By Jason Willis It seemed like a good time to shed light on some positives from the 2019 field season as we deal with the trying times currently enveloping our country. Here is a brief history, summary and outcome of the successful Monarch Pass Gravel Mine project. The U.S. Forest Service’s Salida Ranger District released…
Last week Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) turned up the volume on the issue of recovering Snake River salmon and steelhead. Not that the issue wasn’t front and center for him before. He has been battling to find ways to bring back Idaho’s dwindling salmon and steelhead populations for years. But now that a long-anticipated Draft Environmental Impact Statement has outlined a “business as usual” approach – indeed, the preferred alternative does…
Started in 2018, Trout Unlimited’s Western Maryland Initiative has been making progress improving habitat for native brook trout and other species — work that also benefits the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Stable sources of funding are critical for the initiative’s success, which is why the program’s coordinator, Seth Moessinger recently joined other conservation organization representatives in Washington, D.C., to meet…
From reconnection projects to in-stream habitat restoration, Trout Unlimited’s staff had a great year in New England in 2019, and are teed up for another big one in 2020. The efforts helped improve access to dozens of miles of previously out-of-reach streams for the region’s trout and other stream-dwellers, while also improving habitat in rivers…
I didn’t fish the opener of the winter steelhead season this year. Apparently, I have a thing about symmetry as I didn’t fish the close, either. A combination of real-life factors kept me off the water on these dates. I found solace in a petition to the Steelhead Whisperer for on-the-water reports. Thus it was…
In 2011, when I was still president of New Mexico’s Santa Fe (Truchas) Chapter, I was approached by Nick Streit, president of the Taos (Enchanted Circle) Chapter and owner of the Taos Fly Shop, about restoring a section of the Red River in Questa. The Red had been a workhorse for several decades, impacted by…
By Jeff Reardon Since 2014, TU’s Merrymeeting Bay Chapter has been focused on brook trout in coastal streams, at least some of which migrate downstream to saltwater for part of their life. They’ve been working with me to document brook trout populations in previously un-surveyed streams by angling and electrofishing surveys; monitor water temperatures with long-term data loggers; and,…
