Western Native Trout Initiative

TU is a national organization with more than 150,000 volunteers organized into about 400 chapters from Maine to Montana to Alaska. This dedicated grassroots army is matched by a respected staff of lawyers, policy experts and scientists, who work out of more than 30 offices nationwide. These conservation professionals ensure that TU is at the forefront of fisheries restoration work at the local, state and national levels.

Watershed Restoration - Home Rivers Initiative

Since Trout Unlimited (TU) was founded in 1959, on-the-ground restoration of streams, watersheds, and fisheries has been our hallmark. Throughout the country our active volunteers work through their TU chapters implementing restoration projects within their home watersheds. These volunteers have done everything from installing habitat improvement structures and fencing out cattle to replanting stream banks and educating children about aquatic conservation. Each year TU chapters and councils invest over 125,000 hours and more than $1,500,000 in restoration work. The National office administers the Embrace-A-Stream grant program, established in 1976, to provide matching grants to TU chapters and council to aid their on-the-ground conservation efforts.

Since 1994, Trout Unlimited national staff has complimented these local efforts by implementing an impressive array of large-scale watershed projects under its flagship program, the Home Rivers Initiatives. The national office of Trout Unlimited launched its first comprehensive watershed restoration project on the Beaverkill-Willowemoc River system in New York State. TU initiated this program based on the premise that everything in a watershed is related and connected, and that watershed restoration requires far more than site-specific treatments. Each Home Rivers project is a collaborative multi-year effort that combines applied scientific and economic research, community outreach, on-the-ground restoration, and the development of long-term conservation and management strategies and tools.

TU also works closely with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Orvis to identify and fund worthy projects.

For more information on Trout Unlimited's conservation programs visit www.tu.org, or click on the Trout Unlimited logo in the bottom banner.