Why Donate to SARSAS?

SARSAS is an all-volunteer 501C3, public benefit corporations.  No one in SARSAS is paid, making it a unique organization.  All funds donated go toward achieving our mission.

SARSAS believes that opening the other 737 tributaries of the two great rivers in California is the only way to prevent endangered steelhead and threatened salmon from extinction on the West Coast.   California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CAFW) counted 7,000 salmonids per mile making Auburn Ravine one of the richest streams in Northern California.

The mission of SARSAS is to return salmon and steelhead to the entire 33 miles of the Auburn Ravine with them spawning in Auburn, California, in Auburn School Park Preserve, in the center of the City of Auburn between City Hall and Placer High School, and in Ashford Park on Auburn Ravine Road.

SARSAS has brokered several major improvements for fish on Auburn Ravine:

1) working with former Nevada Irrigation District General Manager Ron Nelson and several other organizations, SARSAS brokered Fish Passage on Lincoln Gauging Station allowing  fish two additional miles of marginal spawning gravels upstream to Hemphill Diversion;

2) working with former Executive Director of Family Farm Alliance Ashley Indrieri and current South Sutter Water District General Manager Brad Arnold, SARSAS arranged for Dual Cone Fish Screens which were installed in 2016 on the Pleasant Grove Canal that formerly entrained up to 90% of smolt returning to Pacific Ocean to spawn;

3) a fish screen on the Albert Scheiber property immediately downstream for Highway 65 Bypass has been installed; The cumulative effect of these improvements is to remove all flashboard diversions points up to Hemphill Dam from October 15 to April 15 each year for salmon/steelhead spawning runs.

4) created the SARSAS Citizen Science Program which places volunteer scientists on Auburn Ravine to gather scientific data to enhance fish runs and knowledge of Auburn Ravine; Bob Johnson is the  Coordinator and can be reached at 530 262 7036, johnsonbb1524@gmail.com) for volunteering;

5) the Judge William Newsom Outreach Program which reaches out to students in local schools to train them in the life cycles of anadromous fishes and involve them for a lifetime in understanding and helping anadromy;

6) and currently recruiting volunteers to help to restore North Ravine, the largest tributary of Auburn Ravine, for endangered steelhead habitat, is Coordinator Robert Hane.  He can be reached at 530 885 3005.  Robert, working with Damion Ciotti of US Fish and Wildlife Service, is removing invasive plants such as Himalaya blackberries and planting dogwood and redwood trees on its four mile length.  Robert’s motto is “Where shade exists, fish persist”. He is aided by volunteers from Sierra Native Alliance and California Conservation Corp and many land owners along North Ravine such as the Taylor Family, owners of Mt. Vernon Winery, but Robert needs as much help as he can get.

If you have other skills you would like to donate, contact Jack Sanchez at 530 888 0281 or jlsanchez39@gmail.com.  We need grant writers, letter writers, speakers, photographers, fish biologists, teachers, IT specialists, programmers, speech writers and philosopher kings in all disciplines.

PLEASE HELP SARSAS SAVE THE FISHES BY DONATING FUNDS AND/OR BY VOLUNTEERING.