At home on the Tongass

A Dolly Varden from Alaska's Tongass National Forest.

My father once told me that “home is where you hang your hat.” I believed it, for a time, at least. I mean, as a young boy, who was I to argue with the wisdom of a grownup?  I’ve come to realize, though, that “home” is where everything seems to fall into place just right.…

National Park Service strives to create home for native cutthroat

What a thrilling prospect to catch native fish in a spectacular wilderness setting like in the picture above. That is what anglers’ dreams are made of. Years of hard work, planning and enduring partnerships strove towards this goal, but it’s still not quite a realized dream.   In 2005, Fred Bunch, chief of resource management at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, hatched a plan…

The Amazon forest isn’t the only one in peril

Editor’s note: This first appeared in the Los Angeles Times. By Mike Dombeck and Chris Wood In the faraway Amazon, politics and commercial exploitation are fueling fires that threaten the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Closer to home, in Alaska, the Tongass National Forest, which represents the largest intact temperate rainforest, is facing a serious threat…

Sportsmen rise to protect a gem in the Silver State

Trout Unlimited is devoting the month of September to celebrating public lands and the agencies dedicated to upholding America’s public land heritage. It’s no coincidence that National Hunting and Fishing Day and National Public Lands Day are both during September — the month is tailor-made for hunters and anglers to enjoy all that public lands…