VOLUNTEERS UNITE TO PROTECT STREAMS.Byline: Keith Lair San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. Tribune Bill Reeves
William 'Bill' Reeves (born June 22, 1875 at Cambridge; died March 22, 1944 at Wormwood Park, Hammersmith, London) was an English cricketer, who at the conclusion remembers fishing the San Gabriel San Gabriel (săn gā`brēəl), city (1990 pop. 37,120), Los Angeles co., SW Calif.; inc. 1913. Fabric, furniture, paper products, tools, and aircraft parts are manufactured. River's West Fork West Fork may be:
``Of course, you can't catch five fish in that time now,'' Reeves said. He hopes his work as a stream coordinator for the Fisheries Resource Volunteer Corps will keep the Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established by executive order on December 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve. It covers over 2,600 km² (650,000 acres) and is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, just north of the metropolitan area of Los stream productive and among the elite fisheries of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Reeves' attitude is what Don Stehsel Jr. said is needed to make his nonprofit conservation group grow. ``People want to protect (streams) from their heart,'' Stehsel said. Stehsel founded the FRVC FRVC Fox River Valley Conference (Green Bay) FRVC Fall River Visitors Center (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado) FRVC Fiseries Resource Volunteer Corps (Azusa, CA) seven years ago after anglers illegally fished out Deep Creek, situated between Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). . ``There is a section where they raped a mile of the stream,'' Stehsel said. ``There was nothing left larger than 4-inch fish. I was really, really upset, and it was too late to help.'' Stehsel already realized the Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service were too shorthanded to protect ``his'' stream. He contacted other conservation groups in the San Bernardino National Forest San Bernardino National Forest has two main divisions which are the San Bernardino Mountains on the easternmost of the Transverse Range, and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains on the northernmost of the Peninsular Range. , but they were also too extended to expand into the Deep Creek area. So he took the matter into his own hands. The FRVC has 117 members who patrol streams in the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests, including Piru Creek, San Antonio Creek, San Gabriel River's East and West forks, Deep Creek and Bear Creek. Stehsel designed the group to protect streams but quickly veered from that focus. ``I realized it's just not fishing,'' he said. ``We need to monitor areas with people problems, off-road vehicle areas, do trail maintenance, plant trees. . . because they go hand-in-hand with our streams.'' Endorsed by the Southwest Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers and fueled by donations from government agencies and private businesses, the FRVC helps DFG DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) DFG Department of Fish and Game DFG District Factor Group DFG Data Flow Graph DFG Difference Frequency Generation DFG Diode Function Generator DFG Dog Faced Gremlin wardens and Forest Service rangers check licenses and permits, remind anglers of fishing laws and attempt to stop poachers. Volunteers also remove graffiti, pick up trash, repair trails along stream beds and assist in conducting fish-population surveys and constructing signs. Interested parties can learn more about the program during a seminar 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Angeles National Forest Service headquarters, 701 N. Santa Anita Ave. in Arcadia. Prospective members must have a first-aid certificate and volunteer at least six times a year. To register for the seminar or for more information, call (714) 284-8844. Piru Creek is part of FRVC's protected list Piru Creek was a stream lost on the Fisheries Resources Volunteers Corps until 18 months ago. That's when Chatsworth's Jeff Joel joined the group and immediately set up patrols for the stream that runs along the border between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. ``I like to fish it and it's in our back yard,'' said Joel, 41. ``I've seen big changes going on there, so I decided that's where I wanted to do this.'' Ten members of the FRVC - from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to Long Beach and Huntington Beach - patrol the stream from just below Pyramid Lake to about a mile past Frenchman's Flat, where the trail becomes rugged. ``It seems like I've fished there forever,'' said stream coordinator Joel, who also receives help from his 14-year-old son, Jason. ``But I've seen a lot of changes in the people who have used it and changes in efforts of the Forest Service to take care of it. ``It's real close to civilization and gets a lot of use.'' Volunteers have helped enforce the DFG's catch-and-release regulations, clean up illegal fire pits, pick up trash, construct a fence to prevent trash from blowing into the stream and educate hikers and anglers about the stream's fragile nature. ``We're putting the (condition of the) stream back where it was 20 years ago,'' Joel said. ``We're making changes.'' --- Keith Lair CAPTION(S): Box BOX: Piru Creek is part of FRVC's protected list (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion