DeFazio: Smith is a place worth preserving

In California, Oregon by Shauna Sherard

In the first of three videos from the Oregon delegation, Rep. Peter DeFazio talks about why Oregon/California’s Smith River is such an important resource to protect. Get your comments in today to encourage the BLM and Forest Service to implement a 20 year mining withdrawal on the headwaters of the Smith.

Another opportunity to protect the Smith

In California, Oregon by Shauna Sherard

Please Take Action now to help Wild Steelheaders United preserve this amazing wild steelhead fishery from top to bottom. See “HOW TO COMMENT.” Comment period closes May 27, 2016.   The jade-green waters of the legendary Smith River are hauntingly beautiful. But for the better part of a century this stream has haunted anglers primarily for another reason: it’s consistent runs …

Field warriors: TU’s Citizen Science

In Oregon by Shauna Sherard

By Dean Finnerty, In early February, members from the Redsides and Coastal Cutthroat chapters joined forces with members of Project Healing Waters and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife to begin several week’s worth of volunteer work as part of Trout Unlimited’s “citizen science” effort.  Volunteers are working in the West Fork of the Smith River (Oregon’s Umpqua tributary) …

Suction dredging in your backyard

In Oregon by Shauna Sherard

This week, anglers will gather for a hearing on House Bill 2467. If passed, this legislation will bring some much needed reform to rules (or lack thereof) regulating suction dredging in the state of Washington. [Show your support for HB 2467 by attending the hearing: House Hearing Room B at the John L. O’Brien Building Olympia, WA. Time: 8a.m. Or, tell the House Agriculture and …

Fishing shouldn’t suck

In Washington by Shauna Sherard

By Gregg Bafundo and Crystal Elliot The bomb-like crater in the side of the creek was the give-away. Suction dredgers. A bucket was overturned on a log, “No dredging this hole,” indicating the pending return of a gold miner. Walking up Scotty Creek with Nils Cowan, a reporter looking into the world of suction dredging, we saw the change – …

Sean Gallagher on the OP: Remain vigilant. Continue Forward.

In Washington by Shauna Sherard

  Déjà Vu? By Sean Gallagher The wipers strained as sheets of rainwater slammed the windshield. It sounded as if one thousand marbles were bouncing off the roof—we swerved and just missed another puddle. If Larry and I turn around now we have the perfect excuse, I thought. Our destination on this dark, blustery, Saturday morning in November was the …

Happy Birthday Wild Steelheaders United

In Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington by Shauna Sherard

By Shauna Sherard We made it. One year. 365 days passed. 365 steps toward a better future for steelhead. One year down. So many to go. There are those who thought we were crazy. Crazy in what we believed. Crazy in our attempt to unite anglers, to try to solve allegedly unsolvable problems that had plagued steelhead rivers for decades. …

Finishing the job

In Oregon by Shauna Sherard

By Rob Masonis Darn lucky. That is what I consider myself for having been able to make a living for more than two decades protecting and restoring the great steelhead and salmon rivers of the Pacific Northwest. The muscular, jaw-droppingly beautiful rivers themselves have provided plenty of inspiration for my work. But the wild steelhead that swim in their waters …

WSU: Good excuse to go fishing

In Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington by Shauna Sherard

  By Sam Davidson Among the better excuses for going fishing is to celebrate a birthday. One’s own, of course. But also your father-in-law’s, the 4th of July, Christmas, Rutherford B. Hayes’s, and your yet-to-be-born nephew’s. The point is that you can use “celebrating a birthday” as a legitimate excuse to go fishing for any day of the year. I …