Trout Unlimited

Conservation operations:the following are some notable developments underway in tu's identified "priority waters":kennebec-sandy, mainethe sandy river provides some of the highest quality salmon spawning habitat in Maine, but to get there fish must navigate four mainstem dams on the kennebec river. A major hydro relicensing process on the kennebec will determine whether sufficient access to the sandy can be established. After receiving a biological opinion from noaa that did not call for dam removal, tu convened a meeting with the u.s. Fish and wildlife service to encourage their involvement in the relicensing process, and we are expecting a draft environmental impact statement in the near future. We will continue to work with the kennebec coalition and state and federal agencies to advocate for dam removal on the kennebec.casco bay tributaries, mainestreams that drain into casco bay were identified as priority waters due to their importance to sea-run, or "salter" brook Trout. In june, we removed three dams on frost gully brook to help restore connectivity to the sea. The impoundments behind the dams were raising water temperatures in july to over 70 degrees, and now frost gully brook will flow year-round with cold spring water. Tu secured funding to conduct analyses of other coastal streams to identify and plan future salter brook Trout projects.sky island, north carolinasky island was one of the areas that inspired the priority waters approach because it demonstrated what can be accomplished when tu staff and grassroots from around the state concentrate their efforts on a focal project area. Tu staff trained more than 100 volunteers who gathered data on fish passage barriers and sediment sources from hundreds of miles of roads and trails. The cathey's creek watershed emerged as a priority for restoration, and tu recently secured $1.2 million to replace culverts and reconnect the watershed.tennessee river headwaters, tennesseetu spent the summer of 2023 completing large wood addition projects on the cherokee national forest in Tennessee, which is notable because it is the first wood addition project to be completed in the southern appalachians. This restoration technique, which has been used extensively from west Virginia to Maine, has great potential to benefit streams of the southern appalachians. This year's work in Tennessee will be a springboard for similar projects throughout the region.coaster brook Trout waters, mi, wi, mnmuch like the streams of casco bay, tributaries to lake superior hold brook Trout that migratein this case, to the lake and backknown as "coasters." Since identifying this priority water area, tu has begun convening state and federal agencies to reenergize coaster restoration efforts. We have established a partnership with the red cliff band of lake superior chippewa to support their coasters program and will complete reconnection projects on lake superior tributaries through our $4.8 million funding agreement with noaa and our forest service keystone agreement.driftless area, wi, mn, ia, iltu is in the final stages of negotiating a $6 million regional conservation partnership program agreement with the natural resources conservation service for five years of driftless area restoration work. Our driftless program recently received a $200,000 grant from the builders initiative to expand our work in local communities of northeast iowa.alaskain Alaska, the epa officially finalized clean water act protections for the land and waters near the pebble deposit in january, making it extremely difficult for the proposed pebble mine to proceed. However, in july, the state of Alaska filed a case against the epa in u.s. supreme court, challenging their decision to issue a final clean water act 404(c) determination. Tu's attorneys are reviewing the case, and we've secured the pro-bono assistance of the sheppard mullin legal team that represented us in our successful challenge to epa's prior decision to withdraw protections. We are well-positioned to defend the protections we've worked so hard to put in place.we broke ground on our first Alaska abandoned mine restoration project this summer. We're using private dollars to secure more than $7 million in public funding to restore 1.8 miles of resurrection creek, an important chinook salmon river on the kenai peninsula which has been severely damaged from historic placer mining. We are pleased to report that just days after channel reconstruction, pink salmon were migrating up stream and a brown bear was fishing in the reconstructed channel! This is the first of many restoration projects we have planned in the next five years to put more than $8 million in federal funds to work improving fish habitat.oregontu's salmon superhwy partnership is wrapping up another fantastic field season completing two very large, culvert-to-bridge projects on tillamook county roads in the trask river basin, which opened over three miles of habitat for esa-listed coho and other salmon, steelhead, and pacific lamprey. These culverts were at high risk of failure and located on "priority 1" lifeline road routes, so the projects have also improved human safety and economic security for disadvantaged communities in the region. With strong advocacy from senator's wyden and merkley, the ssh partnership just secured its first award from the federal highway administration's national culvert removal replacement and restoration grant program of over $2 million for three additional fish passage projects.tu's non-partisan approach proved effective during the state legislative session. We achieved major victories including passage of our top-priority policy bill that permanently authorizes Oregon's split-season water leasing program which is a key tool for our flow restoration programs in the state. We also obtained passage of a bill that improves management of piscivorous non-native game fish, and a bill that grants the water resources department the authority to file for injunctions to immediately end illegal water use and storage (primarily related to illegal cannabis grows). In addition, tu worked successfully on various budget bills to increase funding for fish passage projects, work to monitor and support reintroduction of anadromous fish in the upper klamath basin, new gaging and studies to protect coldwater refugia for native steelhead and salmon, and more than $50 million for irrigation infrastructure modernization. Most of these budget items were not included in the governor's original budget proposal, but were added through effective coalition work, largely led by tu staff. Tu and our partners also killed bad bills, including three measures that would have gutted Oregon's fish passage program, a bill that would have effectively granted ownership for a portion of the klamath river's flow to a wastewater treatment district (so they could sell it! ), and a "salmon credit" bill that would have streamlined the development and destruction of functioning salmonid habitat.idahotrout Unlimited and the nez perce tribe have been working collaboratively on watershed/aquatic ecosystem restoration and protection projects since 2017. Tu and the tribe inked a two-year partnership agreement in 2019, which provided an overarching framework to coordinate partnership work to achieve science-based watershed restoration, protect river values, and enhance work within the nez perce reservation and across the tribe's vast homeland. Due to the success of that agreement, in july 2023, tu and the tribe executed a new five-year partnership agreement that will enable us to achieve our mutual goals of protecting and restoring salmon and steelhead habitat in the snake river basin.washingtonin eastern Washington, tu's wenatchee-entiat beaver project team recently received over $700,000 in iija/bil grants from the forest service and blm for their beaver-powered restoration work in the thirsty watersheds that feed the columbia river from the eastern flank of the cascades. Their low-tech process-based restoration projects improve instream flows, floodplain connectivity, and habitat complexity for esa-listed salmon, steelhead, and bull Trout. In may, the team was honored by a visit from the chief of the forest service and had the opportunity to give chief moore a firsthand look at their work on alder creek in the okanogan-wenatchee national forest.

Membership development:the nlc workgroups continue to make progress toward completing their quantifiable goals which support the tu strategic plan. Tu continues to evolve its membership messaging to focus on collaboration and engagement.

Volunteer operations and chapter support:in addition to planning cx3 annual meeting this year, tu's volunteer operations planned and executed three regional rendezvous, which were very successful with more than 500 grassroots members and partners attending one of the three events. These events bring the most active and passionate volunteers together with our expert staff and partners to learn best practices, share innovations, network, and grow our "one tu" culture.the three-year partnership with tractor supply company on the plant for our future campaign has created the capacity to grow and improve the marketing and awareness of tu's grassroots tree planting efforts and has opened new doors for the organization. The arbor day foundation has connected with our engagement staff several times in the last quarter seeking to connect project sites for tree plantings with interested donors. These brokered planting grants not only help provide "match" for some of our national projects, but also allow for as much as 20 percent of the funding to be used for staffing and facilitation of the planting projects. We are establishing an effort to identify and target additional corporate and foundation funders for this work - especially for programs that engage underserved communities.we brought together multiple 5 rivers college club leaders from across the country on the wind river indian reservation in Wyoming for the costa ambassador summit. During the summit, the students learned about the history of the reservation and the 2.2 million acres of land managed by shoshone and arapaho tribal fish and game. They also learned about indifly's work on the reservation and their mission to use fly fishing as a tool to create sustainable economic opportunities for tribal members. Throughout the week, the students camped, fished, discussed their struggles and triumphs with their 5 rivers clubs, and bonded over their shared love of fly fishing and tu. On their last day on the reservation, the students hosted a learn to fly fish clinic for tribal youth and helped dozens of kids catch their first Trout on the fly.the 10th annual tu teen leadership summit was held at georgetown lake, Montana. This event brings together 25 teen leaders from across the country, many of whom are graduates from one of tu's summer fly fishing camps and academies. All summits feature trout-centric, hands-on volunteer project. This year, the teens worked with tu staffer, tess scanlon, and the us forest service to construct beaver dam analogs on a native cutthroat stream. Check out the tu teens instagram: @tuteens.

Communications:tu's priority waters communications campaign launched in mid-january following completion of a new website (https://prioritywaters.tu.org) that includes state-by-state rundown of priority waters work, a section about how we work and why it matters, and maps. This new website is integrated with tu.org and is an update for our standing conservation content. A multimedia effort involving social media, blogs, press, emails, ads, and films is promoting the message that tu is working at scale across the nation, and working in places you live, love and fish. The first of a series of priority waters films launches in february: "a beautiful mess" highlights our work in Tennessee's cherokee national forest. Forthcoming installments are set in Arizona (apache Trout), California (golden Trout), the olympic peninsula (salmon and steelhead), and Wyoming and Utah (cutthroat Trout). This is an all-hands-on-deck evergreen campaign, and we have been encouraging staff, volunteers and leaders to help us spread the word using a tu priority waters toolkit.

Government affairs:the tu government affairs department has been implementing our new and expanded approach to protection and advocacy across all aspects of tu and externally to federal agencies and congress.highlights include:- tu simultaneously testifying in congress in both the senate and house hearings on significant conservation and policy issues.- holding a key meeting with the us forest service that could expand our keystone agreement by $50-70m over an additional 10 years.- exploring the development of a tu tribal partnership center for advocacy.- propelling tu's good samaritan mine cleanup bill, which has 26 senate co-sponsors and the unique status as the only bipartisan conservation bill in congress.- taking a new leadership role in advocating for protections for coldwater fisheries in the arctic.- taking a comprehensive approach to the lower snake dam removal issue as the administration reached an agreement with the tribes and plaintiffs.