John Thurman, in red cap, identifies aquatic invertebrates for students on a field trip to Clear Creek in Norris. Image by Frances Hamilton Oates.

KNOXVILLE — John Thurman of Norris has been named winner of the national Youth Education Leadership Award by Trout Unlimited, recognizing his contributions to creating a new generation of conservationists.

The annual award honors a TU volunteer who demonstrates exemplary leadership and a deep passion for inspiring young people to become thoughtful, responsible stewards of North America's cold water fisheries. It will be presented to Thurman on Sept. 5 during the TU annual meeting in Santa Fe, N.M. and will be noted in the winter issue of TROUT magazine.

Thurman first joined TU in 1970 and helped found the Clinch River Chapter in 1996. He has been chapter president and a board member—but current president Dick Geiger says Thurman's focus for more than a decade has been on developing youngsters' interest in natural aquatic systems. He has served as the chapter's Youth Education Committee chair since TU first increased its emphasis on youth programs in 2001.

Thurman holds a bachelor of science degree in forestry from Iowa State University and a master's in wildlife ecology from Purdue University. He worked in environmental quality and compliance for the Tennessee Valley Authority, but found his true vocation after retiring from TVA in 1994. In retirement he became an aquatic entomologist—and in that role, greatly expanded his involvement with youth.

Thurman's biggest contribution to Tennessee youth has been development, with Jack Betchick of TU's Delta Chapter in Memphis, of the Great Smoky Mountains Trout Adventure Camp for middle school boys and girls, sponsored by the Tennessee Council of TU. Thurman developed a dual approach for the June camp in which staff of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont instruct campers in stream ecology, limnology and physics while TU volunteers teach casting, fishing and fly tying. The camp in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has just completed its fourth year, also incorporates technical skills of staff from the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service.

In his other work with youth, Thurman has: *
• Developed his own Kids in the Creek program involving area children with nature, both during the school year and during summer vacation.
* Assisted with the construction of a natural pond system at Norris Elementary School.
* Made presentations to middle school and high school students that include field trips to streams.
* Helped develop the chapter's program with the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge.
* Mentored Boy Scouts as they earn fishing and fly fishing merit badges.
* Helped Coal Creek Watershed Foundation develop Coal Creek Health Day at Briceville Elementary School, an annual event at which pupils study Coal Creek as it runs beside the school and compare what they must to do maintain healthy bodies with what we all need to do to maintain healthy stream ecosystems.
* Individually encouraged youngsters to continue pursuing interests sparked by chapter and camp activities. For example, a former trout camper, still in high school, has been elected to the chapter's board.

"When it comes to youth education and conservation, John Thurman is a role model we are proud to have as a resource," Geiger said.