The Candlewood Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CVTU) will celebrate the 42nd annual Earth Day by cleaning up garbage and debris along the banks of the Pootatuck River in Sandy Hook center on Sunday, April 22, 2012 from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Volunteers are needed. Those interested in helping out should meet at St. John’s Episcopal Church parking lot at 11:30 a.m. rain or shine. Representatives will be available to sign forms for students participating in community service. Please also contact Ann Astarita (ann [dot] astarita [at] cvtu [dot] org) to confirm your availability for this important event.

Immediately following the event, Steve Zakur will lead a stream walk of the Deep Brook/Pootatuck River Class 1 Wild Trout Management Area. All those who volunteered during the day are free to join Steve for a tour of the fishery and learn a bit about fishing for wild trout.

Please wear clothes and boots that can get wet and/or dirty; bring gloves, bug spray, and sunscreen as needed. Mike Burton of Michael Burton Builders is allowing use of this property for staging, and Associated Refuse Haulers has donated a dumpster. Hope to see you on Earth Day.

The State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has published the results of   last year’s macroinvertebrate sampling.

The good news is that Pond Brook and the Halfway River are rated among the top rivers from a sample perspective with five of the most desirable species present. The Pootatuck River was in the next category with four of the most desirable species present. Deep Brook continues to struggle with sample that included no more than two of the most desirable species at any of the sample sites. The health of that stream appears to continue to struggle back from the two oil spills and other threats to water quality.

Download the full report.

If you have any questions, you can contact Ann Astarita.

Also, don’t forget to get your new 2012 license.

From Brandon Alexander

UPDATE: DEP shared the signs they’ll be posting. Could serve as a hand-out for opening day.  You can see the file and download it here.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, March 29th, the Connecticut DEP confirmed that there is Didymo in the West Branch of the Farmington River. Press release is below.

Didymo West Branch Farmington River 032911

Remember: INSPECT, CLEAN, DRY

ORIGINAL POST: This morning on Trout Predator forums, Brandon Alexander reported seeing Didymo (i.e. Rock Snot) on the Farmy. It’s not confirmed. I asked him for more info and also passed along the posting to DEP.

Whether this is true or not, be sure you’re cleaning your equipment thoroughly when moving from watershed to watershed.

INSPECT. CLEAN. DRY.

Jerry Rekart receives Distinguished Service Award (Thanks to Thames Valley TU for the photo)

A big congratulations to Jerry Rekart for receiving Trout Unlimited’s prestigious Distinguished Service Award for his efforts building and sustaining our Trout in the Classroom program.

From TU’s 2010 Award Profile

“Often times, a volunteer takes an idea and runs with it, turning a project into a huge success.  Jerry Rekart is an example of just that. When Jerry started the Candlewood Chapter’s Trout in the Classroom program five years ago, there was one fish tank available for use in one school. Now, there are 54 tanks in 27 schools. As a result, an estimated 1,300 children learn about trout through the program each year. Jerry has been the TIC project director for the last five years and has made it a great success. In five years, 5,000 children have participated in the Trout in the Classroom program.

As any volunteer knows, it’s often difficult to sustain a willing group of volunteers. Jerry provides the ongoing support and sustenance it takes to keep things going, always touting program successes and community benefits, keeping volunteers energized. Through his work, the chapter’s visibility has greatly increased–local newspapers have covered chapter activities more and the chapter has had a resurgence of energy. It is volunteers like Jerry who are the heart of TU. Thank you.”

The folks over at the Thames Valley Chapter posted the great article below about two Connecticut Chapter members receiving TUs Distinguished Service Award at this month’s annual meeting held in New Hampshire. You can see the complete text of that article below.

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Two Trout Unlimited members from Connecticut were among 21 groups and individuals given awards at Trout Unlimited’s annual meeting in New Hampshire this year. Charles McCaughtry is a member of the Thames Valley Chapter and Jerry Rekart belongs to the Candlewood Chapter.

Charley joined TU in 1985 and rose to become a long time president of the Natchaug Chapter before that chapter merged with the Thames Valley Chapter. After the merger Charley continued his service as a board member of the Thames Valley Chapter. He is also very active as an at-large member of the state council.

Charley is on the board of his local watershed council and is quick to respond to conservation issues. There isn’t one inch of the Mount Hope, Natchaug, or Fenton Rivers that Charley’s canoe hasn’t crossed over the years. He is greatly respected for his knowledge of these rivers as stocking coordinator and advocate for live-cart dispersion of stocked trout. He is often invited to lead a narrated hike “Walking with Trout” on conservation walks. It was Charley who wslked the dry Fenton riverbed and brought awareness that the Fenton River and aquifer had been completely pumped dry by the University of Connecticut. The 2005 draining of the river was a driving force in moving stream flow regulations forward in Connecticut.

Charley is a retired teacher who volunteers his time as a mentor for Trout in the Classroom, TIC, schools and conservation events. He loves to fly fish and shares this love with students in the classroom and during streamside events. He understands the importance of teaching river stewardship to youth as well as young adults, for they will be the protectors of the future.

A well-known artist, Charley has provided countless hours making signs, posters, cards, etc. for community fundraising events. He has generously donated a framed original painting to hang at TU National headquarters. Charley also has donated prints and original artwork to chapter fundraising events. An original watercolor by Charley was auctioned off at the National Meeting to help the sponsoring Pemigewasset Chapter with the costs of putting on the national meeting.

Jerry Rekart has volunteered for several years in the Candlewood Chapter, CVTU. Some roles have been unglamorous and behind the scenes, but he has had phenomenal success during his five years as director of the TIC program. He has taken the program from one fish tank to 54 tanks in 27 schools. By serving two or three classes with each tank, dozens of teachers and an estimated 1,300 children benefit each year.

Jerry began his work in 2005 as a one-man band. He contacted schools, negotiated for equipment, trained teachers, set up tanks, obtained and delivered eggs, monitored schools, gained permits and locations for release, set time tables, created and controlled the budgets. As the program grew, Jerry developed and maintained several computer programs to track the TIC activity and recruited and trained many CVTU members to assist. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Jerry’s service has been his leadership ability. Jerry vastly broadened CVTU’s positive exposure in the community and the visibility has educated people about TU’s conservation role.

For health reasons, Jerry has had to move into an advisory role. One true mark of leadership is how a leader turns over a project he has led. In this case, Jerry turns over a solid, highly regarded program that will continue to serve TU’s mission. Jerry made a smooth transition of his contacts, files, computer programs and tricks of the trade. The demand for expansion from teachers and CVTU’s proven commitment of time and funds ensure that TIC will continue to be successful in the Candlewood Chapter.

Comstock River downstream of diversion (Thanks to Mianus Chapter for the photo)

The Mianus Chapter has posted a good article on proposed streamflow regs. Head over there and give it a read. The key message is that the DEP has spent years getting consensus on regs and TU recommends that the proposed regulations be approved as written.

ACTION: Follow the link above. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the link for a draft letter (I just cut and pasted it from Microsoft Word into an email) and the email addresses of all the committee members that need to get that info.

This will take you roughly 5 minutes if you do it slow and will have an impact that will last a lifetime.

Please email these committee members as soon as possible with your letter.

RESCHEDULED DUE TO HIGH STREAM FLOWS. NEW DATE, OCTOBER 9th. On the morning of Saturday,  October 9th we will be doing macroinvertebrate sampling in Deep Brook, the Pootatuck River, Pond Brook and the Halfway River in Newtown. This is a continuation of a several year sampling program to evaluate the water quality of four high quality cold water streams in Newtown and to determine the impact of previous oil spills on Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River. The sampling is sponsored by the Candlewood Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, The Pootatuck Watershed Association, and the Newtown Land Use Department.

I need to know who and how many volunteers we will have in order to determine the number of points to sample and set up sampling teams. Our plans are to meet at 8:00am at the Newtown wastewater treatment facility on Commerce Road for training and then go to the field for sampling. We should be done around noon. Sampling team members will need to have waders or hip boots.

Please let me know re your attendance via return email ASAP. Email Joe Hovious (jchovious [at] yahoo [dot] com) if you are available.

Click here to vote

Last evening we announced (and discovered) new folks to help fill some of those open positions. They are:

• James Mullen: Meeting Set-up Chair. Help is always appreciated here so if anyone can arrive early and help James out that would be great.
• Steve Rudolph: CVTU Librarian. Steve has cataloged an extensive video library that was donated to the chapter. I’ll get details on how to take things out of this library up on the website in the near future.
• John Queirolo: TIC Chair. John will take over the overall coordination of the Trout in the Classroom program with a strong supporting cast.
• Dick Rothen: TIC Mentor Chair. Dick will coordinate communication and activities of the chapter mentors who work directly with each school in the program.
• Kit Kechekian: TIC Equipment Chair. Kit has moved easily into the role of helping to make sure all the equipment we’ve got deployed across the schools stays up and running.

We still have several position open and would appreciate anyone who could help get involved. These positions can also be co-chaired so if you have someone who you can split the responsibilities with that would make the job easier for both of you. They include:

• Trips Chair: Coordinating several trips a year for the chapter. This job can be as big or small as you like. Many of the relationships we have with guides and locales run on well grooved paths (e.g. Pennsylvania trip or the Deerfield trip) but there’s plenty of opportunity to expand.
• Master Class Chair: This has been a series of very successful classes. Again, this doesn’t have to be an overly massive undertaking. A handful of interesting classes during the year would be great.

If you’re interested in finding out more about these roles or volunteering to fill them please contact Adam Taylor.

Again, welcome and thank you to the new volunteer leaders. I’m sure you will find the opportunity to work on the chapter a rich and rewarding experience.