Currently browsing… Alaska
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Investing in safer roads and thriving fish in Yakutat
The scenery and fishing opportunities here will take your breath away, but even this far-flung corner of Alaska isn’t immune to the degradation of fish habitat that can happen when development occurs alongside rivers and streams.
Yakutat is a land of superlatives. The Situk River is Alaska’s largest steelhead fishery. Hubbard Glacier is North America’s largest tidewater glacier. Snow-capped mountains, vast glaciers and old-growth rainforest surround a rich complex of waterways the are some of the most productive salmon- and steelhead-producing waters in the state. All five species of Alaska’s Pacific…
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Small yet significant
A volunteer helps expand Alaska’s Anadromous Waters Catalogue I felt bad for the fish. The fry were darting back and forth in a stagnant pond that was only a few inches deep, their infancy spent oblivious to the pristine waters for which Southeast Alaska is known. But that’s just me assuming what is beautiful to…
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Legislation to strengthen protections for Bristol Bay announced
A new bill could protect the world’s most productive salmon fishery An important step has been taken to permanently safeguard one of the last great wonders of the salmonid world. U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK) has introduced a bill that would Congressionally prohibit the discharge of mine waste into rivers, lakes and wetlands that surround…
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says no to Pebble. Again.
After years of review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would uphold its permit denial decision for the proposed Pebble Mine, continuing to block industrial mining from developing on top of the world’s most prolific wild salmon fishery. History repeats itself The Corps first denied the Clean Water Act 404 permit back…
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The best guides
Pete Wood, who after interning with TU became a lawyer in Idaho, taught me to tie my first bread fly (from an old kitchen sponge, and it was deadly on Potomac River carp). I caught my largest native rainbow in Alaska last year with Brian Bowe at the Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge. Pat Berry, who now leads…
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Whale snacks and moose meatballs: The taste of subsistence life in Bristol Bay
Have you ever heard of moose tartar? Did you know herring eggs taste how the sea smells? How about that you can make ice cream out of seal fat? I didn’t either. Until I attended United Tribes of Bristol Bay’s Traditional Foods Feast in Dillingham, Alaska. Dillingham is a fishing village perched on the glistening…
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Pursuing Native Connections
Photo by Colin Arisman By Daniel Ritz How Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy graduates are redefining fly-fishing travel culture in Alaska. Rounding a blind bend in the Brooks River, the nearly 900-pound brown bear surprises us as it sits haunches deep, ripping into the belly of a bright red 8-to-10 pound Sockeye salmon…