As part of the celebration of the PA Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp’s 25th anniversary, Ashley Wilmont of Bellefonte was awarded the 2019 Dr. Robert J. Behnke Award.

Wilmont is the program director for the PACouncil of Trout Unlimited. In that capacity she manages the statewide Coldwater Heritage Partnership, and PA Trout In The Classroom. She coordinates the Keystone Coldwater Conference and directs the PA Forever Wild Grant Program.

Wilmont has previously worked for both the Fayette County Conservation District as well as the Washington County Conservation District as an Erosion and Sediment Control Technician and the Dirt and Gravel Low Volume Road Technician.

Wilmont is also a guide and fly fishing instructor for Wilderness Voyageurs Outfitters, Inc., and a volunteer for Casting for Recovery. She is a 2014 graduate of Penn State University.

Ashley is originally for Coatesville, Pennsylvania and attended the Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp in 2008. While at the camp Ashley proved to be an exceptional student and earned the J. Leon Chandler Award, presented to a student each year who display ethics and show leadership skills.

She is the second student who has earned both the Chandler Award and the Behnke Award. Ben Mummert, Director of Camp Operations earned the Chandler Award in 2007 and the Behnke Award in 2016.

The Dr. Robert J. Behnke Award is presented to a graduate of the Pennsylvania Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp or any other Trout Unlimited youth camp modeled after the Pennsylvania Camp, who has gone on to further the cause of coldwater conservation.

The award has been established by the Pennsylvania Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp to honor Dr. Behnke for his years of volunteering (1996 – 2011) his time and his talents in teaching at the Pennsylvania camp as well as his educating and mentoring thousands of students during his career as a professor of Fisheries Conservation and Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. 

He is the author of more than 200 articles and papers regarding fish and fisheries and has served on numerous advisory boards for state and federal agencies.  He is the author of several books, including the seminal Trout and Salmon of North America (2002).  Bob began writing the quarterly column About Trout for Trout magazine in 1983.

Click Here for Wilmont’s full resume.

For more information on the Camp, visit the PA Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp website.

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[Posted: June 24, 2019]

7/1/2019