Trout Unlimited?

[Lotech Joe]

Just as a general topic of discussion, what do you all think of the importance Trout Unlimited? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the rating of most importance, where would you rate them and why?

[Marc Martyn]

I've been a member for almost 16 years now. When I first joined, Spokane had an active chapter that held meetings every month and was involved in local stream projects. For the last 6-8 years, there have not been any meetings and no projects. Supposedly, there is a local chapter, but I have yet to get a chapter newsletter from them. I e-mailed the headquarters and they replied that the local is still operating. So, I'm not sure what is going on.
The organization as a whole, I think is a good cause. However, for the east side of the state, I'm not sure what the money is going for. I'm sure that there are ongoing active projects going on back east, but not much out in the N W. One of the chapters in the Seattle area had been shut down for a while so they could get their finances back in line.
Bottom line? I'm not sure if I will renew or not. I think that it is an east coast oriented organization. The Spokane Falls Chapter in my opinion is non existent.

[iPodrodder]

There was a thread much earlier this year about trout unlimited. I'll try and dig it out. From reading that thread, I'm never going to join.

[Lotech Joe]

I'm surprised! :0
Anxious to hear more.

[iPodrodder]

aha. And here's the link. http://www.washingtonlakes.com/Forum/vi ... .php?t=767

[jmay]

I give TU a big ZERO in importance in Washington. I was a member for 1 year in 1996. After reading their magazine I felt dupted out of my money.I'm all for conservation, but I have never heard of them help fund anything around here. My general take is that they want every river to be wild and senic or wildress even though the people who write their doctrine have never set foot west of the Mississippi. From what I read its not about the fish to the board of directors its about controling land.

I view Ducks Unlimited the same way, they have abandoned the people who started the organization, hunters, to push their political objectives and control of lands.

I give the $35 a year to the Mule Deer Foundation, the Rocky Mnt Elk Foundation at least locally they do project and fund studies for the State.

[Anglinarcher]

I guess I need to rate them a zero myself.

I got a free membership this last year when I got a new Winston Fly Rod. Love the rod, not so the TU organization.

To be honest, they have become so liberal, and so one sided, that I felt I was reading a copy of "Tree hugging is Us" every time I picked it up. I soon remembered why I dropped out some 15 or 20 years ago. They have always been heavy into fly fishing, but you would think that to fish for trout without a fly rod was a mortal sin now.

TU use to be an organization based in activity, developing fishing opportunities, teaching. Now, well, you have heard others comment already on how active they are now.

I wonder, is PETA, The Humane Society, and TU working together?:-#

[Mossy]

Trout Unlimited? Never heard of it but it sounds about right, they are unlimited since the state can grow them, feed them, plant them and then charge over 23 dollars a year to catch them.

[littleriver]

Never been a member but I would also rate them a zero.

I do have some bits and pieces of their history though. It's incomplete and I could end up being corrected on some of my opinions here but, that's ok. I've been corrected here before.

I think they got started a long, long time ago. Probably a good organization (sort of like Duck's unlimited) when it started.


By my reckoning their problems started in the early 1970's when all that "foundation money" started pouring in. Same thing happened to the sierra club and at about the same time.

Anyways, regardless of how TU promotes it's agenda, we all need to understand that the "agenda" is driven by the foundations who fork out most of the money. TU definitely does not promote any issues that are of interest to sport fishers in this state. Another good organization to avoid is "Washington Trout". They also take money from and are controlled by the "foundations".


And by the foundations I'm talking about entities like "Bullitt Foundation", "Rockefeller Family Fund", "Ford Foundation", etc. etc. There are thousands of them and they contribute 10's of billions of dollars every year just to environmental groups. In case anyone is wondering how this "Human Caused Global Warming" thing stays alive even though all the real scientists think it's a scam, well it's because of all that foundation money that's available to promote it. If you are good at convincing others that Human Caused Global Warming is a reality then you will get your grant. if you can't then you will need to go find a job or something.

Some foundations are rational entities that contribute to the well being of our society and our culture but the vast majority are run by leftist whack jobs. Bullitt foundation is a great example of what I'm talking about and you can get a feel for where they are at by going to their web page at "www.bullitt.org" and checking out who they give grants to and why. If you are really into this kind of stuff you can even create you own environmental group and apply for a grant right on their web page.







Some might not remember that the Puget Sound Anglers Clubs (PSA's) used to be TU chapters. Not sure when the split happened but I think it was a good thing and I think all the PSA and Poggie clubs sprinkled around Puget Sound are good organizations to join. Any of the locally run bass clubs are good but if you want to join a national group that's going to do something for you I would recommend either RFA (Recreational Fishing Alliance) or CCC (Conservation Corps plus something that starts with C.. I can't remember what all the C's stand for). They are both based back east but have chapters along the west coast. CCC has been actively recruiting in this state recently.

[A9]

I haven't heard them do jack squat around here. I give them a one, atleast they tried....

Like others have mentioned, they seem to be all fly guys who are left winged tree huggers who just care about their streams rather then the conservation of fish and waters all over the nation.....Very unorganized as well from what I hear.

Sorry if this offends anyone, just my personal opinion and you can bash me for what I say and it ain't gonna hurt my feelings...

WDFW is no better though. They really can't get much right either....

[Marc Martyn]

So, Sam. Are you having a bad day?
Lighten up on the "Fly Guys". I am one and I don't hug trees:cheers:

[A9]

Nope not having a bad day. I don't have a problem with fly guys and I didn't say they ALL are tree huggers. I'm just saying it seems that most of their support and participants are of that sort and that doesn't help because not all fishermen are of that type. Need to have all types of people running a nationwide organization....

[littleriver]

Just checked the Buillitt foundation page and TU get's an annual $40,000 grant from trustees at the big "B"...


May not sound like much but that's just one foundation. I'll bet the annual TU operating budget is in the 10's of millions and that the bulk of this money is from the various foundations. Now, don't get me wrong. If in fact any of this money is actually spent on 'conservation projects" (you know.. the way Duck's Unlimited spends it's money on buying land for habitat and stuff like that) then I support it. I'm just saying that there's some other stuff going on behind the scenes and that you should be verifying any claims made by the promoters who contact you. I should also note that TU took a very solid position on a political issue very near and dear to many of the verbal contributors on this site. In 1999 sport fishers in this state, under the leadership of Tom Nelson, put an initiative on the ballot that would have banned nets and hence commercial fishing in this state. Trout Unlimited came out solidly in opposition to this intitiative (699 as I recall) but the primary opposition to the measure was from the Sierra Club legal defense fund. And they put big, big bucks into defeating it. They challenged it in court from the get go and spent a bundle on TV ads to bring it down. Both the Sierra Club and Trout Unlimited get most of their money from foundations like Bullitt and the trustees of those foundations really despise we sport fishers. They hate us with a passion. Now, I've never really been able to figure out why they hate us just that they do. The same kinds of foundations provide groups like PETA and PAWs with the bulk of the money they use for moving public opinion against us.


Actually, a good way to check the credentials of any "do gooder conservation" type of organization is to check to see if they get money from Bullitt. If they do, then you can pretty much assume that the "conservation" stuff is bogus. Just at nice sounding front to promote the agenda of Bullitt's trustees who are mostly leftist troglodytes and who spend a lot more time mourning the demise of their beloved Soviet Union than they do researching environmental issues.

[A9]

I'd like to see some of that money TU gets be given to the WDFW....

[Marc Martyn]

Littleriver-Quote:
"They hate us with a passion. Now, I've never really been able to figure out why they hate us just that they do."

Could it be your attitude?o:)

[iPodrodder]

Hey guys, calm it down here. Not every organization that you don't like is comparable to Communism. PSE, Trout Unlimited, PETA, PAWS and probably a thousand others you think are out to get you. Hmmm, commercial fishing support (I could exaggerate and call it hyprocrisy), to communism. I'd like to know where the bridge is because I cannot relate to where you are coming from.

Please keep it reasonable and civil.

[A9]

I don't think anyone is getting "heated" over this. If people don't like an organization, they should be able to voice their displeasure about it. And no one is saying that every organization we don't like is communistic....Although it would be interesting to know how a national wildlife program would run for the benefit of all if it was communistic in it's operation and management.

[Marc Martyn]

I have been a member for about 16 years. Unless you are a member and have participated in any of their projects, one should refrain from condemning their cause. A few years back I participated in a stream rehabilitation project up by Newport, WA. For the entire weekend, members worked with WDFW and the forest department and opened up about a quarter mile of bogged down slow running water in a creek. This involved chain saws, cutting brush and wenching logs. We were successful in increasing water flow and creating spawning beds in that area. The fish count in that area of the river increased 6x in the next 2 years.
Trout Unlimited is not a tree hugging bunch of communist backed troglodytes (Troglodyte (Dungeons & Dragons), a race of humanoid monsters).

Grow Up!

[A9]

I have been a member for about 16 years. Unless you are a member and have participated in any of their projects, one should refrain from condemning their cause.

No one is condemning their cause. I think all sportfishermen are interested in the sustainability of our streams and fisheries in the future. None of us want to be telling our grandchildren 50-60 years from now that there used to be such a thing called a salmon that spawned in that stream and swam freely in the Puget sound.I want these fish to be here down the road so others behind us can enjoy it as well (I need something to do when I retire too, I can't just play golf everyday)

I just don't think they have had any major impact in our local area. I checked out there website and saw that they are doing some stuff on the Snake River, sounds like they are getting around to deal with some local issues. Sounds good to me. I'm sorry for the confusion Marc, but again, I think everyones opinions should be valued. I'm sorry every cannot agree, but anyone can condemn any cause, regardless if they have particpated in their work or not.

[littleriver]

I'm not as concerned about TU as I am about the foundations funding it.

Like I said, they probably do some good work. Just do your research.

Whenever you join or deal with organizations like this you should do some digging to find out where "ALL" their funding comes from and then check out those sources and their motivations. You should also do some checking in regard to the organizations "claims of great benefit" to whatever benefit they are trying to benefit.


If you feel comfortable with what you find then go with it. I'm just saying I don't feel comfortable with TU. Maybe someone from TU will join the conversation and set me straight. I can recall getting in a discussion like this about Washington Trout some years back on another forum and the leader of the organization joined the discussion and it was rather interesting.

It might also be noted that the charitable organizations that used to raise money to fund islamic terrorism in this country (I say "used to" because most were rooted out and shut down after 9/11) didn't portray themselves as "islamic terrorists" in their promotional literature. They typically sold themselves off as some kind of "benefit to the kids" or "benefit to the cause of peace" or "benefit to education" kind of group. But, to be honest, I can't recall any of them bragging about their efforts to improve trout habitat anywhere.

I might also note that I presented testimony at many of the 4D rule hearings about 6 or 7 years ago. Those who follow the politics of our sport closely will probably recall that the 4D rules were developed by the NMFS to "solve our salmon crisis". The whole thing was a big sham but that's another story. I do recall two older gentlemen from TU presenting testimony at one of the events though. Their arguments were long and ponderous and dealt only peripherally with the issues being discussed but they were good speakers.