Corridors paved with water

A view of the mountains in New Mexico.

When teaching guide clients how to read a stream, I stressed three basic conditions that dictate where a trout will hold: access to food, access to safety and access to shelter from energy-sapping currents. A healthy and stable abundance of any or all of these conditions affords trout the option of staying put, perhaps enabling…

Help return water to the Eklutna River

Lower Eklutna Dam before removal

For nearly 90 years, the abandoned lower Eklutna Dam blocked salmon migration on the Eklutna River, contributing to the downfall of the salmon fishery. In September of 2018, we, along with many others, rejoiced the successful removal of the lower dam. This dam removal marked a first step in reconnecting 22 miles of salmon habitat and securing a free-flowing future for the Eklutna River.

TU plants trees to restore Michigan trout streams

Trout Unlimited has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to plant nearly 17,000 trees along coldwater streams in Michigan. The project, “Reducing Runoff in the Rogue River Watershed,” aims to address stormwater runoff that pollutes, erodes and warms the important West Michigan trout fishery by…

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…

Let the water do the work

Editor’s note: TU sent a handful of college students to the Pacific Northwest for this year’s TU Costa 5 Rivers Odyssey to study and fish in the Columbia River basin. On the road to Cougar Dam in Blue River, Ore., there is a dirt road in Willamette National Forest that leads you to a squiggly hand-drawn “Road…

What is a tree worth?

A little girl plants a tree along New York trout stream

By Tracy Brown At Trout Unlimited, planting a tree is about so many things.  Each spring and fall hundreds of TU volunteers plant trees along our favorite and most precious coldwater streams.   It is about the trees.  It is about the trout.  And it is about engaging with the local community.   This spring in New York alone over…