Chico State lands a whopper of a scholarship

The name Powell is one that has made Chico famous—in this case for the world-renowned fly rods manufactured by the Powell Rod Company. Now it will be immortalized in another way, via an annual research award funded by the Chico Area Flyfishers and named after Press Powell, the third-generation owner-operator of the company, who died in 2004.

The fellowships for Chico State University students will be up to $1,000 and for studying angling, fisheries or aquatic sciences on Big Chico Creek. The first recipient is Heather Bowan, a Chico State grad student in biological sciences, who will be studying juvenile chinook salmon under the direction of biology professor Michael Marchetti.

Powell (pictured here, left, working with his father Walton) was a Chico High and Chico State grad who traveled the world extensively fly fishing and promoting his world-famous rods, but he always loved coming home and fishing Big Chico Creek.