Every year, Santa Cruz Fly Fishing club contributes a significant portion of its annual budget to support conservation organizations. This year the board decided to increase our contribution to $5,000. What made this possible is our increased membership and your generous donations and participation in our annual fundraiser. For this month’s Conservation Concerns article, I have passed on some of the thank-you letters we’ve received from the organizations we support. Some of the letters include the important work they are doing. I hope you enjoy them. Our contributions are appreciated!
From Carmel River Steelhead Association:
Santa Cruz Fly Fishing
Robert Garbarino
Conservation Chair
Dear Bob
Thank you for your donation of $500.00 to the Carmel River Steelhead Association (CRSA).
CRSA will use your generous gift to further the cause of returning the Carmel River and its
Iconic Sea Run Rainbow Trout – Steelhead – back to their historic conditions.
CRSA is a non profit grassroots organization dedicated to the repatriation of the federally
threatened Steelhead back into the Carmel River. Your donation is tax deductible and very
much appreciated.
Really appreciate your help with our rescues. Your donation is vey generous and will help
CRSA continue its work in bringing back these iconic sea run rainbows.
Sincerely,
The Carmel River Steelhead Association
From Friends of the Eel River:
Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club
ATTN: Bob Garbarino
P.O. Box 2008
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
Dear Bob,
I am so thankful for your $400.00 donation to Friends of the Eel River. You are a part of vital work to remove dams, protect endangered species. and safeguard critical habitat.
Thanks to your support, we have the resources to continue pushing for expedited dam removal.
In July 2025,PG&E filed their final License Surrender Application and Decommissioning plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This provides an important opportunity for stakeholders to speak directly to FERC and emphasize the broad regional support for PG&E’s dam removal proposal.
Please visit eelriver,org/action for instructions on voicing your support for dam removal to FERC.
Over the next several years, stakeholders will work with PG&E to develop management plans that outline much of the details of how dam removal and restoration in the project footprint will take place. PG&E is committed to making this the fastest FERC dam removal on record and believes that a license surrender order could be issued as early as 2028. Thanks to your support, we’Il be a part of the process to ensure that dam removal and restoration are properly focused on protecting and recovering the Eel River and its fisheries. Be sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter to stay informed as this process continues.
Also over this summer our public trust groundwater case was heard in the Humboldt County Superior Court. This case is about ensuring that the entities with a duty to protect public trust resources are adequately considering impacts of groundwater use in the lower river. During critically dry times, groundwater extraction in the lower river has significant impact on surface flows. Stay tuned, we expect a ruling before the end of the year.
We’ve still got a lot of work to do to achieve ecological resilience for the Eel River and its fisheries, but FOER is a tenacious organization. The Eel River watershed is a truly magnificent place that deserves the best we can give. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do just that.
Sincerely,
Alicia Hamann
Executive Director
From the Osprey:
Dear Bob Garbarino,
On behalf of The Osprey, Pete Soverel and I wish to express our sincere appreciation for your
generous contribution made in support of The Osprey: The International Journal of Salmon and
Steelhead Conservation. Your gift to The Osprey provides critically important support of the new
editorial and management committee working hard to make the Osprey even better and
distributed more broadly. It provides The Osprey board of editors and the organizations managing
the Osprey with both motivation and inspiration to continue our efforts to increase scientific
knowledge and our shared personal connection to the importance of wild fish across the entire
North Pacific.
Thank you so much!
Pete Soverel, Osprey Chair
Brian Morrison, Osprey Editor
Contact: Chris Jones, Osprey Gift Manager
chris.jones@theconservationangler.org
www.ospreysteelhead.org
From CalTrout:
Dear Bob,
Thank you so much for your gift of $500.00, received on
09/10/2025.
We appreciate you for standing with us as we protect California’s
waters and resilient wild fish.
With gratitude,
Curtis Knight
Executive Director
From California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:
Dear Bob Garbarino,
On behalf of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, I would like to thank you and the
Santa Cruz Fishing Club for your gracious donation to California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance. Receipt of your donation is provided below.
Organization : California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
Campaign: Donation
Donor: Bob Garbarino on behalf of the Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club
Amount: S400.00
Donation Interval: One Time
Donated Received: 9/11/2025
Payment Method: Check
This letter may serve as a record of your donation. No goods or services were provided for this
contribution. Our postal address is P.O Box 1061, Groveland, CA95321. CSPA’s 501 (3c)
number (Tax ID #) is 68-0004105.
We urge you to keep up with us at Calsport.org and recommend signing up to receive our email
newsletter to keep current on CSPS business, comments, and victories.
With Gratitude,
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
From Restore the Delta:
Robert Garbarino
Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club
PO Box 2008
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
Dear Robert and friends at Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club,
On behalf of Restore the Delta and our coalition of over 60,000 Delta residents, business leaders, farmers, civic organizations, community groups, faith-based communities, union locals, fishermen, and environmentalists, I want to thank you for your generous contribution of $400.00 on 8/10/2025. Your contribution will help support our work in saving the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary for our children and future generations.
For your tax records, our Federal Identification Number is 27-4179166. Your donation to Restore the Delta is fully tax-deductible; no goods or services were provided in exchange for your generous financial donation. Your contribution will enable us to save the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary for our children and future generations.
Restore the Delta will keep you posted on the progress and details of our work via social media or e-mail alerts. If you are not already receiving regular updates from Restore the Delta, please send your email address to mariah@restorethedelta.org or call (209) 479-2559.
Again, thank you for your generous contribution, and more importantly for your confidence in our work.
Yours in service,
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Executive Director
Restore the Delta
From Western Rivers Conservancy:
Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club
PO Box 2008
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
Dear Friends,
We are overflowing with gratitude because you are ensuring a future of healthy, free-flowrng rivers and
streams. Thank you for protecting the great rivers of the west with your generous gift!
With your support, Western Rivers Conservancy is currently working on more than 25 projects in eight western states. Your gift will help conserve Badger Creek, a key tributary to Idaho’s Teton River, and advance a broad effort to recover Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the Teton system. You will help protect nearly two miles of California’s East Fork Carson River, conserving prime habitat for Lahontan cutthroat trout, migratory wildlife and public access in the Eastern Sierra. Along central Oregon’s Little Deschutes River, you will help safeguard part of the state’s largest mule deer migration corridor. And you will help keep nearly 46,000 acres of the La Jara Basin in the headwaters of Colorado’s Rio Grande in
public hands forever.
These and our many other active conservation projects across the West would not be possible without your support. Your generosity will help leave a legacy of healthy streams for generations to come.
Please visit westernrivers.org to lean more about the invaluable riverlands WRC conserves. And, if you
know of a river property that needs protecting, please contact us 503-241-0151.
Thank you for helping save the West’s finest rivers and streams.
For the love of rivers,
Nelson Mathews
President
From Eastern Sierra Land Trust:
Santa Cruz Fly Fishermen Conservation Committee
Bob Garbarino
PO Box 2008
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
Dear Bob,
On behalf of Eastern Sierra Land Trust, thank you for your generous support. Your gift reflects a strong
commitment to conservation and to the future of the Eastern Sierra.
Your contribution makes an immediate and lasting impact. From preserving migration corridors and
safeguarding family ranches to enhancing biodiversity and protecting open space, your generosity fuels
meaningful work across our region. You help ensure that children can explore nature, wildlife can thrive, and
local communities remain deeply connected to the land they call home.
Together, we carry forward ESLT’s founding vision: protecting the lands and waters that make the Eastern
Sierra so extraordinary. Thanks to your partnership, these landscapes will continue inspiring and sustaining
today, tomorrow, and future generations.
As we look ahead, I’m filled with optimism for what we can achieve together. Thank you for being part of this
vital work.
With gratitude,
Mark Drew
Executive Director
Eastern Sierra Land Trust
www.eslt.org | (760) 873-4554 | 250 N. Fowler St. | Bishop, CA 93514
From The Conservation Angler:
Dear Bob Garbarino,
On behalf of The Conservation Angler, Peter Herzog and I want to express our sincere
appreciation and gratitude for your recent generous contribution made in support of our
work to protect wild fish and wild rivers in the Pacific Northwest.
We heartily thank you for your steadfast and timely support of wild fish conservation!
Your gift provides critically important support for our work. It provides the staff and board
of the organization both motivation and inspiration to continue our efforts to increase the
scientific knowledge and understanding of the importance of wild fish to the entire North
Pacific.
Your gift also helps us maintain the tireless advocacy necessary to keep responsible
agencies accountable for protecting wild fish – for present and future generations also.
May wild steelhead survive us.
Warm regards,
Peter Herzog & John McMillan
Contact:
John McMillan
President
john.mcmillan@theconservationangler.org
www.theconservationangler.org
Posted on October 20th, 2025