Respectfully....

[Ryan Miller]

Sorry about the "site" - should have been "cite."

And here's the quote from Ryan Miller's Downstream blog -
Sometimes, the individuals who least enjoy 'living in the limelight'... are the ones who most inspire and leave the greatest, lasting impressions... Such is the case with Alison. I asked permission to take her photo at the FISH ART station and she was quite reluctant. Later in the day, I watched her fight and land a trout. The volunteers brought the netted fish to her and while we were all focused on the photo opportunity, Alison was concerned only with getting the fish back to the pond as quickly as possible... "Oh poor fish. We need to put it back NOW so it can LIVE!"
You go - Alison!
Larry S

Not sure why I kept reading this thread, but here I am... Larry, it was encouraging to read your post, not because my name was listed. Your observation has closed the most important element of preservation and conservation, education. We can all teach, we can all learn, some of us will act on it, some of us will not... DownStream is a stepping stone in education and Allison, a 4-year DownStreamer, has it nailed! For a shot in the arm, check out this year's article in the Appeal-Democrat.
http://downstreamfishing.blogspot.com/

[wjorg]

WJORG:
Your statement -

Maybe its time to listen to us "younger generation" instead of telling us to shut up?

Can you please site some examples of this? I've never seen this as an age issue. i'm
71 now, and I think I'm a better fisherman now; not because of the fish I caught, but,
because of my understanding of the issues involved. If you can figure this out at
your age; then please, pass it it on. I reflect on a comment that one of Ryan Miller's
kids said. "Let's get it back in the water; so it will live(sic)." Let's work together;
not play the "blame game."
Larry S

As I said to you in response to the same question in your PM, I like Alisons style in preferring the fishes survival rather than allow the photoshoot.

An example is the "youth" of Sonoma County protesting the creation of dams on the Russian River to ease flood control an store water. Now we have silted in reservoirs that pump mud downstream all winter, allow floods so often, and the vinyards still dont have enough water to avoid frost pumping and killing fish.

Again, my post was not meant to be antagonistic. Ryan Millers program is a good example. It would be great to have similar programs for kids in general, also inner city Sac Area kids, if they would participate(knowing kids these days).

I personally dont know how to make such an impact. Maybe its a lack of creativity, motivation or inspiration, dont know. You have to appluad someone like Ryan whos been able to be a part of/assemble of team of people for a cause and execute a success.

For those of you experienced folk? Any suggestions, advice to the individual on how to make a positive impact on the recovery of Salmon and Steelhead in California?

[BillB]

Most Salmonids in the Classroom projects are always in need of volunteers. Check with some of your local sponsors (fly clubs, forestry or DFG), I'm reasonably sure they can put your expertise to good use.

In our area we typically have in classroom presentations followed by a field trip. Depending on the sponsor there may be many different presentations. Kaweah Fly Fishers delivers presentations from fly tying to water quality and everything in between. There is even an art project, fish printing (on a tee shirt) that our local forestry folks provide

The problem is not how much can be delivered to the student but how can there be enough volunteers to do the job.

I'm sure SIC can get your creative juices flowing. Everyone does have something of share.

[ycflyfisher]

I personally dont know how to make such an impact.
For those of you experienced folk? Any suggestions, advice to the individual on how to make a positive impact on the recovery of Salmon and Steelhead in California?

It’s all relative to the size of the positive impact you want to make. Anyone can do it if the desire is there and the expectations of what they hope to accomplish are realistic. That said, it's damned near impossible to make a huge positive impact. Can't say I've done it. Can't say I haven't at times tried to.

Start small. I’d recommend volunteering for something for starters: a carcass survey, a snorkel survey, an angler capture survey, an annual fish rescue, something along those lines. It will give you the opportunity to meet some of the folks that work with the fish who for the most part will appreciate the fact you ‘re interested enough to volunteer your time and learn about what they are doing and why they are doing it. You probably won’t feel like you’re saving the piscatorial world by making a huge positive impact in the recovery process by volunteering for something like that, but you will be doing far more than most anglers are ever willing to do and you’ll probably feel pretty good about it.

Without question, if you ask the right questions you'll learn more about the fish than most would ever learn without such an experience and open up the discussion with the individuals who will be more than happy to help you educate yourself even further. You may even find it enjoyable and want to do it again or volunteer in other capacities. Most importantly, doing something like this will give you the opportunity to interact and make contact with some folks who actually know significantly more about the fish and how they exploit niches in their respective environs to create and maintain abundance than most anglers will ever know and others who sincerely share the same interests you have. You might even progress (or digress depending on how you look at it) to the point where finding out about how the fish function and manage to keep their populations viable becomes much more important to you than fishing for 'em. Steelhead for me were fascinating to the point of singleminded obsession, (not passion) when it came to learning how to consistently catch them, and even more so when I started to realize almost everything I thought I knew about the fish as an angler was wrong.


I think if you were to poll a group of individuals or group of groups that have ever actually accomplished anything significant in the realm of fisheries conservation, the common denominator would be that they were all spinning their respective wheels until they took the considerable time necessary to educate themselves in regards to the science surrounding how the fish utilize their respective environs and began to center their efforts around the facts, rather than the typical emotional based mantras that most anglers/angling groups seem to initially use as their conservation based vehicles.


I'd distance yourself from the notion that you'd somehow need to convince a large group of fellow anglers to join your cause to make an impact. Sometimes there's strength in numbers, but groups of flyanglers by my experience get way too emotional and place way too much blind faith and value in their "angling experience" to be of much real help in either getting organized or educated on the real issues. Facts and knowledge IMO are almost always going to go further than uneducated "emotional passion" when it comes to both fighting and organizing conservation efforts.


I can't say I agree with much of anything said in this thread said by Troutnut (or the others) in regards to the "younger generation", but we've had more longwinded discussions across several forums over the years than both of us probably care to count and we've to my recollection, never really agreed on much of anything. That said, I know for a fact that that over the better part of the last decade he's probably spent more time and money on gas alone to fight the conservation battles he thinks he can win than most on this forum have spent fishing. The one thing I'm sure we'd (troutnut and myself) agree on is that it almost always ends in being a frustrating and fruitless battle that eats up more of your time than you initially thought possible. Think clearance sale on self-induced agony and frustration when you get to the level of anything remotely above the typical volunteer stuff. Whether that be something that initially seems relatively simple like lobbying for a closure to protect a small population of imperiled fish, something much more complex like getting involved in the relicensing process like I know TN has, or something in between like trying to convince a well meaning but often times misguided group like CT that their stance on certain issues clearly isn't the most beneficial one to the fisheries or that their tendancies to paint a bleaker than real picture on certain issues does more harm than good.

The sad fact is, over a long enough timeline, the fish and anyone fighting for them, are almost certainly destined to lose big most of the time.

The first steps where you're volunteering and learning a ton are fun and quite rewarding.

What part of the state do you live in and what kind of time are you looking to invest?