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Getting out there
Allegra, Grant and I emerged from the densely wooded trail, stepping out onto the wooden bridge for our first view of Resurrection Bay. Mountains jutted up from the water as the evening sun shone through Tonsina Creek Valley, and ravens flew overhead. Spawning silver and chum salmon pooled up in riffles below us, and our…
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Washington water woes in Seattle Times
Washington commonly institutes fishing restrictions to protect vulnerable fish populations, like they did for steelhead in Scotty Creek, but these restrictions, unfathomably, do not extend to a destructive form of recreational gold mining called suction dredge mining.
The team of Trout Unlimited river-defenders in Washington state is gearing up for a busy legislative session this winter. What they're after? Getting a bill passed through the state legislature that finally updates Washington laws to remove certain waters (critical habitat for endangered species act-listed fish) from the suite of options for suction dredge miners.…
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Turning Back the Clock: Tongass Timber Wars
You may have seen the recent story by The Washington Post breaking the news on backroom deals being made to repeal important protections for the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. The Tongass is our nation’s largest, and it produces 50 million wild salmon annually, making conserving it a core campaign for Trout Unlimited and…
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Saying thanks through fishing
Shane walked over to me, standing mid-way between the members of our group along the small Seattle Creek in interior Alaska, near Cantwell. He was holding his 4-weight rod and had the satisfied grin of a new angler experiencing a first successful day of catch-and-release fishing. For a moment, we looked out to the Alaska…
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Why Roadless matters on the Tongass
Header photo by Josh Duplechian The Forest Service is reconsidering the national Roadless Rule on America's largest national forest here in Southeast Alaska, the Tongass. The Tongass is America’s salmon forest and one of the few places in the world where wild salmon and trout still thrive. Changing or removing the Roadless Rule would have big implications…
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EPA leaves Bristol Bay an open target
By: Meghan Barker. All photos by Tim Romano Just weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released comments critical of Pebble’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the key document in the federal mine permitting process, the agency today withdrew the 2014 Proposed Determination. What is the Proposed Determination? If finalized, it would have safeguarded Bristol Bay from the…
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Totally wicked
I was fishing a mouse pattern just for the hell of it.
My natural inclination when excited is an over-the-top enthusiasm that can be, well, a little much for some. So when I got invited on a flyout fishing trip with a few acquaintances, I decided I’d better keep a low profile. It was a perfectly cloudy, little breezy, kinda’ chilly day in Bristol Bay. There were no humans, roads or fences in sight. The small creek we visited, nestled in…
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