Join us for and some good fellowship! A short business meeting, program updates, and raffle precedes speaker.
Happy New Year! Well, I certainly hope that my new year gets moving along better than my end of 2022. The flu sure can be a pain. I hope that your 2022 ended with a wonderful holiday season.
The Board of Directors of the Chapter had a fairly low key end of the year, except for pulling off a fairly successful Holiday Gathering at the Guilford VFW in December. Those of you who couldn't attend missed great food and fellowship! Thanks again to Paul Dinice for a great presentation of his thought provoking program on the "Stages" of Fly Fishing.
I know that for me, Paul's presentation brought to mind nostalgia for my early experiences and anticipation of trips to come with friends. Thanks also to Jim Woodworth, our Treasurer and VFW member, for his work with the venue and staff. I hope that we can make this event an annual occurrence.
Board members continue to try to move forward with conservation projects with less success than hoped for. Conifer revetment projects on state land are a beast of a different color, to say the least. Many moving parts. We will continue to engage on both the Coginchaug River in Wadsworth Falls State Park and the Mill River in Sleeping Giant State Park.
On December 31, 2022, Bill Martin, his wife Lorrie, and I shut down the Pages Millpond Fishway on the Farm River for the winter. We look forward to opening up the fishway in the spring. In July this year, we will be conducting a removal of invasive water chestnut (Trappa natans) from the pond. Canoes and kayaks (and folks willing to get dirty) will be needed.
Any of you who tie flies and are interested in supporting our Veteran's outreach project with sight impaired patients from the West Haven VA Hospital should contact me at [email protected] for more information. This winter we have three dates (one per month in January, February, and March) scheduled in Branford through the Take a Vet Fishing folks, with whom we partner.
As always, we encourage members of the Chapter to contact us with ideas on ways that we can engage with you. What are your expectations from the Chapter leaders regarding you membership in Trout Unlimited? Are you more interested in being a part of the larger national conservation and advocacy organization and/or do you have specific local interests that we are or aren't fulfilling? We also continue to seek folks interested in leading the Chapter forward. Please email me at [email protected].
I guess that's it for now. I hope to see you at the January meeting on the 12th and at future meetings and events. Again, I wish you and yours a healthy and happy new year.
Best regards,
Rick