Two local students attend TU’s Youth Camp

Colorado Trout Unlimited sponsors a River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp for youth each year. Two students selected this year are from the Fort Collins-Loveland area. The camp took place at Peace Ranch, near Basalt, Colorado from June 7-12.

Left to right: Lee Evans, RMF secretary, presents a check for CTU Youth Camp to Connor Murphy. Also going to the camp is Josh Morris, standing with chapter president, Ken Eis.

Connor Murphy was selected by our Rocky Mountain Flycasters chapter to receive a scholarship for the full amount of the camp. He is a member of our chapter and an avid fly fisher.

Josh Morris will take classes at Front Range during his senior year at LHS. He will take courses in conservation and wildlife management. Our chapter sought sponsorship from other chapters, and he will have his way paid by the Cutthroat chapter from the Denver area.

The camp is designed to educate students on the importance of coldwater conservation and provide hands-on fly fishing instruction. Camp classes include principles of ecology, hydrogeology, aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate sampling, hydrology, trout behavior, trout stream entomology, the biology of pollution, acid deposition, politics of conservation, and human effects on the Rocky Mountains.

In addition, the camp will include hands-on classes such as fly tying, fly casting, streamside ethics, angling literature, streamside botany, wader safety and survival, and the evolution of an angler. Students will also participate in a watershed project to repair habitat in a nearby stream.

Colorado Trout Unlimited has more information about this exciting conservation and educational program for young people.