Colorado River Headwaters Chapter Board Members
Kirk Klancke, president
Kirk Klancke is the President of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited. He’s also a Board member of the Grand County Water Information Network and sits on the Learning By Doing Technical Committee. Kirk received the 2007 Trout Unlimited Distinguished Service award and is the recipient of the 2011 Field and Stream Magazine National Conservationist Award.
Kirk's email is kirkklancke@gmail.com
Jerry Nissen, VP & Webmaster
Jerry’s enthusiasm for TU stems from his life-long passion for the environment. He was an active supporter of TU’s conservation agenda long before he actually joined the Club. Jerry grew up fishing, hunting, hiking and biking in Wisconsin. Because of his background in many things tech-related, he was tapped to create and maintain the Club web site. In a shameless effort to keep web-related expenses to a minimum, Jerry was elected to the board. Since then, he's been very active in TU events and works hard to keep fresh, relevant information available on the website. Feel free to contact him with web content ideas or suggestions.
To email Jerry, click here. You can call or text him at 303-641-2367
Paul Hollrah
Paul has been a member of the Headwaters board for 10 years. He moved to the valley in 2000 after retiring from a career at IBM. He enjoys fishing all waters both large and small in our area and a road trip to fish new water is always welcome. Motorcycle riding and alpine skiing are two other favorite pastimes. One of his favorite fishing partners is “Grandson Paul” shown in the picture.
Brad Johnson - Treasurer, Social Media Manager
Brad is a life long fisherman, having caught his first fish at the age of two. He grew up bass fishing in the Midwest and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas. A burgeoning interest in fly-fishing prompted Brad to move closer to the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains. Brad first moved to the Fraser Valley in 2009 and quickly developed a love for the Fraser River, both as a fishery and as a natural resource worthy of conservation. In addition to his ongoing conservation efforts with the Colorado River Headwaters chapter of TU, Brad has also worked on a cutthroat trout population study on the Long Tom River in Oregon.
bradleydjo@gmail.com
Anna Drexler-Dreis
My personal commitment to protecting water began during my childhood, running and hiking the shores of Lake Michigan and Cape Cod. After graduating from Colorado State University in 2011, I moved to Grand County where I worked for the Colorado State Forest Service studying the mountain pine beetle epidemic. For 5 years I worked for the Colorado Headwaters Land Trust where I helped to protect open lands within the headwaters of the Colorado River and its headwater tributaries with conservation easements. Now I am the sole manager of Fountainhead Consulting where I am facilitating discussions with the Upper Colorado River Wild and Scenic Stakeholder Group and working with Grand County's Open Lands, Rivers, and Trails Advisory Committee. My email is aldrexler@gmail.com
Dennis Buechler
I am retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where I focused on wetland protection and mitigation of water project impacts. After retirement, I consulted on wetland/riparian restoration projects and served on the Wildlife Commission. I was on the board of the Colorado Wildlife Federation for 25 years and president three times. Then I decided to change direction and join the local board of TU because I was impressed with their enthusiasm for the resources and their events. I am looking forward to working on the Fraser Flats and other upcoming projects sponsored by Learning by Doing.
(303) 627-0997 (h)
(303) 506-4588 (cell)
Email: wetlandsandwater@comcast.net
Kent Hughes
Kent Hughes
My first fishing memory was with my granddad at a pond on his farm in Iowa. It wasn't until our family relocated to Oregon and I fished the Deschutes River with its "red sides", "summer runs", and steelheads that I began to understand the rapture of fishing and rivers. I'm proud to support TU because it is the lead organization dedicated to improving and preserving both the sport I love and the river environment. Come join us and help us preserve these irreplaceable resources for future generations.
Kent can be reached by email at twinspirits6@msn.com
Brett Macalady
As a professional fly fishing guide my livelihood is directly connected to a healthy river system. Seeing the daily ebbs and flows of a river, witnessing the various hatches and participating in that life gives one a profound sense of what it means to have a healthy river. Since the disappearance of the Drake on the Fraser, the quantifiable evidence has been mounting that some of our most cherished places are in decline and in need of help. Trout Unlimited helps solidify a voice for these places. The Colorado River headwaters are endangered and my love for the outdoors, the wild and fly fishing has brought me to TU. When it is not fishing season you can find me ski patrolling for Mary Jane and Winter Park Resort. Good fishing and think water conservation!
My email is: macalady11@hotmail.com
Rich Newton
I began fishing in Grand County in 1971. I moved here permanently in 1976. Since that time, I have seen the flows of the Fraser River and the Colorado greatly reduced due to trans mountain diversions. I have seen hatches either diminish drastically or disappear completely from our home waters due, at least in part, to lower flows and higher stream temperatures. It is my hope that organizations such as TU along with help from government agencies and others will be able to protect our resource from future degradation. I am proud to be the newest member of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Headwaters Chapter, and hope that I can make a real contribution to TU’s efforts.
Mark Schneider
Mark has spent most of his life in Colorado, growing up in Fort Collins and a full-time resident of Grand County since 2003. He has been fly-fishing for over 50 years and a Trout Unlimited member. Having lived and played on both sides of the Continental Divide he appreciates the importance of Colorado’s natural resources and the need for conservation to preserve our rivers, fisheries, and open land. He earned his degrees from Colorado State University and worked in several industries/corporations in the planning, business development, and strategic marketing areas. Mark’s desire to join the Board of the Colorado Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited was because of the organization’s strong focus on conservation. He looks forward to using his experience, knowledge, and skills to assist in the preservation of the Colorado River and its tributaries for future generations.
You can contact Mark at mark.schneider@msn.com
Charles F Garcia
Charles graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1973 and it was Wisconsin’s Nicolet National Forest where he first began to fly fish. He also began to train hunting dogs and became an active member of Ducks Unlimited and the Ruffed Grouse Society along with Trout Unlimited.
Charles went on to become a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co. which took him from Milwaukee to New York then Toronto and finally to Denver. Charles graduated from the University of Denver College of Law in 1985. He and his wife Anne bought a second home in Grand Lake in 1994.
Charles began his involvement with the Headwaters Chapter in 2006 where he first met Kirk at a small concert at the Lions Club Pavilion to raise money to help save the Fraser River. He has been involved in work with the Chapter and others to save the Fraser and the Headwaters of the Colorado River since that time.
Scott Linn
Board Member Emeritus
Scott is one of the “founding fathers” of our TU chapter. He’s been an amazing supporter, ally in our fight to save out rivers and source of knowledge which has been valuable in our conservation efforts. Scott is the owner of Winter Park Optical in Fraser and has generously opened his store to TU for ticket sales for our Banquet and much more.
Mark Eddy
Mark's love of the outdoors goes back to when he was a young boy exploring creeks and woods on day-long expeditions with his buddies. He put that passion to work as environment writer for The Denver Post where he spent his days traipsing all over the West getting into interesting situations - including crawling into a black bear den with a mom and two cubs. Mark loves to introduce others to fishing as a gateway to learning about nature. He's had his own strategic communications firm for 20 years where he works on energy and water issues.
720-201-4251 marke@markeddycomm.com
Mike Mason
I started out as a child…on the banks of the South Branch of the AuSable River in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan the very birthplace of Trout Unlimited which actually occurred here in my Grandfather’s getaway house in 1954. Unfortunately, he passed away later in that year and TU did not get going until 1959, thanks to his good friend George Griffith.
I have a photo of me with my first trout hanging from a fly rod at age two! Grandad had the South Branch flies only, so I never tried a spinning outfit until 1976 at a lake in Colorado. I was a paid guide on the AuSable at age twelve and started back up on the Headwaters of the Colorado later only to decide after fifty years to do it for myself.
I fish with wet flies, mostly streamers and buggers with a stray nymph possibly trailing along, unless there are fish feeding on the surface, the ultimate fly fishing. So yes, I fish streamers 95% of the time and get some incredible action with big fish chasing and smacking the fly to “disable” it before eating it! Then there is the famous Hex hatch on the AuSable; I was scared half to death as a little kid out there in the dark, in a big river with big flies everywhere, big fish everywhere big unknown things in the dark….it was great!
I have been following huge Pike in Williams Fork the last couple of years and want to continue to explore different species on a fly rod until I “keel over” with a rod in my hand somewhere down river! I have had a wonderful life!
Dave Schlichting
Dave Schlichting and his wife Darcy purchased their first home in Grand County in 1996. They have lived here full-time since 2018. Dave is a retired Astronomy and Space Science teacher, and currently works part-time for NASA as the Colorado Mentor for HUNCH (High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware). Dave founded Grand Astronomy in 2018 and started the Grand County Astronomy Club the same year. Dave learned to fly fish at his father’s side more than 60 years ago and still enjoys the sport as much now as when he was a child. Dave is also an avid cyclist, skier, and hiker. Dave’s greatest passion is family, especially his five wonderful grandchildren.
Dave can be reached at grandastronomy@gmail.com or 720 988 0833
Tony Eason
Tony was born and raised in Connecticut, avidly fishing Long Island Sound and up and down the east coast. Alternating between fishing from boats and spending a great deal of time in waders pursuing striped bass, bluefish, false albacore, and bonita. He has been salt-water flyfishing since the early 90's and freshwater flyfishing since 2010. He volunteered and was on the board of various conservation organizations in CT prior to moving to CO in 2020. Beyond fishing he is interested in birding and was a beekeeper for 15 years. Currently he is also a board member of the Colorado Headwaters Land Trust. Land and water conservation in Grand County and Colorado is his priority.