There are many things rural California landowners can do to leave more water in streams for fish and wildlife. Most involve changes to water use practices that will also increase the security of the landowner’s water supply. So why don’t more landowners do this? One answer is California’s complex system of water rights. It can be difficult to
Native south-central California coastal steelhead. Photo: Capelli/NOAA Fisheries. Steelhead, the sea-run version of rainbow trout, have one of the most diverse life histories of any fish species. On the West Coast, this life history diversity has enabled steelhead to colonize and persist in coastal drainages in a region—the south-central coast of California—with highly variable precipitation,
San Geronimo Creek, which provides important spawning and rearing habitat for endangered coho salmon in Marin County, Calif., flows parallel to the road in the center of this photo on the far side of the former golf course, up against the forested hillside. Imperiled coho salmon benefit from major land acquisition and open space conservation
What if there was a program encouraging anglers to scour the amazing landscape of the West for elusive and beautiful fish while promoting conservation at the same time? Thanks to the Western Native Trout Initiative, its 12 member states, federal wildlife partners and Trout Unlimited, there now is such a thing. The Western Native Trout
Biggest fish of the day, general trout season opener, Los Padres Reservoir, April 2019. April is the cruellest [sic] month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Thus begins The Waste Land, T.S. Elliot’s most famous work and the defining poem of the Modernist era
Fishing the Carmel River lagoon during steelhead season. In his 1945 novel Cannery Row, John Steinbeck called the Carmel River, on California’s central coast, “a lovely little river… [with] pools where trout live … a place for fishermen to wander in.” In those days the Carmel was a well-known fishery and hosted a robust run
TU’s Anna Halligan and Mary Ann King accepting the 2019 Nat Bingham Memorial Restorationist of the Year Award from the Salmonid Restoration Federation. On April 26, the Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) presented major awards to two Trout Unlimited staff and one of our grassroots leaders at the SRF annual awards dinner. Anna Halligan, director of
