It has been a busy spring with many youth events involving grade school through college participants in education and restoration activities. Our spring began with an introduction to fly fishing for Cub Scout Pack 377 in March at Eben Fine Park. The troop received instruction in fly fishing equipment, casting, fishing tactics and entomology. The cub scouts were especially excited about running around a nearby tree and returning holding their breath to simulate the stress a fish experiences when being landed by angler. In April we began our spring semester Outdoor Ed. Class at Fairview H.S. Students participated in a field trip April 18th to South Boulder Creek where they learned how to collect invertebrate samples and conduct bio-assessment studies.
May 7th, the Longs Peak Council's Centennial District held their annual spring Camporee in Estes Park for Boy scouts, ages 11-18. The Camporee is an annual event held at Lake Estes to assist 200 scouts with their angling skills. Members of the St. Vrain and Alpine TU chapters and I were present helping kids with all levels of fishing ability. Numerous scouts were tutored by CTU volunteers helping teach them how to fly fish and cast. Those who participated learned in very difficult 20 to 25 mph winds and threatening snow squalls. Fortunately, only one baseball cap was unwontedly hooked in the adverse casting weather conditions.
BFC participated in the Boulder Children’s Water Festival again this year in conjunction with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Our presentation emphasizing water conservation, water quality and ethical fishing is rapidly becoming a student favorite. The stars of our show are the cold and warm water aquarium guests who get up close and personal with the students. This year we had two our “rainbow” stars leap into the crowd. They must be watching too many MTV videos. The largemouth bass who reluctantly left the confines of the aquarium to come face to face with the fifth graders was not cooperative when he was asked to sing.
The highlight of our spring youth activities was the Youth Riparian Restoration Day held May 15th in conjunction with the City of Boulder Parks & Open Space department. Our project this spring was on Coal Creek near Louisville where youth volunteers worked to restore the riparian habitat scarred by the recent removal of a diversion dam. A similar project completed last year on another Coal Creek diversion dam removal site was an unqualified success. Eighty to ninety percent of last year’s plantings survived the winter and have erased all signs of the dam. This year, youth volunteers planted over 300 trees, shrubs and grasses in the affected dam diversion area. Volunteers for this project come from all over Boulder County and most are non-TU members. These projects have been so successful; we are planning to conduct two more similar projects this year on South Boulder and Middle Boulder Creeks. Anyone interested in participating in these or other youth education and conservation projects please contact me at the5quills@earthlink.net. I guarantee everyone wins who participates.