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Tomatoes for trout
Earlier this month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out a report that told us what every good mother has been saying for decades: Eat your vegetables. Clean your plate. Eat less beef. Finish your beans. True, that's an oversimplification. But for me it hits home. I spend a fair bit of time worrying…
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On grayling and guilt
Returning to the valley a year after surgery. The way I figure it, they probably stopped her heart around 1 p.m. The bypass machines kicked on and in my mind they sounded like the soothing white noise of a ceiling fan. Peaceful. I don't know if a person subconsciously takes in any noise during surgery,…
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Making small talk
One of my co-workers always likes to start a conversation talking about the weather. Usually it happens in the dead of winter. He lives in Arizona. I live in Montana. "How's the winter?" he will ask. "Oh. Cold. Minus 20 yesterday. The same today." He'll laugh and I will huddle closer to the fire, waiting…
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Tourist season
A rider in the Tobacco Root Mountains We love having visitors in Montana. For one, it's a huge driver for our economy—we've got an obscenity of riches when it comes to outdoor recreation opportunities and were I to live anywhere else, Montana is where I'd long to be. But by the end of July, after…
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High Water
The creek was out of it's banks when we crossed the bridge. Hard rain and a higher than normal snowpack had made its way down the mountain, spilling out into the hayfields and pastures, jumping out of the bend near the diversion ditch and coursing past the log fence in the back yard, a good…
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Q&A: Pat Byorth
Pat Byorth has long been an advocate for anglers in Montana and with his recent appointment to Montana's Fish and Game Commission, he is continuing that tradition for the benefit of all Montanans. As a long-time TU employee, he has worked to restore some of our most iconic rivers such as the Madison and the…
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June
June is not a large horse. Really, she may be only a few inches over a large pony. In honesty I don’t claim to understand horse dimensions, but it’s fair to say that a very tall man could probably touch the ground with tip toes. A body traveling from her back to the ground would…
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