Conservation

Please contact Henry Sandigo via email

for further information

Mission Statement

To provide conservation direction and leadership for Granite Bay Flycasters by promoting the protection of fisheries and water resources,

and to stimulate participation, awareness, and education of our club members and the community regarding conservation efforts.

ATTENTION:

As of August 3, 2010:

Meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of the month from

7:00-8:30PM at

a NEW Location:

Round Table Pizza 6811 Douglas Blvd. in Granite Bay, CA 95746

Come & have a pizza for dinner!


Conservation Corner Archive

(click above link to prior months' archive of messages)

 

Our July meeting had 3 in attendance and me (Robin Eagan, Mel Odemar & John Carroz) and one special guest, Mark Powell, Endangered Species Coalition California Representative. Thanks to those who keep attending these important monthly meetings. Remember attendance at the committee meetings counts toward your total volunteer hours for the year.

Mark gave us an overview of the Delta issues: peripheral canal, more water from the Delta may go to LA, San Diego and other points south, the politics involved, possible closed door agreements (WESTLANDS) , legislative leaders calling for changing the rules about water needed for marine life, how all citizens of California must get behind the “conserve water initiative”; to save, don’t waste, recycle the water you use if possible.

 

Reports:

 

Auburn Ravine Tour - Mel Odemar - Friday, 6/25/2010

I participated in a tour of the Auburn Ravine conducted by the Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead Assoc. (SARSSA). Approximately 20 persons attended including governmental representatives from the CDFG, USFWS, CDWR, NOAA, Placer Co. Planning Dept, CPDA, local property owners, agriculture and members of the public.  The daylong tour began at the PG&E power plant on Wise Road in Auburn and concluded in the valley floor west of Lincoln where the water flow was totally diverted into rice fields.   On the valley floor Auburn Ravine does not follow a natural stream course but follows a system of artificial channels and eventually reaches the Feather River near Verona.  We visited 10 sites representing various stream habitats, dams and water diversions.

 

Auburn Ravine’s water primarily comes from a diversion from the Yuba River at Spaulding Reservoir.  The water enters the ravine at the PG&E power station on Wise Road near Ophir Road and provides a substantial year-round flow of cold water.  At the time of the tour the flow was estimated to be 450 cfs.  The stream at the upper portions of the ravine provides excellent salmonid habitat and it supports a substantial population of resident trout, primarily rainbows with some browns.  Steelhead have been identified in the ravine and we were told that salmon have been seen.  However I saw and heard nothing to support the claim by Placer Legacy that Auburn Ravine is presently providing an important salmon and steelhead spawning ground.  There is no doubt that the stream would provide excellent salmon and steelhead spawning and rearing habitat providing fish had access to these areas which is the goal of SARSSA. 

 

Much of the support for stream restoration comes from property owners who literally have the ravine in their backyards.  SARSSA has put much effort towards designing fish screening structures and is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars for diversion screening. The last two diversions are in the middle of rice fields where fish passage and screening would be difficult to accomplish. A CDFG biologist I spoke with on the tour also had serious doubts about fish passage in the lower reaches. The final diversion dam (Coppin Dam) is a temporary structure that I was told comes out in the fall and is installed in late spring.  The passage and screening problems in the upper reaches is doable, but the real challenge in my view is the diversions and barriers on the valley floor.

 

During the tour there was no mention of the GBF $10,000 donation to Placer Legacy to modify barriers.  Following the tour I was informed by Ronald Otto of SARSSA by email that the GBF donation will be used to modify, rather than remove, the Hemphill diversion or enhance fish passage at the gauging station downstream, both of which are NID facilities.  The County CEO is holding the funds in trust.  Edmund Sullivan of SARSSA will be glad to meet with us to provide an update and/or to discuss other conservation developments.

 

Public access to Auburn Ravine is very limited.  Nearly all the areas we visited were closed to the public, as were many of the diversion facilities in the upper reaches.   Regardless of whether or not Auburn Ravine is successfully modified for anadromous fish production, opening areas for angling access would be of tremendous fishery value. Increased public assess was not discussed.  Putah Creek may provide a model for such an effort.

 

Chris Shutes of CSPA was on the tour and he is very enthusiastic over the prospects of developing salmon and steelhead runs in the ravine and he believes it is doable.  He is the one that brought up to me the comparison with Putah Creek regarding the potential for quality angling opportunities.  

 

All in all it was a great tour and I learned a lot.

 

Lower Yuba River Symposium - Henry Sandigo - Monday 6/28/2010

 

I attended the Lower Yuba River Symposium in Sacramento.  This meeting was definitely a learning process for me and one that forced me to listen very intently to understand the acronyms, the goals and purposes of each player at this symposium. There were 9 speakers and the audience were mostly Biologists working in various role of Water Monitoring and Analysis and instruction. My takeaway from this symposium is; many agencies and organizations are working hard to continue to balance the needs of all users of our states waterways. Many are paid employees and many are volunteers who are truly dedicated to this cause. Daily monitoring and evaluating of salmonid, addressing recovery planning, mapping of the 24+ miles (Marysville Gage to Englebright Reservoir) of the lower Yuba river,  testing to evaluate the viability of Salmon populations (through a process known as Otolith Microchemistry), where are the fish throughout their growing season (do they leave the water ways for the oceans)?  The net net for me, the population of our fisheries is not growing and this location is only a small part of our waterways. Robin Egan of GBF has been working on this project for some time now. She can provide additional information, to those who are interested.

 

Red Sesbania Removal is scheduled August 7th. We will meet at 8:30 am at Rio Americano High School (4540 American River Drive).

 

Our next meeting & New Location will be Tuesday,  August 3rd at 7:00 pm, Round Table Pizza - Douglas Blvd. and Auburn-Folsom Rd.  The restaurant is on the NW corner of the intersection facing Douglas Blvd.  As always, all are welcome to attend.

 

For September our guest will be Edmund Sullivan who will discuss the Auburn Ravine Project (fish passage initiative), our contributions; recently GBF donated $10,000 to help with project.

 

Henry Sandigo

VP Conservation

Granite Bay Flycasters


2010 Conservation Calendar

Note: some activities do not have specific dates announced by the collaborating organization, who sometimes may not announce the actual date until a few days prior; however, the anticipated month is indicated when known to give you a general timeline to plan your schedule.  Updates will be provided on this page and in the GBF Message Board when dates become available, so please check back often.

2009-10 Monthly Meeting Agendas

 

ATTENTION:

As of August 2010:

Meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of the month from

7:00-8:30PM at

a NEW Location:

Round Table Pizza 6811 Douglas Blvd. in Granite Bay, CA 95746

Date

Agenda / Activity

Tues., Jan 5, 2010

HSU Student Presentation by Tyler McCraney; Hardhead Temp Study

Tues., Feb 2

Project  & Event status; General Meeting (Conservation topic)

Tues., Mar 2

Putah Creek Trout (speaker), Hardhead Temp Study

Tues., Apr 6

Project  & Event status; Member's Night

Tues., May 4

Project  & Event status; Budget FINALIZED

Tues., June 1

Project  & Event status; General Meeting: (Conservation topic)

Thur., Jun 11

Mark Rockwell, NCCFFF, will present at Gen. Meeting June 11 at Folsom clubhouse

Tues., Jul 7

Start of new fiscal year; Upper American River Foundation

Tues., Aug 3

Project & Event status

Tues., Sep 2

Edmund Sullivan, Auburn Ravine Project

Tues., Oct 5

Project  & Event status

Tues., Nov 2

Project  & Event status

Tues., Dec 2

Project  & Event status

2010

Salmon & Steelhead Egg Program (CAEP)

Jan 8  (Thu.)

Sign-up's for CAEP Steelhead Egg delivery volunteers at General Meeting

Jan 10  (Sat.)

Training GBF & Teachers (9am ~ bet. 1:30 - 3:00pm) Nimbus Hatchery

Feb 25, 2010 (Thu.)

Steelhead egg deliveries (usually 2nd Wed. of February)

Jun 12-13

Sagehen Entomology Clinic UC Field Station near Truckee

Oct 14 (Thu.)

Sign-up's for CAEP Salmon Egg delivery volunteers at General Meeting

???? (Sat.) (TBA)

Training GBF & Teachers (9am ~ bet. 1:30 - 3:00pm) Nimbus Hatchery

Nov 10 (Wed.) TBA

Salmon egg deliveries  (usually 2nd Wed. of November if eggs are available)

2009

Volunteer

Events & Projects

Jun 12-13 (Sat/Sun)

Sagehen Entomology Clinic - UC Field Station near Truckee

Aug 15

Sugar Pine Reservoir Cleanup 

Aug 29

Red Sesbania Removal (first Saturday every month thereafter) (map)

Sep 19

Great Yuba River clean-up (SYRCL)

Oct 18

Truckee River Day

Dec ?? (TBA)

Dry Creek salmon count 2007

2008

Volunteer

Events & Projects

Sat., April 12

Placer Nature Center "Family Day" - GBF to demo fly tying

Sat., April 19

Earth Day at the new Utility Exploration Center at Roseville’s Mahany Park

Fri., April 25 (new)

Linda Creek Water Hyacinth Removal.

Tue., May 27

Placer Legacy donation ceremony

July 10-12

Salmon Symposium Nevada City, CA

Sat., Aug. 9

Bear River Restoration Repairs  Bear River Restoration

Sat., Sep. 20

American River Cleanup

Sat., Dec. 12

Dry Creek Watershed Salmon Count

For more information, contact Henry Sandigo 


Classroom Aquarium Education Program (CAEP) - http://www.dfg.ca.gov/oceo/caep/

 

Pending notice of availability of eggs from DFG, there will be a sign-up for volunteers for this program at the August general meeting. There will usually be an in-service training given to new Teachers for this program at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery Visitor Center from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on a Saturday in September or October, date to be announced.  New GBF Volunteers are invited to attend.  Salmon egg deliveries are the 2nd Wednesday of November if available this year.  GBF volunteers will pick up the eggs at the Nimbus Hatchery at 08:00 AM. Salmon Egg deliveries were cancelled by DFG in 2007 and 2008, but we did have Steelhead eggs.

 

While we don’t require the volunteers to attend this in-service training session, it is highly recommended. We deliver eggs to classrooms twice a

year, once in November for Salmon and again in February for Steelhead. This program is open to all GBF members and we invite your

participation.  If this interests you or if you have any questions about the program, please call Frank Stolten 725-6894 or Rick Radoff 624-2107

for more information.

 

Steelhead In-service Training - January ?? (date to be announced) & Egg Deliveries - 2nd Wednesday in February. The process that GBF helped start enables school children to learn the lifecycles of Salmon and Steelhead, and along the way learn about conservation issues that affect the well-being of these fish.  GBF currently has 72 aquariums with chillers and the needed tools on loan to teachers throughout Placer, Eldorado and Sacramento counties. Each setup is valued at $140. 

 

The CAEP program is co-sponsored by the California Department of Fish & Game. GBF sponsors teachers who attend a half day in-service training at the Nimbus Hatchery where they receive course curriculum and training by DFG staff.  GBF co-chairmen Rick Radoff and Frank Stolten coordinate this worthwhile program for GBF. 


Past Activities

At the January, 2008 general meeting the new Conservation Committee leaders met and approved a recommendation to submit to the GBF Board of Directors to approve a $3,000 donation to the Placer Nature Center before their matching funds deadline. The GBF Board approved this recommendation at its January meeting.


Nestle tears up its contract for the McCloud River water (CalTrout) - Facing a barrage of criticism, Nestle Waters North America cancels its contract to build a water bottling plant in the Northern California town of McCloud. 


DeltaVision.org (March 4, 2007) - California Sportfishing Protection Alliance advisory includes: (1) The Resources Secretary Appoints

an Angler to the Delta Vision Process; (2) Letter on the Delta Crisis to the LA Times by Dorothy Green, Secretary, California Water

Impact Network that speaks clearly to the benefits of  using water conservation practices; and (3) Water For Fish Press Conference that

kicked off a critical effort to acquire and organize angler support for obtaining the water vital to our fishery populations.

 

Delta Report (Jan. 6, 2009) - Mike Laing of GBF gave a report to the Conservation Committee regarding the status of the various Delta issues and proposals being considered.  These will be followed closely to determine what proposal to support going forward. The following links provide

additional information. The following reports can be obtained at the www.Deltavision.org website link

Delta Vision Final Report

PPIC Analysis
Delta Vision Implementation Report


Water 4 Fish - please sign the petition NOW!  California is in the process of restructuring its water policies to meet the needs of its population

growth. The “Water Wars” have reached new proportions and fish and fishermen are losing the battle. If fishermen don’t unite and make their voices heard in the political process, we will lose millions of fish and the many benefits they bring to fishermen and to the economy.


Auburn Dam Watch - RIP for Auburn Dam? Possible, but never certain

Friday, March 20th, 2009

In a major new development–but one that by no means insures the end of an Auburn Dam–the California Water Board has revoked the water rights it granted to the US Bureau of Reclamation more than 30 years ago. The landmark decision was made on December 2, 2008. This means that even if the dam were in fact approved and constructed in the future, the government would have no rights to the water stored in the resulting reservoir.

The California Water Board’s unanimous decision was based less on lack of support for the dam and more on the fact that the Federal Government has failed to use the water for so long. In effect, it was a “use it or lose it” situation. This development does not guarantee the permanent demise of Auburn Dam, but it is clearly a significant new hurdle that dam supporters would have to address before the project could move forward again.


Thank You Wal-Mart!

In March 2006 Wal-Mart was contacted by Gary Flanagan to see if they would donate an item for the raffle at our 20th Annual Dinner.  When the Community Involvement Coordinator in the Personnel Department learned about all the work GBF does with our Classroom Aquarium Education Program and our donation of 75 aquarium sets and twice yearly distribution of Salmon and Steelhead eggs, as well as the GBF scholarships we

award to college students working on conservation issues, she took it a step further.  On April 7th the Roseville Wal-Mart Employee Committee presented GBF with a $500 check from the Wal-Mart Foundation's Community Grant Program to be used in one of our upcoming Conservation Programs!  GBF gratefully accepts this generous donation and will put the funds to good use.  Thank you again, Wal-Mart!


Annual Conservation Events

Salmon Count (click the link at left to see Gary Flanagan's Article) - Salmon Count with the Dry Creek Conservancy organized by Dave Baker. 

See Gary Flanagan's "A Day on a Local Salmon Creek" (click here to display an Acrobat PDF format of Gary's article and photos)

Classroom Aquarium Education Program - Frank Stolten and Rick Radoff will get the in-house training programs going in October and January.  These training classes for teachers are also available to members of Granite Bay Flycasters.  If you would like to help deliver eggs in November and February, please let Frank or Rick know. Interested teachers can send Rick a written letter requesting an upcoming class, usually held in October and January. GBF has donated 75 aquarium sets for this DFG CAEP program.

Nimbus Hatchery Docent program - Training for the docents program is in the September/October timeframe.  The actual program runs from November to February.   This is a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Stream Ecology Workshop (click link to see Mike Brune's article and photos) - The Conservation Committee hosts a very popular stream ecology

and entomology workshop at the UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station. 


Projects

Granite Bay Flycasters have participated in many conservation projects. Below is a list of some of the projects in which GBF has been involved:

2008

Volunteer

Events & Projects

Sat., April 12

Placer Nature Center "Family Day" - Get Ready for Fishing - GBF to demo fly tying

Sat., April 19

Earth Day at the new Utility Exploration Center at Roseville’s Mahany Park

Fri., April 25

Linda Creek Water Hyacinth Removal.

Tue., May 27

Placer Legacy donation ceremony

July 10-12

Salmon Symposium Nevada City, CA

Sat., Aug. 9

Bear River Restoration Repairs  Bear River Restoration

Sat., Sep. 20

American River Cleanup

Sat., Dec. 12

Salmon Count

2007

Volunteer

Events & Projects

 

Dry Creek Conservancy CREEK WEEK (GBF's annual stream clean-up)

 

Creek Week

 

Creek Week Cleanup, BBQ & Fishout at Sugar Pine Reservoir

Sep 15, 2007

Great American River Cleanup

 

Sagehen Entomology Clinic - UC Field Station near Truckee

Dec 14, 2007

Dry Creek salmon count 2007

2006

Volunteer

Events

Feb 8, 2006

Steelhead/Salmon Egg Program - Steelhead Egg Deliveries

Apr 29, 2006 (Sat)

Dry Creek Conservancy CREEK WEEK (GBF's annual clean-up)

Apr 22 - 29, 2006

Creek Week

Apr 30, 2006 (Sun)

Creek Week Cleanup, BBQ & Fishout at Sugar Pine Reservoir

Sep 16, 2006 (Sat)

Great American River Cleanup

Sep 9, 2006 (Sat)

Secret Ravine Restoration #1 - Dry Creek Conservancy 9AM ~ noon

Sep 15 - 17, 2006

Sagehen Entomology Clinic - UC Field Station near Truckee

Sep 30, 2006 (Sat)

Secret Ravine Restoration #2 - Dry Creek Conservancy 9AM ~ noon

Nov 8, 2006 (Wed)

Steelhead/Salmon Egg Program - Salmon Egg deliveries

Dec 1, 2006 (Sat)

Dry Creek salmon count 2006

2005

Volunteer

Events

Jan – Feb, 2005

DFG tours for school children on Steelhead Runs - Nimbus Hatchery

Mar 5 - 6, 2005

Putah Creek CalFed New Zealand Mud Snail Study

April 9, 2005

Dry Creek Conservancy CREEK WEEK 2005 (GBF's annual clean-up)

Sep 17, 2005

Great American River Cleanup

Sep 25, 2005

Gerle Lake Fish Survey

Oct 1, 2005

Sunrise Isolation Pool Removal Project

Oct 25-28, 2005

West Carson River Electroshock Fish Survey

Nov–Dec, 2005

DFG tours for school children on Steelhead Runs - Nimbus Hatchery

Nov 12, 2005

Putah Creek New Zealand Mud Snail Study (Test cleaning methods)

Dec 9, 2005

Dry Creek salmon count (G. Flanagan's "Day on a Local Salmon Creek")

Other Conservation Activities:


Partners

Granite Bay Flycasters in cooperation with other organizations, strives to improve the environment for current and future generations.

For a list of partners, please visit our partner page.


Meetings

When:

1st Tuesday of the Month (beginning August, 2010)

Time:

7:00 - 8:30 PM

Where:

Round Table Pizza, 6811 Douglas Blvd., Granite Bay, CA 95746


Overview

Conservation of cold water fisheries is a cornerstone of the club's activities and expenditures. We are active in a number of areas that we hope will help conserve our streams and lakes. If you are interested in more information, would like to help, or have ideas on where our efforts should go, please contact Henry Sandigo, Email: hsandigo@mac.com

 

Henry Sandigo

VP Conservation

916 434 7792

415 716 0666

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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