About WDTU
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About WDTU

The West Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited (WDTU - chapter #130) was founded in 1975 and has over 1000 members. WDTU,West Denver Trout Unlimited serves the western Metro Denver, Lakewood, Golden, Morrison, Englewood, Littleton, Wheatridge, and Arvada. WDTU holds a free meeting each month on the first Wednesday at the Jefferson County Fair Grounds, 15200 West Sixth Avenue Golden, Colorado. Each meeting has a social hour and a short business meeting followed by a featured speaker. While many presentations have an angling theme and are meant to entertain, there are also presentations on Colorado legislative initiatives and other conservation issues such as: improved access to public property, minimum in-stream flows, whirling disease, and the reintroduction of the endangered green-backed cutthroat trout.

Other chapter events and activities include: an annual chapter fishing trip, picnic, and fly-tying clinic; various habitat and stream improvement projects in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the US Forest Service, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW); and fly-tying and angling clinics for local Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, and public schools.

West Denver Trout unlimited,WDTU, is partnered with the Jefferson County School System and actively supports the Outdoor Education Laboratory at Windy Peak. Members helped to install mobile classrooms, built handicapped-accessible decks and fishing piers, and provided a fully stocked fly-tying classroom along with fishing rods and reels. Volunteers also provide fishing and fly-tying instruction to student interns and support various other Windy Peak activities. For more information on WDTU or on up-coming events and activities, contact any Board or committee member.

WDTU,West Denver Trout Unlimited, has been recognized as one of the best chapters in the state and the nation. Awards have included: Best Youth Education Project, Best Conservation Project, Best Special Event in Colorado, and Best Newsletter in Colorado. In 1999, WDTU was one of only three chapters in the nation to win the Trout Unlimited's coveted "Silver Trout Award".

The West Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited holds its monthly general membership monthly meetings and its Board of Directors meetings at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. To get to the Fairgrounds, take Sixth Avenue west to Indiana Street and exit south. Turn right at the second light and look for signs on your left. See you there.

The National Trout Unlimited Organization:

Trout Unlimited is a non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to conserve, protect and restore North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. That mission is accomplished on the local, state and national levels through an extensive and dedicated volunteer network.

Trout Unlimited was born in 1959 when a small group of concerned anglers in Michigan banded together to ensure the health of trout, riparian habitat, and the sport of angling. They won their first legislative victory just two years later when Michigan replaced its indiscriminate stocking of catchable-size trout with stream improvement programs, fingerling planting, and protective fishing regulations. Word of their success spread quickly and conservation minded anglers in other states, from Pennsylvania to California, joined together under the Trout Unlimited banner to effect similar changes to their trout fisheries.

The National Office, based just outside of Washington, D.C., employs professionals who testify before Congress, publish Trout Unlimited's quarterly magazine, intervene in federal legal proceedings and work with TU's 100,000 grass-roots volunteers in 450 chapters nationwide to keep them active and involved in conservation issues. At the national level, Trout Unlimited has been instrumental in enacting important legislation to protect fish and aquatic habitat. Recent legislative victories include the U.S. International Driftnet Fishery Conservation Act, which provides enforcement for the ban on high seas driftnets; legislation to improve fish migration around hydropower dams; and laws that will strengthen wetlands protection and lay the foundation for removal of two controversial dams in Washington state. In 1993, in response to a TU lawsuit, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) agreed to conduct the first ever environmental impact review of its state hatchery program. The findings of the DFG study will help to reform one of the nation's largest fish hatchery programs and should help fisheries biologists seeking similar reform in other states. In addition, TU is helping to develop responsible habitat management plans for the future through partnerships with state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Trout Unlimited's National Resource Board, made up of representatives of Trout Unlimited's volunteer leadership, sets the conservation agenda for TU. Today, protecting trout and salmon requires up-to-the-minute scientific research and active legislative advocacy to back up hands-on habitat restoration. To provide that expertise. and a presence in the nation's capital. Trout Unlimited has built a dedicated national staff of legal and scientific professionals. The national staff, based in Washington, D.C., works at the federal level to influence national environmental policy and carries out TU's national conservation agenda.

For more information on the national Trout Unlimited organization, click on the link that follows. The TU home page will appear in this browser window. When you are finished, you can return to this page by simply clicking on the menu to the left. Click here to go to the National Trout Unlimited home page.

The Colorado Council of Trout Unlimited (CTU):

Colorado hosts the Colorado Council of Trout Unlimited (CTU) which serves 6,200 members throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The West Denver Chapter is one of 21 chapters in Colorado.

For more information on Colorado Trout Unlimited, click on the following link. The Colorado Trout Unlimited home page will be displayed in this browser window. When you are finished, you can return to this page by clicking in the menu to the left. Click here to go to the Colorado Council of Trout Unlimited (CTU) home page.