President's Letter

Matt Jennings
February 4th, 2010

The grip of winter is loosening and with it the workload of Gary Borger TU volunteers will increase, as we spring forth and put to action all the plans we made throughout the winter. This starts with our workday on the 6th of February. This workday will lay the groundwork for other workdays later in the year, as we continue to keep our project restoring Brook Trout habitat on Paradise Springs Creek moving.

Not all activity is work, we also want to reward our hard working members, and so many of our membership will head down to the Norfork River in Arkansas Feb 19-21. This trip has turned into a three day "all things trout" party that wouldn't be missed by many of our members, including myself.

The 25th of Feb. will bring training on the water monitoring protocols from the good folks at the Parks Dept. of Highland Park. This project has gained great traction with many members and some non-members that want to share their expertise in related fields of science. Wouldn't it be great to see fish running up the ravines again, and be able to show future generations that the Illinois state lines truly don't have magical fish inhibiting powers, it really is the choices we make about how we treat our enviroment. This is a groundbreaking project, with big possibilties and commmittments from our group.

This is the time to support GBTU's Flapjacks for Fisheries Fundraiser, and we are desperately in need of donations for our raffles, and for people willing to sell tickets. The event will be a family freindly pancake breakfast again this year, with demonstrations about what we do and who we work with, childrens activities, educational displays, and great raffle prizes. This is really the event that funds our work for the year, and ask each of you to please put April 24th, from 8:00 til noon, on your calendar and buy a ticket. It's just a morning, but it does a years worth of good for the trout.

Please attend the Feb. 11th meeting at 7:00 pm in the Libertyville Civic Center. Come see Corey Tedesco demonstrating how and why to tie "Tube Flies", and learn how you can help GBTU make a difference. Things are really getting good around here.

Take care,
Matt Jennings
President GBTU