Year after year, beginning decades ago with Powell resident and former ditchrider Bob Capron's solo attempts, the East Yellowstone Chapter of Trout Unlimited chased native trout Sunday through super-saturated mud in the Cody Canal, with the goal of returning fish from the draining canal after the seasonal irrigation water was shut.

With the average age of the organization's hardworking fish wranglers seemingly somewhere near retirement age, you'd think it would be slow work. But the men and women, both TU members and volunteers from Park County communities, proved once again their resiliency, making the grinding drudgery — under fences and bridges, up steep and eroded canal shorelines and carrying heavy equipment and 5-gallon buckets of fish for seemingly endless miles — seemed way easier than it actually is.

At 78, former analytical chemist Dave Sweet seems to have endless energy, moving his long legs through the daily adventures during the fish rescue like a well-oiled machine. He doesn't complain, rather his passion for conservation is more than just a job; it's a lifelong passion. His leadership and energy inspires volunteers and dumbfounds most cohorts, who wonder if he ever gets tired.

For his nearly 40 years of volunteer service with the organization, he has held virtually every leadership role in the local chapter and was inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2014 for "his long commitment to Trout Unlimited and founding the Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat Project to protect native fish in Yellowstone Lake," according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

In 2011, Trout Unlimited honored Dave with the TU Distinguished Service Award. This prestigious national award recognizes outstanding achievement embodying the spirit of Trout Unlimited in the mission to conserve, protect and restore North America’s cold water fisheries and their watersheds.

Yet, Sweet deflects praise, instead turning compliments into opportunities to honor the unsung heroes of Wyoming conservation.

He realizes he can't keep up this pace forever. That's why the chapter concentrates on education and contacting youth groups, from scouting troops to science classes and outdoors clubs. Each day of the fish rescuing operation begins with a lesson on the need for the rescue efforts, as well as the use of specialized equipment needed to make the process more productive.

But there were no classes or youth groups attending the Sunday march through the mud. If it weren't for two new volunteers, the group would have been severely limited in its effectiveness.

As it happened, there was a section of the Cody Canal filled with beautiful trout; the kind every angler is thrilled to hook. Unfortunately, the crew was too small to employ two sets of electrofishing gear, which includes a large, heavy power source carried in a backpack, an electrode pole known as an anode and trailed by a metal cable, or cathode.

They made the best of it despite the number of folks needed to stun and net the fish in the canal, the bucket brigade quickly carrying heavy loads of trout to the chapter's portable pond repurposed from a mid-century Chevrolet truck bed and used to transport the fish back to their native waterways. The faster the fish are moved, the lower mortality the fish suffer from the rescue process.

Fish screens

Game and Fish regulations require the fish rescuers return the collected fish to their native waterways; in this case the South Fork of the Shoshone River.

The trout make their way into the canals through irrigation headgates, evidently thinking the grass would be greener in the canals, only to find themselves in a panic as the pools recede quickly when the faucets are closed in the fall season.

The Cody and Lakeview canals draw water from the South Fork of the Shoshone River; the Heart Mountain Canal draws from Buffalo Bill Reservoir; and the Garland and Willwood canals draw from the Shoshone River at the local hydroelectric dams.

Each headgate at the source is a potential portal for fish to enter the canal, however, self-cleaning fish screens that keep native fish from entering the canals have been installed in the headgates of the Lakewood and North Fork ditches. The North Fork screen was installed five years ago, but is needing maintenance costing about $16,000 and the Lakeview screen was installed last year, but the system is going through what Sweet called growing pains.

"The chapter is going to front the money [for the North Fork screen maintenance], but we need to backfill as soon we can," Sweet said of the emergency work schedule.

The cost will put a big dent in the chapter's bank account, but they hope it's just a temporary setback. The chapter hasn't figured out how, when or where they will plan a fundraiser to replenish the coffers, but there is hope for a Wyoming Game and Fish Commission hunting tag donation they could auction off to cover most of the expense.

The Cody Canal Irrigation District is currently studying the possibility of adding a screen system, but it's not cheap. The total cost of the project includes renovating an old headgate as well, but the bill will cost over $4 million.

Sweet said you can calculate the approximate cost of screens by multiplying the waterway's cubic feet per second (CFS) by $10,000. That means if the Garland Canal Irrigation District, which runs through downtown Powell at 900 CFS, were to install a screen system, "it could cost in excess of $9 million," he said.

Until all the canals are fitted with screens, the rescues will continue, he said, admitting that the fish rescue is but a "band-aid" solution until fish can be kept out of irrigation canals.

Chapter members and volunteers are not always welcome where the canals cross private property, but they are willing to save fish wherever they are welcome. Landowners are contacted before the crew will cross their property boundaries.

However, it's not all about saving fish. The hope is individuals and groups volunteering for the effort will be educated on native fish conservation, or, even better, they will be inspired to join the chapter.

New volunteers

Cody's Greg McCue and Powell's Jaci Smith were both first-time volunteers on Sunday.

"That's the most work anybody has got out of me in a long time," said McCue, who is now considering joining the chapter despite being sore the next day. "I was inspired by how many years they have been doing this."

Smith began her day on the bucket brigade on a day when the walks were long. Then she was invited to  join the more adventuresome canal crew. The conservation-minded labor was so satisfying for Smith that she is already planning her return.

She claims she is refusing to look at the forecast, willing to help conserve trout whether it's raining, snowing or beautiful days like the first weekend of the effort. Why? Because "I love conservation," she said.

"I invited a few friends to come back out on next Friday," she said. "Hopefully all three will come."