Currently browsing… Snake River
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The next half-century of hydropower
How hydropower relicensing clears a path for migratory trout and salmon Trout Unlimited cares about hydropower because trout and salmon are migratory fish and the fact is, dams are tough on migratory fish. In the case of the Columbia and Snake River dams, for example, the downstream delayed mortality for juvenile smolt at each of…
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TROUT Digital Magazine: Looking back at 2021
What a year it has been! There have been challenges and triumphs. The pandemic lingers, yet people find solace on the water more than ever now. I spent a little time looking through the archive of the hundreds of stories the TROUT team of contributors produced this year, and I am proud and grateful. We…
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Answering the call for help on the Upper Snake
When flows on the Upper Snake in Wyoming were quickly dropped, TU and the people of Jackson showed up to document the impacts—and save stranded cutthroats. Major drops in the Snake River coming out of Jackson Lake Dam happen each year at the end of the irrigation season, but the drastically dry summer of 2021…
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Are there “good” dams and “bad” dams?
We just released an issue of TROUT magazine that focuses most of its 100 pages on the need to remove four dams from the Lower Snake River. That was an easy call for me as editor because I think removal of the Lower Snake dams, thus giving a huge percentage of steelhead and salmon in the…
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Anglers, hunters and outdoor recreation companies to Biden administration: The dams must come out
The hunting and angling community is opening a new front in the campaign to restore Snake River salmon. This month, Trout Unlimited joined dozens of fish and wildlife groups and major outdoor recreation companies in calling on the Biden administration to develop a comprehensive solution to the collapse of salmon and steelhead populations that includes…
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Umpqua Feather Merchants: a company with steelhead in its DNA
"Removing the Lower Snake River dams is a move to make sure that steelhead and salmon can reach their native waters and continue to inspire generations to come. They are simply too important not to remove a giant thorn in their side."
Umpqua's Russ Miller watches a wild steelhead put on a show. - Photo by Noah Thompson When a company is named after one of the most iconic steelhead rivers in the Pacific Northwest, it’s probably a safe bet that the folks working there have some connection to those magnificent fish. As evidenced by the above…
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“Equitable treatment” for wild salmon and steelhead
A 41-year-old promise is yet to be met in the Columbia River basin Back in 1980, Congress promised that salmon and steelhead would receive “equitable treatment” with the operation of the Columbia River basin hydropower system. What we are seeing today is far from “equitable.” The fact that wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake…