Expo spreads wonder of the outdoors

Outreach, education important to local Trout Unlimited chapter

It’s been warm enough the past week for anglers to be walking the trout stream across Northwest Georgia, but on Saturday they settled for a day in the Rome-Floyd ECO Center during the annual Coosa Valley Trout Unlimited Trout Expo.

Adults and children alike got to hone their skills at fly-casting with a TU instructor, learned to tie flies with longtime trout anglers and got to paddle the Oostanaula River behind the ECO Center in kayaks.

TU chapter President Ronny Cooper said the whole purpose of the Trout Expo is to get families together and inspire them to get outside.

“We’re trying to encourage families to get outside and go fish, especially as a family,” Cooper said. We want to get them away from the TVs and tablets.”

ECO Center Director Ben Winkelman said TU has been a major supporter of the center since it first opened.

“They sponsor and finance our trout stream exhibit and also support us with dollars for its maintenance,” he said.

An artificial stream runs inside the ECO Center and it’s stocked with trout to show the thousands of visitors each year what a trout habitat is supposed to look like.

Cooper also used the occasion to present a $5,000 check to Vivian Davis, manager of the Arrowhead Environmental Education Center — another outdoor education center in Floyd County, located on the Department of Natural Resources Region 1 headquarters property off Floyd Springs Road.

Together the centers hosted over 18,400 children for visits to learn more about the outdoors.

Davis said children come in eager to learn.

“I think they’re super-interested and want to know what’s going on in the outdoors, because most of them don’t get it at home,” she said.

DNR Ranger Ben Cunningham said he’s seen activity on the Etowah, Oostanaula and Coosa rivers really pick up over the last five years.

“The growing popularity of canoeing and kayaking has quadrupled the number of people on the rivers,” Cunningham said. “Rome has the perfect place to do it.”

Winkelman said events such as the Trout Expo not only bring people into the ECO Center but serve as an important outreach to the community.

“We’re helping them learn about the importance of water quality, especially trout waters,” he said.

Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune Bill Pinson (left) helps Caleb Sorrell, 7, of Adairsville, with his fly-casting skills Saturday at the Trout Unlimited Trout Expo.

Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune Ken Day looks for the right partridge feather to tie a fly at the Trout Expo on Saturday in the Rome-Floyd ECO Center.

LEFT: Hugh Siniard of Cartersville paddles a kayak back to the Oostanaula River bank under the watchful eye of Chris King. Kayaks were made available for testing by the Cedar Creek RV and Outdoor Center on Saturday during the annual Trout Unlimited...

LEFT: Brandon Thomas of Cave Spring is the winner of the fly-casting contest.

ABOVE: Department of Natural Resources Ranger Ben Cunningham (from left) is cajoled into buying a canoe raffle ticket by Paul Diprima and Steve Thacker.

BELOW: Harmony Sorrell (from right), 10, practices fishing under the eye of her father Eric Sorrell, while Caleb Sorrell, 7, practices with volunteer Bill Pinson.

ABOVE: Trout swim in the artificial trout stream inside the Rome Floyd County ECO Center. The annual Trout Unlimited Trout Expo brought a large crowd to the facility Saturday.

LEFT: Trout Unlimited volunteer Bill Pinson (left) watches his grandson Ezra Pinson practice his flycasting technique at the Trout Unlimited Expo on Saturday.