Author

Chris Wood

  • Conservation

    How the shutdown is harming anglers

    By Chris Wood "Good riddance. Think of all of the money we are saving.” I looked at Max in exasperation. He is one of the most hard-core sportsmen I know. I have hunted for whitetail with him in driving rainstorms in West Virginia, and stalked catfish on the Potomac using hummus-impregnated Clouser-minnows. He is a…

  • He’s just an old dog

    “He’s just an old dog.” Parker lit up, at least as much as a 17-year old pit-lab mix can. Larry, the neighborhood poet, and resident feral cat-feeder, was on his way to the back-alley to spread his cat food, and Parker stayed glued to the bag at Larry’s side. “We are all old dogs,” I…

  • Conservation

    Just enough

    By Chris Wood Fred’s note was unexpected. He was one of the first TU volunteers I met 17 years ago when he was 78 years young. At the time, I wondered who is this cool cat with the white pony-tail and turquoise rings? His note read, “a few months ago our son, Jon, and his…

  • Conservation

    Standing tall for small waterways

    By Chris Wood This week the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a radical change in how the nation manages our streams and wetlands. For most of the first 30 years of the Clean Water Act, its rules applied to large and small, perennial and temporary, streams and virtually all wetlands.…

  • Conservation

    Mentors

    Mike Dombeck sports a familiar pose. By Chris Wood You don’t realize it until it is too late. You forgot to say, “Thank you” or even, “Hello.” Jack Casey taught my sophomore and senior years high school English classes at Saint Peters in Je rsey City. He was a smallish man who would enthuse the…

  • Conservation

    Coming home to the river

    By Chris Wood Terry Edwards deployed five times for the Air Force. When his children were younger he deployed overseas, then came a tour in Kuwait. Later, came two tours in Iraq. His final deployment was in southwest Asia. Terry told me, “There is always a transition in coming home. Things stay with you, stick…

  • Conservation

    Give Idaho’s wild steelhead a chance

    By Chris Wood The first time you snorkel a stream, the size of the bugs are disarming. Stoneflies tumbling down the stream look like aquatic dragons bent on taking off a limb. It is an optical illusion, of course. We were way up in the South Fork of the Salmon Riv er drainage. Hiking in…