Fantastic speaker and topic + Elections for our April 14, 2026 Chapter Gathering

SWTU is honored to welcome Jason Freund as our featured speaker for the spring (that’s him, snorkeling in a stream!). Few WI trout conservationists and anglers have Jason’s breadth of experience and accomplishment. He learned to fish and tie flies from some of Wisconsin’s most well known anglers. He has a Ph.D, in wildlife and fish ecology and post-doctoral research. He is a professor at UW-LaCrosse and directs research in the cold water ecosystems of the Driftless Area, He is an erudite and entertaining blogger with excellent observations on every aspect of fly fishing for trout (and other topics). He is the President of the Coulee Region TU Chapter.

He will talk about some stream ecology concepts and how we apply them to research questions in the Driftless Area. He present data from undergraduate and graduate students on coldwater stream research in Crawford, La Crosse, Monroe, and Vernon counties. Studies are a winter mortality study that will soon be published, their lab’s efforts on Pammel Creek – an urban Brook Trout stream, the distribution of sculpin in the Kickapoo River watershed, and past and future studies on how geology effects streams and their fishes in the Driftless Area.

Please join us at our April 14 meeting for Jason’s presentation. As usual, we’ll meet at Schwoegler’s with food and drink available anytime after 530 and Jason’s presentation starting around 7. Schwoegler’s is on Grand Canyon Drive on Madison’s west side with ample parking, good food, beverages, and service.

Board Elections

The annual SWTU elections will be held at our April meeting. We have two Board vacancies with one candidate when the newsletter went to press. The floor will be open for nominations and we can also hold the second Board position open if members who are interested need more time to think it over. The SWTU Officers will run for another one year term: Topf Wells (President), Dyan Lesnik (Vice President), Josh Reilly (Secretary), Michael Westbury (Treasurer) and Michael Williamson (State TU Representative).

Our Three Board of Director Candidates:

Linda Dorazio
I’m Linda D’Orazio and been with TU for about a year. I’m impressed with the educational and conservation efforts. Being involved with many events I see the camaraderie and sheer enjoyment of working with this group. I’m learning to fish and tying flies is my favorite! I would love to participate on the board and get to know more about the organization.

Dave Graczykb
I was employed by the U.S. Geological Survey-WRD for 36 years as a surface water- water quality hydrologist. Primarily I worked on NonPoint projects for the WDNR ‘s priority watersheds, including Black Earth Creek. I collected the water quality and hydrological data in the pre- and post- implementation periods. I have retired and would like to volunteer again (I was a TU officer in the late 1980’s).

John Freeborg (incumbent)
John has been a SWTU member since 2016 and board member since 2022. He started taking the chapter’s fly tying courses in 2017 and is still trying to graduate from the intermediate class after many attempts. Recently retired, he hopes to support the chapter in a greater capacity in another term.

Thank you to all for stepping up and a special thanks to Mark Maffitt, who is concluding his Board term after several decades of impressive involvement across many roles, including newsletter editor and President.

Schwoegler’s Lanes, 444 Grand Canyon Dr., Madison, WI 53719

Our Planned May Gathering:
Songbirds, Salmon, Steelhead, and Salvelinus Fontinalis?

We’re working on the May membership meeting to introduce us to an extraordinary part of the Midwest and an extraordinary conservation project.

John Griffith is a Life Member of TU and the leader of an effort by American Songbird Management and Recovery (ASMAR) and other conservation organizations to purchase and preserve the Gratiot River watershed on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s UP.

This is a multi-million dollar effort to preserve thousands of acres for preservation and public enjoyment.We hope (details to be worked out) that John will be the featured speaker at our May meeting to describe these resources and the monumental effort to save them.

The Gratiot is a lovely, wild stream with runs of Lake Superior salmon and steelhead with wild brook trout in the headwaters.  It features some beautiful waterfalls. Fingers crossed for a uniquely informative and fun May meeting.