Volume 7
Issue 4
 
THE HELP STOP POACHING TELEPHONE NUMBER IS 1-800-831-1174.  CALL BETWEEN 7am and midnight, 7 days per week.

When: April 11, 2002
Where: Piccadilly Cafeteria, Johnson City Mall, on N. Roan Street
Program: Tim Landis fishing boundary waters
Program: 6pm-7pm Board Meeting (members and guests welcome) 7pm program

OVERMOUNTAIN CALENDER OF EVENTS
 
April19 Deadline for submitting materials for May Newscaster
         27 TU Tennessee Council meeting on Hiwassee River

May 3 Deadline for home delivery of May Newscaster
        9 Board of directors meeting (members and guests welcome)
18 Watauga River clean up
21 & 22 Major clean up of S. Holston Weir
      24 Deadline for submitting materials for June Newscaster

June 7 Deadline for home delivery of June Newscaster
      13 Monthly chapter meeting with outdoor program
      21 Deadline for submitting materials for July Newscaster

July 5 Deadline for home delivery of July Newscaster
      11 Monthly chapter meeting with outdoor program
      19 Deadline for submitting materials for August Newscaster
      20 TU/ TVA/ TWRA/ USFS Coldwater Cooperative Meeting in Knoxville

August 2 Deadline for home delivery of August Newscaster
             8 Monthly chapter meeting with outdoor program
 10 South Holston River clean up
           14-18 TU National Convention Portland, Maine
           23 Deadline for submitting materials for September Newscaster

September 6 Deadline for home delivery of September Newscaster
                  12 Annual meeting for election of new officers
         * Roan Mountain Burleson clean up
*Date to be announced later

Treasurer’s Report

The chapter’s bank account balance is $2,045.55

Membership

Welcome to the following new members: Jerry Carroll and Jim Hicks of Gray, and Thomas Whittaker of Johnson City.

RIVER AND STREAM PRIORITIES

Watauga Tailwater—Margie Stratton and John McKee—Boat access in Elizabethton

South Holston Tailwater—Bob Viers—Weir Dam flow and silt

Patrick Henry Tailwater—John Krutak and Andy Hale—Pollution

Doe River—Bob Bierbaum—Cleanup

Hampton Creek—Bob Bierbaum—Protection of fishery

N. and S. Indian Creek—Elaine Walker and Foster Levy

Doe Creek—To be filled

Laurel Fork Creek—To be filled

Beaverdam Creek—To be filled

WATAUGA RIVER WATCH

On Friday March 22, Marjorie Stratton, John McKee and Bill Beazell met with Bob Ripley TWRA Region 4 director and Bart Carter TWRA Biologist, to inspect and plan for a possible boat and wade access site adjacent to the old water plant for the Bemburg and North American plants in Elizabethton

TVA PUBLIC MEETING

TVA has started a two-year reservoir operation study, which is scheduled for completion in October 2003.  On Thursday April 11(unfortunately our meeting night) you will have a chance to express your views at a 5:30 to 8:30 meeting at Sullivan Central School.

FONTANA NORTH SHORE ROAD

In an E-mail dated March 5, Don Kreh supplied excellent information concerning the North Shore Road situation.  Postal mail is not recommended, but please fax or e-mail your Congressional representatives.

SAVE OUR STREAMS PROGRAM—IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE

If you are interested in representing your Overmountain Chapter, by becoming part of a team to monitor water quality through examination of stream life, call Bill Beazell for information at (239-6991).

BULGING AT THE SEAMS

Approximately 40 people attended the March 14 chapter meeting in a room designed to seat 30.  We have been promised a larger meeting area at Picadilly for our April 11 meeting.  The chapter was treated to Mike Adam’s excellent presentation of fishing Watauga River’s trophy section.  The wealth of information provided by Mike was invaluable.

BOONE WATERSHED MEETINGS

John McKee and Marjorie Stratton, Team leader for the Watauga River Watch attended a February 21 meeting of the Boone Watershed Partnership at Sycamore Shoals.  They are keeping up with our hoped for E.A.S. grant on Buffalo Creek.

SOUTH HOLSTON LAKE AND RIVER CLEANUP MEETING

Bob Viers, team leader for the South Holston River Watch, and Bill Beazell attended a March 13 cleanup meeting at the Bristol Chamber of Commerce.  Gene Leonard, Bluff City Councilman reported that he would do what he could to bring city support for our river part of the August 10 cleanup.

EASY MONEY

Please renew your National TU membership through the Overmountain Chapter.  The chapter receives $5.00 for each renewal and $10.00 for each new membership.  We send it to National TU. Make your checks payable to TROUT UNLIMITED and either give to James Chandler, our treasurer, or mail to him at:
  James Chandler
  304 Countryshire Court
  Kingsport, Tn.37663
If you sign up a new member, instead of mailing their check to National TU, give it to James Chandler.  Also, we can use this easy money.

Public Relations – News Stories

Danny Sells, our public relations chairman, requests all of you to give him any information of interest to the chapter (stories, fishing results, human interest items, etc.) and information for TV, radio and newspapers of interest to the general public.  Phone 423-477-3689.

   MINUTES OF TU MEETING ON MARCH 14, 2002

 
1. AFTER DISCUSSING OPTIONS FOR HOLDING FUTURE CHAPTER BOARD MEETINGS, A MOTION WAS APPROVED TO CONTINUE MEETING AT 6 PM IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE CHAPTER MEETING. BOARD MEMBERS WERE ASKED TO BRING ITEMS TO THE BOARD REQUIRING DISCUSSION AND/OR DECISIONS. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION ONLY, SHOULD BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING TO THE NEWCASTER EDITOR, JAMES CHANDLER.

2. IDEAS FOR POTENTIAL RIVERWATCH TEAM PROJECTS FOR THE WATAUGA RIVER, SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER AND PATRICK HENRY TAILWATERS WERE IDENTIFIED AND BRIEFLY DISCUSSED. RIVERWATCH TEAMS SHOULD FINALIZE LISTS AND PRIORITIZE PROJECTS THEY WANT TO UNDERTAKE.

3. A MOTION WAS MADE THAT THE CHAPTER SEND A LETTER TO GOVERNOR SUNQUIST EXPRESSING OUR DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THE NRC FIRE SETTLEMENT. THE MOTION FAILED DUE TO LACK OF A SECOND.

4. DUE TO THE LARGE ATTENDANCE AT THE LAST TWO MEETINGS, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE CHAPTER WOULD MEET IN ANOTHER SECTION OF THE PICCADILLY CAFETERIA AT THE APRIL MEETING.

5. IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT A SPECIAL CASTING CLINIC FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN LEARNING HOW TO FLY CAST OVER 30 FT. WOULD BE HELD AT WARRIORS PATH STATE PARK AT THE MARINA AT 2 P.M. ON SUNDAY MARCH 17.

GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND REGULATION.

In last month’s newsletter we finished our whirlwind review of environmental law and regulation and promised to tell you this month how the chapter plans to use these regulations to conserve, protect and restore local cold-water fisheries and their water sheds.  Let’s get started doing that in this article.
 
The Overmountain chapter’s most visible effort to use environmental regulations to protect our fisheries is the formation of river watch / stream watch teams.  The theory behind these teams is to reduce our scope of responsibility down to each individual.  In other words, rather than our chapter being responsible for every stream, river, or lake in northeast Tennessee each team will be responsible to our chapter for a single portion of our waters.  Hopefully you will volunteer to serve on the team(s) responsible for the waters you consider “home”(the waters you fish).

Many of our river watch / stream watch teams are organized and functioning.  We are still searching for leadership for other teams.  Somewhere in this issue of our Newscaster is a list of teams and leaders.  You can advance our efforts if you call the leader(s) of the team(s) on which you prefer to serve and volunteer to join their efforts.  If you have trouble reaching team leaders, call Bill Beazell (423-239-6991) to volunteer.  As the chairman of our resource management and protection committee, Bill is responsible for the coordination of the river watch / stream watch teams.

Our first line of defense for our teams is simple observation.  In other words, when you are fishing if you see questionable activities resulting in what you believe are violations of regulations in place to protect the river or stream, take action.  For example, you observe someone using organic bait in the special regulations section of the Watauga River; you know to call the TWRA’s HELP STOP POACHING telephone number (1-800-831-1174) to report the violation.  Or if you see construction of some type which you believe will result in damage to the watershed (such as silt) you should report the situation to your river watch / stream watch team leader.  The team leader will muster the team to act on this threat.  Perhaps a call to TWRA’s Mark Fagg is in order. (It is Mark’s job to investigate situations, which have the potential to damage the quality of the waters in our district.)

If we are organized properly to take quick effective action; observation will be a powerful tool.  But we need everyone’s eyes involved, to be at peak efficiency so volunteer now.

Our next line of defense will be on an organized water quality-monitoring program.  Several alternative programs are under evaluation at this time.  The Isaac Walton League of America publishes the program receiving the most interest.  This program is highly recommended by Bob Cheers of Mountain Sports, Ltd. and is currently in use by Friends of the South Fork of the Holston River, which is headquartered in Chilhowie, VA.

Basically, the program involves periodic monitoring of various water quality indicators, and evaluation of the results in coordination with results from local, state and federal testing programs.

While Bill Beazell and the watch teams will be responsible for working out the details, our current vision is to corporate with groups such as the Elizabethton High School Ecology Club who are already actively testing.  Perhaps we can enhance their efforts thru buying more water testing equipment.

Our third line of defense will be to get involved in the permitting of sources of pollution.  We need to understand what an application to permit pollution into our local waters is all about and what we, individually and as a Trout Unlimited Chapter, can do about the application.  We need to be heard at public hearings on these applications.  We need to “ tap into the process” rather than complaining about the results.

As you can see we have a lot of work ahead of us. We need you.
 
OFFICERS AND BOARD—OVERMOUNTAIN CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED
President & Chairman of Board-- Jim Davis  --423-378-3880
Secretary—Charles Gibson  --423-239-9655
Treasurer—James Chandler  --423-239-5065
Immediate Past President—Charles Martin—423-245-4966

Board               Committees
Oct. 1999-Sept. 2002 term Tom Hensley  Membership – Don Kreh
           Elaine Walker
           Bill Beazell
           Foster Levy
                             Communications – James Chandler
                              Bill Beazell
 
Oct. 2000—Sept. 2003 term James Chandler  Program – Bob Sherrill

Oct.2001—Sept. 2004 term Bob Sherrill  Resources – Bill Beazell
            Charles Martin
       Public Relations – Danny Sells
Oct. 2001—Sept. 2002 term Danny Sells
             Bob Viers  Web Master – Ken Chase

Honorary Member—Marcia Carter

        Financial – Charles Martin
        Development
 
RIVER AND STREAM WATCH TEAM LEADERS

S. And N. Indian Creeks – Elaine Walker and Foster Levy
Watauga tail water – Margie Stratton and John McKee
South Holston tail water – Bob Viers
Doe River - Bob Bierbaum
Hampton Creek – Bob Bierbaum
Doe Creek  - To be filled
Patrick Henry tail waters – Andy Hale and John Krutak
Beaverdam Creek – To be filled