Redd surveys shaping priorities in Michigan’s Pere Marquette

By Jake Lemon  Michigan’s Pere Marquette River offers anglers unique year-round opportunities to fish for a diverse array of salmonid species, including brook trout, brown trout, steelhead, and coho and chinook salmon.   Despite healthy overall conditions on the river — a federally designated Wild and Scenic River and a state-designated Natural River and Blue Ribbon Trout Stream — there are opportunities to improve its ecological condition through restoration…

TU launches major restoration effort on Battenkill

By Jacob Fetterman Stretching from Manchester, Vt., to the Hudson River in New York state, the Battenkill River holds a firm place in fly fishing history.  Beyond the river’s fame and beauty, it has become evident that, without proper stewardship, the wild trout fishery supported by the Battenkill could slip away due to the degradation of quality habitat through factors such as deforestation, sedimentation, channel modification,…

Restoration drives advocacy in the Great Lakes, thankfully

Many conservation organizations are great at on-the-ground habitat restoration. Others excel at policy advocacy. Trout Unlimited is one of the few that shine at both. Our recipe for success is simple. We take the results and good will generated by the partnerships, relationships, and in many cases, friendships created through our restoration work, and use…

TU helping to deploy Mayfly Sensor Stations

By Jake Lemon  Scientists and anglers throughout the country rely on USGS gaging stations for real-time streamflow and water quality data. Often these stations are located near the mouth of larger rivers forcing data users to extrapolate to understand what is happing in smaller coldwater trout streams.  Now, rapidly emerging technologies in open-source electronics are allowing volunteer groups to collect valuable real-time…

TU lauds proposal to bolster conservation funding in New York

Trout Unlimited is applauding an ambitious New York stream restoration initiative included in a $3 billion proposal announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week.  The “Restore Mother Nature Bond Act” was highlighted in Cuomo’s 2020 State of the State address. It would fund projects that improve critical fish and wildlife habitat and reduce flood risks across New York by reconnecting streams, removing obsolete dams, retrofitting road-stream crossings, restoring wetlands and natural floodplains, conserving forests and open space, reducing stormwater runoff, and upgrading fish…

Federal funding package will fund conservation priorities

By Rob Catalanotto, Laura Ziemer and Steve Moyer   After weeks of negotiations, the US Senate and House recently approved a massive appropriations bill to fund the government through fiscal year 2020. The deal averted a government shutdown, which was set to take effect on December 20 had Congress had not taken decisive action.    TU field staff…