By Sam Davidson There’s a little gambling going on right now in an obscure coastal stream in Mendocino County, California, called Pudding Creek. No one is throwing dice or yanking on a one-armed bandit here. We are talking habitat restoration. And the habitat restoration game always involves a bet. Trout Unlimited, a landowner, a timber management company, resource agencies and …
Take Action: Smith River Mining Withdrawal
TAKE ACTION Tell the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to protect salmon and steelhead streams in southwest Oregon and northern California from large-scale strip mines What’s the issue? Two companies, (one foreign owned) have been working to develop surface strip nickel mines in an area that would threaten Rough and Ready Creek (a tributary to the Illinois River and world …
California water supply takes hit from marijuana
Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife By Brian Johnson, Curtis Knight and Mike Sweeney Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle California, the nation’s top agricultural producer, also is the source of up to 70 percent of the marijuana consumed in the United States. The marijuana industry is largely unregulated and there are few protections to ensure illegal water …
The long hot summer: Three ways for anglers to minimize their impact on steelhead
The long hot summer: Three ways for anglers to minimize their impact on steelhead John McMillan It may be universally said that low stream flows and hot water are bad for salmon and steelhead, which is why this year is strikingly painful to experience as angler and scientist. Unquestionably this is the driest early-summer I have experienced in my time …
It’s the Right Time for River Protection – Smith River OR/CA
By Jack E. Williams : This first ran in the Medford Mail Tribune Big-time mining could change the face of some of our most iconic Oregon rivers. Large mines have been proposed for years in the Rough and Ready Creek area and now a foreign mining corporation proposes test drilling for nickel in the beautiful headwater area of Baldface Creek in …
The Steelhead Files: Catch and Release
Watch as John McMillan, science director for Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead Initiative walks through the proper technique to catch and release a steelhead, explaining the science behind it as he goes.
The Russian River, Drought, Fish and Wine
By Sam Davidson It’s tough times in California right now, water-wise. The Golden State is more like the Vermilion State – that being the color of extreme (or even exceptional) drought conditions in much of the state, in maps such as this. California’s salmon, steelhead, and trout are suffering as much or more than any other aquatic species in the current …