In June 2004 I was selected to fill a grant position funded for 3 years as the watershed coordinator for the North Fork American River Watershed. This area extends from Interstate 80 on the north to Georgetown Divide on the South and from the Sierra Crest to Folsom Lake.

Thanks to this grant from the California Department of Conservation and administered by the Placer County Resource Conservation District, I have been able to exercise my angling interests and apply my 30 years of water resources experience to help learn and teach others about the health of this watershed.

Since my first week on this job, I have been exploring access to the North Fork and Middle Fork of the American River, including the Rubicon River that drains into the Middle Fork American River. Thanks to many people who have given me leads and help, I feel like I’ve got a good start on identifying the health of this watershed and the high quality fishery that we have now.

My monitoring of the watershed began with trips to the North Fork American River near Colfax. We confirmed what the Fish Sniffer Magazine had already reported - “this area is prime smallmouth bass habitat.” Since then, we’ve learned from Charlie Alpers of the U.S. Geological Survey that the river from this area downstream to Lake Clementine is likely to have issues with mercury similar to areas in the Bear and Yuba Watersheds and Lake Natoma below Folsom Dam, but funding to confirm this determination has so far not been available.

We’ve learned more about the Wild Trout Streams within our watershed on the North Fork American River above Colfax and the Rubicon River above Ralston Dam/Oxbow Reservoir. From what I’ve learned, the wild trout in the Middle Fork American River may be larger and more plentiful than they are in either of our “designated” Wild Trout streams. Better fish surveys of the entire watershed are needed to be certain.

We’re blending photo monitoring with monitoring of “Aquatic Vertebrate Assemblages” (a.k.a. “fishing”), surveys of angler success and an inventory of historic and active water quality monitoring to determine the health of this watershed. I have another 18 months on this grant to continue improving my understanding and I hope to have many more years perfecting this knowledge.

As part of developing sustainable funding for coordination of information and stakeholders in this watershed, I am working with others to write grant proposals and identify other possible funding sources. Greg Nau, Board Member, Placer County Resource Conservation District (and a Board Member for the Henry’s Fork Foundation on the Snake River in Idaho http://henrysfork.org ) suggested that we should use the Henry’s Fork Foundation as an example of a group of people who have been successful in sustaining funding for improvement of the health and fishery in their watershed.

Beyond making this suggestion, Greg is taking an active role in helping to start an “Upper American River Foundation” by giving presentations to groups such as the American River Watershed Group and talking to others who are interested about the good things that could be accomplished if we follow the Henry’s Fork Foundation’s lead.

This group will probably be a nonprofit, member-based organization founded to conserve and protect the unique qualities of the Upper American River watersheds in Placer and El Dorado Counties. The objectives of this group will be determined as more interest and active participation by others is obtained. However, the preliminary objectives of this group are expected to include identifying issues that need to be resolved and developing funding that will be needed to help resolve them so future generations will continue to be able to enjoy the experiences that we have enjoyed during our lifetimes in this area.

The approach is expected to include working with existing resource-management agencies, private land owners, and other stakeholders to increase everyone’s level of appreciation and understanding of the abundant resources in this area and how they need to be managed as one big inter-related system.

If this group follows the Henry’s Fork example, it will be very active in regional decision-making and policy. Relationships built within the framework of this foundation will strive for full understanding of individual interests and regulatory management in the watershed to address watershed issues with mutual respect for all stakeholders. The success of the Henry’s Fork Foundation has been due primarily to the actions of a very committed set of anglers, but “committed” is the key word here and all stakeholders are welcome to take an active role.

During the last half of this year I have helped with 3 sampling events as part of the California Department of Fish and Game’s “Central Valley Steelhead Genetics Project” George Edwards in parts of the Middle Fork American and Rubicon Rivers. Samples from these surveys will be analyzed and used to determine if the current populations of Rainbow Trout in our watershed are similar to those below Folsom Lake and along the California Coast so our understanding of the historic stocking of trout will be improved.

During the spring and summer of 2005 the purpose of my monitoring was to determine if Rainbow Trout really do spawn during this time of year and where their most productive spawning areas might be that might need protection. Similarly, during the past few months of 2005 we have been learning more about the spawning habits of the Brown Trout in our watershed.

So far we know that the Browns are spawning in the fall, but results are inconclusive about the Rainbows and “more investigation is needed.” Telemetry has been useful as a tool in the Henry’s Fork, (as well as up near Truckee) to help improve knowledge of which river reaches and tributaries that are key to fish migration and spawning and we hope to develop enough interest in these issues to get similar projects funded here.

This job is not for everyone, as parts of this watershed are remote and not easily accessible presently, but somebody’s got to do it! If you want to help improve the access to, as well as the health of this watershed, please contact Bill Templin at 916-601-9954, or by email at wtemplin@surewest.net .