January 2020 newsletter

We have a TROUT FEST planning meeting Friday, Feb. 21, at 3 Pat the Chamber of Commerce Building. We have several openings for folks to step up and take on roles to lead facets of our most ambitious festival so far. 

We need help with organizing volunteers, helping vendors/exhibitors/food trucks, setting up banners and signs, marking vendor slots, handling services, alcohol sales, ticket sales, security, setup and takedown, advertising, crowd management and much more. 

Please show up and join us!

Look around your community and where you fish or hike. Where in our area is there an opportunity to move our environment from the left side to the right of the picture above?

Let us know what you are thinking.

Please remember to use Amazon Smile for your orders on-line and Amazon will

donate monthly to our Chapter. Go to smile.amazon.com and look up Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited under Charities.

Our Joe Vivenzo donated 150 sterile bandage scissors to the Fannin County EMT in

our name. Thanks Joe!

Katie McCollum heads up the GA DNR Wildlife Resources Division program called "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman."  She joined us at the January chapter meeting to share the agency's insights on the program, better known as BOW.

BOW offers hands-on workshops to women of all ages and fitness levels. Workshops are hosted at various locations in the state and allow participants to develop hunting, fishing, boating and other outdoor recreation skills, while also providing insight into the management and preservation of the natural, historical and cultural resources of Georgia. These sessions provide novices and more experienced participants enough knowledge and experience to pursue their outdoors interests at the conclusion of the workshops!

Learn more or call 770-784-3059 with any questions.

About Katie

Katie is a native of Athens and has

been involved in the wildlife field for 8

years. Katie received a Bachelor's degree

from UGA in Wildlife Biology and Masters

from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Wildlife Ecology. Katie enjoys providing

the opportunity for new audiences to

engage in fun and educational ways.

Friends and  the BRMTU family shared fellowship and camaraderie  recently at the annual BRMTU Holiday Banquet in January. 

About 60 folks showed up and got an inside look at the newly revitalized Inola Blue Ridge.

Nestled in a forest in Blue Ridge, Inola  is a colonial style village that includes the Wythe Estate, Wetherburn’s Tavern, and a Virginia chapel from the 1700s. Built by an eccentric visionary in the 1980s, the estate is taking on a new life as an upscale mixed-use property.

The number of trout fingerlings released last month following the latest Trout in The Classroom project means little in the grand scheme of all things TIC. 

Whether one, none or 500 trout survive the annual project, TIC proves valuable for the students at Fannin County Middle School. Working with teacher Cherie White, the students learn about trout biology while rearing young trout from eggs to fingerlings. 

Thanks to the BRMTU volunteers who participated in the program ... and a very special thanks to the commitment shown by the kids of Fannin Middle School.