Stonefly Addict?

David Nelson, a SF Bay Area surgeon who heads the FFF Fly Tying Board of Governors and the son of late well-known tyer Dick Nelson of Aztec fame, is a long-time stonefly addict. He and Lauren Cullen, an aquatic entomology grad student at Dartmouth, have started a fledgling web site and are trying to combine the great local knowledge of fly fishers and fly fishing guides with the detailed knowledge of the entomologists. The fishermen know where and when the hatches are but are not sure of the exact species; the scientists know a lot about how to identify the species but little about where they all are found precisely and when they hatch. David and Lauren are doing this on their own, without sponsorship.
Check them out. Contact David directly if you'd like to participate as a specimen and data collector.

nelsondl@pacbell.net
http://www.stonefly.us/What_is_Stonefly_US.htm
http://www.stonefly.us/Database_Entry_Sheet.htm

David has studied insects since high school. In college, where he had the nickname was "Bugs". His dad got him interested in mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and midges (the usual mantra) years ago, and from then he concentrated on stoneflies for about 18 years. He joined Perla, the scientific organization dedicated to stoneflies, flew to Texas once to collect stoneflies with Ken Stewart, the dean of stonefly nymphs in the US. David taught some workshops at Conclave on stoneflies, both entomology and tying. Flew to Montana one year for the Pteronarcys California hatch, rowed and tied with Pat Barnes (sofa pillow originator), etc.

Basically, David is attempting to develop a national stonefly database that is populated by fly fishers interested in entomology. David is interested in comments on the project and asks,

"Motivating fly fishers, guides, and shops to participate will be key to the success of this "citizen-scientist" project. I am in the process of writing a page explaining how stoneflies are indicators of water quality, and why a national database of stonefly data would help to preserve rivers. Each contributor will have a page on them, with photos if they want, linking to their website. The hope is that having a picture of yourself on the net and a link to your shop website or guide website would be benefits to motivate people.".


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Skitt fiske,
Marty Seldon

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