aBOUT THE PROJECT
Our Mission.To inspire Alberta's angling community to steward the rivers, streams, and tributaries that sustain healthy fisheries and thriving ecosystems.
Our VISION.A future where Alberta's rivers run clean, healthy trout populations flourish, and every angler recognizes stewardship as an essential part of fishing.
WHAT WE DO
The HOMEWATERS Stewardship Project was born from a simple idea: if we benefit from these rivers, we should help care for them—because the future of our fisheries depends not only on what we take from the experience, but on what we give back.
Inspired by initiatives like Fish for Garbage, and together with local conservation groups, fly shops, volunteers, and cities and municipalities, we're building a culture of stewardship where every angler can help protect their home waters.
● Riverbank Cleanups
We organize volunteer cleanup events along Alberta's rivers, streams, and tributaries, removing litter and debris to restore riparian areas to how they were intended to be — free of trash!
● Community Stewardship
We connect anglers, industry businesses, conservation groups, and communities through hands-on conservation efforts that create lasting impact to protect our fisheries for generations to come.
● Building Connections
The best conservation happens when people come together. Our events create opportunities to meet fellow anglers, share stories, and strengthen our connection to the places we fish.
WHY it matters
Every piece of trash removed from a riverbank is one less hazard for wildlife.
Every effort to pick up trash contributes to healthier habitat.
Every cleanup sends a message that anglers care deeply about the future of our fisheries.
Restoring polluted riverbanks to wild places won’t happen by accident. It depends on people who are willing to show up, roll up their sleeves, and give back.
That's stewardship.
That's HOMEWATERS.
A few years ago, I picked up a fly rod and my world changed. I found something unexpected, not just a sport, but A community of people who love wild places deeply, who notice when rivers change, and who feel it when habitat suffers.the more time I spent at the river, the harder it was to ignore a need. Trash on the banks of the Bow, forgotten for years and only collecting downstream of a growing city. stretches of critical habitat that need our help.This project grew out of that. A quiet nudge toward something most of us already want to do anyway. You're out there. You love this place. Maybe on the way back to the car, you pick something up. Maybe you TAKE THE LEAD and encourage a friend to do the same.Its just a small part of a bigger picture, Dedicated conservation groups are doing remarkable work to protect rivers, streams and tributaries every day — restoration, advocacy, habitat protection. Riverbank cleanup is its own quiet need, one that we, as ANGLERS can so easily participate in.
That's the thing about a community that genuinely cares — it doesn't need much encouragement. Just a little momentum.
Maybe you'll join us at a CLEANUP event, support the project, or it inspires you to do your part the next time you head out — however you choose to get involved, I'm grateful you've read this far.— EM Kessler, Founder of the ProjectFrom the founder
