Submitted by chris_hunt on Thu, 2014-10-16 06:29 Conservation Photographers Vote Up Down +5 + Redband trout, Middle Fork John Day River, Ore. Photo by John McMillan. By Matt Barney TU’s TroutBlitz is in full swing, and we’ve had a great response with some nice photos of trout. TroutBlitz is part of Trout Unlimited’s Angler Science program, which is a collection of various efforts within TU to encourage the participation of anglers and the general public to engage in science projects in their local areas. These efforts enhance and inform the science that drives our coldwater restoration and conservation work. In particular, TroutBlitz aims to use geolocated photographs to catalog the diversity of native trout throughout the country and learn more about the condition of their habitats and how they change over time. The TroutBlitz manual, posted on the TroutBlitz iNaturalist site provides some guidelines on how to obtain the best possible photos. As described in the manual, the best method for high-quality photos is to use an aquarium. One affordable aquarium is the Photarium, from Wild Fish Conservancy Northwest. An even cheaper option that works well for smaller fish is to use a plastic food container, placing vegetation or stones in the bottom for a natural look and good contrast. We have received some questions from anglers about posting the location of their photographs. Please note that when you plot the photo’s location, you don’t have to reveal your secret fishing hole; just use iNaturalist’s “Obscure” feature. When you’re entering your observation, there is a field below the map labeled “Change geoprivacy.” If you select “obscured,” your location’s coordinates will be shown as a random point within 10KM of the true coordinates, thus keeping the specific location private. If you haven’t joined up yet, we’d all love to have your contributions. For background on TroutBlitz, see the TroutBlitz page here on tu.org. Or check out the project and see the latest entries at TroutBlitz on iNaturalist. As an additional incentive, we will be awarding some great fishing gear for the best photo submissions on TroutBlitz! Keep an eye on the Trout Unlimited blog for another article -- coming soon -- to announce the prizewinners. Matt Barney is a senior programmer for the TU Science Team. Matt works from TU's Boise office.