Warriors for wild places

Photo by Kirk Deeter at Kendjam Lodge, Brazil. From the Amazon Jungle to Bristol Bay in Alaska, native communities share a common belief that translates into any language: The world’s most pristine, irreplaceable natural resources should be protected for future generations against outsiders who threaten to destroy them in the name of profit. You have…

30 Great Places: Seedskadee

Region: Rocky MountainsActivities: Hunting and FishingSpecies: Brown, rainbow and cutthroat trout; ducks; deer; pronghorn Where: The Seedskadee rests near the southwest corner of Wyoming, in the w estern shadow of the Wind River Range, and northwest of the town of Rock Springs. Most of the refuge protects riparian, wetland and upland shrub habitat adjoining 36…

Voices from the River: A meal from the wild

Chicken of the woods mushrooms. Photo by the author. By Chris Hunt A little over a year ago, I stood up to my thighs amid a thick run of pink salmon in a remote, rainforest stream on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, trying like hell to tempt one of the few early cohos that were…

Voices from the River: The only thing to do today

by Jenny Weis The only thing that made sense to do on our second marriage anniversary was to go fishing. A voracious lifelong angler, my husband, Sam, introduced me to fly fishing. He supplied me with the rod, reel, and meticulously organized bead box I used today. The net I used to land the rainbows,…

Native Odyssey: The Deschutes National Forest is a fishy wonderland

Editor’s note: The TU Costa Five Rivers Program sent a handful of young anglers on fishing and discovery journey all across America in search of native trout. This installment focuses on Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest. Location: Deschutes National Forest The Deschutes National Forest stretches out across 1.6 million acres of Central Oregon. It provides a…

The mystery of Alaska’s missing kings

Alaskans are painfully aware of the recent downturn in king salmon populations on many of our streams. There have, fortunately, been a few glimmers of hope when it comes to this iconic symbol of Alaska. For instance, there was a better than expected return to the Yukon River, which saw the largest number of chinook…

TU bids Chief Tidwell a fond farewell

Tom Tidwell is retiring as Chief of the US Forest Service. It is difficult to overstate the importance of the 191 million acres that the Forest Service manages to trout and salmon. Half of the blue-ribbon trout streams in the country flow across national forests. A vast majority of western native trout and salmon depend…