2024 Recap (so far) – Photo Essay

(Photos by Swiftwater Films) Iron Gate was over 500 feet wide and stood as tall as a seventeen-story building. The farthest downstream of four Klamath barriers dismantled over the past year in the largest dam removal project in history, it impounded a reservoir covering over 1,000 acres and more than 200 feet deep. From this point in the watershed, the dam blocked anadromous fish from reaching a staggering 420 miles of spawning and rearing habitat. Now that dam, along with three others, are gone.
(Photo by Swiftwater Films) Salmon make their historic return to the tributaries of the Klamath River after the four dams were removed over the last year. This Chinook was found in Jenny Creek.
Erin Rodgers, Western New England project manager for Trout Unlimited, uses a technique of adding large wood structure to a stream with a team of people in the northeast.
The Colorado Connectivity Channel is the linchpin connecting multiple restoration efforts, including removal of fish barriers and channel improvements upstream of the reservoir, over $6 million worth of channel improvement and flood reconnection projects downstream of the reservoir and a series of projects designed to restore both irrigation and aquatic habitat in the Kremmling area. The project is expected to benefit over 30 miles of Colorado River.
Last light on the Lower Salmon River. Nearby smoke from fires create the telltale orange glow with the evening’s setting sun.
The Colorado Trout Unlimited River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp was established in 2006 when 20 campers gathered in Parshall, Colorado to complete a week-long program of STEM-based conservation education and instruction in the art of fly fishing. The camp was the vision of CTU Board of Directors member, Sharon Lance, who envisioned a program designed such that participants can imagine multiple education and career paths that align with their personal passion for the outdoors.
Blue lines are the coldest and cleanest waters this country has to offer. They are critical to the native and wild trout and salmon that TU works to care for and recover, to the river systems they feed and to the downstream communities that depend on them for healthy drinking water.  
Dominic Lucero, executive director and founder of Colorado Treks, explores one of Colorados blue lines in the fall. Through Colorado Treks, Dominic’s goal is to provide an opportunity for youth and families to experience their state’s beauty and cultivate the confidence to succeed in school, life and beyond.
Nothing beats a Colorado high country native cutthroat trout.
For the California Golden Trout, whose native range sits above 7,500 feet in elevation and encompasses less than 600 square miles, even minor levels of meadow degradation have big impacts on resident populations. A TU-led project aims to reverse the loss of meadow habitat, reconnect floodplains and give this iconic, listed species more room to roam.
Beech Creek, located in Clinton Country, Pennsylvania, has nearly everything you might hope to find in a trout stream: long riffles, deep pools, cold water and plenty of in-stream cover. 
 
The only thing Beech Creek lacks as a fishery is, well… fish.
Late evening small streams in the fall inspire Emma Brown to take time off as a full-time guide to fish with friends in Colorado’s high country.
Beaver dam analogs are a key component to many TU projects across the country. This one is no different in the high country of California.
Nothing tells the story of a great day of work like a little mud covering your entire body.
(Photos by Mary Kate Ahles/MK Studios) Volunteers plant riparian vegetation at the lower dam removal project on the East Branch Ontonagon River in the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This Priority Water planting took place in October 2024 on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and will restore this Wild and Scenic stretch of river after a dam removal reconnected 64 miles of high-quality habitat.
(Photo by NYSSA CALKIN Diamond Cut Images) Kyle Glenn, New York stream technician for Trout Unlimited, spends a summer season improving the fisheries that many enjoy in upstate New York.