On a hot Tuesday morning in July, David Lass organized about six volunteers on the Little Truckee for a trash clean-up day. Their bounty included three TVs, a bedspring mattress, and eight full trash bags from a nearby construction site. After the event, Lass delved into more complex issues in a phone discussion with the Federal Water Master in Reno. This is all in a day’s work for Lass, the California field director for Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to fish and river conservation. Lass, who started off as a Trout Unlimited intern, is dedicated to protecting the state’s waterways after being inspired by fishing.
“Fly fishing changes people’s lives, and it changed mine,” said Lass.
The Truckee River chapter of Trout Unlimited is one of hundreds of branches that make up a national force of anglers, conservationists, lawyers, and citizens who work to further the organization’s main goals: to protect, restore, reconnect, and sustain America’s waterways. Truckee’s “Tahoe Trout Bums” contributes 275 members to the 160,000 total members nationwide, and focuses on improving the Truckee watershed through projects large and small.
The Truckee staff is composed of all volunteers (Lass gives his time to the Truckee Chapter but is paid for, his work as California field director), and they cite the joys of fishing as an eternal motivator.
“I was immediately taken away by all the exceptional trout fishing in the area after moving here, and then wanted to give back and do my part to help conserve and preserve the rivers,” said John Jewett, the current chapter president.
Stefan McLeod, a Truckee native who founded the Truckee River Chapter in February 2010, echoes Jewett’s sentiments.
“I still get that same feeling of excitement each and every time I head out to chase the fish as I did when I was a child, and I’m amazed that after 21 years of being a devout fly fisher, that wonderful feeling has yet to escape me,” he said.
Truckee River Trout Unlimited wants more people on the river to experience the joy of fishing, and Lass acknowledges that this can be a double-edged sword. Higher numbers on the river contribute to some of the current problems like an abundance of trash and habitat damage, but overall Trout Unlimited believes that bringing more people to the river in a responsible fashion helps to create a more informed public.
“We want to educate and mobilize an engaged and passionate public to become more interested in river matters, and ultimately become stewards to help improve the habitats fish depend on,” said Lass.
MAKING A DENT
Tahoe Trout Bums works at the grassroots level and up, from organizing cleanups to offering instructional fly-fishing courses, actively recruiting new members, and hosting volunteer days.
Trout Unlimited Truckee Chapter’s next sponsored event is on Aug. 17 at Prosser Creek to add spawning gravels that will enhance the fish habitat. All interested volunteers are invited and will receive lunch and free beer from Sierra Nevada Brewing, one of the sponsors.
The nonprofit is also in tune with the acting forces that are shaping fisheries across the country. It engages with water purveyors, lawmakers in Washington, and the multitude of government agencies in play so that Trout Unlimited can best carry out its motto — “If we take care of the fish, the fishing will take care of itself.”
A larger project underway is the improvement of a one-mile section of the Little Truckee River habitat about two miles south of Stampede Reservoir. This section is in “desperate need of supplemental instream boulder structures and large woody debris,” according to the Trout Unlimited project description. The project would add 250 boulders for fish structure, plant 90 adult trees to aid habitat complexity, create two new backwater habitats for juvenile fish rearing, and plant over 50 willows to create shade and increase band stability, among other goals.
These projects highlight one of three main issues facing Tahoe that Lass and Jewett identify as the main opportunities for action for the chapter — the restoration of watersheds to improve all areas of fish habitat. The other two issues are working with water purveyors and agencies in order to achieve better instream flows out of local reservoirs (to which the Truckee River Operating Agreement of 2008 provides the platform for, but is locked in litigation at the moment, Lass said), and combating the threat of invasive species, such as the New Zealand mud snail and Didymosphenia geminate (rock snot) that has been found in the Truckee River.
Lass believes the Truckee River is probably in better shape than it was 10 years ago, though it still faces a litany of challenges. Nevertheless, the current beauty of the rivers continues to bring new anglers to its banks every year, as well as keep veterans like McLeod fishing for an estimated 150 to 200 days a year.
“The connection that a fly angler has with nature is second to none … fly fishing is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night. I just can’t get enough and I can only hope that feeling stays deep in the pit of my soul for the rest of my days on this earth,” said McLeod. “Trout don’t live in ugly places, so needless to say, when I am spending time on the water chasing fish, I am always surrounded by the beauty and wonders that are a part of a healthy trout stream.”
To learn more about joining Trout Unlimited and to sign up for upcoming events, visit Tahoe Trout Bums on Facebook.
