GWWF members never sit still. There's no end to our Special Projects such as the Jo Clark Youth Fund, Casting for Recovery, the GWWF Annual Scholarship, and our in-school ecology awareness program.

The GWWF Jo Clark Youth Fund was established in memory of beloved GWWF member and mentor Jo Clark who passed away in December 2007. The funds Jo donated before her death has made it possible to offer two scholarships to FISHCAMP.

We support Casting for Recovery where women who've had breast surgery take up the rod and reel and head for the rivers.

To acknowledge and encourage young women who aspire to academic excellence in environmental studies, GWWF offers a yearly scholarship open to several universities.

Our In-School Program, headed by Annette Thompson, brings awareness of "fish ecology" into local grade schools.

If you have questions about Special Projects, please send email to Pat Magnuson or Annette Thompson.

A Brief History of Rearing Aquatics in the Classroom
By Annette Thompson and Pat Magnuson

The Golden West Women Flyfishers In-School Aquatics Project has been responsible for 10 years of in-school aquatics programs in the heavily urbanized, eastern section of the San Francisco Bay urban area.

The purpose of the In-School Aquatics project is to bring an awareness of the importance of clean, healthy local creeks, streams, and ultimately all of our waterways for us and for the critters that depend on them. The Aquatics program initially focused on rearing hatchery trout in the classroom environment and releasing the alevins into local, stocked lakes.

Our last release of hatchery trout was in 1993. In the fall of 1998, 5 years later, it appears the trout have established themselves well up stream of the lake area where they were released. This is the first re-introduction of (what are now) wild trout into an urban stream in the east bay. In 1993 the children started rearing native Pacific Chorus Frogs in the same urban classrooms for release into suitable, local streams.

One of the positive results of the frog rearing, aside from the children falling in love with their amphibian babies, was the beginning of citizen participation in storm drain stenciling as a part of a growing awareness of urban runoff. The children were adamant that their frogs were only going into clean creeks!

1994 initiated the native rainbow trout rearing program in selected schools. The eggs are collected in the late winter, from redds (nests) in Redwood Creek, Oakland, reared in a tightly monitored aquarium set-up, and released into a sister stream, Wildcat Creek, in Alvarado Park, Richmond. Wildcat Creek is open from the bay to its headwaters, with only a few small barriers to slow returning steelhead.

It was in the headwaters of Redwood Creek that Rainbow trout were first identified in the 1850's. The resident trout are genetically pure descendants of those first fish. In March 1998, at the request of the Alameda County Flood Control District, 273 wild steelhead eggs were removed from Alameda Creek as they had been spawned in an unsuitable section of the creek (below the BART train tracks) where they would not survive. 240 eggs were viable and were released as alevins in upper Alameda Creek in a wilderness regional park.

Due to increased rainfall and the marked improvement in the quality of local streams, we are expecting an increase in the number of (now) federally protected wild steelhead to return and spawn. Grant monies have been awarded to purchase specially designed chiller units and larger tanks. The units are also set up in local schools and children will rear all "rescued eggs" and release them into upstream watersheds. Because of our reputation, experience, and all necessary government permits, GWWF has been asked to partner with other organizations to establish additional aquatic programs.

For the spring of 2000 we had 7 chiller units set up to receive native trout and/or steelhead eggs and over 30 frog tanks ready for spawn. The GWWF In-School Aquatics Project is funded by the non-profit Golden West Women Flyfishers Foundation. All participating teachers must complete an appropriate watershed/quality awareness inservice program. Additional funding has been provided through county Fish and Wildlife grants and the Clean Water Program. We are permitted by the California Department of Fish & Game, approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service to rescue wild steelhead eggs, and work in conjunction with local and county authorities.

For more information on this program contact Annette.