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The public has spoken: Go all in on recovering the Kennebec River
It’s Atlantic salmon spawning season on Maine’s Kennebec River, and the regal fish are making their way from the Atlantic Ocean into the river on their annual run. As we know, it’s a run that’s just a tiny fraction of what it once was; those federally endangered salmon and other migratory species are halted by…
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Driftless program adds first Iowa staffer
Cameron Aker joins team as Iowa engagement coordinator As the Iowa Driftless Engagement Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, Cameron Aker helps connect growers, landowners, anglers, volunteer groups, and government agencies to help restore the cold-water habitats of Iowa. Cameron has spent the past 17 years of his career in the Ag Industry, where he worked with…
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Big projects on tap in Driftless Area
Several major restoration projects are on tap for the coming field season in the Driftless Area, one of Trout Unlimited's Priority Waters. Here are several of the biggest efforts on tap Nohr Chapter - Snow Bottom Stream Improvement Project - Wisconsin The Nohr Chapter was awarded a Department of Natural Resources Surface Water Grant to…
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Let’s urge FERC to improve Kennebec dams plan
It is estimated that just a couple thousand adult salmon return each spring to rivers in Maine — the only state that still has Atlantic salmon migrations.
Draft environmental impact study should go further to improve fish passage and save Atlantic salmon “Every spring, for thousands of years, the rivers that empty into the North Atlantic Ocean turned silver with migrating fish. Tomcod and rainbow smelt swam out from beneath melting ice. Young eels found their way from the Sargasso Seas. Alewives…
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Reconnecting the Mettawee: Six dams down
When it comes to long-term restoration projects, Erin Rodgers measures the passage of time not so much by clocks and calendars, but by kids. So it was when recently recounting a multi-year project on Vermont’s Mettawee River; Rodgers thought back to two big life moments to help her remember the project’s pace. “The Mettawee is…
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Sharing expertise: The Driftless Symposium
More than 15 years ago, when Jeff Hastings took over leadership of Trout Unlimited’s Driftless Area Restoration Effort, one of his first priorities was to build his knowledge of restoration techniques. As he dug in, he found plenty of information. He also found that much of it didn’t get wide distribution throughout the area’s four…
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Watch Now: A Beautiful Mess
Felling trees in a Tennessee National Forest to replicate what nature used to do It’s a warm spring morning and the sound of chainsaws is echoing through the Tennessee mountains. This is hardly an unusual scene, but the mission here is. This isn’t someone getting a start on next winter’s supply of firewood. It’s a…
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Mark Taylor
A native of rural southern Oregon, Mark Taylor has lived in Virginia since serving a stint as a ship-based naval officer in Norfolk. He joined…