For those of you who know Erich, he joined Hacklebarneyin January 2016, and was recently elected to be a board member. At 16, he also started his own business selling handmade flies.
What you may not yet know about Erich is that he applied for a spot in Trout Unlimited's Teen Summit National Leadership Conference in Montana this June and was one of only 15 selected out of all of the applicants nationwide to attend the conference ( http://www.tu.org/teensummit)! It is a 5-day conference where he will meet other teens (8th - 12th grade) who share his love of fly fishing but also his love for conserving the very streams and rivers that we love to fish!
While there Erich will take conservation and hatchery tours of the area; attend leadership skills workshops to bring new TU activities into the community; participate in conservation science and fly tying and fly fishing workshops; meet and hear fly fishing and conservation biology guest speakers; perform a service project at a local stream and have lots of time for hanging out by the campfire, tying flies, and fishing!
While Erich knows that his mom and dad would pay for him to go, he wants to do this on my own. It's going to cost about $1,200 to cover airfare and attend the conference. He is hoping to cover at least some of the costs through this fundraising. Any funds that he raises in excess of my costs to attend the conference will be donated to Trout Unlimited!
To donate to Erich's quest go to (https://www.gofundme.com/montanaorbust2K16)