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Drought, wildfires and our work
These are the dog days of summer.
These are the dog days of summer. A stretch of continued hot weather and low precipitation left communities on the Front Range of Colorado, where I’m writing from, threatened by several wildfires that popped up at the end of July. These fires are a vivid reminder of what others across the 11-state western region are…
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Fish and fire in the West
In June 2013, researcher and fisheries biologist Ashley Rust and her family were at their family cabin near Creede, Colo., when an afternoon rainstorm—a frequent occurrence in the San Juans at that time of year—worked through the area. The system brought little in the way of rain but contained lightning all the same, andover the…
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Behind the Cover: The fire issue of TROUT Magazine
Wildfire and its impact on our rivers and the places we all call our home waters is a heavy topic. One that doesn’t often need any further description. Like most issues of TROUT Magazine, this one started with a subtle theme. Fire and what that might mean for us as anglers and conservationists. It’s pretty…
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TU staffers turn 2020’s Oregon wildfires into opportunity to improve resiliency
People all around Oregon woke on Sept. 8, 2020, to high winds, extensive power outages and lots of speculation by foresters that it could be the worst day of fires in Oregon’s history. That’s exactly what it turned out to be for Chrysten Lambert, TU’s Oregon director for Western Conservation, and many others when three wildfires whipped through the area in a split second…
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Keeping an eye out for wildfires
Sunset over the Caribou National Forest, Idaho. Chris Hunt photo. I've spent the last couple of days working from one of my favorite places in the world -- an out-of-the-way campsite in the middle of the Caribou National Forest. Some years back, while fishing the little trout stream near camp, my phone rang in my…
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Unattended campfires a symptom of higher public-lands use during the pandemic?
With more and more people escaping outside for safe recreation, it’s vital that people understand the impacts they’re having on public lands, not the least of which is the potential for wildfires caused by unattended campfires and careless behavior in the woods. Case in point: the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming reported a 300…
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Long live the Gila trout
Seven of us pierced the Gila wildlands that day, and, despite the best efforts of a clueless pot-shotter, all seven of us made it out without holes in our hides. We never figured out who was shooting or what they were shooting at
Huddled as close to the fallen tree as we could get, Kirk and I looked at each other, our eyes wide with surprise and a touch of fear. The bullet had missed us by a wide margin, but the fact that we could hear it as it zinged overhead after the ricochet was unnerving. "Wait…
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