Thirty four participants found their way to the Utah Department of Natural Resources Salt lake City office to participate in the 5th Future Fisherman Foundation Regional training series seminar on Monday and Tuesday.
Community groups from around the Salt Lake City area who participate in the Utah DWR’s Community fishing program under the watchful eye of Ms. Tonya Kieffer, Weston Pearce and Drew Cushing were invited to participate in this event along with several other Utah DWR employees in an effort to bring more qualified trainers to their existing programs.
The group participated in a variety of hands on experiences and drills all designed to expose students to Aquatic Education, Fishing Skills, and Critical Decision making, with the ultimate outcome of exposing them to the great sport of fishing and aquatic stewardship.
“We are really hoping to reintroduce this sport to a new generation of angler who is not only better equipped to catch fish and enjoy the sport, but also become great stewards of the resource” stated F3 executive Director Mark Gintert. “Our exit surveys were fantastic and multiple participants told us that this was the single best training they had ever been to” added Gintert.
Event participants received a travel stipend for attending and they will also receive a tackle package for completing a post event survey that they will receive electronically within a few weeks of the course completion.
This event concludes F3’s “Train the Trainers” series for this year. The 501c3 non-profit has conducted seminars in Hot Springs Arkansas, Kalamazoo Michigan, Ocala Florida, Richmond Virginia, along with the Salt Lake event held this week. A Recreational Boating and Fishing 
Foundation Education Grant made these events possible and the Foundation looks forward to being able to continue this program in the future.
Interested cities and groups should contact the Future Fisherman Foundation at futurefisherman.org if they would like to bring one of these events to their region in the future.