Wader Wash Stations and AIS at Annual Meeting

i would like to take this opportunity to thank TU members Laura McFarland and Matt Krueger for their considerable effort in putting together the wader and boot washing and aquatic information stations at the recent annual TU meeting in Madison.  Thanks to Webelos Caleb Jansen and Calvin Geerdts for putting together the stations for the meeting, and to the Chapters that helped support their efforts (see picture caption!).  

Following is a quote from Laura which nicely summarizes the success of this venture....

"You'll be pleased to know the wash stations were employed to great effect this past weekend at the TU National Meeting. We had several anglers visiting from areas with known Didymo infestations use the wash stations (and bleach sprayers) to clean their gear, so that was fantastic. Several more individuals said that they cleaned their gear thoroughly after receiving our plea to do so prior to the event.

Even more significant, perhaps, was the outreach opportunity that they created. We talked to dozens of anglers about invasive species and the anglers role in preventing their spread, as a result of presence of the wash station.  Many took with them copies of the wash station specs in hopes building and utilizing one to protect their homewaters."

We are going to put the plans for the wader wash stations up on the new website soon along with some information to help TU folks get educated about the threat of aquatic invasive species to TU's mission to conserve and protect North America's cold-water fisheries.  

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have about AIS and equipment care at DKumlien@tu.org or by phone at 406-570-0023.

Dave Kumlien, Director, TU Aquatic Invasive Species Program