On February 18th, from 9 A.M to 5:00 P.M, TU members will participate in this years Tie One On at the Bass Pro in Lawrenceville Georgia. 

The message below exhibits the use of funds raise during the event and the difference we are making as a partner with Smithgall Woods.

2016-2017 has been a successful year for the Smithgall Woods Regional Education Center (SWREC). Programming has been able to expand, thanks to the addition of Interpretive Ranger, Sarah Kelehear. With Ms. Kelehear's help, programming can be scheduled at the park and outside of the park simultaneously. Being able to schedule multiple programs is vital, due to outreach programming steadily increasing. Since 2015, outreach programming has increased 55%. The popularity of outreach programming is due, in large part, to local schools having free programming access, thanks to scholarship funding from Georgia Trout Unlimited.

Since July 1st, 2016, 301 onsite and outreach programs have been conducted by the SWREC. Of those programs, 123 were TU sponsored programs. Therefore, 41% of total programming is possible because of TU. Those 301 programs reached 6798 participants. Without the kindness of TU sponsors, 4041 of those participants would not have had programming available.

Participants receiving TU sponsorship range in age from 5 years to 18 years, with the majority of recipients being elementary age students. The majority of participating students have been in Hall County thus far, but other counties who have utilized scholarships this year are Habersham and White, with Rabun County having programming scheduled for the spring. All schools in the 7-county TU scholarship region were contacted at the beginning of the year with informational flyers. The flyers informed teachers of scholarship availability and contact information. One of the future goals of the SWREC is to have all 7 TU -sponsored counties utilizing scholarship funding. 

 
Along with programming scholarships, TU donations have been imperative to the overall function of the SWREC. Through TU funds, SWREC continues to improve programming by replenishing supplies, adding new programming materials, training and continuing education opportunities for the program coordinator, and the addition/maintenance of programming animals. Materials and training allow the SWREC to provide the best educational programming possible throughout the entire year.

The rest of the fiscal year calendar is filling quickly. Again, the majority of programming is possible thanks to TU funding. I am looking forward to an exciting spring, filled with wildlife education and fun!

For more information, please click on our Regional Meeting website www.tuseregional2017.org,
The Mountains are Calling...The Trout are Rising.....Come Home to Tennessee!

Gatlinburg update - Gatlinburg is open for business. Downtown was spared from the damages of the wlldfire.

Glenstone Lodge, which will serve as our hotel and conference center was spared as well.
Extras - In additional to the main program topics listed above, planning has starting for a variety of fun and free events starting on Friday, April 21 including conservation tours, kid's activities, and fishing.

For more information, check out our website www.tuseregional.com or contact either of the meeting co-chairs John Reinhardt ( john711111@yahoo.com) or Mike Bryant ( mjbryant1954@hotmail.com)

http://www.tu.org/southeast-regional

Also, here is an invite we received from the Great Smoky Mountain TU Chapter #047

 

The threat of losing our public lands looms large.

  

It grows, passing like wildfire through halls of Congress and state capitols, spreading its invasive rhetoric in our communities. People with soft hands and expensive suits tell us:

  

"It's just transfer. It's not like we're selling them."

  

It's not just transfer. And it is a big deal.

  

The truth is that the distance between the effort to "transfer public lands and to sell them is very short.  Many of the states that would manage these lands have already sold significant portions of their, now, former public state land to the highest seller. And we, as a country and as avid sportsmen and women, have nothing to gain by such actions.

  

We have nothing to gain. And everything to lose.

Which is why Trout Unlimited is diligently focused on mobilizing hunters and anglers to fight back against those who want to take away our public lands.

 

To date, we have defeated dozens of efforts to sell or transfer our birthright. From state legislatures to federal legislation, Trout Unlimited has been engaged. But the threats keep coming, and from the looks of it, the fight is far from over.

  

Which is why we need you. We need your voice, your action, your attention. We need your time, your passion.

  

Give what you can.

  

Donate. Act. Volunteer.

  

Public lands are part of what define us as Americans. Our forebears left these lands to us, not so we could sell them to the highest bidder. They left them to us as an heirloom to pass on intact to the next generation. These lands are our birthright. And we don't plan on giving that up anytime soon.

  

Join us.

 

Stay tuned for Parks' email blast about the next trip.

 

To keep up to date with the schedule, check out:

http://www.georgiafoothills.org/p/fishing-outing-schedule.html