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Next year's PastaFest, to be held on April 1, 2007 at the Hibernian Hall in Watertown, will debut some new features. For the first time ever, we will have a speaker who is not well known for his fishing exploits. Instead, we will feature WEEI radio talk show host Mike Adams, who will give us his detailed perspective on the Red Sox. Opening day for the Red Sox will be just a few days after the dinner.
The second change which is directly related to the core mission of GBTU is our decision to collaborate with the Southeast Chapter of TU on its Red Brook restoration efforts. For those of you who might not know, Red Brook is a stream in Wareham that was donated to TU by the Lyman family. The river and land adjacent to the river is now a property managed by the Trustees of Reservations. TU is an equal partner and responsible for the management of the stream's cold water fisheries, which includes wild sea run brook trout.
The Southeast Chapter of TU has been involved in restoration efforts on Red Brook since the early 1990s. Through its efforts, there now is a viable population of wild, sea run brook trout, and special regulations on the stream to manage this as a completely wild trout fishery.
In the next several years, there will be major efforts undertaken on the stream in regard to the restoration efforts. A restoration design study for the entire river was recently completed, along with a plan developed for the removal of old cement dikes used by the cranberry growers upstream. There are three of these dikes remaining, and they should come out this spring. When they are out, the river will have a more unimpeded flow, and be able to flush the accumulated silt in the upper sections more readily.
The Lyman family was willing to hand over this prized family possession to TU because it saw the excellent work done on restoring the Quashnet River in Falmouth during the 1980s. That project is still going on today. The Quashnet is another river with a population of wild, sea run brook trout. Members of GBTU spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours working on the Quashnet in the 80s.
For at least the past five years, and maybe longer, there has been a low level murmur among some Chapter members that GBTU does nothing directly related to stream conservation work. We have always been challenged to find a hands-on-project to be involved in, given our geography and urban member base. Working together with the Southeast Chapter is designed to give chapter members the opportunity to get their hands dirty, and to the extent they become involved, learn how to fish this exquisite resource.
We have also invited members of the Southeast Chapter to attend PastaFest. Their chapter members tend to travel as a group, and right now plan to take one to two tables at the dinner.
The Board of Directors of GBTU has agreed to donate a significant portion of the profits from PastaFest to the Red Brook restoration work. The Chapter has already purchased $250 worth of raffle tickets for the cedar stripped canoe and kayak being auctioned off at next year's Red Brook Day in September 2007. Those tickets, $5 each or 5 for $20, can be purchased through September 2007 by contacting Peter Schilling at 617-244-5126 or PMACDS@aol.com. Advance tickets to PastaFest, $25 each, can also be purchased this way.
We also plan to organize a GBTU work crew to work on Red Brook this Spring. Those work days are March 3, April 7 and May 5, 2007.
Finally, I think it's important for everyone to know that the Chapter's efforts and those of the Southeast Chapter are part of an overall drive by TU within Massachusetts to develop a wild trout policy. This is still very much a work in progress, but the Council has been working on this plan for the past two years. There will be more to report in the coming months. Keep your eye tuned to Currents and the GBTU web site at www.gbtu.org for the latest developments, and what this will mean to fishing in Massachusetts.