Feather River Trout Unlimited was recently featured in The Sacramento Bee for their efforts on identifying invasive species and pathogens. Jane Braxton Little, a freelance writer, covers science, natural resources and rural Northern California from Plumas County, describes the new face of conservation: choosing which areas to conserve and which to let go with the changing climate. Our very own team of scientists are doing just that in the Middle Fork of the Feather in Sierra Valley to Yellow Creek in Humbug Valley.
Ken Roby, who is a retired aquatic ecologist from the U.S. Forest Service, is heading up the Upper Feather River Basin-Wide Native Fish Assessment. He is using a new identifying technique called eDNA to establish a list of rivers or creeks who have been hit by diseases or pathogens.
Instead of focusing our efforts on getting rid of invasive species or pathogens, we are instead choosing to protect areas where our native fish can thrive and repopulate. Little gathers from our very own Cindy Noble, “We don’t want to dump a bunch of time and money into a problem we can never fix,” said Cindy Noble, chair of Trout Unlimited’s Feather River Chapter. “We’re not going to do this the stupid way.”
Read the entire article, Climate change is forcing conservationists to pick winners and losers. How to decide?, By Jane Braxten Little here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article192668824.html#storylink=cpy