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Brookie
Rivercourse
2003
We did it!! The camp was a huge success!!!!! Those of you who were volunteers at camp, thank you! Those who were not able to help, perhaps next year - we do need you! Being a ghilley for the kids was a lot of fun. The accommodations were first class, the food was great, as was the fishing on the Pigeon. I am also a Boy Scout leader and I don't recall ever seeing a more eager or motivated group of children. They had to be to be on the water fishing at 6:15AM and again from 6:30PM till dark and and doing fly tying and many other activities all day. The list of presenters was quite impressive. There was also enough free time to do a little fishing on your own. There were lots of fish in the river. Do yourself and a child a favor and spend a day or two camp next year. NCTU needs YOU!!! Remember, someday these children will be looking after the streams that we work so hard to care for today.
Sam Ogburn - NCTU Council Chair
The Report:
NCTU State Council's first Rivercourse: Watershed Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp became a reality June 8-13, 2003. We started small, accepting 14 campers. On opening day, 12 young men and women arrived at Lake Logan Center in Haywood County from all across the state.
To help them get acquainted, we kept them busy outdoors that first afternoon. Their first activity was casting practice after an excellent demonstration. Then came stocking of the private portion of the West Fork of the Pigeon on the Lake Logan property. Local trout farmer, Matt Rhea, brought the trout, taught the campers how to stock and handle fish, and shared some of his knowledge of the history of the Lake Logan area where he has lived all of his life. He also spoke about trout farming and introduced the subject of the three species of trout in our area. This was followed by a Reading the Water presentation instream and out.
Lake Logan Center proved to be an excellent location for our camp. The middle of three sections of the dining hall was our headquarters. Here we ate, heard speakers, and tied flies. The surrounding 300 plus acres of stream, lake, and woods provided an ideal setting in which to teach the ethics and science of watershed conservation.
Campers and counselor/chaperones were housed in three newly refurbished cottages, lakeside. Visiting speakers and helpers were housed in the Retreat House, streamside. We will have the same setup next year.
Our speakers included outstanding TU members from around the state - Duane Coen from Northwestern, Terry Hackett from Triangle, Joe Whisnant (Bigfoot Guide Service) and Bill Lemke from Pisgah, and Wally Courtney from LOS. We were also priviledged to have Catherine Tucker from Richmond Va, who is a part of the Pennsylvania TU camp, and Jon Marchal of Pisgah Chapter's Davidson River Project.
Professional speakers came from various agencies and colleges: NCWRC: Doug Besler and Lindsay Green; USFS: Sheryl Bryan and Lorie Stoup; GSMNP: Matt Kulp; NC State Univ: Jon Calabria; Warren Wilson College: Mark Brenner; Riverlink of Asheville: Phillip Gibson, and Haywood County Soil and Water: Gail Heathman.
When our scheduled Fly Tying Chair, Sister Carol Anne Corley of Hot Springs, Arkansas experienced a death in the family the day before camp opened, several of NCTU's best stepped up to the plate to teach what they love to do, and do so well: Sam Ogburn and Rusty Berrier of Blue Ridge, Squeak Smith of Table Rock , and Terry Hackett of Triangle. We couldn't keep the kids away from the tying tables - they really took to it! Before leaving Brevard, Sister tied sample flies and wrote out instructions, and sent all of her teaching vises and materials with us to camp.
Each morning before breakfast and each evening after supper, the campers enjoyed fishing for those fish they'd stocked on Sunday assisted, as needed, by volunteer ghillies including TU speakers who had come from across the state, and others commuting from the two local chapters, LOS and Pisgah. The ghillies included: Al Manning, Dennis Smathers, Bob Reynolds Wally Courtney, Craig Dennison and Mark Taylor. Every camper caught fish!
We are in the process of creating a Power Point presentation for NCTU State Council Chair, Sam Ogburn, to show at the TU National Convention in Denver in August. Others of us will present it to chapters across the region to promote next year's camp, which will be one week later, June 13-18, 2004 again at Lake Logan Center.
We will again be on Asheville TV station's (WLOS) Outdoor segment with Bob Caldwell. The young man whom he interviewed for the segment, Brian Hambrice of Ala., has been invited back to next year's Rivercourse as a CIT. He was our most enthusiastic camper and a great model for the others, frequently helping them on the river and at the vise.
We appreciate your NCTU chapter's participation by financial donations for scholarships, and by sending us your campers and adult volunteers. In order to hold next year's camp, we need the involvement of many more of you. Specifically, we need an on site RN or Doctor currently licensed in North Carolina, and two counselor/chaperones for each of three cottages housing 6 campers in each. This year your two Camp Directors, Betsy Craig of LOS and Phil Harris of Nat Greene, doubled as overnight counselor/chaperones. They were joined by Head Counselor and 24 hour all around helper extraordinaire, Genell Hartman, of Blue Ridge.
We also need to enlarge our Steering Committee with a Public Relations Chair, a Fundraising/Scholarship Chair, and an Instream or Riparian Project Chair.
That this inaugural year's camp was a success is demonstrated by the wish of all of the campers to return next year. We had to explain that they would be wait listed, as their mission and ours is to spread the message about watershed conservation widely------like the ripples from a rising trout........
We hope you will consider joining us in this very satisfying and worthwhile NCTU State Council Conservation Education project.
The future of coldwater conservation lies in our youth.
Betsy Craig and Phil Harris, Co-Directors
NCTU Rivercourse: Watershed Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp