INSIDE:
Holiday Appeal
2006 SRF Call for Restorationists Heroes
SRF Sponsors the 2nd Annual Eyak Preservation Council at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland December 10

 Happy Holidays and Fish Spawning Season!
 
This winter please consider joining Salmonid Restoration Federation, renewing your membership or gifting a membership to family or friends interested in bringing back salmon and steelhead. SRF's members are our lifeline to the restoration community. When you fill out your conference registration, please take this opportunity to renew your membership and receive a discount to the SRF Conference. You may also want to check out our line of great merchandise for holiday gifts at www.calsalmon.org

Salmonid Restoration Federation was formed in 1986 to help stream restoration practitioners advance the art and science of restoration. SRF promotes restoration, stewardship, and recovery of California native salmon, steelhead, and trout populations through education, collaboration, and advocacy. SRF is dedicated to recovering the species by offering affordable technical and hands-on trainings to the restoration community and educating the public about the plight of endangered salmon and the need to preserve and restore habitat to recover the species. SRF realizes that California’s once magnificent runs of wild salmon and steelhead will not be saved solely be restoration and education. Critical elements for recovery include advocating for protection of instream flows, wild stocks of salmon, and key refugia habitats and increased restoration funding.
 SRF is gearing up for our 24^th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference entitled, “Rediscovering Urban Creeks and Creating Healthy Watersheds,” which will be held in Santa Barbara February 22-25, 2006.  Please see www.calsalmon.org to view the conference agenda. We just completed an exciting restoration season with a diverse range of technical education trainings that we offered to landowners, restoration practitioners, agency personnel, tribal members, and watershed stewards. This summer, SRF held field schools in Southern California, the Central Coast, and the North Coast focusing on road decommissioning, bioengineering techniques, and instream structures. SRF also co-sponsoring the Coho Confab watershed symposium this summer near the Klamath River in Humboldt County.

We are a small, grassroots organization with a big vision. Despite, our scope of work and successful track record of producing affordable trainings for restorationists, this is a challenging time for service-based organizations to stay afloat. SRF likes to think of ourselves as the “Restorationist’s Union.” Your membership dues help us advocate for the livelihoods of thousands of people who have devoted their lives to habitat restoration and Salmonid recovery. Please help us to help the restorationists who help fish.
 
Your contribution enables us to offer effective trainings, produce a dynamic annual conference, and share information about pressing issues that affect salmonids and habitat restoration efforts. Please join Salmonid Restoration Federation in our efforts to recover wild salmon and restore watersheds.
 
Thank you for your commitment to Salmonid recovery.
 
For wild salmon,
 
The staff and Board of SRF

PS. Your membership entitles you to two newsletters a year, a substantial discount at our annual conference, and notices about our upcoming trainings.
 
 
Call for Nominations for Restoration Heroes Due on January 10, 2005

For years SRF has bestowed the Restorationist of the Year award to a restoration hero. In addition to this time-honored award, SRF has created two new awards to honor restoration heroes: the Golden Pipe award for Innovation and a Lifetime Achievement award. To nominate someone for one of these awards, please write 200 words about their qualifications and submit it to srf@calsalmon.org by January 10, 2006.

Remember to specify which award you think that the nominee should receive. The SRF Board will vote on these nominations and the awards will be given to the recipients at the conference banquet on Saturday, February 25.

Eyak Preservation Council Benefit with Joanne Rand December 10 at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland
 
Salmonid Restoration Federation is sponsoring a benefit for Alaska’s Eyak Preservation Council on Saturday, December 10 at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland. A Wild Copper River gourmet salmon dinner will be served at 6pm. Inspirational Alaska Native activist and founder of the Eyak Preservation Council, Dune Lankard, will speak at 7pm. Dune’s talk will be followed by fabulous music with Joanne Rand with her band the Rhythm of the Open Hearts. Tickets are $25. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Eyak Preservation Council.
 
The Eyak Preservation Council is an amazing grass roots non-profit based in Cordova Alaska. Tireless in their commitment and brilliant in their timing and strategies, they have helped save over 400,000 acres of old growth rainforest, stopped a road through a sensitive salmon spawning area, stopped a planned oil drilling and right now are trying to put a coal mine to ‘bed’ for all time. EPC has been working on cultural and habitat preservation issues since the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Check out their website at www.redzone.org
 
There will also be a wonderful silent auction with original artwork, camping gear, fishing trips, and other wonderful items. The night will culminate with a CD release party for Joanne Rand's new CD. "Where Our Power Lies" with 14 new songs which feature Steve Kimock, members of Copper Wimmin, 2 full bands and so much more. Inspired by wild characters, wild rivers and mountains, this CD is the best one yet
 
In an age of uncertainty, Rand evokes the human values of love, compassion and courage. Wilderness rivers like the Copper River in Alaska and the pristine Smith River in Northern California inspired Rand to emerge as a radical singer songwriter. “Joanne Rand’s singing raises your hair, elegance and fierceness in the same deep breath,” Gary Snyder.
 
So come out to celebrate the preservation of native ancestral homelands and deep wilderness.