For 2009, we've promised to describe one of Monadnock Trout Unimited's projects every month.
January - Bug Night!
As the days lengthen, the cold strenghtens. January is the month when we turn inward, and when some of our TU members head out into the cold evenings to ...count bugs?! It's true. The Ashuelot River Environmental Observatory takes bug samples of the Ashuelot and its tributaries each summer, and preserves the findings. In the winter, they count the bug life found in each sample with the intent of determining baseline populations of bugs to determine overall water quality. They've recently published last year's work here. And you can check out Aveo here.
February - Fly Tying
Well, the holidays are over, and we've had it with the snow. Only time for one thing - fly tying. It's time to fill up those boxes, and dream and plan for those spring trips.
We offer two different six week sessions of fly tying at the Keene Recreation Center, during January/February/March. For a modest fee, all materials are provided, and students learn the skills necesary to tie up any fly they might come across in the magazines. Not only that, it's a bit of a networking opportunity - repeat students get in for half price, and find that this keeps them tying when they ordinarily wouldn't.
Finally, students in the Imtermediate class, as well as MTU Fly Swap members, work together to come up with 14 fly boxes filled with a variety of local flies. These are donated to Casting for Recovery, to help enable them to support their women's breast cancer survivor program.
March - Salmon in the Classroom
The Salmon in the Classroom projects begin in January, when kids learn about the salmon life cycle, and prepare to raise the eggs in tanks. As spring arrives the eggs are beginning to become alvin, and soon they will be fry, ready to be released into Beaver Brook. These small salmon will live and grow in area waters (Beaver Brook, Minnewawa and Ashuelot) for two or three years before they decend to the ocean to grow into adult atlantic salmon and one day return to spawn in these same local waters. A stream survey last summer found salmon smolts that had been in the water for two years, so some of the fry released by the children in this picture are still swimming and may make it all the way to the ocean ... and back. Children also learn about the obstacles these fish face along their journey -- dams, overfishing, pollution -- and how what they do at home can affect these things. One day they may see salmon once again spawning in New Hampshire rivers.
April
May - The
June - Casting For Recovery
July
August
September - The Big E
October
November
December