This year in Washington, we have a remarkable, once-in-a-generation opportunity—a chance to pass major legislation that would put Americans to work while promising cleaner water, healthier rivers and rebounding trout and salmon fisheries.
An historic opportunity for clean water, healthy trout & salmon populations
For years we have been pushing for investments that target watershed restoration projects that offer multiple benefits: jobs, economic growth, and healthy waters for trout, salmon and those of us who love them. Projects that provide flood protections and reconnect habitat—that help communities suffering from drought and ensure sufficient streamflows for trout and salmon—that improve water quality for citizens and wild fish populations.
This is our chance to get all of this done.
Five things infrastructure legislation should provide
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1. Cleaner streams and better fish habitat
…thanks to Clean Water Act programs, sport fisheries restoration, and Chesapeake and Great Lakes conservation, all of which see continued and increasing levels of funding.
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2. Smarter drought policy the West
…through new initiatives and investments in water infrastructure, water supply security, and watershed resiliency.
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3. Healthier public lands
…courtesy of the bipartisan Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act, which balances the protection of fish and wildlife habitat with the need for new energy sources; and the U.S. Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails program, which helps maintain roads and reconnect streams on national forest lands.
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4. New life for waters polluted by historic mining
…with a 15-year extension of funding for abandoned mine cleanup work and new rules to make it simpler for “Good Samaritan” groups to restore abandoned mines and make streams healthier and fishing better.
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5. More connected rivers and streams
…via financing to address flood and wildfire risks before the next natural disaster.
All this would be great news for the work TU does for trout and salmon.
It would help our field crews continue their watershed-scale projects to restore streams and reconnect habitat.
It would help our Western water policy team keep water in the streams when trout and salmon need it.
It would bolster TU’s long, successful partnership with the Forest Service, and support our abandoned mine work from Colorado to Pennsylvania.
We won’t get something this rare and ambitious through Congress without your help, so please reach out to your Senators today and explain why infrastructure matters to anglers and conservationists like you.