The Flycaster’s Education Foundation received a $12,000 grant from the C.J. Huckens Foundation via the Tides Foundation to support the Flycaster’s Education activities.  The grant request was written by Hugh Miller and this grant of $12,000 will be used to help fund the  Flycaster’s Salmon and Trout Education Program(STEP).

The Flycaster Educational Foundation provides education, conservation, and youth programs... to local schools. These programs are focused mainly on education and conservation. For the last 15 years, the STEP program has been a very significant part of the Flycaster’s Education Committee's activities.

The Ed foundation is managed by Hugh Miller and Don Chesarek with the support of a lot of Flycaster Members.  Helping the kids is a very gratifying experience. If you are interested in joining Hugh and Don, contact either one of them.  More details about the Ed foundation below.....

STEP students learn about salmon and steelhead life cycles, their habitat requirements and the problems and solutions to preserving these "indicator" species and the watersheds in which they live. Teachers who wish to learn and participate in teaching STEP are offered a two-day workshop, which provides cooperative learning utilizing actual lessons from the curriculum material. The curriculum provided to the new teachers was developed by the trainers many of whom were/are teachers and are using the curriculum in their classrooms. The curriculum provides teachers with lesson plans and other material that they can use in the classroom and on the stream. Those teachers who desire to participate in classroom incubation option under the STEP program are required to complete the two day teacher training certification program and to obtain Department of Fish and Game approval to participate in this phase of the program. These teachers receive 30 fertilized wild steelhead eggs and raise them to fry stage. The fry are released back into the San Lorenzo watershed from which the parents had been captured.

This year we are starting a program to help record Club events and member activities.  Through the use of photos we want to help create a visual history of the people and the functions that make up the Flycasters.  These photos will be included in the Club’s Annual End of the Year Slideshow and some will even make it onto the Club’s web pages.  We will be looking for members that are willing to use their cameras to take pictures of other members and of the fishout activities.  This is in addition to having an official club photographer, who will be shooting more photos.

If you are reading this then you may be interested help us out.  This is intended to give you some guidelines as to what we are looking for in photos. Please select the 'read more' tab for more information.