Submitted by gmetras on Mon, 2015-01-19 18:32 Massachusetts/Rhode Island Council - 9MA Vote Up Down +5 + Pioneer Valley Chapter manned the MA/RI TU booth on Saturday afternoon at the show to promote The River's Calendar Project of insect hatches, for which Pioneer received TU's 2014 Embrace-A-Stream grant. We had several enlarged photos of various insects that we trapped in western Mass. rivers, sample insects in bottles, a laptop to show the website and further insect data, along with a handout explaining the propject and how to contribute, and our Guide to Insects Hatches in Mass. Rivers. All the items drew interest and discussion but the Guide was the most popular, as we expected, since it includes specific mayflies, caddis flies, and stoneflies with color photos of their larvae and adults, with descriptions of each, including ermergence, all to assist in identifying a specific insect, a real boon to fly fishers. We also engaged many show attendees in conversations about TU's conservation mission and how a person could join. Several people who are members didn't know which Mass. chapter they belonged to, and we showed them how to access the MA/RI Council website so they could locate their chapter and find out about meeting times and places. Many of you can hopefully expect to see new faces at your chapter meetings. In the photo are (l.-r.) Council Chair John Troiano, River's Calendar Director Jerry Schoen, Pioneer chapter secretary and Council Communitaitons Vice-Chair Gary Metras. (Photo by David Schumacher Photography)