At our annual meeting on January 22nd, we will elect five members to the TCTU Board of Directors.  The nomination period has closed, and we have exactly five candidates.  Four of these candidates are current directors who are running for another term.  They are: Evan Griggs, Mike Hodgens, Rick Phetsavong  and Jim Sauter.
You can find their profiles by clicking on their names.  Our fifth candidate, Mike Rebischke, is running for the first time.  Mike is a long-time TCTU member who has been an active volunteer with Education and Habitat Projects.  He has managed the Silent Auction for the last two Oktoberfish events.  He is a CPA, and is particularly interested in helping our board with Financial Management, Strategic Planning and Fundraising.

Thanks to all who tuned in by Zoom or showed up in person to hear Brian Nerbonne of the Minnesota DNR talk about Managing for Larger Trout.  Congratulations to our Fly Box winner, Matt Obermeyer!
You can find a copy of Brian's presentation, including a list of streams where Sculpin have been transplanted (slide 15), by clicking the download button below. Due to a technical issue, we did not capture a recording of last night's meeting. Oops.  As a consolation prize, we'd like to refer you to one of our greatest hits videos:  Melissa Wagner of the MN DNR telling the story of Heritage Brook Trout in Southeast Minnesota. 

by Caitlin Collins

Last month we shared that two different groups were collecting feedback on long range plans impacting two metro trout streams, the Vermillion and Trout Brook. There's still time to provide input on the plans for these important cold-water resources.

On the Vermillion, the Vermillion Watershed Joint Powers Association has started their planning for the Vermillion Watershed for 2026-2035.  TCTU board member Doug Moran shared information on the blog in November about how to review and submit feedback on that plan, and we encourage members to do so. 

For Trout Brook, we shared an email last month encouraging members to provide feedback on the draft Long-Range Plan for Miesville Ravine Park Reserve (it's not too late! They're accepting feedback through December 20, 2023). TCTU board member and Advocacy Coordinator Chris O'Brien drafted comments on behalf of our chapter, which we will be sharing with Dakota County. You can read those comments in the attachment below.

by Caitlin Collins

We celebrated our fifth annual Winter Fish Camp at Whitewater State Park on December 1-3 with great company, delicious chili (congrats to our chili cookoff winner, Sally Noll!), and comfortable fishing temps (for winter, at least).

On top of all of the above, attendees also had a chance to learn quite a bit. ​

By Jim Sauter

Greetings from the TCTU Streamkeepers.

"I am haunted by waters."  Norman Maclean

Strategic Planning for TCTU Streamkeepers
As winter advances and we begin preparing for the 2024 stream monitoring season, we are organizing a Streamkeeper Strategic Planning Committee to help us determine future directions.  This gives us an opportunity to evaluate our successes and help develop future directions for our program.  Specifically, we will address: