2005 January - Financial Wall
UP AGAINST THE FINANCIAL WALL
by Larry Wolf
Every year we solicit donations and volunteer help for the hatchery. This year is no exception. We are currently facing a financial crisis that could cause the hatchery to close by June 2005. Our operating budget is $110,000 each fiscal year. We are facing a shortfall of approximately $50,000.00 this year. Our equipment needs have already been met. We are now using the last our grant money for reconstruction and upgrades that will make the hatchery the state of the art for genetic restoration and enhancement activities. But without operating capital the facility cannot be used. We now have the ability to raise up to 100,000 salmon & steelhead each year at the hatchery and an additional 360,000 hatchery salmon in the net pens at Moss Landing and Santa Cruz Harbor. Our STEP education program reaches 125 classrooms in our area each year and is the best in the state.
Operating with only one employee we are able keep expenses at a minimum. All additional help we receive is from our volunteers. Even our Board of Directors is an all volunteer staff. In this manner, all of our funding goes directly to the care and maintenance of the hatchery, the net pens and our educational programs. If you know of someone who may be interested in volunteering, give us their name and number.
What can you do to help? If you aren’t a member currently, please consider joining our organization. If you are a current member, think about becoming a sponsor donor this year. Each member who donates $100.00 or more will receive a 2004 Derby T-Shirt. Check to see if your employer has a donation match program, whereby you may be able to double your contribution with their help. This is our local hatchery. It is through our efforts that we will succeed or not. Any suggestions or ideas that you may have to help us, as we seek funding would be greatly appreciated.
What can happen if we fail? If our hatchery closes, within a few years, all streams would probably be closed to steelhead fishing in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. There will never be a take provision in the San Lorenzo River or any other local streams. The 60,000 steelhead that we put in the San Lorenzo River each year will no longer be planted. Coho Salmon may become extinct in our area. King Salmon fish populations in the bay will be diminished by over 360,000 fish each year. Some years there could be no King Salmon at all. The educational program we currently run in more that 125 classrooms, teaching our children the importance of protecting our local streams and habit, will be lost. That is 3750 children that would not be able to participate in this educational experience each year.
Please contact Larry Wolf at 831-688-4257 or the Hatchery directly at 831-458-3095, (ask for Dave or Al), with any ideas you have that may help us to save our hatchery. Its survival is up to each any every one of us.
“For Anything Worth Having One Must Pay The Price. The Price Is Always Work, Patience, Love and Self-Sacrifice.†By John Burrough
