Membership in TGFThe majority of funds and efforts go to preserving local waters. Over
the past three decades, few conservation groups have spent more dollars and
volunteer more hours on these efforts. Individual MembershipIf you would like to join as an individual, please use
this link: INDIVIDUAL
MEMBERSHIP FORM, print out the
form in pdf format and mail it in. Small Business Membership
Theodore Gordon Flyfishers is proud to have their mission supported by the local small business community. One can become a Small Business Member of TGF by simply donating, goods, services, or cash in a prearranged amount to one the various TGF funds or fund raising events. Corporate Donors MembershipCorporate Membership in TGF is
designed for the moderate to large business and is available to corporations
who wish to donate goods, services or securities of a value of $5000 or more to the various
charitable funds or fund raising events TGF maintains throughout the year.
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Active Membership continue to grow |
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Remember TGF now runs on a “calendar” membership year; 1-1-20XX to 12-31-20XX. So, unless you have enrolled as a multiple year or Life member, your membership expires at midnight December 31, 2007. You will need to renew before that time to carry your membership into 2008. We hope that you will renew and continue to support this worthy organization. Our 2008 membership drive is underway and rolling along well. Let me tell you a bit about the benefits of membership in TGF and the importance of joining anew or renewing your current membership in a timely manner. Also please make an effort to enlist your fly-fishing friends and comrades in Theodore Gordon Flyfishers. Over the years TGF has undertaken a seemingly never ending effort with entities both public and private, to encourage them to conduct themselves and their projects and proposals in an environmentally responsible fashion regarding the watersheds TGF helps protect. The Beamoc watershed and the Delaware watershed would not be as fishable as they are today without past involvement of TGF and its members. The Housatonic River is better than ever because of TGF’s direct action on river flows last year. Our record of success continues to be impressive, but we cannot rest on our laurels. In recent years, there have been and continue to be direct attacks on currently accepted environmental policy, conservation legislation, and law enforcement. We find, in these difficult times, that we as a conservation organization cannot take a passive stance and still succeed in our mission. The advances of the last thirty five years have been reversed, ignored or even made moot by imprudent bureaucratic decisions and policy changes by uncaring politicians with industry friendly agendas. There are still active efforts underway to weaken or make impotent the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the 1964 Wilderness Act. There has never in our nation’s history been a greater need for the consummate dedication, passionate spirit, and inexhaustible effort brought to the battle by the membership of The Theodore Gordon Flyfishers in addressing such issues. I hope you see and read the e-mail alerts or the conservation bulletins and alerts on the TGF Website. There is so much to do. Looking forward, TGF has many new activities planned and battles to fight. We, in cooperation with other organizations, are still actively seeking water flow relief for the East Branch of the Delaware River. Improvements in the releases have been made by the DRBC and the CP2 adaptive release concept is still on the table as of this date. We have won a victory with the Belleayre Resorts Agreement, and the east side of the mountain and thus the watershed is now protected. But now we must remain vigilant to make sure the developer holds to the terms and provisions of that agreement. The necessary EIS’s are underway. We will be busy in 2008. We adopted the Beaverkill River four years ago. This great stream that occupies such a revered place in the hearts of dry fly anglers everywhere, has been ravaged by floods once again this past year. Both the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc Creek will need several years of average rainfall and temperatures to recover completely. Our stewardship of this river system now becomes a critical part of that recovery. We are involved in helping to preserve our home waters of the Lower Beaverkill and so far we have cleaned up some of the lower pools and are now expected to provide caretaking activities for this storied stream. We will be out, we hope in force, to do another cleanup and Willow planting in 2008. We hope to see many of you there. TGF has now become involved in a project to restore the mouth of Horton Brook, a tributary of the lower Beaverkill. We are now closer to beginning this project as NYC DEP has renewed its interest in becoming a partner in this effort. As the official caretakers of the Beaverkill, we must be committed to this and other conservation efforts. Project Access continues. 2005 started as a disaster for Project Access. The massive rains of the winter of 2004 and the spring of 2005 washed away much of the structure that had been built up over the year. In one case the P.A. ramp and the very bank it was built on were completely obliterated. 2006 was not much kinder to the P.A. sites and 2007 was not much better. The town of Rockland, New York is still expecting TGF to aid them in installing yet another Project Access ramp at the new Town Park. This is most gratifying to our members. TGF has maintained several physically challenged access ramps on both the Willowemoc and the Beaverkill over the years for the benefit of our brother and sister anglers who may otherwise have difficulty reaching the river to practice their art. One weekend each spring active members of TGF and guests arrive at the Catskill Fly-Fishing Center and take up shovels, pruning shears, rakes, and wheelbarrows and replace all that the winter floods have washed away. The work is followed by a barbecue at the Center and of course there is fishing in the afternoon. 2008 will be no different. We need your help friends, please plan to attend this rewarding event. There have been and will continue to be social outings where men and women who share the common interest of angling can gather at a river famous for its wily trout and drop a line on the water to try for some wary salmonid or simply sit and talk about past superb catches. There have been fine days at the Farmington River, a joint outing with L.I. Salty Fly Rodders is always fun, and we have the Annual Fall outings at the Connectquot and Housatonic rivers that always promise to be outstanding. The Ausable River near Lake Placid in Essex County New York has been proposed as a new venue for an outing. There may even be a day trip to some little known New Jersey and Pennsylvania trout water. For those who have easy access to Manhattan, a series of TGF lunches will continue at the Union League Club through the coming Spring and early Summer. A schedule for 2008 is now being finalized and will be published both on the Website and in the TGF Bulletin. We hope you will join us. The always anticipated Annual Day is in its final planning stages. We on the Annual Day Committee are determined to renew this yearly TGF tradition and make it again what it once was. This year there will be a few changes. The setting will still be the storied Anglers’ Club of New York in Downtown Manhattan and our Speaker will be the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Mr. Alexander ( Pete ) Grannis. We are once again trying something new in 2008 by holding it on Friday evening, March 14th, as some of our members expressed a wish to attend on a weeknight this year. We are actively seeking your comments and opinions on this change for Annual Day. Theodore Gordon Flyfishers has been recognized for more than forty years throughout the community of conservation and environmental protection organizations as a formidable force and effective advocate for clean waters and healthy fisheries. To that end, your Board of Directors is working tirelessly to revitalize this worthy organization by reorganizing time-honored activities and adding new plans and ideas but, we need your help. We cannot hope to accomplish triumphs like the Housatonic victory, the Belleayre agreement, or win battles such as stabilizing water flow on the Delaware River, and protect other such coldwater fisheries, without the help and support of our active membership. It takes members who care for the riparian habitat and protecting the fisheries that exist there. It takes members who treasure our heritage of clean air and clean water and will go to great lengths to defend these riches. It takes members who dream of seeing the storied trout and salmon streams of the northeast improved, preserved, and passed on to future generations for their benefit and enjoyment. In short fellow anglers, it takes active members like you! It is our hope that you will elect to join or to renew your active membership in 2007 and become an active participant in the great work we have ahead of us. It is also our hope that you will encourage your fellow anglers to join this historic organization and stand where men and women like Lee Wulff, Ed Zern, Joan Stoliar, Ernest Schwiebert, and Arnold Gingrich once stood and where men and women like Ted Rogowski, Joan Wulff Rogowski, Keith Fulsher, and David Kramer now stand. We hope that you will join us and stand shoulder to shoulder with these and others dedicated to the fight to save, protect, and preserve our invaluable fisheries. If I can be of any assistance or if you have any questions I can be reached at: MEMBERSHIP@TGF.ORG or 908-387-8780. Tight Lines and Placid Waters, Jim |
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