|
|
Send This Page to a Friend!
Tom Furrer is the dynamo behind this project. As a young boy growing up in the Petaluma area of California he developed a love and understanding of the outdoors and its creatures. He could often be found wandering the area of the Adobe Creek as it snaked through Sonoma farmland. The farmland gave way to housing developments and shopping malls replaced fields of wildflowers. When Tom returned to Petaluma in 1981 as a first year teacher at Casa Grande High School his creek had been ravaged by a diversion dam and lay dry, littered, and gasping its last. The once vibrant steelhead were reduced to fingerlings stranded in pools and destined to die without ever making it out to the ocean and returning to spawn. A chance meeting gave Tom an idea. He came upon a local farmer scooping steelhead fry into a bucket. These steelhead were trapped in a shaded pool in an otherwise dried up stream of rusting junk. The farmer had planted the trees and they had provided a last chance for the trout. Someone was doing something in the face of hopeless odds. |
|||
|
But what a task lay before them. If one man could save one pool, could a high school wildlife and forestry class save 6 miles of stream? After over a year of educating himself in coastal waterways this former park ranger and teacher assured them they could. It looked hopeless in 1983 when a group of students wandered the creek declared "dead" by community and state officials whose water diversions had robbed Adobe Creek of 100% of its water supply. The lower 5 miles of the creek's riparian habitat were completely destroyed. Students overlooking the creek were overwhelmed by the work that lay before them. But if Tom said they could do it they were eager to try. Cleanup had to precede a cure, so students volunteered their pickups and their time. In 1984 over 30 truckloads of illegally dumped trash including washers, hot water heaters, car engines, etc., was hauled out of the creek. The creek was devoid of the trees necessary to provide protection from erosion, silting, and the sun. Cool, shaded, well-oxygenated water was necessary for the spawn. 20 volunteer students took up the challenge calling themselves the United Anglers of Casa Grande High School. Cheerleaders traded hip boots for pom poms in an effort to clean river beds and save a stream. Under Tom's direction thousands of willow cuttings were taken from the Sonoma Hills and replanted along the banks. Students planted over 1200 willows and Douglas fir trees that year and every year since.
By now the club members were joined by fellow students, parents, alumni, and the community. Months of candy sales, dinners, car washes, etc. provided the funds; but a stumbling block lay ahead. The hatchery didn't meet earthquake standards and was condemned. The temptation to give up and just go back to stream restoration was overshadowed by a club member's idea. Build a bigger and better hatchery. When Furrer posed the question, "Who will run it?" the students replied, "We will!" That next summer Tom volunteered at an Alaskan hatchery to acquire the skills and knowledge he would need to pass on. The students began fund raising. The California Department of Fish and Game offered $50,000 on the contingency that student's reduce their projects scope. Unwilling to comply, they came back with an offer to raise Chinook salmon as well. As this fish population was also on the decline, the DFG relented and almost doubled their contribution. The community offered contributions of materials, contracting services, and time as well as dollars. City officials were the only ones immune to the excitement. In true Sherlock Holmes style, two students discovered an earthquake fault on a geological map that just happened to run right under the Lawler Reservoir. The city was aware of this too and had been discussing options behind closed doors. They eventually voted to abandon the system when state authorities demanded they reinforce the reservoir or abandon it. In October of 1992 Adobe Creek flowed freely for the first time in over 80 years.
The students had raised over $510,000 to complete their facility. Since 1983 the club had succeeded in getting the creek free flowing, in planting over 1200 trees a year, in removing over 25 tons of debris, and in building a hatchery (one of 3 nationally) with a federal permit to raise endangered winter run Chinook salmon from the Sacramento river. They have raised over 300,000 Chinook salmon, and since 1985 the population of returning steelhead has gone from 0 to 80 in Adobe Creek. They have come far in accomplishing their four goals:
As part of their on-going education of others in Environmental Awareness, the students of Casa Grande High School are planning to incorporate students from kindergarten through college into the project. I have often written of my friend Anna Kastner and her work at the Feather River Hatchery. Anna was a senior at Casa Grande when Tom Furrer took those first students out to look at the dying creek. It was his dedication and inspiration that lead a city girl to choose a career in the Department of Fish and Game. When Tom first walked his students down a dried up, litter-strewn, creek bed and challenged them to save the steelhead from extinction she remembers him saying "the future belongs to your generation, not mine. You'll be leading this battle." Last year the Feather River Hatchery provided Casa Grande with 50,000 eggs for their project. The impact of the United Anglers of Casa Grande High School lives on and on. The hatchery provides tours and the students invite the public to see how they built their dream. Children have windows at their level so they can see the students at work. If you are interested in a tour or would like to receive more information regarding the United Anglers of Casa Grande High School, please call or write:
United Anglers of Casa Grande High School Columnist Joan Carter co-owns, with her husband, Dan Carter's Guide Service. |
Tom saw this as an incredible opportunity to take education out of the classroom and into the world. Kids could participate in the restoration of their environment, learning invaluable lessons about nature and themselves. In attempting to save the creek the students would have to learn all aspects of its' ecological complexity. In this process they would learn about themselves as well. Through teamwork and with hope they would build self-esteem, self-worth, an interest in continuing education, and a sense of pride and accomplishment.
The water problem had to tackled next. Water was the life-blood of the creek, and students began to research the diversion of the creek. It had been dammed up to divert water into Lawler Reservoir, but the community was using less than 5% of that water. In a meeting in 1987 officials refused club members requests for the water, stating they needed it for an "emergency water reserve" and for keeping a water treatment plant running in the summer. The club rebounded with a brave new idea. If they couldn't raise fish in the creek they would raise $6,000 to convert an abandoned campus green house into a student operated fish hatchery. They could release these steelhead into the partially restored lower creek. A three year wait for their return would tell them if they had succeeded.
On April 25th 1993 the United Anglers of Casa Grande High School opened the doors of their state-of-the-art, on-campus fish hatchery, holding a banner that read: "Together we stand. Together we dream. Together we will change the world."
|
Copyright © 1997 - 2000 The Fish Sniffer. All rights reserved. |