Why support hatchery steelhead in the upper Willamette?

By Dean Finnerty Editor’s note: Steelhead management requires balancing of competing consumer demands, statutory requirements, science and politics. Hatchery steelhead weaken wild stocks, but help keep our fishing heritage alive. Where habitat conditions are favorable, we should manage for wild steelhead; where they aren’t, as in the upper Willamette between Dexter Dam and the Calapooia…

Protecting a unique native in Colorado

A project to protect a genetically unique population of Colorado River cutthroat trout in Colorado is nearing completion. Abrams Creek, near the town of Gypsum, is the only native trout population in the Eagle River watershed. The cutthroat in Abrams Creek have been given a “highest priority” for conservation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The…

Helping the Wood River to breathe

The room is full for the banquet. I first came across the Narragansett chapter of Trout Unlimited seven or eight years ago, when a few frustrated members contacted me and complained that the chapter was assisting the state in stocking over native fish in violation of TU policy. After a time, the chapter stopped, but…

Native trout matter in New Mexico

By Toner Mitchell For the past 10 springs, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has hosted a release of Rio Grande cutthroat trout fingerlings at the – as of 2014 – Rio Grande del Norte National Monument just west of the village of Questa. Initially the event drew decent crowds, 10 to 20…

Protecting Bristol Bay… This One is Personal

By Chris Wood Last month’s release of the draft “environmental impact statement” to permit industrial-scale mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska, made me recall the first time I set eyes on that remarkable landscape nearly 12 years ago. Trout Unlimited was looking to expand our presence in Alaska, so I consulted Tim Bristol, a long-time Alaska…