Conservation Corner               by Bill Templin              August 15, 2009

”Bill Carnazzo Helps Target a Clean Up near Sugar Pine Reservoir”

Bill Carnazzo (shown above) renowned  author, fly fisherman and Vice President of the Upper American River Foundation, displays one of the more “unique” items of litter left behind by thoughtless “plinkers” who shoot up our forests and leave behind a mess for the rest of us.  Bill and 12 other volunteers representing the Upper American River Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, Granite Bay Flycasters, Sac-Sierra Trout Unlimited, the North Area Sportsmen's Association and a Roseville Boy Scout Troup came together on Saturday, August 15 to begin cleaning up some areas along Pagge Creek near Sugar Pine Reservoir in Placer County (shown in photo below, before being cleaned up).

     

Focusing on heavily used forest recreation areas near rivers, streams, creeks and lakes, the Upper American River Foundation (in close coordination with the U.S. Forest Service, American River Ranger District) and all of the above-mentioned organizations kicked off the first of series of projects Saturday. These projects include efforts to reduce impacts and increase awareness that will enhance water quality and fisheries habitats in the Upper American River Watershed.

Saturday's clean up, was a part of the Great Sierra River Clean Up campaign (sponsored by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy) that will “officially” be kicked off on September 19, but we couldn’t wait and our efforts yielded 6 pickup loads of targets or about 3 tons of illegally dumped trash of all kinds, litter, and several 30 lb garbage bags full of shotgun shells.

These "collections" were all delivered to the Placer County Refuse Transfer Station between Foresthill and Todd Valley and disposed of properly. Hopefully, those people who are illegally dumping everything from hot water heaters, to mattresses, large screen TVs, propane tanks (and even a scuba diving air tank) will follow our lead and halt their practices of disposing of their trash in our forests.

Following the clean up, the volunteers were treated to a well disserved BBQ lunch (funded by the Granite Bay Flycasters) and received Tee Shirts, water bottles, and license plate frames provided by "Keep California Beautiful".

Plans are now being developed to identify and prioritize "hot spots" where the USFS needs volunteer help to protect and restore natural habitats near water bodies, like Pagge Creek, that are being abused. Plans include continuing to organize visits to these areas, education about ethical use of the outdoors, and vegetative restoration of creek banks until we can control the iceberg of which we only saw the "tip" on Saturday.

Other than a lot of sore backs and bodies, we came away from this day's project with only one minor injury from one of the hundreds of broken beer bottles (like the one shown below) that some of this areas' users enjoy shooting up with their guns.

We considered ourselves pretty lucky, but it didn't happen by just luck, it included a lot of carefulness and precaution by our volunteers. Thanks to everyone who participated for all of your hard work and care and thanks to the Foresthill Solid Waste Transfer Station for accepting our donations. Just as a reminder… they are open Friday through Monday 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. to accept everyone’s contributions to keeping our forests and water bodies clean!