Thanks for your support Ben.

Please do help us get the word out to others who may be interested in
helping.

The proposal is to apply the Henry's Fork Foundation model to the Upper
American River. If you visit their website at http://www.henrysfork.com
you will read that their mission statement says that they are "A nonprofit, member-based organization founded in 1984 to preserve and protect the unique qualities of the Henry’s Fork watershed located in eastern Idaho." They are "Very active in regional decision-making and policy. Working collaboratively with local, state and federal agencies toward better management of the watershed."

They are an angler based group and have been very effective in generating support for scientific studies to help better understand and protect their fishery for present and future generations to appreciate and enjoy.

Part of the work plan that I was assigned when I was selected for this
position of "Watershed Coordinator" states that "Developing sustainable funding for watershed coordination in this watershed" is one of my primary work elements. This 3 year grant is from the California Department of Conservation and is administered locally by the Placer County Resource Conservation District. Similar grants are administered by the El Dorado County RCD and the El Dorado I.D. for the South Fork American River watershed. These grants started in 2004 and are about 1/2 done at this point so we need to get serious about future funding, if we think that this coordination effort is worthwhile.

This proposal to apply the Henry's Fork model came from one of the Placer County RCD Board Members, Greg Nau, and I'm working to determine if we have enough support to make it happen. One of the first issues is to verify that we have a "Blue Ribbon Trout Stream" worthy of protecting. My "research" with rod and reel indicates that we do, but I need others who feel similarly to take a role in making this happen, if they
see the need to "preserve and protect" this resource.

Our American River Watershed Group meets monthly on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Canyon View Community Center in Auburn (see link to map at our website http://arwg.org). Our next meeting is this Thursday, Sept. 15 and our meetings run from 10 a.m. till noon. I will be speaking this week about a new "Rainbow Trout Genetics" study that California Fish and Game and others are starting on rivers draining the Sierra Nevada from the Kings River on the south to the Feather River on the north, including the Middle Fork American River.

At our meeting next month we will focus on the Upper American River Foundation formation at our meeting on Oct. 20 and we may have evening meetings, or talk about this at other groups meetings before and after our Oct. 20 meeting, if anyone wants to hear more about it.

Thanks again for your interest.

Bill Templin
916-601-9954