Thirteen boats, thousands of pounds of trash

By Sam Sedillo

 

It started with an idea. The trout, salmon, and steelhead fisheries around Redding are arguably the best that California has to offer. But there was no local Trout Unlimited chapter to conserve and sustain them.

“My thought was, why didn’t we have a TU chapter already based in Redding?” said Michael Caranci, president of STCTU. Other local anglers obviously felt similarly. After a couple of meetings, fishing trips, and outreach to local anglers and conservationists by TU staff the idea became a reality in March 2016 with the formation of TU's newest chapter in California -- the Shasta-Trinity-Cascades Chapter (STCTU).

The new chapter's board of directors consists of local guides, community members, a CDFW warden, and a sergeant with the Shasta County Sheriff’s department -- all of them equally passionate about conservation, fishing, and taking responsibility for their home waters.

STCTU has hit the ground running. It took only a few weeks to pull off their first major action: a cleanup of the Sacramento River between Keswick Dam and the Bonnyville boat ramp near Redding.

On April 24^th, a flotilla of boats manned by Trout Unlimited members, California Department of Fish and Wildlife staff, and local Redding community members floated this reach of the "Lower Sac" and removed thousands of pounds of trash from the river.

STCTU has a vision: an active chapter that can get numerous large-scale, shovel-ready projects up and going to benefit legendary trout, salmon and steelhead fisheries. Cleanups are just the start.

The April 24th event was successful not only in the amount of trash removed from the river and its banks, but also for the partnerships it helped create and strengthen with local agencies, businesses, and community members.

This chapter epitomizes what TU is -- a collection of anglers that care enough about their local rivers  to step out, get their hands dirty, and produce results. Organizing the cleanup event, thriteen boats to float the river, and removing thousands of pounds of trash from one of California's best cold water fisheries is a terrific first step.

A huge thank you to the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Redding Police Department, the California Department of Transportation, The Fly Shop, the Redding Record-Searchlight, and the Redding community for providing supplies and being so strongly supportive of the Lower Sac cleanup event.

 

Sam Sedillo is Sierra-Cascades Field Coordinator for Trout Unlimited.