Currently browsing… New Mexico
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The Land Ethic
We can turn to Aldo Leopold for important lessons that are ideal for the times.
Aldo Leopold was a philosopher, an ecologist and, very importantly, a writer. As though possessed of his talent for translating the universal, we quote him ad nauseam. And though the southwest still bears scars from his killing of wolves, cougars and other varmints, his eventual embrace of the predator as a force for ecological balance exemplifies a flexible and evolving mind that left a significant mark whenever it…
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NM streams debate: Court can balance recreation, conservation
Should New Mexicans have the right to wade, float and swim in all the state’s waterways? And if that’s the case, what does that mean for private landowners?
As first seen in the Albuquerque Journal. By: Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited and Harris Klein, New Mexico Trout Unlimited Council Chair Soon, the New Mexico Supreme Court will settle the controversy about what the state Constitution has to say about the extent of the public’s right to access streams throughout the…
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Chama 2.0
Big browns can live in the Chama thanks to restoration work
A restored channel below Abiquiu Dam reinvents a New Mexico trout stream In the first "Rocky" movie, the title character dreams of being a prizefighter, yet understands that he will never rise above being a heart-of-gold jaw breaker for a small-time Philadelphia mobster. The Rio Chama below Abiquiu dam can relate; like Rocky Balboa, Abiquiu’s flood control and water storage day job is far from sexy. During irrigation…
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Running toward it
Thoughts of recreation and even fishing now feel indulgent
We were just at the point of beginning to wash our hands all the time, after the first few cases were confirmed in New Mexico during my son’s spring break. The plan was to head to Utah and fish the San Juan on the way home. We camped the first three nights at Canyonlands, where we took a couple long…
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Restoring a future with Gila trout
By Jeff Arterburn Very few people encounter the mountainous region of southwestern New Mexico known as "The Gila" by accident. The nearest interstates track the open desert valleys far from the sierra. Locals here will still acknowledge the occurrence of oncoming vehicles with a finger raised momentarily from the steering wheel, and not the middle…
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Legacy
The drawing of the trout is from the hand of a small child. The description even more so: “This was the first fish I ever cot [sic] on a rod. When I first felt the feeling of reeling in the fish, I was amased [sic].” In the span of 15 years, Jeremy Brooks’ writing and…
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What Esther Garcia meant for fishing
Growing up in New Mexico, I took for granted that there were fishing spots where no one would want to go. Steep hikes, brush and snags everywhere, places that required too much work to get to. “Joke’s on them,” was my thinking; if only people knew that it was so much more fun than work. The people who knew…