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Application
deadline is midnight Tuesday, August 19th
CSPA and Trout Unlimited to assist DFG with fish
rescue at Caples Lake: Over 100 Volunteers Needed! YOU can help!
by Chris Shutes, CSPA FERC Projects Director
August 15, 2008. -- For four days, August 26-29 2008, the California
Department of Fish and Game will be conducting a fish rescue at Caples
Lake, Alpine County, just east of Kirkwood on Highway 88. El Dorado
Irrigation District (EID), which operates the Caples Lake hydroelectric
project, will pay DFG to perform the fish rescue. The fish will be
captured by net and electrofishing and then moved via truck to Silver
Lake, located 7 miles away.
EID needs to draw Caples Lake down to repair the
outlet works that are located inside of the dam. The work, which
includes replacing damaged concrete, replacing slide gates, and
replacing the rods that connect the gates to a wheel that operates them
on top of the dam, must be done in the dry. EID will draw down the lake
and install a bladder dam to keep as much water in the lake as possible.
Unfortunately, the amount of water that will remain in the reservoir is
not believed to be enough to sustain fish in the lake over the winter.
DFG plans to have as many as 35 staff on site for
the rescue effort but will need as many as 100 volunteers to make the
operation successful. The rescue will be run by as a command-type
operation. DFG will try to pair volunteers’ skills with assigned
tasks, but bottom line is that volunteers, if capable, will be required
to do what DFG asks. DFG is developing an extensive operation and plan,
but on-the-ground reality may require spur of the moment changes. The
operation must adapt to what works and what doesn’t.
Preference will be given to volunteers who are
willing to work all night. Preference will also be given to volunteers
who have commercial fishing experience, handling fish in nets, or who
have experience electrofishing.
DFG has appointed a staff liaison to coordinate
with CSPA and Trout Unlimited both of whom have been given the task of gathering
and coordinating volunteers. Volunteers do not need to be members of
CSPA or Trout Unlimited to participate.
The fish transfer is estimated to take 72 hours and
will begin the morning of August 26th. The work will be
conducted in 8 hour shifts with the exception of the electrofishing
shifts which will be 12 hours and will operate through the three nights.
Approximately 10 to 20 volunteers will be necessary per shift (fewer for
all night shifts). Tasks include moving fish from pens to trucks,
counting fish and recording data, and providing general support. On
Friday, August 29, volunteers will be needed move the last of the fish
and clear the work areas. To provide efficient and continuous assistance
to DFG, volunteers are asked to work complete shifts and to leave the
immediate area when their shift ends.
Volunteers will have to provide all their own
personal needs including their own food, warm clothing, rain gear or
waders, a PFD, and lodging.
CSPA and TU are trying to coordinate campsites nearby for those who will
be staying over.
If you’ve never worked, “in the trenches,”
with the dedicated field staff of DFG, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. You may even
get to hold a 30 pound brown trout in your hands. If you wish to
volunteer, please fill out the on-line application at http://www.calsport.org/caplesapp.htm