Rattlesnake Creek dam coming down

By Rob Roberts This week, Missoula Mayor John Engen announced the removal of the Rattlesnake Creek Dam, a barrier on a much-loved trout stream that runs through the city. Beginning in the Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula, Rattlesnake Creek is one of the major sources of trout recruitment for the Clark Fork River and a…

Short casts: Protecting a river in Albania; Dams coming out in MT and NC

The Vjosa is the “last big, wild river in Europe,” outside of Russia, and recently, an Albanian court struck down a government effort to construct a hydropower dam on the river that would have flooded an inhabited valley, bisected important fish habitat and interrupted migratory spawning routes. The decision itself is remarkable, given that the…

Voices from the River: Heat Wave

Finding refuge from the heat, Stanislaus National Forest. By Sam Davidson Across the country, summer is prime time for trout fishing in the mountains . At higher elevations you typically get relief from sweltering lowland temperatures and find the kind of small water-wild fish opportunities that are, in some ways, the heart and soul of…

Comment now on Great Lakes Asian carp proposal

By Taylor Ridderbusch On Monday, Aug. 7, the US Army Corps of Engineers released the draft Brandon Road Feasibility Study, which assess options for preventing Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. The report was originally set to be released on Feb. 28, 2017, but was delayed by Trump Administration officials. Thanks to hard work…

Tough year for wildfires … and more to come

NASA satellite image showing smoke over of the Northwest as of Sept. 5. By Jack Williams This past winter was a wet one where I live in southwest Oregon. “Atmospheric rivers” brought record rain and snow storms to the region. We were not alone. Rains and snows drenched California and built big snowpacks in the…

Short casts: All about salmon…

Photo by Kyle Green, Idaho Statesman Welcome to the weekend edition of Short Casts, where today, it’s all about salmon and the many challenges facing their recovery in the Pacific Northwest. If you haven’t been following Rocky Barker’s summer-long series on salmon in the Idaho Statesman, you can still catch up with it and learn…