Projects

The Old Rincon Ranger Station on the West Fork of the San Gabriel River has been converted to an education center, now known as the San Gabriel Canyon Educational Center, that provides programs to the public and over 7,000 school children each year. The FRVC has assisted with the conversion, by providing carpentry on the interior of the education classroom and converting the face of service sheds to resemble a ghost town at the Miners Camp at the center. The Miners Camp when completed will educate the public about the mining that had gone on and still goes on in the Angeles National Forest.

The FRVC sells Adventure Passes and answers visitors questions at the Lower San Antonio Creek Fire Station every Saturday. We also sell Adventure Passes at the Gateway Center on Azusa Canyon Road going up to visit the three streams of the San Gabreil river system.

We also pass out trash bags to visitors that need them while picnicing in this area. In addition we remove graffiti from boulders and structures and trash from the stream and streamside on all of San Antonio Creekand Icehouse Canyon.

The FRVC assists the Forest Service with two youth fishing projects each year, at Crystal Lake in the Angeles Forest and Jenks Lake in the San Bernardino Forest .

At both of these events the FRVC provides and maintains the fishing rods and reels and are the "fishing buddies" for the kids during the event.

The FRVC volunteers remove graffiti from rocks along the streamside, structures and Forest Service signs using a high powered water blaster. In areas where we can not reach the graffiti with the water blaster we use blended paint to cover the graffiti or repair and replace Forest Service and DFG signs. In addition, while on foot patrols, we photograph and report repetivive markings to the Forest Service.

Working with the Department of Fish and Game, FRVC volunteers help determine the health of the streams. This is accomplished by electro-fishing to collect data of native species and resident rainbows, weighing and measuring the fish and returning them back to the streams. We also help with aquatic insect studies providing information for stream management. While most of our work with the DFG is focused on the streams that we patrol, we also assist on special projects in other parts of the state, such as, the Golden Trout Wilderness and Eastern Sierra areas.

The FRVC is assisting the Forest Service in removing Tamarisk plants along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. A single, large tamarisk can transpire up to 300 gallons of water per day. In small or intermitent streams where tamarisk has taken hold, it can severely limit the available water, or even dry up a water source. Due to its ability to spread, its hardiness, its high water consumption, and its tendency to increase the salinity of the soil around it, the tamarisk has often completely displaced native plants in wetland areas. Since begining this project we have removed 1,400 plants along 1.5 miles of the East Fork beyond Heaton Flat Campground.