An organization that helps special-needs kids and their caretakers partake in a day of fishing is in need of volunteer anglers with boats to help make this special day happen.

The CAST for Kids Foundation is planning its third annual event July 13 at Emigrant Lake east of Ashland, one of three such events in Oregon this month and among dozens scheduled for 2019 across the country.

The local event partners volunteers from the Medford area with local special-needs kids from 6 to 18 years old and their caretakers for a morning of boating and fishing on the lake.

Foundation Executive Director Jay Yelas says about 20 volunteers with boats are needed to take kids and caretakers fishing that Saturday morning, followed by lunch and a chance to show off their catches.

For more information about volunteering, see the program’s website at castforkids.org/event/emigrantlake or call 425-251-3214.

Other similar fishing events are planned for July 8 along the Umpqua River near Elkton and Sept. 8 at Hagg Lake near Gaston.

CAST stands for Catch a Special Thrill, and it returned two years ago after a two-year hiatus in Jackson County.

CAST for Kids was a mainstay at Hyatt Lake for many summers, but the event was suspended in 2015 because of low water at the reservoir.

With the return, the organization opted for Emigrant Lake because it is closer to the Rogue Valley, where all the participants live.

CAST for Kids also runs fishing events for military veterans and urban youth.

Club plans trail work

People who want to beat the heat and help hiking access in California’s Red Buttes Wilderness Area can help the Siskiyou Mountain Club on a Saturday work party to do just that.

Club Deputy Director Karly White will lead a work party Saturday to remove downed trees and clear brush from the wilderness area’s Cameron Meadows Trail to Frog Pond.

Volunteers will use crosscut saws to clear at least a dozen trees from the trail, where wilderness regulations do not allow mechanized equipment such as chainsaws.

The 3-mile-long trail travels through groves of massive cedars.

The National Weather Services says Saturday’s high temperature will be about 70 degrees in the wilderness area that straddles the California border in Jackson County in the upper Applegate River Basin.

Volunteers are asked to bring a sack lunch and wear appropriate clothing.

Carpools are scheduled to leave Ashland at 7:45 a.m., Medford at 8:15 a.m. and Ruch at 8:30 a.m. Crews will return to the trailhead to carpool home at 4 p.m.

For more information and to sign up, email karly@siskiyoumountainclub.org or call 541-708-2056.

Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or mfreeman@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.