Throughout our first 50 years, CalTrout has grown from a handful of activist volunteers to a $15M organization leading major conservation projects all across California. In the process, we’ve developed a working model that uniquely positions us to take on these challenges, and succeed.

Our regionally based structure means we’re embedded in communities where native fish are critical to the region, investing significant time cultivating relationships.​ Our work is rooted in science and hard data that drives our decision-making and measures our efficacy.​ Together, this formula builds trust among those with whom we work, and allows us to bring diverse interests together with a shared goal in mind.​ The Cal Trout Ethos combines this model with a bold and competent attitude – it’s a belief that no project is too big, no task too daunting.

Leading the Way Forward

Our plans for the next 50 years are even bolder, and are built up on our understanding that–as conservationists, as scientists, as humans–we must work with and integrate landscape-level processes into our way of life, rather than attempting to dominate them. And as we respond to the impact felt by a growing population, climate change, and an altered water system, we must move from treating symptoms to treating the causes.

Not only will we continue to implement our projects at scale, we will do so in a way that policy and projects work together with nature to achieve results that benefit people and the environment. We must reconcile a knowledge of nature into our management of nature, across all of our disciplines. That means partnering with foresters, ranchers, farmers and urban city planners in developing urban infrastructure. It means removing barriers to free-flowing waterways while delivering water where it’s needed. It means working across the entire California landscape–from ridge top to river mouth–from the Oregon border to San Diego.

In the era of climate change, we have the capacity to demonstrate to the world what solutions look like by continuing to scale our proven model, and by continuing to integrate the concepts by which people manage diverse landscapes – be they farms, ranches, cities, or forests.

Our Future Vision

At CalTrout, we envision a California where waters flow free, clean and cold from headwaters to the ocean: a water system in perfect balance, serving the needs of all who depend on it.

With your support, we will build on what we have accomplished–ensuring clean, cold waters run free throughout California as we save our native wild fish from extinction. Because a healthy fish population signifies a healthy and sustainable water system. And that means a healthy, sustainable future for California that we can hand off to our children, our grandchildren, and all future generations of Californians.