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Reknitting connections
Why do we need wild salmon and steelhead to thrive in the Snake River? Because they make connections. Wild salmon connect the Sawtooth Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Fish born in the rivers find their way to the sea, only to return at the end of their lives to spawn, die and decay—in the process…
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Trout Unlimited has crafted its own legacy of protection
Legacy. It’s a small word, but it emotes big energy. It means someone — or a group of someones — has left behind a lasting footprint that guides a discipline years, even decades, later. That’s what Trout Unlimited has done. It created a legacy and blazed a trail for others to follow when it comes…
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Keeping a secret, even when the secret’s out
Given its dearth of trout fisheries, the state of New Mexico can boast of very few secret hot spots. One of these, a favorite of mine forever, is prone to extreme high water temperatures during the summer but becomes decent at the end of irrigation season. Its browns and cuttbows come out to play when the leaves turn yellow, hitting…
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Science leads to credible conservation
TU staff across the country and our programs utilize science daily As Trout Unlimited has grown and changed, we have been thinking a lot about what science means to our organization. It is an ever-evolving conversation, partly because we have an ever-growing staff applying science in their work. Whether hired specifically for TU Science or field programs, across the organization we now have, unbelievably, more than 30 staff with significant science backgrounds. We’ve grown…
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TU lauds governor’s action setting conservation goals for California
Executive order aims to conserve 30 percent of California's lands and water by 2030 Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order responding to the effects of the warming climate on California’s natural heritage and its human communities. This order establishes as state policy the goal of conserving 30 percent of the state’s…
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Trout Egg Catastrophe: Do you think they are safer in the nest basket or in a redd?
On Tuesday morning we found that one next basket holding our trout eggs had come apart, and some trout eggs fell to the bottom of the tank. Although they seem to be fine, we are not sure if we should get them back into the nest basket or leave them. Trout eggs should not be…
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A day on Yellowstone’s storied Firehole River
The Firehole River above Firehole Falls was once a fishless ribbon of water sourced largely from hot springs, geysers and primordial seeps that pushed to the surface from the bowels of the planet.
Words by Chris Hunt, photos by Sam Davidson and Chris Hunt Two centuries ago, before European-Americans pushed west and started displacing indigenous people and indigenous wildlife, the rivers and streams of the Rockies teamed with trout, char, whitefish and grayling. Sam Davidson drifts a nymph through a fishy run on the upper Firehole River. But…