Working for Wild Trout

The elements that go into ensuring that the Henry's Fork remains a prime fishery.

Protect Public Lands

Take Action on the Tongass

As many of you know, the Tongass National Forest is 'America's Salmon Forest' and is one of the few places in the world where wild salmon, steelhead and trout still thrive.Through next Monday, Feb. 22, we have a chance to help keep it that way.

Right now, anglers across the country have an opportunity to protect key areas of the Tongass for salmon and steelhead, many of which are still open to development activities that can harm important habitat. Click here to act now!

In short, the Forest Service has proposed changes to its Tongass Land Management Plan, and their proposal puts fish and wildlife on a more even footing with resource extraction for the first time. This is a huge step in the right direction.

More than 70 unique watersheds within the Tongass, locally known as the Tongass 77, have been identified as the most important to salmon, steelhead and trout by a group of scientists and Southeast Alaskan stakeholders. Now is the time to tell the Forest Service to conserve these critical areas for salmon, steelhead and trout.

Please take a moment to tell the Forest Service that their final plan should protect the high-value streams for salmon and steelhead. The comment period ends Feb. 22, so don't delay!

Thank you for helping to keep America's Salmon Forest thriving.


 

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/fCSbvOYE3qQGNwH2h_OUKw 

Eternally Wild

Eternally wild--our hope, our prayer, our task.

Eternally Wild from California Trout on Vimeo.

Eternally Wild is a short film about California’s iconic Smith River, its steelhead, its history and its current plight.

Here there are no dams, no wretched clear-cut blocks, no mitigating hatcheries. Instead... ancient forest, iconic redwoods and a powerful symbol of freedom -- THE SMITH.

But 4,000 acres of the pristine North Fork are threatened by a giant toxic nickel mine operation.

The Red Flat Nickel Corporation has applied to sink 59 drill holes that would pave the way for one of the largest nickel mines in the Western United States. The film, by Keith Brauneis Productions and California Trout, examines current conditions and discusses future threats and asks just how much protection is enough?

Is there such a thing as wilderness anymore?

Author Jason Mark looks for wilderness in the age of man and finds it in unexpected places.

By: Jaymi Heimbuch

December 27, 2015, 10:03 a.m.

Recently I sat down with a book that within a chapter or two had me reanalyzing that every opinion I hold about what nature is, what wilderness is and what we can, can't, should and shouldn't do to our planet. This book is "Satellites in the High Country: Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man" by Jason Mark.

To most conservationists, there's nothing more sacred than wilderness and no act more honorable than to preserve and protect it. But what exactly is wilderness? Is there a way to use it that is of benefit to both humans and the environment? Mark goes looking for answers, searching out any remnants of untouched wilderness, exploring the various sides of controversial projects that help or hinder the health of an ecosystem, unraveling this oddly complicated relationship we have with trying to micromanage wilderness in an effort to perpetuate it and celebrating wilderness's wily ability to escape even our most valiant efforts to contain it.

Read more.

Ted Williams Interview

An interview with legendary environmental writer Ted Williams from Monte Burke, Contributing Editor at Forbes Magazine.

"Most of us who pay even the slightest bit of attention to outdoor and environmental writing already know this for a fact: Ted Williams is a national treasure. I can think no one who so consistently—and effectively—bangs the drum on behalf of the environment, conservation, our game, fish and wild, open spaces. Williams calls out the miscreants and criminals who trash our environment, and praises the heroes who fight for it. His prose is candid, clear-eyed and concise. Williams is also opinionated but always supported by well-researched facts. He has become, in many ways, the modern-age equivalent of Rachel Carson for sportsmen.

"Williams has written four books. Fly Rod & Reel magazine has admirably given him ample column space for many years. He also writes a regular column for The Nature Conservancy, and is a frequent contributor toAudubon, Mother Jones and High Country News.

"I recently caught up with Ted to talk about the growing divide between sportsmen and environmentalists, the NRA, Obama’s record on the environment, feral cats and his favorite fish."

Read more HERE.

RIVER POLLUTION

It makes me sick to see this, but I think more and more people need to see it. When will an outrage like this finally tip the balance and lead to sane safeguards and controls?

The Drake Weighs In on Washington State Steelhead Woes

Good piece from The Drake, and an opportunity to take action on critical rule changes being proposed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Luke Kelly Photo

WHY THE STAUS QUO IN WASHINGTON STATE IS FAILING STEELHEADERS
WASHINGTON, OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK—Most anglers will change anything and everything to feel the tug of a wild steelhead. After swinging through a few juicy runs without a grab, we'll vary our presentations. A few more unproductive runs will result in changed tips, new flies, or yes... even a bobber and bead. By the end of an unfruitful day, we might even wade waist-deep and bare-assed if we thought it would guarantee a hookup.

Yet when it comes to altering angling practices to conserve and rebuild wild steelhead populations, our community of anglers can be more reticent to discuss change. 

Read more.

Steelhead Plate?

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing a Steelhead license plate to raise $200K a year to support conservation efforts to benefit these fish. State law requires 3,500 signatures on an "intent to purchase" petition before such plates can be issued.

Read more, and reserve your copy.

Good News On the Salmon Front

Here is something to celebrate in the long battle to restore salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. It's just one thing--the battle is far from over.

There are some saying that this shows that the "hippies" worrying about "so-called climate change" have been wrong all along. I wish some people would climb out of their little ideological boxes and actually think. Or at least read the whole article.

What this shows is that in the face of unprecedented challenges to the salmon runs--including the effects of climate change--concentrated efforts to, according to the Bonneville Power Administration statement, "balance the needs of salmon with power production, flood control and other river uses" can be successful.

A small victory to build on for people committed to the collaborative spirit that made it possible.

Salmon return to Hanford Reach in record numbers

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Published: Nov 11, 2015 at 12:30 PM PST

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The number of fall chinook salmon returning to the Hanford Reach section of the Columbia River this year is the most since dams were constructed in the 1930s, the Bonneville Power Administration said this week.

Scientists estimate 200,000 chinook are spawning in the Hanford Reach, which is the last free-flowing section of the Columbia in the United States. The Hanford Reach flows past the giant Hanford Nuclear Reservation, where the government for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Approximately 50,000 of the fall chinook are spawning in a one-mile section of the Hanford Reach called Vernita Bar, the BPA said. Historically only a small number of salmon spawned at Vernita Bar because that stretch of the river was too shallow, the BPA said. But special efforts have been made to keep salmon spawning grounds submerged there, the BPA said.

Read More.

Happy Earth Day (But Don't Get Too Happy Yet)

Watch, listen, and ponder. About this video:

"At the end of the 2014 fishing season, five respected fly fishermen – Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, Steve Hemkens of Orvis, Tim Romano of Angling Trade and Todd Tanner of Conservation Hawks – came together to fish for wild trout and share their thoughts on angling and climate change.

COLD WATERS was shot in Montana in October, 2014. It celebrates the joy and passion of fly fishing, and educates anglers on the threat we face from global warming. The film, which is a collaboration between Conservation Hawks and the cinematic team at Conservation Media, focuses on our responsibility to protect cold, clean waters and healthy landscapes, and to stand up for future generations of Americans.

Because climate change is the single largest threat to our future, the COLD WATERS film was made with unprecedented support from the fly fishing industry. We’d like to thank the following iconic brands, businesses and organizations: Patagonia, Orvis, Scientific Anglers, Costa, Winston, Sage, RIO, Redington, Abel, AFFTA, National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, TroutHunter, Linehan Outfitting Co., Sweetwater Travel Co., World Cast Anglers, Emerald Water Anglers, Hatch Magazine, The Lodge at Palisades Creek, Angling Trade Magazine, Blue Ribbon Flies"

COLD WATERS from Conservation Hawks on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, John Muir

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” 

-- John Muir

"As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can".” 

-- John Muir

We who love the outdoors today owe a great debt of gratitude to John Muir. His work helped ensure that we would have an outdoors to love, and stands as an enduring example to all who want our children and grandchildren to have the same privilege.

This brief biography is from The Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of naturalist John Muir (books by this author), born in Dunbar, Scotland (1838). He grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. His father was a strict Christian, and by age 11, Muir could recite three-quarters of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament by heart. One evening, the boy was up late reading, and his father forbade him from staying up late, but decided that as a compromise, he could get up as early as he wanted in the morning. Muir began getting up at 1 a.m. and going to the cellar to work on inventions by the light of a tallow candle. He invented a self-setting sawmill, thermometers, barometers, complex door-locks, an automatic horse-feeding machine, clocks, a firelighter, and many more tools. For motivation in the dark winter mornings, he invented an elaborate clock that also told the day of the week and the month, and was connected to a bed that set him on his feet at an appointed hour.

He exhibited some of his inventions at the state fair, and made enough money to enroll at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One day, he was standing underneath a black locust tree when a fellow student asked Muir if he knew what family the locust tree was in. Muir said that he didn't know anything about plants, so the student asked him, well, what does the flower look like? Muir said it looked like a pea flower. When the student explained that they were in the same family, Muir was amazed, even more so after the other student explained the principles of taxonomy. He wrote: "This fine lesson charmed me and sent me flying to the woods and meadows in wild enthusiasm. [.] I wandered away at every opportunity, making long excursions round the lakes, gathering specimens and keeping them fresh in a bucket in my room to study at night after my regular class tasks were learned; for my eyes never closed on the plant glory I had seen." Despite his new fascination with plants, he was a mechanical genius, and he remained equally interested in inventions. He improved his clock-bed, which now set him on his feet and simultaneously lighted a lamp. The bed was supplemented by a clockwork desk that kicked into gear as soon as he woke up; it took each book he needed to study in order, pushed it to the top of the desk, and opened it for the correct number of minutes. He invented a wide variety of complex scientific instruments. Professors were so amazed that they regularly brought visitors to Muir's dormitory room on the weekends to show off his inventions. Muir chose not to follow a recommended course of study. Instead, he dabbled in whatever interested him, from botany to Latin, and left Madison without a degree. Before his death, he wrote about his college years: "I wandered away on a glorious botanical and geological excursion, which has lasted nearly 50 years and is not yet completed, always happy and free, poor and rich, without thought of a diploma or of making a name."

Muir found work as a sawyer in a wagon wheel factory. He was quickly promoted, and expected to have a great career. But after a year, he was repairing a belt for a circular saw when a file slipped and struck his eye, and he was temporarily blinded. He spent six weeks in a dark room, not knowing if he would ever see again. When his sight did return, he realized how important the beautiful world was to him. He wrote: "It was from this time that my long continuous wanderings may be said to have fairly commenced. I bade adieu to all my mechanical inventions, determined to devote the rest of my life to the study of the inventions of God." He set out on a 1,000-mile walk from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, then walked from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada.

Muir went on to become one of the most important naturalists and conservationists in American history. He founded the Sierra Club and helped fight to protect wilderness areas, especially the area around Yosemite Valley in the Sierra Nevada mountains. His books include Picturesque California(1888), My First Summer in the Sierra (1911), and The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913).

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” 

-- John Muir, The Mountains of California

America's Most Endangered Rivers 2015

American Rivers has just released their report on the ten rivers facing the most urgent threats. 

Click HERE to visit their website to learn more about each river, what is being done to save them, and how all of us can be a part of the solution.

An Open Letter To America's Anglers

A rallying cry from Hatch Magazine. Read it HERE.

From Salmon Beyond Boundaries

Xboundary from Salmon Beyond Borders on Vimeo.

Be Steelheaded

Trout Unlimited is launching a new initiative to save wild Steelhead.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Today, 70 percent of the major steelhead populations in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California require federal protection and opportunities to catch wild steelhead have diminished dramatically in many rivers. At the same time, we are seeing wild steelhead make a comeback, in rivers like the Elwha and Eel. We believe that the future of wild steelhead — and angling opportunity for these incredible fish — cries out for coordinated action across their native range.

TROUT UNLIMITED’S CONSERVATION WORK.

Above all, it is a home to anyone who believes in the quest to protect these fish.

Click on the link to go to Wild Steelheaders United, their support site and informational hub. You can also find a permanent link in my Favorite Site list on the right margin of this blog.

While you're there you can click on the box that says

 COUNT ME IN!

to take a stand and to sign up for regular updates.

If fishermen don't do this, who will?

The Sinlahekin: Full Circle

This may be letting the bear out of the bag, but I went to a celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Sinlahekin Wildlife Management Area. The Sinlahekin is the beautiful valley that you have seen in thousands of photos on this blog.

The Sinlahekin Wildlife Management Area was the first of its kind in the state of Washington, and the inspiration for many more areas set aside to preserve and conserve the land, and to provide recreational access to the public. It stands as a symbol of the necessity to continue the fight against private interest groups intent on restricting land use to whatever will yield the highest profit.

The Sinlahekin is 14,000 acres, purchased from ranchers in 1938 for $9,000. The money came from the Pittman-Robertson Funds, a fund created in the 30's from an excise tax on guns and ammunition. That fund, and additional funds from excise taxes on fishing equipment, continue to help support the operation of the management area.

This valley was set aside as prime mule deer range, in an effort to save deer herds, and it is still a very busy place during deer season. But the mission of the area has expanded through the years to include the provision of "functional habitat based on historic ecosystem properties and habitat dynamics to sustain populations of all species of fish and wildlife present."

In addition, the purpose of the prescribed burn program that I have noted in my posts is to restore habitat for Bighorn Sheep. The burns duplicate the former natural process of lightning fires. The Bighorns are here now, and should flourish. One more break healed in the Sacred Circle.

So people mingled and learned more about the Sinlahekin. Like me, they all believe the Sinlahekin is a special place, a place to be celebrated.

Then everyone gathered under the awning for speeches.

We heard from lots of different people, including the head of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We heard letters from a Senator or two. And we heard from this guy. This is Dan Ashe. He is the Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The top dog in the management of my fishing opportunities, and yours. I was impressed, not so much by him, but by the fact that my favorite fishing area could bring someone of his stature here. He sounded like he was 100% behind the kind of conservation efforts that have gone into the Sinlahekin. May it be so.

I was more struck, though, by this speaker. I'm sorry I don't have his name. He is a local tribal representative and holy man, and was asked to open the gathering. He reminded us that his people had known this valley for many generations, and had used it as a hunting ground. He explained how sacred the deer were, how their remains were treated with respect, and how his people lived in harmony with the earth. When I hear his song and look out over the beautiful land preserved here, I'm hopeful that, through the efforts of enlightened people today, maybe, just maybe, we can come full circle.

Rivers In Trouble

The poet Charles Bukowski said it:

"The problem with the world is

that the intelligent people are full of doubts

while the stupid ones are full of confidence."

Get the full list of rivers HERE.

Now, what is it you're still unsure of?

Remembering Oso

Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the survivors of the deadly mudslide in Oso, Washington. The tragedy has the potential to worsen: 16 bodies have been recovered, and eight more located, but as many as 176 persons remain missing.

Breaking News: EPA Vs. Pebble Mine

Big news as the EPA takes strong action on the Pebble Mine.

Mark McGlothlin does an excellent job of reporting over on Chi Wulff.

For additional information check out these links, found posted on other blogs:
ABC News
Washington Post