At breakfast this morning, Scott Stouder of Trout Unlimited announced TU’s 50th anniversary. TU got started in 1959 on the banks of Michigan’s Ausable River (which I might be fishing later this week) when a handful of trout anglers got tired of catching hotdog-size hatchery trout and decided it was time to do something about it. The greenest of conservation organizations, TU now has 140,000 members with chapters in 38 states.

Scott showed a video depicting TU’s 4-fold mission: Protect (intact watersheds), Reconnect (dammed and broken river threads), Restore (damaged streams), Sustain (pristine fisheries & future conservation efforts).

The Restore theme was illustrated by footage of stream restoration efforts in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area (AKA “Coulee Country”), where TU helps WI DNR stabilize streambanks, re-meander channelized streams and build fish habitat. WI DNR fisheries supervisor Dave Vetrano narrated stream improvement work. Was that Paul Hayes I saw building a LUNKER Structure? Hey, Dave – was that Elk Creek you were working on there?

Later…