It has money.

And, it has an abundance of cold-water streams that are the focus of the organization.

What it doesn’t have is active members.

While the rolls show there are 60 members, there haven’t been more than four at a chapter meeting in the past year, Past President Scott Dyke said.

Times Observer file photo A Youngsville High School student does some fly fishing during an Outdoor Adventures class thanks to a partnership with the Cornplanter Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The leaders of the chapter would like to see more conservation-minded individuals give the group a shot so it could run more programs and events.

Leaders think the shortfall in active members may be due to a perception problem.

Trout Unlimited is rightfully associated with fishing, but it is not a fishing organization.

Many members are anglers. The group works to improve conditions that lead to good fishing.

They don’t go out and fish as a group. There is no fishing requirement.

“We are about cold-water conservation,” member Gary Kell said. “We protect and preserve cold water streams. It’s a good grass-roots organization.”

The mission of the organization is: “to bring together diverse interests to care for and recover rivers and streams so our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon.”

Members engage in educational activities and conservation projects.

“We live in a time when everybody wants to be green,” Past President Scott Dyke said. “We shouldn’t be short on members.”

The Cornplanter Chapter has worked on educational programs like Trout in the Classroom, STREAM Girls, Women’s Outdoor Workshops, Outdoor Adventures classes, ecology coursework, and more.

STREAM Girls is a program intended to build confidence in girls and break down barriers to science and the outdoors and help girls build connections with their home waters.

At a recent STREAM Girls event at Chapman State Park, girls learned fly casting from TU members including Kell, practiced tying flies, explored streams with Environmental Education Specialist Jen Moore, and went fishing. “Two girls caught fish with their own flies,” Dyke said.

He described it as a “phenomenal” program.

The chapter has participated in streambank stabilization projects and fish habitat improvement projects in numerous local streams.

The group’s work can be seen all along Morrison Run as 12 years of projects have dramatically changed conditions in the creek and, according to Dyke, increased the number of trout in the stream ten-fold. “They’ve seen huge improvement,” he said. Those improvements include both trout native to Morrison Run and trout running up from the Allegheny River.

Kell said the U.S. Forest Service Allegheny National Forest and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy regularly create projects that the chapter supports.

“They work at a watershed scale and assess the needs,” he said.

The agencies then identify projects throughout the watershed. TU jumps in when they see a project that fits the group’s mission and vision.

With more members, the group could expand and work on target projects, like the one at Farnsworth Branch. “Farnsworth is a fantastic stream,” Dyke said. “But it has no reproduction in it.”

Conditions are good for fish, but not for reproduction. He explained that the pH of the water is off.

“We have talked about putting in a limestone pond that the stream would run through” to alter the acidity of the water, he said.

The chapter’s popular kayak dice run could not be held last year, in part due to a shortage of members to man the stops along the run.

COVID-19 has contributed to the organization’s struggles.

In addition to putting a hold on gatherings, the pandemic prevented the group from continuing long-standing Trout in the Classroom programs.

Dyke and Kell would like to see those programs return now that the days of school-wide shutdowns due to COVID seem to be over.

“They start with eggs,” Dyke said. “They watch them hatch and learn how important water temperature is.”

Slight changes in temperature and other factors can kill the fish.

“They learn fish can’t live without certain requirements,” Kell said. “It’s science, math, biology, it can fit in chemistry.”

All of the lessons from the Trout in the Classroom tanks apply to the streams that flow throughout Warren County.

At the end of each program, TU funded bus trips to allow the students to release the fingerling trout they watched grow up.

The pandemic has been a problem, but it has also resulted in a situation that should benefit the group.

“More people are fishing and enjoying nature than ever before,” Dyke said.

Anyone interested in joining Trout Unlimited, or exploring the possibility, is encouraged to attend a chapter meeting.

There is a meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center in Warren. That is scheduled to be a board meeting, but, since there were not enough members present to nominate and elect officers at the previous meeting, the event may be more informal and informational.

The chapter meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Those meetings often feature speakers and presentations.

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