by Vivien Felker (originally published in the January-February 2025 issue of Bugle magazine)

In Washington, RMEF volunteers team up with local partners to provide a family-friendly day of fishing and conservation education for the next generation of outdoorsmen and women. 

Under an open canopy of eastern Washington Doug fir, kids ages 14 and under cast their spinning rods into Bonaparte Lake and watch their bobbers, waiting for a bite.  

Whenever a hungry trout takes the bait, volunteers from groups, businesses, agencies and organizations including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation race in to help excited anglers reel in their fighting fish, get them off the hook and snap a photo. The kids can then take their fish to a station where a volunteer cleans them.  “Just watching the kids catch fish is memorable; many of them have never fished before,” says Rick Lind, a committee member of the RMEF North Cascades chapter who has helped for more than two decades at the annual Bonaparte Kids Fishing Derby. “Fish Day,” as volunteers and attendees call it, began 29 years ago and is a partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the local American Legion post to provide a free day of outdoor learning for kids in the counties of Okanogan and Ferry. This past June, nearly 200 came out to wet a line.  

As the buzz around Fish Day has grown, so has the support from businesses in the local community and beyond to help raise the funds needed to put on the event. RMEF contributed $3,500 through a state grant to help purchase fishing rods, tackle boxes and baits the local Lee Frank Ace Hardware offered at cost. Attendees get to keep everything so they can keep fishing long after the event wraps up for the year. Before kids can receive their fishing gear, they must tour each of the different educational booths to learn about nature, conservation and outdoor safety. The range of activities is wide—Forest Service biologists teach bug identification and rattlesnake safety, and kids can learn about bass from the Okanogan Valley Bass Club, watch a nesting loon through a spotting scope with volunteers from the Okanogan Highland Alliance, and the local sheriff’s department teaches cold-water boating safety and passes out free lifejackets alongside Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. At the RMEF table, kids get a water bottle, sunscreen, bug spray and other useful items to stuff in their backpacks for future time spent in the outdoors.  

It’s heartwarming to see so many people get together year after year to put on such a great event that local families can attend for free, Lind says. “I’ve been a  

part of this event almost since it started, and I can say we’re seeing people that attended when they were kids coming back and bringing their own kids now. It’s truly a collaborative effort to instill conservation and recreation values in children.”