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Chasing wild trout on Pennsylvania’s storied Spring Creek
The famous Spring Creek, Pennsylvania. Derek Eberly photo. Beware the first-cast fish ... it's almost never a good omen Many years ago, I was fishing on the Shenandoah with my friends Mike Dombeck and Bruce Babbitt, who had just stepped down as the director of the Bureau of Land Management and secretary of Interior, respectively.…
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The tipping point for salmon and steelhead
These remarks were delivered yesterday at the 2021 Environmental Conference at the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University. I want to begin my remarks today by talking about SARs—not the viral respiratory disease, but the percentage of juvenile salmon or smolts that survive the ocean, and their trek through the dams, and return to spawn. Experts call this the “smolt to adult…
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Palmer and Chuck and the importance of giving back
Back in 2019, I had a holiday party at my home where I introduced my friend, Jim Greene, the founder of Water Wisp Flies to Mason and Palmer of Flies by Two Brothers. Jim died from COVID-19 in the fall. The spring before he passed, we met to fish the Potomac shad run. As fate would…
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From Red Brook to Bristol Bay: scaling conservation
A few days ago, the people of Wareham, Mass., delivered a victory for conservation. They voted overwhelmingly against the wishes of their town administrator, and four of their five selectmen, and denied a 775-acre development in the headwaters of Red Brook. The development likely would have harmed one of the relatively few remaining populations of…
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Saving salters and saving New England
Brook trout in the Northeast have taken a beating over the decades. Scientists estimate that brook trout—indicators of clean water and healthy lands—have lost more than half of their historic habitat to development, dams and urbanization. The brook trout of southeastern Massachusetts are particularly vulnerable, and worthy of protection. There, a unique form of sea run brook trout, called “salters,” persists. The late…
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Common sense climate solutions in a divided government
Anglers are optimists. We often stay out late for repeated “last casts” in the hopes of landing a big fish. For those of us who care deeply about trout and salmon, we need that optimism, because for multiple reasons, many populations are in decline and it sometimes seems that we are fighting a rearguard action. Scientists tell us…
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Fishing with, and learning from, Sharon
There are so many unsung women responsible for making Trout Unlimited what it is today. In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate one woman who has made an outsized impact on coldwater conservation and me, personally, Sharon Lance.
"Whoo hoo!" The first time Sharon shouted as she brought a fish to hand on the Roaring Fork, I waded out of my hole, ran upstream, pulled out my camera and took a few pictures of her with the fish. The next time it happened, I walked to the bank and asked if she needed…
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