Author

Chris Wood

  • Conservation

    Giving thanks

    Seven years ago, I asked Marcia Woolman, the first woman to win the Ray Mortenson Award, the highest honor Trout Unlimited gives to a volunteer, what was most important for volunteers. Her response? “Chris, just say thank you.” Today, I begin every day thinking about Marcia’s counsel. How do you properly thank over 400 chapters…

  • Conservation

    Recovering America’s native optimism

    by Chris Wood Al Perkinson looks like a California surfer dude. He’s got wavy long hair and the languid movement of a gracefully aging athlete. He is also the guy who built the Costa del Mar brand, helped TU start the Five Rivers program, and now runs marketing for Simms. I was talking with Al…

  • Conservation

    Helping one another to help the fish

    By Chris Wood When it comes to the recovery of imperiled salmon and steelhead, Idaho leads the way. The Idaho Statesman was the first daily newspaper to call for the removal of the four lower Snake River dams in 1997. The late Governor, Cecil Andrus was one of the most articulate voices for recovery of…

  • Conservation

    Walking the Talk

    Photo by Robin Kadet Petey jumped in my lap within moments of sitting down. Phil Monahan rescued the little dog when he found him walking alone down a highway. A few things stand out about the Orvis offices in Manchester, Vermont. First, as Petey demonstrated, their offices are very pet-friendly.Second, their street address is “Conservation…

  • Conservation

    TU bids Chief Tidwell a fond farewell

    Tom Tidwell is retiring as Chief of the US Forest Service. It is difficult to overstate the importance of the 191 million acres that the Forest Service manages to trout and salmon. Half of the blue-ribbon trout streams in the country flow across national forests. A vast majority of western native trout and salmon depend…

  • Conservation

    Big Win For Yellowstone River and native cutts

    Here's a little good news for your weekend. A few days ago, a year to the day that tens of thousands of coldwater fish were killed in the Yellowstone River due to low flows, high water temperatures, and associated disease, TU signed an agreement with Kinross—a mining company out of Toronto—that will result in at…