GWWF raises funds to support the following causes: 
– Casting for Recovery (CFR), for women with breast cancer or recovering from breast cancer surgery
– California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance
– California Trout
– CHEER (Coastal Habitat Education & Environmental Restoration)
– Fall River Conservancy
– Alameda Creek Alliance
– Tuolumne River Trust
– South Yuba River Citizen's League
– Friends of the Eel River

Golden West Women Flyfishers is proud to be an active and leading participant in fisheries conservation efforts throughout California.​
By Cindy Charles, Conservation Chair
GWWF has a long history in fishery conservation activities. Over the years, we have been involved in projects ranging from stream restoration and fish rescues to multi-year federal regulatory dam relicensing proceedings. We regularly participate in meetings with a diverse group of environmental organizations to discuss and take action on key fishery and water issues. We join environmental coalitions to attend meetings with local and state legislators and regulatory bodies. We write, sign on and submit important comment letters to express our concerns for California’s struggling fish populations and impaired habitats.

Often, GWWF is the only fly fishing club in the room or on the conference call dealing with so many challenging and complex issues. We are proud to share our knowledge of the rivers and fish, and speak up with authority on what specifically is being threatened or lost.

Recently, our conservation work has involved the following issues.

• State Water Board’s Water Quality Control Plan Update- Increasing the water flows from Feb-June in the Tuolumne, Merced & Stanislaus rivers to average 40% of the natural, unimpaired flow;  Revise flow requirements on the Sacramento River.  The objective is to save salmon and steelhead and improve water quality in the Delta and San Francisco Bay.
  
• Relicensing of the Don Pedro and La Grange Dams on the Tuolumne River for a 50-year license - Nearly 80% of the flow of the Tuolumne is being diverted for both agricultural & municipal use.  Native salmon and steelhead populations are suffering.
  
• Meeting/working with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission- Modeling future water demand and exploring other sources of water supply to reduce the amount taken out of the Tuolumne River.
  
• Fighting against Waivers of the Clean Water Act- Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act requires an applicant to obtain a certification by a state agency that operation of a project under a new FERC license will be consistent with the state’s standards for water quality. There’s been an avalanche of these waivers by FERC which are extremely harmful.
  
• Delta Conveyance – (Delta Tunnel)-This project has questionable benefits for fish and will enable even more water to be diverted to Central/Southern California at a huge cost.

Any GWWF member who is interested in conservation activities, can get in touch with Cindy at: [email protected].

Cindy Charles, Conservation Chair