As the group celebrates its 25th anniversary, members have launched the 25-250 Challenge, an ambitious fundraising campaign to grow the Roelofs Humboldt Fisheries Endowed Award to $250,000. Their goal is to create lasting financial support for graduate students conducting fisheries research and conservation work while honoring the professor who helped shape generations of Cal Poly Humboldt alumni.
As of July 1, the endowment has surpassed $200,000, leaving the group within striking distance of its goal. Reaching $250,000 would increase the endowment’s long-term capacity to provide annual support for graduate students in fisheries research.
But the story of the Humboldt Fishin' Lumberjacks didn't begin with fundraising.
Around a campfire in Baja California 25 years ago, a handful of Cal Poly Humboldt fisheries alumni had a simple realization: life had pulled them in different directions. But they wanted to keep the friendships that had defined their time at the University.
What started as a conversation over mezcal and campfire fishing stories became the Humboldt Fishin' Lumberjacks—an annual fishing tradition that has kept generations of alumni connected through their shared love of fisheries, the outdoors, and one another.
For Craig Heberer ('89, Fisheries Biology), who, along with David Itano ('79, Fisheries Biology) and his brother Glenn Itano ('77, Fisheries Biology), helped launch the group in 2002 and later championed the scholarship, the group's idea has always been about more than fishing.
"As happens in life, friends drift apart," Heberer says. "We wanted a way to reconnect on the water and maintain those friendships."
Those friendships eventually grew into a desire to help future fisheries students. In 2015, the group established the Roelofs Humboldt Fisheries Endowed Award to honor Professor Emeritus Terry Roelofs, whose influence reached far beyond the classroom.
Roelofs taught Fisheries Biology at Humboldt for 35 years, but colleagues and alumni agree it wasn't just his scientific expertise that made him unforgettable.
"He was the heart of the program," says Fisheries Biology Department Chair Andrew Kinziger. "He cared about the students, cared about the program, cared about the fish, and cared about the watersheds of the North Coast."
That commitment to students inspired alumni to create a permanent legacy in his name.
Today, the endowment supports graduate students conducting fisheries research, conservation, and fieldwork. The scholarships help cover expenses that often fall outside traditional funding—from travel and field supplies to lab work and the final costs of completing a thesis. Recent recipients have used the support to study everything from sturgeon populations in Humboldt Bay to watershed restoration projects.
Madison Halloran (‘20, M.S. Natural Resources) was a recipient of the Roelofs Humboldt Fisheries Endowed Award and says the support was absolutely helpful during her time at Humboldt.
“Through a combination of scholarships like the Roelofs Humboldt Fisheries Endowed Award and working part-time, I was able to complete my degree in three years with basically no debt. I am excited to be moving back to my home state of Alaska and to be working to protect public lands at a federal level,” Halloran said in a testimonial.
For Andrew Hampton ('10, Fisheries Biology), the group's current charter master, the campaign represents something deeply personal.
Hampton first discovered Humboldt while flipping through a California fishing regulations book as a high school student in Southern California. A photo of fisheries researchers beside a giant lingcod convinced him he had found where he belonged.
"When I got there, it was so different from Southern California, and it was amazing," Hampton says. "We had really small class sizes. It was a very communal feel in the fisheries program. I still have a majority of those friends to this day."
Just two years after graduating, Hampton was invited on his first Humboldt Fishin' Lumberjacks trip. Surrounded by fisheries professionals decades into their careers and experts in their fields, he immediately knew he had found another community.
"I don't know if there was a better networking opportunity to stumble on 18 months into my career," he says. "This all stemmed from Humboldt."
He was also there when the group presented Roelofs with the first check to establish the scholarship fund along with longtime Humboldt Fishin’ Lumberjack members David Manning (‘01, M.S. Natural Resources), Greg Koonce (‘80, Fisheries), and retired Cal Poly Humboldt Fisheries Professor David Hankin.
More than a decade later, Hampton works alongside professionals and Humboldt alumni who once received that very scholarship.
"It's really cool to see it kind of come full circle," he says.
Hampton has expanded the group's annual trips and introduced new fundraising traditions—from raffles and auctions to friendly fishing competitions that all benefit the endowment. Just as important, he's working to welcome younger alumni into the fold.
"I'm hopefully building this bridge between us and younger folks," Hampton says. "I'd like to get more younger folks out there, more women on the trips, more diversity—more people experiencing it."
That next generation is exactly who the scholarship is designed to help.
Graduate students pursuing fisheries often receive basic funding, Kinziger explained, but unexpected research costs can quickly become barriers to finishing a degree. The Roelofs award helps close those gaps, providing what students need to complete fieldwork, purchase supplies, or simply make it across the finish line.
For the Humboldt Fishin' Lumberjacks, reaching $250,000 isn't simply about hitting a fundraising milestone. Because the principal of the endowment remains invested, every gift strengthens a permanent source of support that will benefit students for generations.
"It would be so amazing to see that number in the fund," Hampton says. "Nothing is getting cheaper. If we can help these students out and have it be more substantial, that's what we want to do."
Heberer hopes the challenge inspires even more alumni to join the effort.
"I think it's going to validate that others feel as passionately as we do about this cause," he said. "Paying it forward is not only beneficial to those receiving it, but it's good for your soul."
To support the 25-250 Challenge and help grow the endowment to $250,000, give online at the Roelofs Humboldt Fisheries Award or mail your gift to the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation at Gift Processing Center, SBS 285, Cal Poly Humboldt, 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, CA 95521.
Contact the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation at giving@humboldt.edu or (707) 826-5200 for details about establishing a scholarship at Cal Poly Humboldt.