PRIORITY WATERS

Get Your Hands Dirty

The Trout Unlimited Priority Waters initiative is all about pulling together to care for and recover America’s trout and salmon watersheds. Our vision: volunteers and staff working hand-in-hand with partners and allies in their communities to protect, reconnect and restore more than 200 Priority Waters from Alaska to North Carolina, from California to Maine.

We invite you to join us in the joyful work of conservation: collecting data that propels recovery projects, planting trees that sustain restoration into the long term, joining your community in shared efforts to build a future of clean water and healthy fisheries.  

Science

TU’s work is propelled by the best available science. Our Community Science initiative combines the expertise and knowledge of our professional staff with the passion, skills and energy of our volunteers to monitor water quality, assess stream health and habitat, and map spawning sites. 

How to get involved: 

  • WATCH: How volunteer data drives conservation
  • READ: About the TU science team
  • DOWNLOAD: Guides and smartphone apps to bring the power of TU science to your community
  • CONNECT: With your local TU chapter or state-specific staff to participate in or help design a community science effort
  • SIGN UP: For newsletters sharing ways you can rise to the moment.
  • BROWSE: the TU Events Page to find community science volunteer opportunities near you.

Restoration 

The promise of Priority Waters is the marriage of our network of professional field staff with the army of grassroots supporters and volunteers who care deeply about these waters. No other conservation nonprofit can match TU’s ground game when it comes to mobilizing the latest restoration techniques and the people to embed that work in the community.

How to get involved:

  • WATCH: State of TU 2023 to see the scale, impact and stories behind our restoration
  • READ: About how we work at a landscape scale
  • CONNECT: With your local TU chapter or state-specific staff to participate in or help design a restoration effort on your local priority water
  • SIGN UP: Take our volunteer survey and let us know how and where you’d like to help.
  • BROWSE: The TU Events Page to find hands-on restoration opportunities near you.

Community

Our Priority Waters initiative helps direct and focus the entire TU community in a strategic way. By aligning our efforts and pushing forward a shared vision we can move mountains. Our community-based programs offer easy ways for your community to connect to the larger mission of TU.

How to get involved: 

  • WATCH: “We Are TU,” an inspiring look at communities caring for and recovering clean water and healthy fisheries 
  • READ: Our online Tacklebox for resources and guides to building and growing your conservation community
  • CONNECT: With your local TU chapter or state-specific staff.
  • SIGN UP: Take our volunteer survey and let us know how and where you’d like to help.
  • BROWSE: The TU Events Page to find opportunities to connect with the TU community near you.

Advocacy

With 350,000 members and supporters, Trout Unlimited can speak with a loud voice. Stand up for protections for Priority Waters. Make noise in support of bold steps to recover healthy fisheries and clean water. Be an advocate for the places you live, love and fish.

How to get involved:

News about Priority Waters View more chevron_right

NOAA announces $16.6 million for TU salmon and steelhead fish passage projects

Greg Fitz
May 23, 2024
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