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…

30 Great Places: Tongass

Region: AlaskaActivities: FishingSpecies: Chum, Chinook, Sockeye, Pink and Coho salmon; Dolly Varden; Steelhead; Coastal cutthroat trout; Rainbow trout Where: The Tongass encompasses 17 million acres of public land, spread across much of Southeast Alaska. It’s a wonderland of hulking hemlock, spruce and cedar western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and yellow cedar trees, dotted…

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…

30 Great Places: Monongahela National Forest

Region: Central AppalachiaActivity: Fishing; HuntingSpecies: Ruffed Grouse; Brook, rainbow and brown trout Where: Monongahela National Forest (known locally as “the Mon”) stretches over 919,000 acres of rugged, mountainous terrain along the eastern edge of West Virginia. Though it rests within a day’s drive of half of America’s population, it boasts five federally-designated wilderness areas and…

Maryland Chapter restores part of the Jones Falls

Photos courtesty of Bluewater Baltimore By Don Haynes and Jim Gracie Over the past five years, Maryland Trout Unlimited has been the mover behind restoration of a long stretch of the Jones Falls in area bordering Baltimore County and Baltimore City. After a frustrating process, the project was finished in fall, 2015. A steam survey…