Contact:
Rob Roberts
Embrace-A-Stream Coordinator
Trout Unlimited
703.284.9424
3/3/2004 -- Washington -- National Conservation organization Trout Unlimited (TU) this week announced its selections for 2004 Embrace-A-Stream grants. Embrace-A-Stream is the flagship grant program for funding Trout Unlimited grassroots fishery conservation efforts.
This year TU will divide about $200,000 among 38 projects that address water quality, fish habitat, native fish restoration, in-stream flows and fish population research, including grants to the:
• Teton Valley Chapter to partly fund the Fish Creek Springs Restoration Project, which is designed to enhance Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations and improve water quality in the Upper Teton Watershed;
• Great Basin Chapter to fund collaborative restoration work in support of Bonneville cutthroat trout, a fragile native species whose population has dwindled;
• Wisconsin Council to fund the planning stages of hiring a full-time executive director;
• Mountain Bridge Chapter to build an informational kiosk in Jones Gap State Park in Marietta, S.C.;
• Valley Forge Chapter for restoration of Valley Creek, a treasured resource that runs through Valley Forge National Historical Park;
• Idaho Council to fund an ongoing and comprehensive program to improve the Pahsimeroi River;
• New Mexico Council to expand its advocacy work on coldwater resource issues;
• San Luis Valley Chapter to expand habitat restoration work for Rio Grande cutthroat trout in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve;
• Iowa Driftless Chapter to expand its native brook trout habitat restoration efforts near the junction of Waterloo and Duck creeks;
• Northeast Nevada Chapter to fund a project to improve conditions for Lahontan cutthroat trout, listed by the federal government as a threatened species since 1970, in the headwaters of the Willow Creek watershed;
• Utah Council to help fund conservation initiatives on the Goshute Native American Reservation;
• Gunnison Gorge Anglers Chapter in Colorado to help fund the Monitor Diversion Habitat Enhancement Project on the North Fork of the Gunnison River;
• Gold Rush Chapter to help restore a stretch of Cane Creek and create an outdoor classroom in Camp Glisson, on the outskirts of Dahlonega, Ga.;
• Southeast Idaho Chapter for work on the Thomas Fork of the Bear River to boost populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout;
• Idaho Panhandle Chapter to fund habitat improvement efforts on Brett Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River;
• Great Basin Chapter to fund a project that will aid the recovery of the Lahontan cutthroat trout in the Pilot Peak Mountain Range on the Utah/Nevada border;
• Bucks County Chapter to fund restoration projects on two properties on the headwaters of Cooks Creek;
• Clackamas River and Tualitan Valley chapters to help fund “Savvy About Salmonids,” an educational program in the Estacada School District that brings youngsters in touch with environmental issues in their own backyards;
• Colorado Council to help fund an ongoing study of whirling disease, a fatal illness that afflicts entire fisheries, in the Fryingpan River;
• Oregon Council to help fund a survey of the wild steelhead run in the Salmonberry River, a small coastal stream running through Oregon’s Tillamook/Clatsop State Forest;
• Joe Brooks Chapter to help fund an ongoing project to restore Fleshman Creek, a key tributary of the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Mont.
• Northern Virginia Chapter to fund a habitat improvement project along Big Spring Creek near Leesburg, Va., to aid the only population of wild rainbow trout in an 11-county area;
• Hiawatha Chapter to help fund year three of a three-year project to better the habitat and stream banks on the headwaters section of the Middle Branch of the Whitewater River;
• Boulder Flycasters Chapter to host a symposium focused on finding ways to return steady stream flows to South Boulder Creek;
• San Diego Chapter to help fund the expansion of its communications capabilities, as well as its ability to coordinate its efforts with other TU chapters in California;
• Shenandoah Valley Chapter for restoration of a stretch of North River, which flows entirely within the George Washington National Forest;
• South Carolina Council to fund a project to re-establish the population of Southern Appalachian brook trout to King’s Creek in Sumter National Forest;
• Ocooch Creeks Chapter for an ambitious restoration project in the headwaters of Elk Creek, part of Wisconsin’s famed Kickapoo Watershed;
• Snake River Cutthroats Chapter to fund a project to reinvigorate Garden Creek, a tributary of the South Fork Snake River that has been de-watered and disconnected from the main-stem South Fork for almost a century;
• Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter to fund the restoration of Southwest Wisconsin’s Blue River in support of its wild trout fishery;
• North Carolina and Tennessee Councils to fund the ongoing effort to restore brook trout habitat in Great Smoky Mountains National Park;
• Colorado Council to restore degraded streams in Pike National Forest to improve conditions for greenback cutthroat trout, a federally listed threatened species;
• Pennsylvania Council to fund a workshop to develop new leaders;
• Catskill Mountains Chapter to fund the restoration of Birch Creek, a tributary of the famed Esopus Creek, by removing obstacles to spawning fish;
• Los Angeles Chapter to help fund watershed cleanup projects in the Topanga Creek watershed, which provides important habitat for the endangered Southern California Steelhead Trout;
• Pemigewasset and Ammonoosuc chapters in New Hampshire to help fund the expansion of the successful Adopt-A-Salmon program, which carries out classroom programs in fisheries resources and conservation.
“Our grassroots members are the heart and soul of Trout Unlimited,” said Chris Wood, TU Vice President for Conservation Programs. “Embrace-A-Stream grants help them to protect and conserve our precious coldwater resources.”
Mission: Trout Unlimited is North America’s leading coldwater fisheries conservation organization, dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. The organization has more than 130,000 members in 450 chapters in North America.
Date: 3/3/2004