This summer, Trout Unlimited employed two seasonal technicians to collect culvert and bridge inventory data in Dane County, Wisc. This inventory is part of our larger effort to better understand the extent of habitat fragmentation across the Driftless Area and ensure that we have sufficient information about outdated infrastructure to have ready solutions when it…
By Cameron Akers Where legal, winter can be a great time to get on the water, if you’re adequately prepared. Trout are hungry after spawning, but low, clear water can make them a challenge. First and foremost, if you see a redd, which is a trout’s nest, stay off it! Redds are areas, typically near riffles, that trout clear out to lay their eggs. These eggs can…
When Trout Unlimited crews and contractors dive into a construction project, they move fast. Often, it takes just a week or two of construction to complete the work. Getting to construction can be a longer haul. It was more than a decade ago when Chad Kotke, a stream restoration specialist on TU’s Great Lakes team, learned…
Seed Savers Exchange stewards America’s culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop legacy for present and future generations. They educate and connect people through collecting, regenerating, and sharing heirloom seeds, plants, and stories. Seed Savers Exchange has been saving and sharing seeds with gardeners since 1975. To commemorate the Seed Savers Exchange network—and all…
It’s Easter season, so I thought it would be appropriate to mention the “bunny hatch.” No, this isn’t about the eggs that the Easter Bunny leaves. This is about flies that use rabbit or squirrel Zonker strips. Now that I’ve done my best attempt at a pun, let’s talk about patterns. Leeches, Slump Busters, Lunch…
When I first joined Trout Unlimited and became engaged in environmentalism in the early 90s, the catch and release ethic was so much a part of our ethos that it took on a moral, almost religious quality. Today, I believe it is still an important management tool and absolutely critical in some situations (obviously where we…
Over 135 people attended the 2025 Driftless Symposium hosted by the Trout Unlimited Driftless Area Restoration Effort and the Wisconsin Wetlands Association on Tuesday February 25 in La Crosse, Wisc. Several common threads emerged among this year’s presentations, highlighting both threats to watershed health and the countermeasures being developed to face those threats. Threats to…
