WesternRendezvousRegional

Greetings, fellow TUers.

I was privileged to attend the Trout Unlimited (TU) Western Regional Rendezvous in Taos, New Mexico, in May. This get-together of council and chapter leaders from the Intermountain West, along with National TU staff, was not only educational and timely, but enjoyable!

The Trout Tale is a quarterly newsletter of the Wyoming Council of Trout Unlimited. The deadline for submission of articles, information, photos and content for the Fall 2023 newsletter (October, November and December) will be September 1, 2023. Send all contributions for the fall issue to Wyoming Coordinator Mike Jensen at mike.jensen@tu.org. The Trout Tale is available online at the council’s website: wyomingtu.org.

© 2023 Wyoming Council of Trout Unlimited

• Mike Jensen, Newsletter Editor

• Kathy Buchner, Chair

Proud recipient of the 2014 Trout Unlimited

“Bollinger Award For Best Newsletter”

Wyoming Council of Trout Unlimited P.O. Box 22182

Cheyenne,WY 82009 e-mail: mike.jensen@tu.org

Phone: 307.421.3188 www.wyomingtu.org

ON THE COVER:

Former Wyoming Council Coordinator Calvin Hazlewood (left) and current Wyoming Council Coordinator Mike Jensen admire a great summer brown trout caught last year.

Wyoming Trout Unlimited photo by Clint Kendall

Two intense days of meetings were broken down into one-hour, concurrent sessions following the tracks of “All Things New Mexico,” “Western Regional Topics,” and “Leadership and Development.” It was very difficult sometimes to choose which meetings to attend as, unfortunately, I couldn’t be in two or three places at once.

I started off with public lands — TU’s priorities on energy — apropos I thought for a state like Wyoming! According to Tasha Sorensen, TU Western Energy Lead, TU’s priorities are reforming onshore oil and gas, federal permitting, and renewable energy sources. And, as to why do we (TU) care? Seventy-four percent of the trout exist on public land!

Next up was a session on Trout in the Classroom (TIC). Three Taos area teachers shared their experiences and all agreed that TIC is a great lesson in responsibility. Students take pride in accomplishing their tasks of feeding the fish, tank cleaning, etc. They felt that nearly all ages of kids can take something away from TIC — from third grade up to eighth grade. TIC can be used to teach math, science, and writing skills.

The late afternoon session was a regional breakout session. I joined the Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming group. We discussed regional conservation issues, ways of developing strong regional partnerships on shared issues, and just got to know our fellow council leaders.

Saturday morning began with a presentation from Rob Masonis, Trout Unlimited Vice President for Western Conservation. He talked about National TU’s restructuring, that is, going to a more regional and state-based organization rather than D.C.– based. By Fall, the Rocky Mountain region (ours) will have a regional vice president. Stay tuned for more details.

Climate Change was next up. As I’ve been attending regular Zoom meetings of the Climate Change Workgroup, this was only a reinforcement of much of what I already knew. If you haven’t already done so, check out the Climate Change pages on the TU National Website for information and resources.

I even attended a session on Social Media and Advocacy: Compelling Storytelling to Make Big Things Happen! Examples discussed included the intense Social Media campaign that was instrumental in the Bristol Bay success story. Furthermore, young people are very aware of conservation issues, and we should target this 19-44 age class with our messages.

In addition to the formal sessions, there were ample opportunities to socialize with our fellow TU Council Chairs and leaders. I came away with many new contacts to continue this sharing and networking with others in the western region.

Sunday concluded with a tour of the Cimmarron River and some of the habitat work done by the New Mexico Council. Beautiful country!

Kathy Buchner has called Jackson,Wyoming, home since 1971. She served as Wyoming Trout Unlimited’s Director from 1993-2002, and has been an active advocate for trout fisheries for some 30 years. She enjoys spending time with her two grandkids (who, at 7 and 4-1/2, love to fish). Kathy can be reached by email at kbuchner@wyoming.com.