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Science | Page 14

  • Featured

    Hermosa is a backyard treasure

    By Ty Churchwell Just eight miles from Durango's city limits is the 107,000-acre Hermosa Creek Special Management Area and Wilderness. Enacted in 2014, the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act is the result of a community coming together for a favorite backyard playground for locals and a destination for America’s public land visitors who flock to the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado each year.    Prior to the passage of the…

  • Science Climate Change

    ‘Climate change is water change’

    Climate change is water change. A warmer climate impacts nearly every facet of the water cycle: increased evaporation and transpiration deplete water from the land, rivers, lakes, oceans, and forests. Warmer air retains more water that is later released through intense precipitation events that are more likely to cause flash flooding and run-off pollution.

    By Chase S. Whiting As summer transitioned to fall, the sun hung eerily over the Adirondack Mountains and illuminated smoke that traveled some 3,000 miles from wildfires out West. Seeing the smoke reminded me that seemingly distant corners of the planet are in fact interconnected by our shared environment.  In Vermont, the climate change story…

  • Featured Voices from the river

    First look at Denali

    I'd come all the way to Alaska and saw more grayling than I'd ever seen in one place. And I didn't catch a single one from this river. And I didn't mind a bit

    Denali shrouded in storm clouds

    With a view like this, a fishless day isn't too bad after all Just a glance over the side of the canoe revealed the life swimming in this crystal-clear spring creek situated just off the Alaska Highway about a 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Big Arctic grayling—and some of the biggest whitefish I'd ever seen—cruised…

  • Barriers Featured Science

    Habitat connectivity helps trout take care of themselves

    If we do our part to remove migration obstacles from rivers and streams, the fish will take care of the rest. The benefits could be immeasurable.

    By Brian Hodge In our work at Trout Unlimited, we often rely on scientific theory to plan and implement conservation projects. In some instances, we also test hypotheses by monitoring projects and comparing predictions with outcomes, and in doing so contribute towards the broader body of scientific theory.   For TU and our local agency partners, the…

  • Community Featured

    TU and BHA team up on membership

    To say that 2020 has been a challenging year would be an understatement. But perhaps what the year has provided us is an opportunity to reflect on what’s really important. What matters to all of us? Family and friends. Fishing, hunting and outdoor adventures. Our public lands and waters. These places give us so much,…

  • Fly tying Featured

    Tying the Repeat Offender

    Trout spey fishing is all the rage these days, particularly in rivers that boast runs of anadromous fish that are swimming home and reacquainting themselves with fresh water and the food they used to eat before they took the salt to dine on the ocean's bounty. Below, Matt Callies with Loon Outdoors ties a great…

  • Science Featured From the field

    Desperately seeking steelhead in Alaska for science

    After a long float plane flight back to Juneau, a hurried meal and a handful of Ibuprofen, I turned in for the night with one last thought – Tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll find the fish and all of this will be worth it.

    By Mark Hieronymus After the first couple of hard-earned, bushwhacked miles, about the time we had fished every inch of beautiful holding water in this wild, remote river, and just after we finished post-holing our way through a couple hundred yards of thigh-deep snow, I started to second-guess myself.  Months of reviewing fisheries and habitat…