Keeping Up the FCO Spirit
Our Club is nearly 60 years old and it will endure for decades to come . . . with your help and involvement. Club leaders are re-tooling FCO Meetings this year due to the pandemic and to adhere to the COVID-19 recommendations of Oregon’s governor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, indoor meetings at the University Club will be on hold until further notice. We want to look at logistics for holding future meetings and will seek your input by sending a survey to members. Please respond to the email survey you will receive from Ross.
Some good news though – the upcoming outing to Laurance Lake on July 18th is on! Members will be able to keep their physical distance easily while fishing the lake. This is a “bring your own food and drink” event.
There will be more virtual meetings on tap soon. Meeting online while in the comfort of your home is a great way to see your FCO friends, hear interesting fishing topics, and ask questions of fly fishing experts. Last month Josh Linn of Royal Treatment Fly Fishing gave a fun and useful presentation on fishing local waters. Thanks Josh!
If you have ideas for a future FCO virtual meeting, please contact our Program Chair, Mike Radakovich. Thanks and stay in touch!
John Pyrch – Deschutes Steelhead
The Flyfisher Foundation 2020 Funding Summary
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic severely limiting our Club’s activities this year, the Foundation Board decided to continue our commitment to the organizations we have traditionally supported. We provided $5,000 for the Tom McAllister FCO Graduate Scholarship at OSU. This year’s recipient is Alvaro Cortes who is studying fish systematics and morphology as a Master’s student. We gave $4,000 to the Multnomah County Library to maintain and expand our rare book collection and the FCO/TFF archives. Finally, we contributed $5,000 to Western Rivers Conservancy for their Williamson River Project. WRC was supposed to benefit from this year’s Keith Hansen Memorial Paddle Raise at the auction. Since that didn’t happen we felt obligated to provide the guaranteed minimum amount for paddle raise grantees. The Club and the Foundation should be very proud that we have now contributed over $500,000 in conservation and related grants since 1997.
Submitted by John B. Pyrch, Foundation President
