Page 6 - Streamkeeper's Log Summer 2014

MOUNT SHASTA
Hat Creek Update
The California Trout Mount Shasta office is hard at work on the Hat Creek Restoration Project, led by Conservation Manager, Andrew Braugh. So far, in 2014, CalTrout has worked with project partners to secureentryagreements,designaviablerestoration project, secure all necessary environmental permits, and prepare for on-the-ground work. The manual labor,shovel-in-the-groundworkwillstartinearnest this fall with initial riparian plantings, noxious weed management, and trail maintenance projects. By the end of 2014, CalTrout will have made significant steps towards restoring the legacy of Hat Creek.
This summer California Trout also launched Year 2 of the Hat Creek Youth Initiative, with local students learning the stream ecology of Hat Creek from natural resource experts during guided field tours and classroom lessons. Eight students from the surrounding communities are gaining important conservation job-skills working until mid-August helping to restore Hat Creek. The youth crew is currently focusing on noxious weed removal in preparation for plantings, building living willow walls to restore degrading stream-banks, and completing wild trout snorkel surveys to learn to identify trout during different life cycles. Students are looking forward to their upcoming project with the Bureau of Land Management, where the youth crew will participate in the full circle of restoration by helping to maintain a 30-year-old restoration project at Fitzhugh Creek.
$25,000 Goal Achieved for Hat Creek Restoration Project
We’re thrilled to announce that we surpassed the goal of $25,000 for our Hat Creek Restoration Project crowdfunding campaign. Almost $11,000 was raised through the Indiegogo platform and an additional $22,500 was donated directly to CalTrout bringing the total amount to $33,420. The donations secure a matching grant from Orvis and bring the total funding for the 3-year project to $1.15M.
Sherri Wood
We’d like to recognize and give special thanks to Sherri Wood whose generous donation on behalf of the World of Outdoors Foundation (W.O.O.D. Foundation) put us well above our mark.
The $20,000 donation was made in memory of her husband, David, an avid fly fisherman who loved Hat Creek and would certainly appreciate the work being done to restore a robust, vibrant trout fishery for future generations to experience.
Each and every contribution, large and small, will help to bring Hat Creek back to its glory. We’re grateful to the over 100 donors who supported this important project.
Students preparing willow whips for stream-bank restoration
OTHER NEWS
Casting Call 2014
On what turned out to be a sweltering day at the State Capitol, California Trout and Trout Unlimited staged our annual Casting Call event. With the goal of raising awareness for salmon, steelhead, trout and their waters throughout the state, much of our focus this year was on the water bond proposals and effective groundwater management.
Now in its fifth year, the event featured a friendly fly casting competition that had three lawmakers casting for hula hoop ‘ponds’ after their legislature’s morning session adjourned. Senate GOP Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), Senator Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte) and Assemblyman Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) all did an admirable job of casting in the wind and placing their fly in the makeshift targets.
Assemblyman Dahle was ultimately crowned victor, though only after he was given more time since he has the most trout streams in his district.
The north walkway of the Capitol was lined with posters and booths filled with literature on our restoration projects. Complimentary ice cream and ‘chinooky cookies’ were offered to passers-by who stopped to learn more about the organizations and our work around the state. By day’s end, we had achieved our goal of raising awareness of fish and water issues to legislators and their staff.
CalTrout’s Conservation Director Curtis Knight, Assemblyman Dahle, Senator Berryhill, Senator Huff, and TU’s Sam Davidson.
Did you know?
Hat Creek was the motivation for the formation of California Trout in the early 1970’s, thus creating a leading organization dedicated to protecting and restoring CA’s wild and native salmonids and our extraordinary cold-water biodiversity. As a spring-fed river, Hat Creek provides a reliable source of cold, clean, water for fish, people, and biodiversity – even during extreme drought conditions. The Hat Creek Restoration Project is critically important to California’s cold-water biodiversity and wild trout populations.
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