Financial Support for Fishing Conservation Projects

Some of the proceeds from the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo flow right back to the source – Michigan’s Trout, Salmon, and Steelhead rivers. That means better recreational opportunities for fly anglers all across Michigan.

The Michigan Fly Fishing Club is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Club has funded $600,000 worth of conservation projects since the Expo began. Most of those funds have been donated to education and conservation groups in Michigan.

A sample of the projects that proceeds from the Expo has helped to fund include:

Clinton River Watershed Council
Gallagher Creek data collection, monitoring, and restoration to allow for the return of Brook Trout and its habitat
Upper Black River Council
In-stream habitat enhancement project for the Upper Black River by installing large woody debris ad stream bank stabilization
Au Sable River Property Owners Association
To plant Cedar trees to help with stabilization of the riverbank and to provide needed shade for the fish environment
Upper Manistee River Association
Repairing, creating, and maintaining woody debris structures in the river and along with bank stabilization in the tree farm area of the Upper Manistee
Anglers of the Au Sable
Analysis of insects at six sites on the North Branch for a baseline data of the macro invertebrate population

Conservation Resource Alliance
Mitigate bank erosion and the placement of large woody debris in the Pine River near the Silver Creek Pathway in Lake County
Mason-Griffith Founders Chapter of TU
To pay for the analysis of the water above and below the Grayling fish farm for total phosphorus and suspended solids
Vanguard Chapter TU
To build a stairway at the Gallagher Road Bridge parking lot from the lot to the usual high water mark of Paint Creek
Coldwater River Watershed Council
Planting of shade trees and the placement of seed buffer strips for erosion control along with the placement of woody debris into the Coldwater River to improve fish habitat