Our chapter’s challenge and promise:
“Take care of the fish and the fishing will take care of itself”
Green Bay Trout Unlimited (GBTU) is a local chapter of our National organization. We have ~330 members and were founded as Chapter #083 in 1969. We are part of the Wisconsin State Councils’ 21 chapters and 4,300 members. Trout Unlimited (TU) National, our umbrella organization, was founded in 1959 and consists of over 400 Chapters and 140,000 members across the nation. All are committed to conserving, protecting, restoring and connecting people with our coldwater fisheries and watersheds. We concentrate on physical stream reclamation and restoration projects, public water access and educating others about our area’s natural resources. Our primary responsibility area covers Brown and adjacent counties – mostly in the Oconto river water shed.
We hold our monthly meetings are on the 1st Thursday of the month from September to April. Please see our calendar or home page for specifics. Our monthly meetings programs are educational which include learning more about conservation, fish habit status, cold water legislation. During these meetings we hammer out the best utilization of our funds and member efforts.
Please consider joining us in the chapters’ activities like summer stream work projects, Kids Fishing Day at the Izaak Walton League ponds in collabaration with the PALs brochure, meetings and fundraising. Without volunteer man-hours, we would cease to exist.
Our annual events also include our picnic in mid-June, GBTU Fishing Trip in late-June, Awards Dinner in December and our Fundraising Banquet in February – earned reputation of one of the best around including games, raffles, auctions, and prizes.
Attending the summer work projects is a great way to meet other members and give back to the cold water resource we enjoy. Hard work? Yes it is. Well worth our effort? Yes it is.
Connecting Communities and Watersheds consists of four interrelated parts: Protect, Reconnect, Restore, and Sustain.
Protect: Intact watersheds are working as nature intended. Often, the best way to help a place is to leave it alone. We advocate for responsible land and water use with lasting protection of trout habitat.
Reconnect: Free flowing, unobstructed river systems and their healthy watersheds benefit trout and people. Allowing fish to migrate for comfort and safety throughout a watershed greatly increases survival. Clean water and healthy ecosystems benefit everyone connected to our rivers.
Restore: The only way to give fish a chance is to reclaim land that is degraded through poor development practices and habitat compromising natural events. Our chapter is committed to raise funds, roll up our sleeves, and get wet restoring habitat.
Sustain: Our work to protect, reconnect and restore will last into the future if we inspire others to continue our work. We’re motivated to educate the public and children about the benefits of clean water, healthy communities, and their own well-being though outdoor activities.
The scale of our work continues to expand, but our focus remains the protection of wild and native fish. Together, we are working to ensure that our favorite streams and rivers will still be there: cold, clean and fishable, for the next generation.