Recently there was some equipment stolen from the steelhead rearing pond facility for the South Fork Toutle river.
Cowlitz Game and Anglers (
http://www.cowlitzgameanglers.com) , a sportsmans club, through volunteer efforts and fundraising maintains a small plant of summer run steelhead on this beautiful little river. An event like this theft is not something an organization of their size has the budget to absorb without difficulty. I know quite a few on this site that enjoy this fishery, and even if you don't participate in it, this is the kind of cooperative effort that as an angler is meaningful to lend your support.
There is no native run of summer steelhead here and the plant is small enough to not have negative effects on other native fish. WDFW delivers fry to the holding ponds sometime in early february and from that point until their release as smolt Cowlitz Game and Anglers feed and care for the fish through volunteer efforts.
Here is the article about the theft:
http://tdn.com/lifestyles/metal-theft-may-hurt-toutle-river-steelhead-population/article_4d549e08-2771-11e1-ba09-0019bb2963f4.htmlI have been in contact with the president of Cowlitz Game and Anglers and he is very appreciative of any help we can lend.
I will be putting up an auction for some hand tied jigs that I will tie for the winner and maybe come up with some other items for auction. Anybody that would like to contribute can contact me or post their auction up under the auction forum.
If you would like to simply make a donation, you can make your check out to:
Cowlitz Game & Anglers - Steelhead
Box 1061
Longview, WA 98632
and either send it in yourself with "Steelhead Notebook" in the note line or you can send your check to me and I will be forwarding all the funds received from auctions to CG&A.
