Happy News: CalTrout, Orvis, Fly Fishers Raise More Than $120,000 For Redband Trout Recovery
Original Post:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TroutUndergroundFlyFishBlog/~3/191519530/
If you’re one of the McCloud River’s endangered Redband Trout, you’re thinking today is a good day.
That’s because fly fishers, CalTrout, Orvis and the National Fish & Wildlife foundation threw down big time in a “3 for 1″ matching grant program, raising more than $120,000 to restore McCloud Redband Trout habitat.
One stretch of Trout Creek after restoration — it used to be more than a hundred feet wide…
Keep in mind the private donations exceeded the program’s goals (mind you I’m not taking all the credit just because I posted about this recovery program months ago), our warm, fuzzy Fact For the Day.
From the CalTrout/Orvis press release:
Mt. Shasta – California Trout announced today that over $120,000 was raised through an innovative partnership to protect the rare and beautiful McCloud River Redband trout. The Orvis Company and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation each gave $30,000 grants, and more than $60,000 was donated by hundreds of private citizens. The private donations were generated by an Orvis campaign promoted in their catalogs and website, and through outreach by California Trout to its membership.
“It’s encouraging to see how strongly the residents in the Mount Shasta region and our customers as a whole feel about saving this unique, local species,” said James Hathaway, Communications and Conservation Manager of the Orvis Company. “There’s nothing else like it on earth, and people understand that.”
I took a tour of a few of the restoration sites with the CalTrout folks, and will throw together an article sometime soon.
Some pretty damned impressive stuff goes on in a restoration project, especially when the small stream in question has captured an old road bed, abandoning its 3-foot wide stream bed for what will eventually become a 150′ wide, 25′ deep, featureless gully.
Even more impressive is the collaboration at work — private landowners were largely happy to help:
The Core Group was established voluntarily to protect the redband’s genetic integrity, and to secure populations while respecting existing land uses, resource uses and private property rights. This conservation effort is unique in that a diverse group of stakeholders are working collaboratively and efficiently to protect and restore the redband’s native biodiversity.
The habitat conservation projects include restoration of degraded meadows and stream banks, and private landowners are voluntarily helping to improve roads and culverts on their property to reduce stream sedimentation and improve upstream fish passage.
Score one for the good guys (and Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, take note of the collaborative aspect). And for everyone who threw down a few bucks — well, pat yourselves on the back.
See you in Redband Trout country, Tom Chandler.
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