I was driving home the other morning from my son’s school, where a prospective head of school had fielded questions from an auditorium full of parents. One father had asked how the candidate would promote critical thinking in an environment so well known for its “indoctrination” of our nation’s youth. He seemed to accept this reality, yet expressed hope that debate would be encouraged on controversial topics. One of them, no surprise, was…
The day Casey turned 11, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was rescinding the 2015 Clean Water Rule and replacing it with one that might not apply the protections of the Clean Water Act to small and seasonal streams. On his birthday weekend, Casey asked that we take his brothers and some friends to West…
11/17/2008 Sportsmen ask Ritter to keep his promise, protect Colorados roadless backcountry Nov. 17, 2008Contact: David Petersen, Trout Unlimited, (970) 259-316 Joel Webster, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, (406) 360-3904 David Nickum, Colorado Trout Unlimited, (303) 345-3491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sportsmen ask Ritter to keep his promise, protect Colorados roadless backcountryGovernor should close loopholes allowing unnecessary…
Crawling around small creeks was an exercise in bad yoga, as I dragged myself to standing by grabbing branches and logs. When I finally had the hip examined, I was told what I already knew
For years and years, fly fishing for trout, for me, was a three-period game, not a four-quarter contest. It was hockey, not football (even though I’m not much of a hockey guy). Depending on the season, the time of day or the weather, I’d go to my fly boxes and choose a fly from one…
By Toner Mitchell The boy is back in school, the trees around his soccer field the same blazing gold as the cottonwoods alon g the Rio Grande and the flanks of the brown trout bucks I’m hoping to catch there. The aspens, now bare, were equally stunning a month ago when I hiked up in…
Photo courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife. By Garrett Hanks Extinction, as the saying goes, is forever. Reincarnation? Let’s just say the jury is still out. But the case for rebirth grew significantly stronger over the summer when Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the rediscovery of a native trout species long considered extinct. Thanks to a…
A Firehole River brown trout caught on a small soft-hackle. By Chris Hunt For years and years, fly fishing for trout, for me, was a three-period game, not a four-quarter contest. It was hockey, not football (even though I’m not much of a hockey guy). Depending on the season, the time of day or the…
Dec. 14, 2014 Contact: Chris Wood, (571) 274-0601 Steve Moyer, (703) 284-9406 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senate passes public lands measures as part of defense spending authorization Sportsmen-driven bills on the way to the White House WASHINGTON, D.C.The Senate today voted to approve a number of important public lands measures that were attached to the federal…
Conservation is a marathon, and if ever we needed proof, consider what is playing out in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dear Members of Congress: The undersigned hunting and fishing businesses are part of a thriving outdoor recreation industry that contributes $887 billion annually to the U.S. economy. We are writing in support of the Antiquities Act of 1906 and to request that it be used responsibly and in a way that supports the continuation of…
Daniel Ritz places a dry fly hoping to catch an Arctic grayling outside of Delta, Alaska. Gaby Mordini photo. Looking back at Daniel Ritz’s 20 species, 12-state Western Native Trout Challenge journey Editor’s note: Daniel Ritz is fishing across the Western United States this summer in an attempt to accomplish the Master Caster class of the Western Native…
Settlers quickly learned that the mountains of north central New Mexico were more difficult to penetrate than they looked. In these post-logging days, aspens and conifers coat them like suede, concealing cliffs and box canyons around every corner.
On April 26, Pr esident Trump
Dec. 4, 2014 Contact: Chris Wood, (571) 274-0601 Steve Moyer, (703) 284-9406 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Public lands measures attached to defense bill ensure habitat protection, sporting opportunity Locally driven efforts to protect Hermosa Creek, Columbine-Hondo, Pine Forest Range, Valles Caldera near finish line WASHINGTON, D.C.In a major bipartisan breakthrough, the House voted today to approve…
New Mexico’s leaders propose the state’s first-ever dedicated funding source for conservation
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
I’m trying to improve my health. Still. Again. Since my hip surgery, working out has required considerably more intentionality than I’ve been able to muster over the last decade or so. Pain speaks in different terms; the “your legs are sore because you’re making them stronger” motivation of my younger days has been replaced by…
Native Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Contrary to many conservation-minded anglers, I am one who believes that, along with cockroaches, coyotes and Siberian elm trees, brown trout will survive the apocalypse. They possess many of the traits we Americans admire most: they are intelligent, confident, adaptable, rugged, ambitious and breathtakingly handsome. And for the time being…
According to one stereotype, a rancher’s commitment to the lifestyle is mainly self-serving. The fences they build are as much to keep the public out as to detain resident wildlife (translation: elk) for the purpose of selling high-dollar hunting opportunities. When not dewatering streams, they restore and stock them for their own fishing pleasure and that of paying anglers in search of lunkers in a crowd-free…
