livonia where Howie Everson, Josh Roden and myself tied flies and discussed conservation with attendees,
* the board conducted an Intro to Fly Fishing class at the Sterling Heights Nature Center to thirteen people,
* the booth at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo was staffed by only the Board (with one exception),
* the banquet successfully cleared $2,000 in order to cover some expenses for operation,
* financial reports are prepared each November and submitted to MCTU,
* the Board also logged many miles, and sacrificed time with family.

I don’t want to mention all of this to whine for sympathy or boast for accolades, but I and the Board need to communicate a cry for help for volunteers.


Why did you join Trout Unlimited? Was it so you could contribute to conserve, protect, and restore North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds? That is our mission. National TU and CVTU alike need the financial contributions to survive and advance the mission, however, money is not all that is needed. As demonstrated in the CRCCP effort to restore the Clinton River into a viable trout stream between Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, volunteer labor is a necessity. Quite honestly it should be the duty of someone who calls themselves a conservationist and member of Trout Unlimited to demonstrate this call to service in labor as well as financial gift. Are you hoping that by giving money that somebody else will step up and do the work? We have close to 300 members, including local and national. The facts show that less than ten are the only ones volunteering time. The Board is tired.


The following steps are planned:

1. No General Membership Meetings will be held until possibly fall of 2006, assuming interest is expressed.
2.Unless there are 50 tickets sold to the banquet by March 1st, the 2006 Banquet will be cancelled. We have seen a 20% decline in banquet attendance in the past four years.
3. Wa Wa Sum will be a reward for those who participate by volunteering. For any member who volunteers by participating in this year’s booth at the expo, being part of the banquet committee, or labor for CRCCP activities on river projects, a $35 per night charge will remain for staying at the lodge. Any other member will be charged $70 per night. Please contact one of the Board members if you would like to volunteer. Board members can be reached by email if you go to clintonvalleytu.com. There is a link to contact Board Members. The Board does apologize for mistakenly scheduling the Wa Wa Sum trip on the wrong weekend last year, however, maybe if the ratio of amount of responsibility per person on the board was in balance an oversight wouldn’t have occurred.


The Board is excited about some things planned in the coming year. There will be a focus on youth education. We have a teacher that is potentially interested in doing “Trout in the Classroom” next fall, and we can provide support and funding for that program. You will often see my son and Rob Bowden’s son, Howie’s grandkids, as well as other member’s children at Wa Wa Sum and other various events. We invite you to introduce your young sons and daughters or even grandchildren to Trout Unlimited.


The CRCCP will be focusing stream improvement efforts this year on our home river, Paint Creek. It is imperative we show up to work on this, the premier trout stream in Southeastern Michigan. We have thirty years of history working on Paint Creek. Let’s build on that legacy. Ken Koster, CVTU Conservation Chairman, will layout the opportunities both at the banquet in March and Wa Wa Sum in May.


We are excited about what we can do as a chapter, but we can only get it done if we have people to lead, and membership who are willing to get dirty and help with programs in order to protect our resources. We want to spend time educating the community, invite them to come to us when there is a problem, and then have the ability to provide the resources to address the concern or opportunity. The most valuable resource Clinton Valley Trout Unlimited has is you! The chapter is you. How, as the resource can you help, even if only a few hours during the year?


Thank you,
Ed Roden
Clinton Valley Trout Unlimited President