SWMTU’s mission is to conserve, protect and restore West Michigan’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds and to provide a forum for the exchange of information concerning coldwater fisheries and the techniques and the sport of trout fishing. You can learn more about the chapter’s activities by following our conservation thread on the blog, or by reviewing our on-going activities below. Dolan Natural Area Dolan Property management plan Rogue River Home Waters Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Riparian Areas Groundwater withdrawals Farm Buffers Links to conservation organizations and resources

1962-1969 Blake Forslund 1969-1971 Hillary Snell 1971-1972 Will Wolfe 1972-1974 Bruce Fairbanks 1974-1975 Jim Vogt 1975-1976 Terry Moran 1976-1978 Dick Nelson 1978-1980 Stan Potter 1980-1982 Dick Norton 1982-1985 Jon Bachelder 1985-1987 John Green 1987-1989 Jerry Holwerda 1989-1990 Paul Younggren 1990-1992 Dennis Potter 1992-1993 Wade Seley 1994-1995 Clark Benton 1996-1997 Philip Cusey 1998-1999 Randy Kolar 2000-2001 Scott Steiner 2002-2003 Mark Luttenton 2003-2004 Corey Swiftney 2004-2006 Eric Starck 2006-2008 Dave Smith 2008-2010 Andy Milnes 2010-2012 JR Hartman 2012-2014 Marc Montpetit 2014-2017 Jeff Edwards 2017-2021 Lance Climie 2021-2024 Steve Frendt 2024-present Nick Garlock

SWMTU announces capital campaign to fund Schrems Scholarship forever First published April 16, 2004 At the annual spring banquet, SWMTU announced a new Capital Campaign to support the Schrems Scholarship fund forever. Named after Cornelius Schrems, one of the founding members of Trout Unlimited, the $2,000 scholarship is awarded annually to a Michigan State University graduate student who works toward the mission of our chapter. After the passing of Cornelius in 1982, his wife, Sis, founded the Schrems Scholarship Fund. Since that time, Sis funded the scholarships for these students involved in research projects with wild trout populations. In 2000,...

Schrems WMTU is proud to announce financial grants of up to $1,000 per school to defray the startup costs of establishing a Salmon in the Classroom (SIC) program. This grant is limited to two schools per school year. What are the requirements for setting up a program? Interested teacher Permission of school Principal A letter of agreement with the school, including a transportation arrangement for field trips Source of eggs & permission to acquire them Instructions for teacher to follow in setting up classroom aquarium Aquarium and other related equipment A check to the school account (as specified by the...

CORNELIUS M. SCHREMS SCHOLARSHIP – PAST WINNERS This is awarded to a current Michigan State University student of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife who works toward the mission of SWMTU. This scholarship, and its intention, was founded by Sis Schrems in memory of her husband. 1987-Robin Ziegler 1988-John Kocik 1989-Shari Dann 1990-Steve Marod 1991-Melisa Drake 1992-Edward A. Baker 1993-C. Paola Ferreri 1994-Tammy Newcomb 1995-Jeff Rupert 1996-Kristi Klomp 1997-Amy Nevela 1998-Kurt Newman 1999-Jessica Mistak 2000-JoAnna Lessard 2001-Brad Thompson 2002-Bryan Burroughs 2003-Tammy DeBaar 2004-Katrina Mueller 2005-Jon Hansen 2006-Sarah Hughes 2007-Kristine Bole-Morse 2008-Karyann Waco 2009-Ralph Tingley 2010-Corey Higley 2011-Jared Ross 2012-Hanna Kruckman...

In addition to ongoing education efforts with our membership, the SWMTU chapter supports education in schools. Since 1987, the chapter has funded the Cornelius M. Schrems Scholarship at Michigan State University. It is awarded annually to a current MSU student of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife who works toward the mission of SWMTU. This scholarship, and its intention, was founded by Sis Schrems in memory of her husband. In 2012, SWMTU established a permanent fund at MSU for this scholarship. Since 2005, SWMTU has supported the Salmon in the Classroom (SIC) initiative by providing financial grants of up to...

CORNELIUS M. SCHREMS AWARD – PAST WINNERS “Recognition of outstanding service to fellow fishermen through extraordinary contributions to the arts, skills, and lore of trout fishing.” 1975-Dick Nelson1976-Carl Richards1977-Art Neuman1978-Zimmie Nolph1979-Bob Philip1980-Blake Forslund1981-Honorable John D. Voelker1982-Dick Pobst1983-Cal Gates1984-not awarded1985-Dennis Potter1986-Paul Younggren1987-not awarded1988-Dick Norton1989-Jerry Holwerda1990-Dick Wilson1991-Fred Oswalt1992-Glen Blackwood1993-Robert McKeon1994-Wade Seley1995-Matt Supinski1996-Dr. Bud Kanouse1997-Clark Benton1998-Bruce Richards1999-Howard Meyerson2000-Philip Cusey2001-David Koschara2002-Dorothy Schramm2003-Debra Johnston-Visch2004-Scott Steiner2005-Paul Eberhart2006-John Green2007-Kevin Feenstra2008-Will Sweetman2009-Wes Cooper2010-Dick Norton2011-Brad Boomstra2012-Jim Scott2013-George Buursma2014-Rich Steketee2015-Chris Soule2016-Dave DeJonge2017-Dick and Ellen Smith2018-not awarded2019-not awarded2020-not awarded2021-not awarded2022-Dr. Ken Rongey2023-2024-Ellie and John Frey

PAST WINNERS “Recognition of contributions towards preserving the environment.” 1971-Peter Steketee 1972-Henry Westerville 1973-Glen Sheppard 1974-Will Wolfe 1975-Hillary Snell 1976-Roger Conner 1977-Joan Wolfe 1978-Wes Cooper 1979-not awarded 1980-John Tanton 1981-Ken Sikkema 1982-Jack Schaley 1983-Dave Smethurst 1984-not awarded 1985-Ben Maylar 1986-Dick Buss 1987-Henry Zeman 1988-M.S.U. 1989-Jon Bachelder 1990-Rusty Gates 1991-Pere Marquette Watershed Council 1992-West Michigan Environmental Action Council 1993-James Schram 1994-Bill Walker 1995-Bob Nicholson 1996-Roger Laninga 1997-Michael Ells 1998-Tom Rozich 1999-Ed Frye 2000-Dr. Bill Taylor 2001-Peter Wege 2002-John Koches 2003-Jim Oosting and the Coldwater River Watershed Council 2004-Keith Groty 2005-Mark Luttenton 2006-Rich Bowman 2007-Jeff Alexander 2008-Josh Zuiderveen 2009-Mike Hoekwater 2010- Oak...

Courtesy of Bob McKeon I wanted to share with SWMTU members this letter. This is a copy of the original letter of the first recognized meeting by the founding members of Trout Unlimited. July 15th is considered by national as TU Day which was founded in 1959 in Grayling, Michigan. I have a collection of some original documents in my possession that I received a few years ago while serving as a member of West Michigan Trout Unlimited. I became friends with Cornelius Schrems wife, “Sis,” and stayed in touch with her until she passed away. Sis created a yearly...

WMTU TO BE CALLED SCHREMS WEST MICHIGAN TROUT UNLIMITED First published December 2000 For the past 38 years, West Michigan Trout Unlimited has furthered the noble cause of cold water fishery conservation. All of the financial contributions, in-stream work projects, and efforts to educate and develop future generations of conservation-oriented fly fishers are a testimonial to our Chapter’s dedication to this great resource. The next person who joins our Chapter will be our 800th member. The cold water conservation effort in West Michigan has a firm foothold. All of our successes and strength as a chapter would not be possible...