Rapid diversification in Salmon and Steelhead Populations Following Dam Removal

John McMillan returns with a guest column about the ongoing recovery of the Elwha River
John McMillan returns with a guest column about the ongoing recovery of the Elwha River
The Klamath dam removal process is well underway and has received a lot of attention – both positive and negative. In some cases, outright misinformation has been spread by opponents of dam removal.
Contacts: OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON – Today, Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5187 and House Bill 1125, the 2023-2025 state transportation and operating budgets. These bills will fund studies required in the process to remove the lower four Snake River dams. The studies will plan to transition the energy, transportation, and irrigation services currently provided by…
Editor’s note: The TU Costa 5 Rivers Program sent a handful of college students to the Columbia River basin to study the challenges facing the drainage’s fisheries. At 6 a.m. we started driving from La Grande, Oregon to the Grande Ronde River headwaters – Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Within 20 minutes, the car’s temperature read 40…
Local sporting businesses are helping to make the case for removing the four Lower Snake River dams Earlier this summer, TU released a report entitled, “Why We Need a Free Flowing Lower Snake River,” that lays out the scientific basis for the federal government’s conclusion that the best way to restore salmon and steelhead in…
Contact: Steven Brutger, Trout Unlimited, (307) 438-2596 Cathy Purves, Trout Unlimited, (307) 349-2559 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hoback drilling plan to get additional study Forest Service gives additional review after extensive comments from public Lander, Wyo. After a massive outpouring of comments, a plan put forth by the Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Company will get…
8/03/2007 Senator Crapo to tour Little Lost River success story FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information contact: Nancy Bradley, (208) 552-0891 SENATOR CRAPO TO TOUR LITTLE LOST RIVER SUCCESS STORY IDAHO FALLSU.S. Sen. Mike Crapo will tour two projects that highlight the collaborative effort among conservation groups, state and federal agencies and landowners to protect…
The North Fork of the Smith River. Dean Finnerty knows good steelhead water when he sees it. Finnerty, a lifelong resident of Oregon and longtime fishing guide, says the headwaters of the fabled Smith River are “some of the best habitat for wild steelhead, anywhere.” Indeed, the remarkably lucid green waters of the Kalmiopsis region…
Earlier today, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley’s bill to protect portions of public lands in the Molalla and Rogue River watersheds, as well as over 100,000 acres of the Kalmiopsis region in Southwest Oregon from mining was favorably reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and is now ready for…
I suppose there are people – perhaps many people – who do not immediately think of fly-fishing when the hear the word “California”. There was a time when I might not have, either. But I’m over that now, mostly because of great people like my friend Matt Heron.
Just like that it was time to say goodbye to our friends. We had finished Montana and completed 991 miles of the trail.
Across the country, regional collaborations called “fish habitat partnerships” bring sometimes non-traditional partners together like sport and commercial fishing or business and government stakeholders to ensure vibrant fish habitat and communities. The idea sounds simple enough, but don’t underestimate their big effect. Together, the players fund and conduct science, restoration, protection, and education projects that are changing communities for the better. In Alaska, Trout Unlimited…
Editors note: Every Friday, our science junkies over at Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead Initiative give us an inside look at what’s happening in the world of steelhead science. During the Holidays, we’re running the best of those Science Friday piec es on the TU blog. If you’ve ever spent any time thinking about the sheer…
Remote sensing is being used to measure improvement in Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat in Nevada. By Dan Dauwalter, Kurt Fesenmyer and Helen Neville Have you ever assisted your local DNR biologist with a painstaking habitat survey on your favorite trout stream where you tediously measured the stream channel, substrates, wood, undercut banks, and so on?…
7/18/2000 Administration Appears Poised to Issue Death Sentence to Wild Snake River Salmon Administration Appears Poised to Issue Death Sentence to Wild Snake River Salmon Contact: 7/18/2000 — — Contact: Jeff Curtis, Western Conservation Director, Trout Unlimited: (503) 827-5700; (503) 351-2492 (cell) Alan Moore, Western Communications Coordinator Trout Unlimited: (503) 827-5700; (503) 319-2210 (cell) Maggie…
Last week TU held a webinar on our recently published report, “Why we need a free-flowing lower Snake River,” which lays out the overwhelming evidence of why we need to remove the four lower Snake River dams to rebuild abundant, healthy wild salmon and steelhead populations and provide consistent fishing opportunity. In response, we heard from some folks that they are concerned…
The inaugural Flylords/Trout Unlimited Trout Week is wrapping up, but we can all keep it going in the weeks and months to come. From committing ourselves to increasing our personal conservation efforts on local waters, to connecting more with TU opportunities and initiatives online and across the country, every week can be Trout Week. Here’s…
Hatchery fish can quickly become domesticated to the hatchery environment, and often originate from streams or rivers geographically distant from where they are planted. This means that their genetic makeup can be quite different from native populations, posing a significant threat when they interbreed with native trout and salmon. These genetic differences can, however, also…
“Our lives are full of problems that have no clear answers. Often, the simple solution is hard to find, and the black and white is hidden somewhere in all the gray areas. This isn’t one of those situations. If we want to have wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, the Snake River is the place. These fish are now at only 1 to 2 percent of their historic populations. Why? Dams. Vedavoo is proud to stand with our partners at Trout Unlimited in support of the proposal to Remove the Lower Four.”
TU’s Government Affairs staff with the 2018 TU-Costa Five Rivers Odyssey team and program coordinator Andrew Loffredo, working the Halls of Congress recently. The last couple of weeks have been wild and wooly around Washington, D.C., as major packages of legislation worked their way through congressional conference committees prior to the government’s fiscal year coming…