TURN ONE DOLLAR INTO THREE
Orvis, Help Us Restore Teton Creek
By Bill Schneider, 3-07-08
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Sad but true, you’re going to see a lot of these type of stories in future years, articles about concerned citizens and companies stepping up to undo irresponsible if not illegal environmental damage. Witness The Orvis Company teaming up with local conservationists to restore illegally channelized Teton Creek near Driggs, Idaho.
In addition to dishing out a $30,000 challenge grant, the premier supplier of quality fly fishing and other sporting gear has featured Friends of the Teton River (FTR), a local watershed nonprofit trying to restore Yellowstone cutthroat habitat on Teton Creek, in a full page in its spring and summer fishing catalogs and prominently on its website.
James Hathaway, Communications and Conservation Manager at Orvis, told NewWest.Net that the Teton Creek project is part of the company’s normal policy of donating 5 percent of its profits to conservation efforts.
In this case, Orvis hopes to raise $30,000 in direct contributions from its customers and other private individuals, which will be matched from identical amounts from Orvis and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, bumping the total up to $90,000. Hence every dollar donated becomes three for Teton Creek.
To make giving remarkably easy, Orvis online customers can “Round Up for Conservation” on the company’s website. At checkout, shoppers can “round up” their purchase price to the next dollar, with the difference going directly to the Teton Creek Restoration Project. But they can contribute more, of course, and have that donation tripled, too. Click here for details.
“We’re excited that a locally important spawning tributary for our native Yellowstone cutthroat trout is receiving national exposure and is a priority for a company as recognized as Orvis,” stated FTR Development Director Anna Lindstedt in a press release sent out by Orvis.
Historically, the Yellowstone cutthroat flourished and spawned in Teton Creek. But after developers illegally altered more than a mile of the creek, little viable trout habitat remained--and no holding water and no spawning grounds. Over the past 40 years, according to FTR, developers have seriously degraded Teton Creek with in-stream dredging and illegal channelization. A “domino effect” ensued, with bank loss and erosion occurring up and downstream of the channelized sections. Landowners are now losing more than a foot of streambank each year.
This unstable channelized section threatens the viability of one of the last remaining fluvial populations of Yellowstone cutthroat in the Teton Basin, says FTR, and it must be restored.
Funds raised through the efforts of Orvis will be added to the $320,000 dollars FTR has
already raised in grant money and private landowner donations toward stream channel and habitat restoration on Teton Creek. While restoration estimates for completion of the most critical mile-long section are expected to approach 1.2 million dollars, FTR Restoration Director Mike Lien pointed out in the press release that “the funding momentum for an enormous restoration effort is underway. People realize that healthy riparian areas and trout streams are an asset for our economy and our community.”
For a nifty YouTube video clip of the project, click here.
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Comments
In that case, they actually exceeded their $120,000 goal; it's far easier to ask the public to pony up a few bucks when they know their contribution is essentially tripled by the time it makes its way to the restoration project.
Orvis takes some heat from fly fishermen for their sales of clothing, dog beds and lifestyle items, but they're one of the few fly fishing companies that actually ponies up a significant amount of dosh for fish.
BUT what they do well is what Bill has written about here. BRAVO!!!!! Thank you Orvis for getting involved and not just throwing money at issues. Featuring initiatives in their catalog really shows their heart and connection to sporting interests. The next step I would like to see would be for Orivs to directly engage with sporting community organizations and simply ask, "How can we help?" That conversation should lead to other restoration projects and efforts to keep the public active in the field sports community.
Orvis, thank you... but I want a little more. ;>)
James Hathaway
The Orvis Company
I wish Orvis was committed to supporting public access like Montana's Block Management Program. Exclusivity is incompatible with Western values.
Also, a real estate agent cannot effectively support Block Management programs in their every day business. All an agent or firm can do is advise new owners that, in their opinion, providing public access is a good thing to do for whatever reasons. Ultimately, it is up to the new property owner as to which course to take and they should not be criticized for it unless the same criticism is dished out to all the other old time ranchers who are either not in BM or otherwise do not allow anyone and everyone access.
The fact is that exclusivity carries with it tremendous value whether anyone likes it or not. With the immense growth in population it is inevitable that crowded people value exclusivity.
Again, Orvis deserves kudos for it's stream reclamation efforts.
I might also point out the idiocy displayed by some outdoor enthusiasts who argue against any kind of public land trade. A case on point is the Ameya Preserve. There are a couple of state sections that NEVER had public access to them inside the boundaries of the ranch. The owner has offered to trade into these parcels by purchasing, on behalf of the state, a MUCH larger property that would be a HUGE net gain for the public.
I am also aware of another deal east of Missoula wherein the state would not even show interest in the trade because of the fear of the certain public outcry. There would have been a net gain to the public of several thousand acres of very good hunting land in exchange for a section or two of "public" ground (State) that NEVER had access to it in the first place!! The objectors, I suspect, are the very same people who spend most of their days complaining about all those damn out-of-staters buying up the land! They would rather be pissed off than own up to the realities of the situation.
1.) Thank you Orvis for getting involved in stream reclamation and including those efforts in your catalog.
2.) I would like Orvis to engage field sporting organizations and simply ask, "How can we help?"
3.) Unless the public has access to the sovereign's animals those lands should be closed to all hunting and fishing.
Orvis did just that when I was conducting a fight against my own county supervisors, who were attempting to improperly designate navigable public rivers as non-navigable (rendering wading and fishing illegal).
They called. They helped.
Frankly, you're kicking the wrong dog. The question isn't why doesn't Orvis do more (they're involved in quite a few restoration projects)?
The question is why are so few other fishing & hunting companies doing anything significant?
A tip of the fishing hat to Mr. Hathaway.
Thanks for the good word, TC!