Of chukar and steelhead in the Snake River country

Hunters hike steep mountain slopes in search of chukar.

By Michael Gibson Nothing clears the mind like a good chukar hike. So, when the boss called for a work/chukar retreat in lower Snake River Country, I got excited. Late-season chukar in some of the best, and most rugged, chukar country the planet has to offer. About now, you are probably wondering, what’s this got to do with fish?    We’ll get…

Lessons from Warren and Scott

Warren Colyer and Scott Yates.

Trout Unlimited members, and many of our staff, love to fish. Perhaps none more than Scott Yates and Warren Colyer, both of whom co-lead our largest staff cohort, the Western Water and Habitat program. One of my favorite memories at TU was fishing on Wyoming’s Gros Ventre River at dusk. I was working the far…

Restoration drives advocacy in the Great Lakes, thankfully

Many conservation organizations are great at on-the-ground habitat restoration. Others excel at policy advocacy. Trout Unlimited is one of the few that shine at both. Our recipe for success is simple. We take the results and good will generated by the partnerships, relationships, and in many cases, friendships created through our restoration work, and use…

The decade of recovery

I often think of my life in decade intervals. The first ten years was the goofball phase; 11-20 years old involved anything with a ball; 21-30 was consumed by conservation—you get the idea. If we are lucky, we will get eight or nine of these opportunities to think about the new decade in front of…

Resilient waters, hope for the future

Matteo Moretti, Dan Eiden, Dyer Benjovsky and Morgan Bradley spent last summer like most college anglers do—fishing. However, this was no ordinary fishing trip. Over the summer, the four college students involved in TU Costa 5 Rivers Programs across the country explored the Columbia River drainage for five weeks. Their mission: to gain a greater understanding of what has happened to worlds former salmon stronghold.   In…