Four new board members joined the Schrems West Michigan TU board at our recent annual meeting, they are:
E
llie Frey
Eleonora “Ellie” Frey’s work experience has been focused on the blurred boundaries between businesses with a socially-responsible mission and non-profits with an earned income stream. Currently, Ellie is the Director of the Family Business Alliance (FBA). The Family Business Alliance is an independent, membership-based non-profit organization with a mission to help family businesses of West Michigan succeed generation to generation. The FBA was founded over five years ago as a unique collaboration between the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business, and has grown to over eighty-five family business members.
Prior to the FBA, Ellie worked as a Commercial Realtor with a firm that specialized in re-inventing downtown warehouse and manufacturing buildings and was the first Executive Director of Local First West Michigan, a network of locally-owned, privately held businesses. Through many years of participating in her family’s foundation, Ellie also has been deeply involved in working with the next generation of family philanthropy, and personally supports worthy causes domestically and internationally. Ellie earned her Bachelor’s degree in international business and economics from Boston University and currently lives in Grand Rapids, MI.
Mark Gurney
Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson grew up in Ann Arbor and was taught to fly fish by grandfather on the Little Manistee River. In adulthood he became a fallen-away fisherman, spending many prodigal years owning a machining business and raising three wonderful daughters. He has returned to the fold and as atonement for his waywardness has resolved to fish more and contribute time to Trout Unlimited. Johnson has lived in Holland for thirty-five years with his wife, Barb. He is a U of M graduate (Engineering) and a suffering football fan.
Pete Miller 
Pete Miller grew up in Brighton, Michigan enjoying the outdoors and fishing from a young age. During my undergraduate studies at MSU I fished as much as I could and enjoyed exploring the Grand River, possibly one of the most underrated fisheries in the state. After starting my teaching career in west Michigan my interest in cold water conservation started to expand. I have been fishing west Michigan cold water streams since 1998 and still enjoy every day on the water and the diversity our rivers. I look forward to introducing others to the Schrems chapter and continuing the current conservation effort.
In addition to welcoming these new board members, we’d like to thank outgoing board members Jim Flamming, Robert Fox, Andy Milnes and Jim Scott for their years of service.
We need your help! The Schrems West Michigan Chapter of Trout Unlimited was awared a $84,000 grant by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. This grant will fund an inventory of Kent County’s coldwater streams and the development of a strategic plan for their future mananagement.
Volunteers will be needed throughout the year for temperature logging, data collection, fish shocking and habitat surveying. We will be hosting two P51 training sessions in August that will be necessary for volunteering in the habitat surveying projects.
There is an immediate need for two committed volunteers to survey road crossings and dams. We anticate 20-30 hours of volunteer time over the next six weeks. We will need a minimum of six volunteers for the P51 assessments. The P51 assessments will require one hour of traning. Lastly, if you are interested in electrofishing (aka electroshocking), there will be upcoming opportunities to assist in the near future.
Interested? Contact Rich Steketee richstek@gmail.com or (616)540-8309.
Court sides with Michigan Trout Unlimited and Pigeon River Country Association in Golden Lotus Dam case motion.
July, 25, 2011
A recent opinion from the courts just validated what we at TU already knew, that an agreement for a “dam removal” means the physical removal of all of the parts of the dam. It does not mean partial dam removal, dam modification, or dam drawdown as alleged by Golden Lotus and the State of Michigan! With the judge’s ruling today, Golden Lotus is required to completely remove all of its dam on the Pigeon River – the same dam that has caused three large fish kills in the past.
Michigan Trout Unlimited and the Pigeon River Country Association (PRCA) filed motions in the case earlier this year when the dam owners, Golden Lotus, Inc., put forward a plan for dam drawdown that would not remove all of the dam, and would continue blocking fish passage. They stated their responsibilities stopped there, despite the Court Ordered settlement calling for “dam removal” (these documents can be found and read at www.michigantu.org ). The State of Michigan (the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality) represented by Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office surprisingly sided with Golden Lotus in their reinterpretation of the Court Order, and began processing a permit application for the project despite MITU and PRCA objections. Both Golden Lotus and the State argued that despite leaving the base and sides of the dam in the river and blocking fish passage, that the project should be considered “dam removal”.
In an Opinion and Order issued by the Honorable Judge Murphy of the Otsego County Circuit Court, on July 22, 2011, the Court sided in favor of Michigan Trout Unlimited and the Pigeon River Country Association. Judge Murphy stated “In other words, ‘dam removal’ means dam removal.” The court also found that “the meaning of ‘dam removal’ is clear and statutorily defined”, and “…the Interim Order is not ambiguous.”
“We are very pleased with the opinion and its affirmation of our understanding of the settlement agreement we signed onto and of Michigan law,” states Bryan Burroughs, Executive Director for Michigan Trout Unlimited. “This required significant resources for us compared with that of the State of Michigan and an insurance company-paid Golden Lotus defense. But we knew what was right, and what the Pigeon River deserved, and standing up for that at all costs is what we do and why we exist.”
“It’s frustrating that the dam removal was so seriously side-tracked during this dispute,” states Dave Smith, Chair of Michigan Trout Unlimited. “We’re anxious to get back into a productive planning mode to see this project is done and done right, and get the Pigeon River healing from over 100 years of this dam’s impacts to it.”
The parties will now have to work together to develop a new plan for completely removing the dam.
The annual meeting and outing at Wa Wa Sum Lodge is coming up this weekend – space is still available. Take advantage of this rare opportunity now!
The lodge is located on the banks of the Main Stream of the Au Sables’s fabled “holy waters,” just east of Grayling, Michigan. The annual membership meeting to elect officers and new board members will held on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 10:00am.
Please RSVP by June 17, 2010. Contact Larry Risbridger at either elrisbridger@charter.net or by phone at 616.890.8327 (cell) or 616.891.0148 (home). Please give your name, which nights we can expect you and your phone number/email address. If you have any questions, please give Larry a call.
Arrival is any time after noon on Thursday, June 23 with departure on Sunday, June 26. You may come for one, two or all three nights. This year’s nightly rate remains the same as last year at $150.00 for three nights, $100.00 for two nights and $50.00 for one night.
The annual Board of Director’s meeting of Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited will occur on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at Wa Wa Sum Lodge, Grayling, MI. (This is also the weekend of the Schrems annual member’s gathering.)
The election of board officers and members will occur at the meeting. You can use the following information to vote for candidates for the board. Nominations for board members are:
___ Jason Cook
___ Dave DeJonge
___ Ellie Frey
___ Mark Gurney
___ JR Hartman
___ Eric Johnson
___ Pete Miller
___ Write-in candidate
You can vote for as many candidates as you wish. There are seven open positions available to fill. If you wish to read the Charter Bylaws, go to http://www.swmtu.org/documents/bylaws.pdf.
To vote, please email your selections and your name to: info@swmtu.org.