Conservation, Community, Fly Fishing
my day job
It was 4:45 in the morning, deep in the Wind River Canyon. The wind howled, and the rain pelted my tent with vengeance. I lay there, with a smile on my face, as Mother Nature showed us her true power.
I thought about the ten college students scattered around the campsite, some in tents, some in cars, and some, who despite my advice, chose to cowboy camp (sleep under the stars). As the storm progressed, I heard the shuffling of sleeping bags, pleas of help to let those without tents enter, and then, the howling of laughter.
I rolled over as the raindrops began to seep through my tent, and, still with a smile on my face, went back to sleep.
My job is an interesting one, to say the least. Some folks refuse to even call it a “job.” In my role, I manage the youth programs of Trout Unlimited for high school and college students. Trout Unlimited (TU) is a conservation organization that focuses on conserving wild and native populations of trout and salmon. We have over 400 local chapters across the country, and we do more coldwater conservation work than any other organization. Despite the amount of work we do, there is always more to be done. If you want to learn more about TU, shoot me a message or head to https://www.tu.org
As the TU Costa Youth Fly Fishing Programs Manager, my goal is to inspire a generation of river stewards and conservation-minded anglers. Anglers who, while they love to catch fish, care about the protection of the resource first and foremost. This job and the aforementioned goal take me to some incredible places and expose me to some fun challenges.
During that rainstorm, I was leading the 2024 TU Costa 5 Rivers Ambassador Summit. 5 Rivers is the national network of conservation-focused college fly fishing clubs, and this is my bread and butter. This program began ten years ago as a partnership between Trout Unlimited and Costa Sunglasses. Since I was a freshman in college, 5 Rivers has been a part of my life, and I never would have dreamed that one day, I would be in charge.
The Ambassador Summit is a highly selective event that takes ten college fly fishing club presidents to the remote reaches of Wyoming for a week of leadership training, conservation work, community building, and, of course, fishing. This year, we worked closely with the Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game Department of the Wind River Reservation to carry out the three core pillars of the 5 Rivers program: conservation, community and fly fishing.
Conservation: We want to engage with and lead the hard work being done across this country to protect and serve the fish we love.
Community: We want to build a community around a shared love for these same fish and the ecosystems they call home.
Fly Fishing: And most importantly, we want to go out there and catch those damn fish.
To exercise the conservation value, the Ambassador Summit attendees completed several different projects. Most anglers would agree that one of the most repulsive things to witness while fishing is trash. Therefore, we spent the first two days cleaning our temporary home rivers of trash. The next project required a bit more planning, so we teamed up with some local TU project managers to build Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), essentially man-made beaver dams. These dams help native trout populations by promoting cooler water temperatures and creating more habitat for wild beaver to return to. Before the fur trade, huge swaths of the western U.S. were wetland ecosystems thanks to a booming beaver population. TU has played an integral role in bringing back this habitat.
As much as I love conservation, community is everything to me. You can have nothing without a group of people working together, and because of that, community makes anything possible. Community is where my heart is because I feel confident building it, and I have witnessed its power. At the Ambassador Summit, we built community in several ways. First and foremost, we brought together a group of anglers from every corner of America to spend every waking hour together for seven straight days. There's also no showers or toilets - some real bonding time. Next, we worked as a group to plan a full-scale, free-of-charge fly fishing course. We held this class in partnership with the Shoshone and Arapaho Department of Fish and Game, and about thirty community members of all ages took part. It was a great day to ride around in the back of a pickup truck and share the sport we love. What more could you want? That's a core memory, as the kids would say.
As I write this, I wonder what community means to you. I'm not sure I have a definition that I am ready to commit to. Write it in the comments or shoot me an email :)
Now, there's a final aspect of 5 Rivers to discuss: fishing. And if the other two mean the world to me, then this is my universe. I cannot exist without this “simple” act. Catching fish is who I am; it is what I do, and it will be what I do for the rest of my life. Cliff and fisherman are one in the same. Their stories have intertwined in beautiful ways throughout time and will continue to do so for eternity. At moments, the love I have for fishing flames up like a spitting volcano. At others, it runs smoothly like the steady glow of a pilot light. Not a day goes by that I don't think about fishing - not a damn day.
Some of the students on the Ambassador Summit may feel the same. For others, they probably think I’m crazy. Both are right: I am crazy - just crazy about fishing.
The joy I experienced on this trip was beyond measure, mainly because I was fishing in my favorite way. Some people like to fly fish; others like to use a spinning rod. I like to plan the trip, drive the boat, and net the fish. I like to fish through other people.
You may be thinking that this is a great excuse for me not to catch fish, and it is! But this love of fishing through another person is something that I truly fell for as the president of the CU Boulder Fly Fishing Club, my first introduction to 5 Rivers. As president, a team of officers and I would plan fishing trips for our members. We would have fifty-plus people on some of these trips, and they would sell out in minutes. I loved being responsible for everyone. I loved hearing the stories at camp about people catching their biggest trout ever. I loved netting a freshman's first fish ever. All of it was so rewarding, yet I found myself fishing less and less. Occasionally, it hurt. Sometimes, all I wanted to do was break away and get one for myself. I confess that I have given in to that pressure every now and then.
Here is the one picture-worthy fish I caught on this year’s Ambassador Summit - one of the most incredible fish of my life.
Fishing is all about catching fish, and the enjoyment of fishing has nothing to do with catching fish. It is all about the people (community), the natural space you are in (conservation), and the love of Mother Nature as she holds you in her hand. That is fishing.
As a young person, and after spending significant time with these younger generations, I can confidently say that “the kids are alright.” Shit, the kids are great! It is all too easy to look at the next generation and write them off as doing it wrong simply because they are doing it differently than you.
This past week, I had the privilege of interacting with some high achievers of this next generation, and it felt like a true honor to sit around a campfire with these young adults. To ask them about leaders they admire, dig into what our core values are and what dreams they have for their fly fishing club. Some hope to teach others about fly fishing, some want to apply for grants to complete conservation projects, and others want to take their members to faraway places to chase incredible fish. All are equally worth pursuing.
I can't think of a better way to spend your time. Years from now those kids will sit around a campfire with eyes alight talking out the weekend spent with you and the crew.
Well written! Keep it up!