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A fishing cornucopia, thanks to a healthy forest
There’s a place that has 13,000 miles of salmon and steelhead producing streams that flow through 16.7 million acres of pristine forest. That place, of course, is in Alaska. The rivers and streams would take an angler a lifetime to explore and fish, and the forest surrounding these waterways is critical to their health. The Tongass National Forest is the world’s largest…
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A lot on the line for America’s most prolific Salmon Forest
For many Americans, Southeast Alaska’s Inside Passage and Tongass National Forest is a dream destination. Nearly 3 million visitors come every year to see the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest and its towering old-growth trees, dramatic mountains rising from the sea and tidewater glaciers. The Tongass has 13000 miles of salmon streams Right now, there’s an incredible opportunity to help maintain the prolific…
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A step in the right direction for salmon on the Snake River
After decades of litigation, delay and dwindling salmon runs, the federal court has once again stepped in. And this time, the urgency could not be clearer. Without urgent intervention, salmon will disappear from the landscape In his February 25, 2026 opinion, Judge Michael H. Simon did not mince words. For more than 30 years, he wrote, “the abundance of these salmonids has…
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A record-breaking run
In honor of National Salmon Day, we are sharing stories from a part of the country where the ecological, economic and cultural importance of salmon cannot be overstated. Alaska’s famed Kenai River is a phenomenal fishing destination in any year, but 2025 was one for the record books. Over 4.2 million sockeye salmon returned to…
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Yukon River salmon declines: What’s under the surface
And what anglers who value the abundance of these fisheries can do to help When I moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in 2008 to study for a degree in fish biology, I was mesmerized by the salmon that ascended thousands of miles up the Yukon River and its tributaries to spawn and die, begetting the next…
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Celebrating a banner year for Mendocino coho salmon
Last year, CCC coho salmon returns surged to their highest numbers since extensive monitoring began!
Each year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) carefully counts juvenile and adult coho salmon in North Coast rivers and streams. This work is especially important for tracking the status of endangered populations of Central California Coast (CCC) coho. Last winter, CDFW staff realized they were seeing exceptional numbers of adult salmon returning…
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Faces of Restoration: Paul Light works and plays in the Chugach
On a sunny late July afternoon in 2023, I stood on the bank of Resurrection Creek and watched dozens of pink salmon rest in a pool. The mountains of Southcentral Alaska’s Chugach National Forest surrounded me. A young brown bear attempted to catch some lunch in another pool just upstream. The air was thick with…
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