Foundation fact sheet

One of the questions I receive most often regards the Foundation’s name itself. The Foundation is named after the Amblève River, situated in the Belgian Ardennes in southeast Belgium. While many fish species reside along its length, the Amblève is best known in fly fishing circles as a wonderful brown trout fishery. I encountered this river system while living and working in Belgium, and perhaps because it was the most accessible place for me to pass a day on the water with my fly rod, the river grew on me.

The Foundation is the manifestation of a lifelong love for the inspiring places where trout reside, coupled with a growing passion to conserve spaces where clean air and clean water prevail. When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, I began to look around at the world and realized that many of the amazing places that people like me dream of visiting were threatened, not just by the pandemic itself, but also by the economic impact that travel shutdowns brought to the communities and people who live and work in those same spaces.

After three long years, the world finally fully emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, but key challenges remain for people in developing countries where amazing fisheries exist – and to be sure, our Foundation has evolved. My hope is that the grants we fund will continue to address the often-unique needs of the places where we work, make the communities in these places stronger, and empower people to build stronger futures. We are still unable to help as many communities and organizations as I would like, but we will do our best to work with as many partners as possible, so that we can do our part to help conserve these amazing places. We hope you all will do the same when the opportunity presents itself.

We currently have three funding priorities.

Community – Economic Development Projects that will empower local populations to build and sustain a more stable place where communities can thrive. May include programs to demonstrate tangible benefits from commercial and recreational fishery resources to people who are primarily concerned with basic sustenance.

People – Fishing Guides, Lodges and Outfitters (and their staff) who have seen visitors fall to near zero because of COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Many of these individuals and organizations have lost entire revenue seasons to the pandemic. While tourist travel may return to the world in 2021, we anticipate this need to persist for years to come as people and communities slowly recover. This includes fly and conventional fishing.

Conservation – Fishery Enhancement and Conservation Program – Grants for people, organizations and government sponsored agencies that engage directly in conservation related work to develop new fisheries, enable new fishery access, or preserve and enhance existing fisheries. Includes education and research based programs.

New Grant Recipients