By Jeff Witten
As an avid fisherman and long-time Trout Unlimited member, I have become increasingly concerned about climate change and the impacts it will have on fishing.
Accordingly, I undertake various activities to engage the public through things like chairing TU’s Climate Change Working Group, getting involved with local conservation issues, and occasional general public outreach. In that vein I wanted to pass on a recent outreach effort I was involved with in Missouri. In late February, the Public News Service interviewed and organized a press release addressing the negative impact on fish and wildlife in Missouri from extreme swings in weather that can lead to major changes in the environment. The Missouri Sierra Club united a University of Missouri professor and me, the TU NLC Representative, to express our concerns. Following is one statement from the article, and I invite you to read the entire press release at the link below.
“As the climate changes, many people think that just means the water is going to get warmer, and while that’s true, it could also get ravaged by floods, by drought, by trees blowing into the streams,” says Jeff Witten. “As the weather gets more erratic, it can damage those streams.”
You can read the entire release here.
Jeff Witten is TU’s Missouri representative on the National Leadership Council.