SACRAMENTO UPDATE
CalTrout is a known and trusted brand, the go-to organization for issues pertaining to the interplay between fish, water and people. Key public officials solicit the organization’s advice and are receptive to its ideas and proposals.
CalTrout works to build and maintain relationships with legislators, along with relevant agencies, on key local, regional, and statewide issues ranging from carbon sequestration policy to funding for floodplain-fish projects. By bringing policy expertise, on the ground experience, community support, science, and advocacy experience to Sacramento, CalTrout advances critical policies, programs, and funding. Using an experienced team of lobbyists and consultants to complement its executive staff, CalTrout develops legislative initiatives, supports or opposes legislation, helps shape the state/federal budget, engages in stakeholder groups, and works directly with key decision makers to craft statewide policy that protects wild fish and the watersheds in which they live. Some of Caltrout’s budgeting and legislative efforts this year include:
BUDGETARY PRIORITIES
Klamath Dam Removal ($250M - Prop 1)
Caltrout worked to ensure the state appropriated $250 million in bond funds from Proposition 1 for the removal of Klamath Dam. This will allow the state to capitalize on an historic opportunity for broad environmental and economic recovery in drought-ravaged Klamath Basin and fund essential habitat restoration along streams and creeks on the Klamath River, a key spawning ground for the once-abundant Chinook salmon.
Status: Budget Signed into Law June, 2016
Wetlands and Mountain Meadows funding ($60M - GGRF)
CalTrout is taking its first step into the larger arena of addressing climate change, the most complex ecological problem of our time. The Sierra Meadows Program will work to develop enhanced meadow restoration practices resulting in increases in net carbon within meadows throughout the Sierra Nevada.
Status: Pending Consideration in August, 2016
Legislation and Advocacy
Shaping policy to protect fish and their waters