Welcome to Enchanted Circle TU

 Please see this short video on our Rio Grande Cutthroat

 

 

HISTORY, PROJECTS & ACTIVITIES

TROUT UNLIMITED, ENCHANTED CIRCLE CHAPTER

Trout Unlimited (TU) founded July 1959
Enchanted Circle Chapter (ECTU) founded 2007

Mission carried out at grassroots level:

  • Protect (native & wild trout watersheds)
  • Reconnect (watersheds by removal of migratory barriers)
  • Restore (habitat, flows and water quality)
  • Sustain (by land conservancy, youth education & membership development)

 

Projects & Activities

  • Red River Angling Park & Hatchery Barrier Project
  • Restoration in vicinity of Questa Ranger Station
  • Reconnect sections of the Red River near Hatchery                                                                                                         Cost = $800,000; $5,000 ECTU seed money; $60,000 Questa Economic Development; $5,000 TU Truchas chapter;  $210,000Fed Fish &  Wildlife 3 to 1 matching funds = $280,000.  Balance from Habitat Stamps

Columbine & Hondo Tributaries

  • Columbine Creek enters Red 5 +/- mi. upstream from Questa
  • One mile upstream of confluence w/Red has genetically pure strain Rio Grande Cutthroat (RGCT)
  • Project to increase barrier (waterfall) depth to keep RGCT isolated
  • Work crew included chapter members, Taos High students, & USFS personnel
  • Hondo project to protect genetically pure RGCT near Taos Ski Valley
  • ECTU volunteers working with USFS & Village of TSV ECTU engaging professional engineering help to design barriers
  • Once barriers are established on these two tributaries, hope proposed Rio Hondo habitat and angler access improvements in the Village can proceed.

Cimarron River

  • ECTU is a member of Cimarron Water Alliance (collaboration of agricultural, municipal & recreational water users)
  • ECTU partners with Philmont Scout Ranch in “River Corridor as a Classroom: Engaging Communities in the health of the Cimarron River Watershed”.

Trout in the Classroom

  • Programs in Cimarron, Red River, and Taos.
  • ECTU provides aquariums, water chillers, related equipment
  • Students rear trout from egg to juvenile then release into streams

Taos High School Science Project

  • Working with science teacher & students at Taos High School to establish a Trout in the Classroom project.
  • ECTU funding a water quality & biological sampling program
  • Data will provide baseline info to ECTU and resource agencies
  • Data will assist in evaluation of effectiveness of stream habitat restoration projects

Water Quality Sampling & Testing

  • Coordinate with other volunteer sampling groups (e.g. Water Sentinels)
  • ECTU has active water sampling & quality testing
  • Volunteers trained to sample local streams on regular basis
  • Collected samples sent to certified labs for analysis

River Clean-up

  • Organizes or participates with other groups in periodic river clean-up
  • Support provided by USFS, BLM, NM Department of Game & Fish
  • Past projects – Red River, Rio Hondo, Rio Fernando, Rio Grande

Project Healing Waters

  • Serving disabled military men and women veterans.
  • Monthly meetings for fly-tying, casting lessons & outings

Casting for Recovery

  • Serving breast cancer survivors at all stages of their recovery
  • Annual retreat for 14 women at no cost to participants
  • Introduces participants to fly fishing, provides health & community support

Board Meetings, Social Events & Fund-raising

  • All meetings open to public
  • Offer periodic social events with expert presentations on angling topics
  • Two fundraisers per year
  • Annual Banquet (Dinner, Raffle, Silent & Live Auctions) Friday, May 19, 2017
  • Fall Fishing Tournament (guided 2-day tournament, 3 person teams)
  • Donation of funds always welcome; significant amounts may be designated for  specific purposes.