Currently browsing… wildfire
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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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Wildfire and climate change in Utah sparks conversation
By Andy Rasmussen This summer Utah has suffered through a near record wildfire season. And residents along the Wasatch Front have been breathing smoke from California’s four million burned acres for the past two months. Catastrophic wildfire on this scale can destroy everything Trout Unlimited works so hard to accomplish. High-country rivers and headwaters can…
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Fixing what ails our western forests and communities
The haze over the early morning sun spurred a call from a friend. “Did you see the moon this morning? It’s wild!” It wasn’t the moon, but it was wild. Wildfires 3,000 miles away shrouded the sun in smoke. The light smoke in Washington, D.C., signaled devastation in the West. In California, for example, at least 26 people have perished from wildfire, and more than 7,000 structures were destroyed. In…
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The tonic of wildness
If you are active in the outdoors, it’s hard to beat living in the American West. That’s because all states west of the Great Plains have big swaths of public lands available for fishing and hunting. Except when big swaths of extraordinary wildfire shut them down. Right smack in the middle of Public Lands Month.…
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The importance of quality partnerships
Across the country, Trout Unlimited takes pride in its long-standing partnership with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). In many western states, enormous national forests containing many vital watersheds and trout streams are in desperate need of restoration to help prevent catastrophic wildfires and to protect those aquatic resources. The existing partnerships frame those challenges and opportunities. In Arizona,…
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Trout Unlimited survey: Anglers worried about effects of climate change on trout
Increasing number of members supports steps to address climate impacts Nearly nine in 10 Trout Unlimited members acknowledge that climate change is happening, and three in four are worried about global warming, according to the third in a series of surveys conducted by TU's Climate Change Workgroup. The latest survey shows a steady uptick, with…
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New study links human influence to recent megadrought
Apache and Gila trout face vast new challenges thanks to landscape alterations What do two 19-year intervals separated by four centuries have in common, and what do the similarities mean for native trout? A recent study reconstructed climate for Southwestern North America, including California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, and found the years 1575-1593 and…