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The TU-Loon Outdoors Spring Fly Showdown
The coronavirus outbreak has changed our lives this spring. Here's a small diversion to take your mind off the crisis for a bit. Right about now, in a normal world, we’d be in the throes of the NCAA National Championship basketball tournament. Many of us would have agonized over the completion of tournament brackets, invested…
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Room to breathe
“Mom, has something like this ever happened to you?” Clara looked up from the snowy tire ruts where she was struggling to keep her cross country skis. “You mean like Coronavirus?” “Yeah.” I immediately thought of Sept. 11, 2001, when the planes flew into the towers, and tried to recall how I felt. I remembered…
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TU applauds Wyden, Brown for opposition to Jordan Cove project
This week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-1 to approve the highly controversial Jordan Cove Energy Project. The project would include an export terminal in Coos Bay, Ore., and a 230-mile-long pipeline from Malin, Ore., to the export facility on the southern Oregon coast. The pipeline's route will cross a number of iconic salmon and…
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Fight not over on Montana’s Smith River
Despite a setback, we're not giving up
Friday the 13th, an infamously unfortunate day, lived up to its name this year when the Montana Department of Environmental Quality finalized and released an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Black Butte copper mine in the headwaters of the Smith River in Montana. Thus, the extremely risky Smith Mine is one step closer to…
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The home float
As the old Toyota truck bounced over the river rocks and headed toward the water I couldn’t help smiling to myself. My brother and I sat together in the cab, our dad behind the wheel. He was dropping us at the river for a day fishing, like so many times before. “You guys be careful,”…
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TU Family Field Trip: Riparian buffer restoration
Planting a native tree or shrub along a river is one of the best things you can do to restore and protect the health of the stream for decades to come. It is also a great activity to do with your kids, as not only is there an immediate and tangible benefit to the activity,…
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Good outcomes from field season
By Jason Willis It seemed like a good time to shed light on some positives from the 2019 field season as we deal with the trying times currently enveloping our country. Here is a brief history, summary and outcome of the successful Monarch Pass Gravel Mine project. The U.S. Forest Service’s Salida Ranger District released…