Watershed Education Network is offering our 4th Summer of Fly Fishing for Missoula High School Youth: a week-long workshop in river ecology and the fine craft of fly-fishing
-Missoula, Montana,

WHO: up to twelve Missoula high school students each week learning to fly fish;
WHAT: explore the craft of fly fish through the lens of watershed stewardship, field journaling, and literature; activities include fly tying, stream restoration, water ecology, aquatic insects, fly casting, fly fishing local streams and rivers with expert river guides;
HOW: students will be actively learning about rivers and fishing through a variety of learning experiences;
WHERE: based in Missoula, near our Swift Building office, with day trips and some days on the river;
COST: $300.00 with some limited scholarships available;
TO REGISTER: email Deb Fassnacht: water@montanawatershed.org or call (406) 541-9287; Mail: Watershed Education Network, The Swift Building, 315 So. 4th East, Suite 203, Missoula, MT. 59801
Instructors: Chris Dombrowski, a creative writing professor and local fly fishing guide, and Josh Gubits, WEN’s Field Coordinator are the lead instructors for the weeklong programs.

The Liam Wood Fly Fishing and River Guardian Program is based on a similar, four-week program out of Western Washington University, where fly fishing is also a means to explore water stewardship, place-based writing, and sense-of-place recreation. The hope is to encourage the same reverence and intrigue that Liam Wood held for rivers in participating students.

History: Liam Wood was a talented fisherman and river steward who died tragically at the age of 18 while fishing on Whatcom Creek just outside of Bellingham, Washington, in 1999. Liam drowned after suffocating on gas fumes from an upstream pipeline explosion. In addition to being a skilled fly fisher, Liam was an aspiring writer who admired the work of local author David James Duncan. In fact, it was Duncan, moved by Liam’s story, who worked with Liam’s parents to establish the original river guardians school in Washington three years ago.

The program is possible thanks to support from the Marlene Robinson and Bruce Brabec (Liam Wood’s parents), and local fly fishing enthusiasts, Rick and Vicki Montejano who donated fly rods for the program. .
WEN is a non-profit organization that offers western Montana schools year-round experiential science education. For additional information about this or any of WEN’s experiential, place-based science programs in western Montana, please call the WEN office at 541-9287, or visit us online at MontanaWatershed.org.