Chris Crawford used to fish for rainbow trout in the Boise River until he traded his fly rod for a garbage bag in the spring of 2004. "Once I started picking up trash, I noticed more and more of it in every nook and cranny of the triver, " he says. "Eventually, I just left my rod at home." Crawford also cut his working hours in half so that he could float a 5-mile stretch every day. On the weekends he recruited helpers from a local park, and by the end of the summer, the Boise River Volunteers had filled 500 garbage bags. Over the last two years, local businesses have donated $10,000 worth of gear and services to Crawford's crusade, including three mini pontoon boats with custom-made trash platforms on the back. In his free time, Crawford teaches kids to fish. "I want them to think of the trout as theirs. That will make the river a much better place."
Over the last 30 years, as farming methods have changed and expansive "clean" cropfields have replaced a patchwork landscape, the number of bobwhite quail in Cass County, Missouri, has dropped steadily. But "the trend is about to reverse," says Tom Lampe, the chairman of his Quail Unlimited chapter, who has gone door to door for 13 years, persuading landowners to let fencerows and edge areas grow wild. Lampe hikes across farms, advising owners where to fell branches and plant grasses to create cover for bobwhites. He then helps them secure funds through government agencies. "The key is to recruit groups of neighbors so the habitat is linked." To date, he counts 4,000 acres under active management.
Dan Tarkinson launched flyfishingmaine.com 10 years ago, while he was a college student in New Jersey and homesick for Maine's wild brookies. Since then, he has turned the website into a virtual 24-hour statewide conservation meeting, where 1,000 anglers convene every day. "They come to figure out how to protect fish," says Tarkinson, who posts status reports and announcements about cleanups. In forums, fishermen discus how to combat forest development or stop the spread of planted species, like pike. Every July, Tarkinson and a handful of loyal site visitors organize a weekend-long fund-raising event. This year's projected $5,000 pot will go toward radio tags for a study on the movements of brook trout in the Allagash. "When fishermen get together," Tarkinson says, "they can be powerful."
-- Bill Heavy
