I first met Terry Eggleston a couple of decades ago, shortly after I had started California Fly Fisher. He had dropped by our booth at the Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Exposition to say hello, and although I no longer recall much of what he said during our subsequent conversation, much of it pertained to the American River and the state of its steelhead. I got the very strong impression that Terry was someone who knew what he was talking about.
Terry has visited the booth often over the years, and when he came by this past January, he mentioned how much he enjoyed the interview with Tom Walsh of Southern California’s volunteer-based Fisheries Resource Conservation Corps (see our January/February 2018 issue). And hey, he added, how about interviewing someone from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife about their Natural Resource Volunteer Program?
Wonderful idea, I thought, but even better would be to interview Terry himself, given that he’s both a volunteer with the program and a longtime hard-core fly fisher. Moreover, Terry has worked as an environmental biologist for the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads and as a professional fly-fishing guide in California, Oregon, and Alaska. He has taught aquatic entomology, fly tying, and fly fishing, and he and his wife have fished most of the major global fly-fishing destinations, as well as much of California. Given this background and his deep involvement in and passion for our sport, Terry is the perfect person to introduce you to an important state program that benefits our natural resources and, pertinently, our fisheries.
Richard: What is the mission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Natural Resource Volunteer Program? What sorts of activities do NRVP volunteers get involved with, and in what activities have you participated?
Terry: The specific mission of the NRVP is to “provide conservation and enforcement education in public service, through community outreach, State lands monitoring, habitat and pollution awareness, animal welfare, and CDFW administrative assistance.” The purpose of this mission, according to the CDFW, is to “improve efficiency and productivity statewide using the skills of talented volunteers.”
I have participated in many NRVP programs over the years. There are NRVP liaisons for each CDFW program, and I am the liaison for Fishing in the City and Eggs in the Classroom, which is formally titled the Classroom Aquarium Education Project. Fishing in the City gets me out and working with the public. It introduces kids and adults to fishing, some who never have had a rod in their hand. We plant fish in local parks and ponds, supply all the equipment and bait, and put on a how-to clinic to get them started in the sport. The Eggs in the Classroom program is a great project started here many years ago by Dave Armocido. I believe that statewide, there are about eight hundred classrooms now participating in the program. In our region, we deliver salmon or steelhead eggs to the classroom and give a little talk about the life cycle of the fish. The eggs hatch, and the fry are returned to the American River. This has been a great conservation lesson for the kids. Some of the other activities I have enjoyed have been the capture and tagging of bighorn sheep and the relocation of raptors to protect nesting endangered shorebird species. I have personally relocated seven peregrine falcons this last year. I also enjoy outreach activities such as the Salmon Festival and the International Sportsmen’s Exposition, as well as several air shows to which we bring the warden recruitment trailer and answer the public’s questions regarding the department.
One of the assignments that has been a real eye-opener for me has been the cleanup and eradication of illegal marijuana grows on public property — the destruction of our waterways and public lands is incredible. We remove thousands of yards of irrigation lines and illegal chemicals and pesticides. The intensity of these grows and the expertise involved is phenomenal. We have had to use helicopters to remove equipment from remote spots.
Some of the fun assignments I’ve enjoyed as a fly fisher include doing creel surveys and opening and closing Heenan Lake — getting to talk the fishers, finding out what flies are working, and after work being able to throw a few flies myself. We also survey state lands for maintenance and repair, such as in the Hope Valley area, where there’s the Forks of the Carson River and Red Lake. It just happens to be an area with great fishing. Volunteers can pick and choose the assignments in which they would like to participate. Each month, a list of upcoming assignments is e-mailed to all volunteers. They are required to put in 18 hours a month. You can sign up for as many activities as you would like. Some assignments require extra training to handle situations such as animal restraint and transporting, CPR and first aid, raptor relocation, using a GPS, or boating safety. All volunteers are also required to complete the Hunter Safety Program, even if they have previously taken it. Also, we have updates on all the new fish-and-game regulations, so we can answer the public’s questions. All volunteers spend at least one day a month answering public questions or directing the public to the proper department for answers. My wife always asks me when I get home from headquarters duty, “What’s the weird call of the day?” I think we could put a book together from some of the questions we get.
Richard: How long have you been involved in the program, and how did you get involved?
Terry: Right after my retirement, just short of five years ago, I was bored and looking for something to do and to make some new friends. I saw a small ad in the Sacramento Bee that the Department of Fish and Wildlife was looking for volunteers to work out of their Rancho Cordova headquarters. I called a couple of retired DFW employees and asked what they knew about the program and if this was something they thought I might be interested in. They couldn’t say enough good about the program and what the volunteers do. I then made the phone call and talked to the lieutenant in charge, then filled out the paperwork and set up an appointment for an in-depth interview. The interview was the same as if I were applying for a job. It lasted about an hour and a half. And the panel, I guess, liked what they heard. I was offered placement in the upcoming NRVP academy.
Richard: Do you see much involvement from the fly-fishing community in the program?
Terry: I am seeing more involvement from the local fly-fishing clubs. They help with delivering eggs for Eggs in the Classroom. We always have fly tyers to help the kids at many of our events, such as Duck Days and the International Sportsmen’s Expo’s youth programs, and they assist the kids in getting their first trout at one of our ponds. The local clubs have also done a great job when called upon to help on special projects, such as rescuing fish stranded by floods and drought and helping with the electroshock research program on Yellow Creek. This was once one of our premier trout streams. We hope this research will help make it great again.
Richard: You’ve worked as a biologist and have done a lot of angling. What would be the condition of California’s fish and wildlife if the NRVP did not exist?
Terry: This is a pretty simple question to answer. Both the DFW and wildlife would be in dire straits, in my opinion. Projects simply would not be completed. There is neither the budget nor the manpower. I have talked to many of the department’s biologists and asked how projects got done before the volunteers became involved, and the answer is usually the same: we either took the projects home with us and worked on them in the evenings and weekends or the project was put on the back burner until money and help were available.
Here are a few statistics to give you an idea of what our volunteers have done to date. In one year, from July 1 to June 30, NRVP volunteers in the Sacramento, Redding, and Eureka region provided the DFW with a “face, voice, and response” to the public totaling 11,212 hours, which equals 5.4 man-years. They answered over 7,500 phone calls and made 9,400 field contacts, dealt with 5,751 callers to the headquarters line, and supplemented the Office of Community Outreach at community events with 4,272 personal contacts. They doubled the capacity of the Resource Assessment Program’s fieldwork by allowing a volunteer to pair with a science aide for every field trip — previously, each trip required two science aides. Previously, too, Wildlife Management Area staff had to work an extra weekend day to open and close the Yolo Wildlife Area; NRVP volunteers now do that. We’ve entered more than 46,000 blood samples into a database that allows every wildlife biologist to use DNA for wildlife relocation efforts. We’ve entered Hunter Education program documents for training completed before the Hunter Education database was begun, allowing more than 20,000 hunters who completed that training to receive credit for it. We’ve spent more than 500 hours relocating warden vehicles and other CDFW vehicles, allowing wardens and biologists to use their limited hours for enforcement and management, not for “road time.”
Richard: If readers would like to volunteer, what’s the best way for them to do so?
Terry: The best way for readers to see if being a volunteer is something they want to do is to go to the department’s Natural Resource Volunteer Program website: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Explore/volunteering/NRVP. In addition, a link on that page will take them to the application, which provides more information. Applicants will need to complete an 80-hour training course. There will be an upcoming training academy in the next few months.
Although the NRVP program operates statewide (it started in Southern California in 2002), currently the department is accepting applications for the Redding and Eureka areas. Many of the volunteers in Eureka are students at Humboldt State, and when they graduate they often move away, which means positions there open relatively frequently.
Candidates must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license, and they will have a background check completed. We have volunteers from all walks of life — from doctors to heavy equipment operators and everyone in between. This is also a good way for young volunteers who are looking to work for the department to get their feet in the door. We have had several volunteers become game wardens. So it is a great opportunity for them.
We have come a long way since I first became part of the program. The department now supplies our uniforms and equipment. In the past, the volunteers had to pay out of pocket for these things.
Richard: You’re obviously an active outdoorsman. What got you interested in fly fishing? Did you have any particular mentors? How has your involvement with or interest in the sport changed over time?
Terry: I was born and raised in Long Beach, growing up about a block from the Los Angeles River when it was still a real river with wild plants and animals. I grew up in a family that was very outdoors-oriented, with uncles and a grandfather who hunted and fished. The amazing thing is that no one in my family fly fished. I first became aware of fly-fishing by reading Outdoor Life and Field and Stream magazines. I looked forward each month to the articles written by Ted Trueblood and Joe Brooks, to name a few. From the local public library, I would borrow any book that was about fishing, including fly fishing. Seeing the colored fly plates from Ray Bergman’s Trout sparked my interest in fly tying. I became so interested in this sport that I would take the bus downtown to the Long Beach Casting Club, where I learned to fly cast and began my fly-tying career. I had great mentors, such as John McKim and Bill Blackstone. John and Bill were great for getting a young fly tyer started on a lifetime of pleasure. My wife and I have fished all over the world in fresh and salt water. I have been a fishing guide and fly-fishing instructor for over 32 years. I am a founder and past president of the Granite Bay Fly Casters.
Richard: Given your interest in protecting Sacramento-area fisheries, what are your general observations regarding trends in the region? If these trends are negative, what can fly fishers do to change this trend? What should governmental agencies be doing?
Terry: I think we all know that the biggest problem that we face today is the control of our freshwater supplies and the health of the California Delta. We anglers are such a minority, we have banded together with Delta farmers and other environmental groups to have a strong voice in determining how our resources should be allocated. We also need better funding for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to be able to put more wardens on patrol to protect the habitat. Poaching and illegal marijuana grows have become a huge problem in this state.
Richard: It’s something of a truism that fisheries are unlikely to be well protected if anglers aren’t fishing them and speaking up about their problems. If fly fishers are interested in exploring California’s trout-fishing opportunities, what advice would you give them in searching for interesting experiences?
Terry: First off, I would encourage any fly fisher to get involved with a local fly-fishing club and join CalTrout. Go to the DFW’s website and look under “Inland Sport Fishing” on the “Fishing” tab. The department has a great program called the Heritage Trout Challenge — by catching six different native trout from their historic drainages and photographing the fish, you will receive a certificate showing six full-color images representing the trout you caught, along with the dates and location. And a must is to subscribe to California Fly Fisher for some of the best information on fishing in the state.
Richard: Here we are at the end of the interview and our Silly Tree Question: If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
Terry: I would be a California buckeye. It looks like we are definitely not out of the drought conditions at this time, and then there’s the water grab in California. I would want to be something that needs little water and is drought resistant. That’s why I would be the California buckeye. It’s a native of the state, like me, needs very little water, but will take all it can get and flourish.
