From Truchas TU: March 1 Banquet and Alaska Mining

[David Gratson]

The Truchas Chapter of TU will have out *Annual Banquet March 1 at the
Hilton Santa Fe*, with social hour beginning at 6:00 PM and dinner to
follow.

We are delighted to have Robert J. Behnke, PhD and Professor Emeritus of the
fisheries department at Colorado State University as our featured speaker.  Bob
Behnke has fished and studied fish all over the world, and has written
numerous papers on salmonids and factors affecting them as well as the
regular column, "About Trout" in *Trout, *our quarterly TU magazine.  In
addition to authoring the classic *Trout and Salmon of North America *and
the recently released *About Trout, *a compilation of some of his more
salient articles from *Trout *magazine since 1983, he has provided the
scientific underpinning for other authors, including James Prosek, last
year's speaker, and Robert Smith, author of the classic *Native Trout of
North America*.  Beautifully illustrated by Joseph Tomelleri, these books
will be available for purchase and signing by the author at the banquet and
earlier at The Reel Life and High Desert Angler at 1:00 and 3:00 PM
respectively.* *

Our grand raffle, for which tickets are enclosed, features three marvelous
prizes.  First prize is two days food, lodging, and fishing at Ted Turner's
Vermejo Park Ranch.  Guide services are available at winner's expense.  Second
prize is two days' guided and outfitted (that means meals and on site
transportation included) fishing at Latir Lakes or nearby Valle Vidal,
guided and hosted by Elias Vigil at the Ute Creek Outfitters lodge at the
former Ski Rio development.  Third prize is a day of fishing and a night's
lodging at Brazos River Ranch on the legendary Brazos Meadows, hosted by
Rudy Rios.  All prizes are for two people, and dates may be arranged with
the hosts.

Banquet tickets are $50 per person, and the first four guests to pledge an
additional $50 may join Dr. Behnke at the head table.  In addition to the
grand raffle, we will have our usual silent auction and bucket raffle items,
including additional trips and various items of equipment.  We are still
accepting silent auction and bucket raffle donation items.


Raffle tickets available at door or from Gary Moran, phone and fax

 (505) 466-3833,
* Alert about Alaska Mining and opportunity to raise funds against this
project:*

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to you today to inform you of special 8-weight outfit that Sage,
Redington and RIO have developed with the idea of raising money for Trout
Unlimited-Alaska<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF35D:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>to
support their efforts in preventing the development of a hard-rock and
open-pit mining district in the middle of the world's most
important<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF353:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>Salmon
fishery - Bristol Bay, Alaska.  This, as anglers,
*is one of the largest environmental
impact<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF354:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>stories
of our lifetime
*, we sincerely hope that you will join us in this effort.

For those of you who are unaware of the Bristol Bay Mining
District<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF358:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>initiative,
it is presently conceived to be an open pit mine of gargantuan
proportions.  If completed the initial project will be comprised of an
earthen dam 2 miles long, 1 ½ miles wide and 1700 feet deep with an
accompanying 20 square mile toxic waste lagoon, all built right in the
middle of one of America's premier salmon and trout fisheries, and all in a
very seismically active region.  This mining region will directly
impact<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF34F:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>Upper
Talarik Creek, the lower Koktuli River in the Nushagak and Kvichak
drainages, as well as Lake Clark and Lake Iliamna.
Given the magnitude of the potential impact to one of the world's greatest
fly fisheries, we at Redington with our friends at Sage and RIO are *determined
to do our part to try and stop Pebble Mine from moving[image: ODFBB Case
Design] forward*.  Together, we are therefore dedicating *one day of Sage's
manufacturing time, *naming it *One Day for Bristol Bay, *in order *to
create a limited edition run of 300 rod, reel and line packages*.
The outfits are comprised of a *Sage 9' 8wt
Z-AXIS<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF357:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>rod,
a matching Redington
CD<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF355:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>moss-colored
reel that is pre-spooled with the new RIO
Gold<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF356:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>8
WF fly line.
*  They are packaged in a black cordura rod/reel case with More Precious
Than Gold embroidered on the case.  *The retail value of this package is
over $800, but we will retail it for $600.*  The outfits will ship on April
1, 2008.  However, we strongly encourage you to preorder yours to secure
your package.  Remember, we only have 300 available.  Pre-order yours now
through Redington.com<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF351:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>.
*International orders, use the alternative ordering instructions below.  *At
the time of purchase, you may donate additional funds to the cause, or even
match our $200 donation.*  *
We will donate a significant portion of the proceeds to TU Alaska.  At a
minimum, we will be making a donation in the amount of *$200 per outfit*,
thereby raising a baseline amount of $60,000 when we successfully sell all
300 outfits.
We sincerely hope that you will support us in this cause.  There is no
better time to purchase a premium fly fishing outfit, and it is all for a
great campaign.  The potential loss or impairment of this prime fishing
habitat is simply too big a risk to sit back and do nothing.  *Please do all
you can to help by supporting our More Precious Than Gold initiative.*
<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF351:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>
Alternatively, click
here<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF352:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>for
an order form which you can print and fax to us.  Or you may also call
the Sage customer service center: 1-800-533-3004.
Please let us take this moment to *thank you* in advance for your support.
We sincerely appreciate your recognition of the need to do the right thing
here, and hope that you will take a real measure of satisfaction in knowing
that you did your part in trying to preserve the Bristol Bay fishery, wild
Salmon populations, and this very precious ecosystem for future generations.
Thanks again for your support.
Sincerely,


Marc Bale
Vice President Marketing & Sales
Sage Manufacturing


*For more much more information, we encourage you to visit:*
www.savebristolbay.org<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF35A:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>&
www.redington.com/bristol.php<http://whatcounts.com/t?r=360&c=1176402&l=5205&ctl=1AFF359:95DEDE77DC2F6508877326BD02383E896A18B858A5F345B3&>
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