Contradictory to what the majority of new groups would do, the Dubois Anglers and Wildlife Group (aka the DAWGs) spent the past year keeping a low profile and quietly getting their ducks in a row. One year later, with a dues-paying membership now topping 60, the DAWGs are ready to make a tangible contribution to fishing quality.

With the bulk of organizational efforts establishing a membership base, setting specific goals, election of officers and selection of steering and advisory committees behind them, attention has now been turned to focusing on the quality of the Upper Wind River Watershed as a fishing and recreational resource.

Tony Kuykendall, president of the DAWGs, says the present membership in about 50 percent resident and 50 percent nonresident. We have a broad base of fishing guides, land owners along the river, packers, interested sportsmen and ranchers, he said. It makes for a good consensus.

Some rather impressive numbers have been gathered regarding economic benefits of fishing to Dubois. Research from local merchants shows that just the sale of nonresident licenses amounted to $73,000 in 2003. Using the standard Dubois Chamber of Commerce figure that estimates the average visitor spends $140 per day in the community, and multiplying this figure times the number of nonresident licenses sold, the result totals approximately $690,000 brought into Dubois by nonresident anglers last year

Those figures are most likely conservative, says Leon Sanderson, vice president of the DAWGs. The $690,000 figure was established using the $140 per day that the Dubois Chamber of Commerce estimates the average visitor spends. Sanderson, who is also a fishing guide, believes the daily spending average to be much higher. My clients spend closer to $300-$500 per day.

Wyoming Game & Fish used a $149 per day spending average in the formula, establishing that in 2000, non-resident fishing expenditures tallied $690 million statewide.DAWG member Ken Greenwood explains that developing these types of numbers and figures is important to the group in order for them to become the credible source of information for this area. We are a volunteer organization working for the betterment of rivers and streams in the watershed, Greenwood says.

We recognize that water quality plays an important part in fishing quality. We are anxious to see the forthcoming NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation District) water quality study. That can provide another baseline and data that will be helpful to fishery management. The impact to this river is growing so fast, we feel like we are delinquent by two to three years, Sanderson adds. We feel like we are playing catch up.

Greenwood also explains that the experience of similar groups for the Snake River and Platte River are such that if a local group can get ahead of the curve, get a conservation consensus mindset in the local community established, the need for state or federal intervention is greatly reduced when it comes to good management of watershed resources.

The DAWGs encourage and maintain relationships with representatives from state and federal agencies to establish cooperative management of the watershed that includes all drainages between the Continental Divide and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The DAWGs’ Advisory Committee consists of G&F Regional Fisheries Supervisor Dave Dufek of Lander, retired Wyoming G&F Department Director Pete Petera of Dubois, and District Conservationist Jeff Vanuga of the Natural Resources Conservation District in Dubois.

Greenwood is focus is working with Dufek to gather information for the G&F regarding creel count surveys that include the number of fish caught, species of fish caught and the number of hours or days each angler spent fishing. Between 1996 and 2000, the G&F collected 282 creel surveys over the course of the four-year period. Greenwood believes the DAWGs can gather as many as 450 in one year, giving the G&F a base of figures at least two times more annually than they were able to collect on their own.

Local fishing guides have agreed to have the people they guide fill out creel survey cards. In addition, Wyoming G&F has granted permission for the DAWGs to place collection boxes at public access points. We want to work with the G&F to do what they would like to do, but perhaps don`t have the funds to do, Sanderson explains.

G&F figures from 2003 indicate that only 18 percent of fish caught by non- resident anglers are kept. Eighty-two percent are catch and release a fact that pleases Sanderson because it ties in with one of the group`s ideas of using the resource, not abusing it. Educating the public that the Wind River is managed as a wild trout not stocked fishery is at the top of Sanderson`s priority list.

We have a strong population of wild trout, catch and release will guarantee the strength of that strain, he explains, adding that hatchery-bred fish are not as healthy. We want to create a drainage of self-sustaining wild trout which are far less susceptible to diseases.

I want to promote catch and release based on biological facts, and the success of other wild trout fisheries, he says. According to Sanderson, Montana is having tremendous success with the management of its rivers as wild trout fisheries for the past 10-15 years. We`ve got a real jewel here, Sanderson says with a smile. I try to fish all over the Northwest, and it makes me very happy to come home and fish in my own backyard.

A visible project on the map for the DAWGs this year is the Sawmill Project, a cooperative effort with the G&F department to improve the public fishing access area of the Wind River behind the Dubois Medical Clinic. The project covers an area both above and below the bridge, approximately three-quarters of a mile long.

It includes improving fish habitat, plantings along the bank, area beautification, educational signage and kiosks. It`s a big project, says Sanderson. We`re working hand-in-hand with (G&F Aquatic Biologist) Dennis Oberlie. We`re not going to just go throwing rocks in the river, it`s well thought out. The DAWGs annual meeting is scheduled for July 14 at the Headwaters Center. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. More details will be announced in upcoming weeks.