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The fish are back!
Salmon and steelhead are roaring back above the recently removed Klamath dams. Now, what comes next? One of the truly magical moments of dam removal is when the fish start returning to their historic, reconnected habitat. It is a tangible moment in a process that can take decades to accomplish, and it confirms our hopes…
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Dam removal in Catskills will make fishing even better on Mongaup Creek
Separated by several years, two events are working together to make a great trout stream in the Catskills even better. First came a decision in late 2020 by New York state fisheries officials to halt stocking on the Mongaup Creek, a tributary to the Willowemoc Creek in the upper Delaware River watershed. The move came…
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In California, TU takes down another dam
Reconnecting prime spawning and rearing habitat for Central Coast steelhead If April is the cruelest month, October is the least cruel. The summer heat finally breaks, trees explode in color, big orange caddis bounce around and salmon and steelhead are pushing into rivers. October is also the end of the construction season for many Trout…
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The True Cast – Just knowing they’re in there
My friend David’s house was right on the river. He was kind enough to let me park there and fish the big bend out back. And often times, he’d come out on his porch to chat with me as I made some casts. I remember one evening in particular, when a burst of hatching mayflies…
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By the numbers on the Snake
Understanding the metrics used to evaluate and represent recovery of wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake River basin is an exercise worthy of a Ph.D. From annual abundance numbers, to understanding Endangered Species Act delisting criteria, to smolt-to-adult return ratios (SARs) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survival statistics, the numbers can…
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Time to go all in
Current efforts are no longer cutting it for salmon and steelhead survival on the lower Snake It’s high time we admit we got it wrong; salmon and steelhead cannot survive in a highly modified river system like the lower Snake River. Despite our best intentions, the facts remain the same: Chinook salmon, steelhead and sockeye…
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Klamath reconnected: The four dams are gone
Blasting at Copco 1 Dam. Photo: Swiftwater Films Big things happen when committed people decide that failure is not an option Between my roles at Trout Unlimited and on the board of directors at the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), I’ve visited Iron Gate Dam countless times over the years. But this time, it was…
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