The ecology of multiple use

Effective partnerships win The 2014 listing of the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse as a federally endangered species caused the closure of an expansive meadow along the Rio Cebolla to all uses – camping, fishing and especially grazing. As a gathering pasture in the spring and fall, the meadow was critical to the operations of…

Thinking big, starting small

Herman Garcia (L) of CHEER and Matt Clifford, California Water Attorney for Trout Unlimited, at an off-stream storage project site along Little Arthur Creek. In 2006, the Pajaro River on California’s central coast came out of obscurity to make national headline—for the wrong reason: it was named the most endangered river in America. Historically, the…

The cannabis conundrum

This graphic of a tributary to the Eel River shows the intense marijuana cultivation typical of many drainages in California’s Emerald Triangle. The large red circles indicate outdoor grows of more than 100 plants and the pot farms in this drainage alone require more than 15 million gallons of water per growing season. By Matt…

Ranches

According to one stereotype, a rancher’s commitment to the lifestyle is mainly self-serving. The fences they build are as much to keep the public out as to detain resident wildlife (translation: elk) for the purpose of selling high-dollar hunting opportunities. When not dewatering streams, they restore and stock them for their own fishing pleasure and that of paying anglers in search of lunkers in a crowd-free…

‘A Nation’s River’ highlights TU’s efforts in the Potomac headwaters

Dustin Wichterman lives trout.  By day he manages Trout Unlimited’s restoration and protection work in the Potomac headwaters.  Most of the rest of the time he’s either fishing for trout or dreaming about fishing for trout.  And a big part of that dream is that one day the Potomac headwaters will again regularly churn out native brook trout pushing…

Methow River: Chewuch Instream Flow Project

The goal of Trout Unlimited’s Chewuch River Permanent Instream Flow Project is to reduce the effects of irrigation withdrawals on late summer through winter low-flows in the lower eight miles of the Chewuch River.

Wenatchee Instream Flow Enhancement Project

Trout Unlimited’s Pioneer Pump Exchange Project improves instream flow in the lower Wenatchee River to improve passage and decrease critical temperature barriers at the confluence with the Columbia and Wenatchee Rivers.