Stream Assessment Training will be held Saturday, October 3. Meet at 10 AM at Capp's Crossing Bridge near the campground. We can accept a maximum of 12 volunteers, including project leader, or about 2 - 3 people per stream. Youths (Boy Scouts) may be involved, if paired with an adult volunteer.
USFS will supply survey forms and PVC measuring rods, and will train the project leader and volunteers on 1 or 2 streams. The project team will assess the other streams later in October. All forms will be returned to USFS for assessment, with TU's recommendations as to which streams to improve. Installation of LWD will be in summer 2010. Funds may be provided through an EAS grant. USFS Maintenance crews may be used, or the work could be contracted out.
Volunteers will need the following equipment:
- Long Pants
- Hiking boots that you don't mind getting wet.
- Clipboard or tablet
- Pencil/pen
- Lunch and plenty of water
- Change of clothes
To register as a volunteer, contact Gary Slade at
Sac-Sierra Chapter Trout Unlimited members Barbara Bania and Don and Nancy Krueger participated in the kick-off event held at the Folsom Hills Elementary school. The kick-off recognized and thanked current organizations and clubs that have adopted a section of a creek or trail to be monitored and maintained in Folsom. Each participating volunteer group was asked to give a short speech about the section of creek and/or trail. Nancy Krueger spoke for SSTU. New volunteers were also recognized and welcomed.
Our chapter presented a display board show casing our section of Willow Creek with pictures of the creek and surrounding area. We also had giveaways from the Department of Fish and Game provided by Jeff Weaver, information about our Chapter with new member applications and brochures, a Klean Kanteen (they are popular)! A sample of Himalaya blackberry and Yellow Star Thistle was on display along with informational sheets for the public to take.
There were five of us including Don and myself. Ian and Niel Moyer joined us, as did Wendy Lloyd . We met Wendy and her husband when we went to Sugar Pine Reservoir with Bill Templin for the clean up on the 15th. She and her husband live here in Folsom; he's a member of Granite Bay Flycasters and she's not a member. She enjoys doing the type of work we have at Willow Creek, so I invited her to join us.
We bagged 16 and ½ bags of Himalaya blackberry cuttings. This is from all along the gravel path by the storm drain on Prewett, plus we've now cleaned all the invasive plants from the storm drain area. We still need to go into the creek and cut back water primrose and H. blackberry, plus reeds that the otter digs up and it floats all over.
Willow Creek is a beautiful little urban creek that runs through Folsom. The Chapter is "adopting" a section of this watershed with a one year commitment to Folsom Parks and Recreation District. This program, similar to the Adopt-a-Highway program, will involve ongoing cleanup and maintenance of our designated section of the creek and the surrounding greenbelt.
Willow Creek includes a great variety of habitats which harbor a tremendous amount of wildlife, both native and non-native. However, because of its urban setting, it also suffers from littering, and defacement of structures, and typical urban runoff containing nutrients, pesticides, and other contaminants.
Stimulated by the need to draw down Caples Lake for some dam (note the spelling) repairs, the El Dorado Irrigation District, the California Department of Fish and Game, and numerous other public agencies are working together to trap and transport as many fish as possible to Silver Lake just a few miles away.
Our Chapter and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) were asked to work together to encourage 100 volunteers to assist with the effort. I'm pleased to say that, as you are receiving this newsletter, 97 volunteers are performing a great variety of tasks to relocate as many fish as possible in a 72-hour period.** Due to the emergency nature of the dam repairs, much of the preparation for this was compressed into a very short time. From what I have witnessed as an "insider" on this project, I am extremely impressed with the effort that is being made to save the fish and support the volunteers. I'm sure we will have some interesting tales to tell in the next newsletter. We appreciate all who are helping with this effort, and know that more of you would have volunteered if you had had more than 4 days turnaround time to sign up (or had e-mail so you could have been notified of this opportunity).