An accidental trophy

Every now and then, I like to explore and find new water, even in parts of the world I’m very familiar with. Earlier this week, I spent some time in the fringe country of Yellowstone National Park, along the Idaho-Montana border. It’s ranch and cabin country here—there’s a lot of private land that borders public…

Friendly faces

Molly Simpkins and Dan Gigone of Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston, Mont. Marketing a new book is a crapshoot, especially when it’s hyper-local content and writers are asked to a fair bit of promotion themselves to ensure the book’s success. So, when I visited Livingston, Mont., earlier this week for a book-signing and presentation at…

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…

Leave it to the beavers

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. With misty morning breaths, the Odyssey crew circled up at the entrance of Black Pine Lake in the mountains of Winthrop, Wash. Already dressed in our…

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…

Eklutna River

The Eklutna River basin, tucked away in a valley not far from Anchorage, is rich with history. It’s the homeland of the Native Village of Eklutna, a source of drinking water for Southcentral Alaska, and a favorite recreation area for local residents. The river, once a thriving salmon fishery, has been greatly diminished by inadequate…

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…