Rocky Mountain Flycasters
Leadership Meeting Minutes
April 11, 2018

Meeting called to order at 7:05 by President Coy Wylie.
In attendance: Mickey McGuire, Tom Culbertson, Will Huett, Lee Evans, Dave Piske, Dave Morse, Dennis Cook, Ruthie Ketola (minutes), Phil Wright, Paul Wehr, Colin Glover, Frank Bub, and guest Chris Carroll, USFS.

Note: a quorum was present.

  1. Board Business

    1. President’s comments - Coy welcomed the group, and Phil introduced Chris Carroll, Fisheries Biologist with USFS.

    2. Review of Agenda - approved as is.

    3. Review of March’s Minutes - approved as submitted.

    4. Consent Agenda - Treasurer’s Report, Youth Report, CO Report

    5. Pulled Consent items - youth camp

  2. New Business

    1. Chris Carroll discussed USFS’s considerable need for assistance, using volunteers from RMFC, with multiple projects in our watershed over the next decade, due to budget constraints:

      1. Cherokee Park SWA: George and Cornelius Creeks-assistance with reclaiming and restocking Greenback trout

      2. Long Draw reservoir: same

      3. Temperature logging: would be done spring to fall. He detailed what is involved with placing and collecting the probes and provided a spreadsheet of locations. There will be a training opportunity for those who are attending the CTU rendezvous April 27th over noon.

    2. Discussion of the BT Watershed Coalitions request for $1000 donation to use for riparian restoration around the peer- Coy. Tom pointed out that we have $10,000 in the conservation fund, and $3300 in the raffle fund available. We briefly discussed other projects we may consider supporting: Watson Lake diversion, Coral Creek Cabin. Mickey motioned we go ahead with the BT Watershed Coalition donation. This was unanimously approved. Opportunities for future financial support were discussed but no immediate needs. Dennis suggested we formalize donation requests from various organizations by having requests submitted in writing- Mickey will prepare a simple template to use.

    3. Restructure of Conservation Program Leadership - Mickey
      We will be looking for multiple people to replace Dave Piske as a conservation chair team, with experience and interest in both the Big T and Poudre watersheds, green back restoration, regulatory items, and grant writing etc. Frank Bub will be the contact for this. Announcement will be made at the general meeting next week.

    4. Embrace A Stream- Dave Piske
      Discussed whether we want to make a new project proposal. The max award from EAS is $10,000 and average is $3500. Dave’s opinion is that it is a lot of work, and we may not want to participate. We will discuss again in future meetings. Mickey agreed to send an affirmative response to the regional EAS representative.

  3. Old Business

    1. Update from Nominations Committee - Dennis
      Slate of candidates for board positions to be voted on at the May general meeting-approved as is:President: Mickey McGuire
      Vice President: Linda Jefferies
      Treasurer: Ryan Hogan
      Secretary: Ruthie Ketola
      Trustee at large: Frank Bub
      Trustee at large: Colin Glover

    2. Update from Awards Committee- Dennis-the committee has received nominations and will finalize awards.

    3. Platte River Veterans FF update - Dave M

      1. meetings have gone extremely well in Loveland and Greeley; rods have been built and fishing trips are starting.

      2. The fundraising gala is this Saturday in Cheyenne. Tickets are $65.

      3. May 5th at noon will be a celebration event in Loveland.

      4. Coy sent a letter to PHW severing our affiliation and received no response.

    4. Odell River Appreciation Day April 22 – Coy
      Refer to staffing schedule email. Meet up at 8:30 for the river clean up, and back at Odell’s at 10:30 to set up.

    5. Poudre Riverfest www.poudreriverfest.org/about-the-festival/ - Colin agreed to chair this event and coordinate the volunteers; still need volunteers to sign up.

    6. Lee Evans is coordinating for the USFS Free Fishing Day- also on Saturday June 2nd.

    7. Rendezvous - April 27-28 -Mickey. 5 members are attending.

    8. Children’s Water Festival- Jerry Pelis is leading this and has the required volunteers.

    9. Shirts/hats order- Phil discussed budget request to purchase these and this approval is already in place. Colin suggested getting trucker style hats/camo printed hats to appeal to the younger members.

  4. Future Business

    1. Tracy with BT Watershed Coalition extended an invitation to celebrate the completion of the fishing pier project on June 23rd at the site.

    2. NoCo Expo planning– Coy will devote more time to launching this project beginning this summer. The mission is to bring the NOCO fly fishing community together. There is already much support from our affiliates. There was additional discussion related to cost/profit; some concern was raised that if we replace our Fly Tying Expo with the new event, we need to ensure some funds are raised for the Chapter.

Submitted by Ruthie Ketola, Secretary