Not Mine, Ours.

Somebody needs to listen to the children.

The Wild Steelheader, January 3, 2018

January 3, 2018

Nothing in steelheading is constant. The intricacies of rivers change daily along with the chosen lies of steelhead. While this can drive anglers mad it is also part of what keeps us coming back. But changes in steelhead angling over the past few decades have contributed to declines in the quality of many of our steelhead fisheries. The popularity of steelhead fishing has increased concurrent with a reduction both in wild steelhead populations and places to fish for them. Simply put, there are now more people crowded into fewer places and fewer fish to go around. Fortunately, this doesn't have to mean the end of steelhead fishing as we know it. Many wild steelhead fisheries have maintained opportunity despite overcrowding and diminished wild fish returns and there are lessons to be learned from these places. The common denominator for these fisheries? They all have restrictions on either the number of anglers or the number of angler-fish encounters. Such restrictions can be regulations limiting types of gear, catch-and-release encounters, angling from boats, guiding, non-resident angling, etc. There is no single prescription for a future in which we have robust wild steelhead populations and well managed fisheries with consistent angling opportunity. But we have a foundation of knowledge, data and cultural values on which we can build success. There will always be swings in wild steelhead populations and it is difficult to predict accurately when these will occur so we must manage conservatively in bad years and enjoy the good years responsibly. Future generations of chrome-crazed steelheaders will thank us for it. On the home front, Wild Steelheaders United is proud to announce new leadership.Dean Finnerty, longtime fishing and hunting guide whose home water is Oregon's Umpqua River, is now manager of TU's Wild Steelhead Initiative as well as northwest region director for TU's Sportsmen's Conservation Project. Dean joins our in-house steelhead scientist, John McMillan, and local organizers Nick Chambers (WA), Kyle Smith (OR) and Michael Gibson (ID) on the WSU team.           It's rare that wild steelhead recovery is strong enough to justify re-opening a major fishery -- but thanks to a variety of factors that's where we are with late winter run steelhead on the Skagit River. Wild Steelheaders United has helped local steelhead advocates press the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to re-open the Skagit for a spring steelhead season. This effort reached a milestone recently when NOAA Fisheries proposed to approve a plan to do just that. While there is a chance for a 2018 fishery, it is unlikely because the timeline is tight. Giving up another year of fishing opportunity is not ideal but a reinstated, well-managed fishery is worth waiting for. Take action to help shape the future of a spring steelhead fishery on the Skagit.         In Oregon, Wild Steelheaders United is working across the state to protect, reconnect, and restore some of the best steelhead habitat in the lower 48. The Oregon Water Resources Commission recently adopted a new rule that reserves the surface waters of the NF Smith for the specific purpose and support of "human consumption, livestock, and instream public uses including pollution abatement, fish life, wildlife, and recreation." The Commission also limited groundwater development in the sub-basin. These actions will help to protect wild steelhead spawning and rearing habitat and water quality in a remote area of this famous watershed that supplies clean water and fish for downstream fisheries and local fishing-based economies. Wild Steelheaders United and the Oregon Council of Trout Unlimited will continue to advocate for the NF Smith and other wild steelhead sanctuaries in the Kalmiopsis, aspressure from the mining industry to develop the area shows no signs of letting up.           For decades, illegal cannabis cultivation in California has damaged many coastal steelhead streams. The state recently adopted new rules for cannabis growers using water from such streams, requiring they have valid water rights, divert and store water only in the winter (wet) season, and reduce contamination of streams from agricultural runoff. These rules reflect several years of advocacy by TU and Wild Steelheaders United. Sportsmen from California and Oregon also rallied in defense of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, which contains the headwaters of tributaries to the steelhead fisheries of the Rogue and Klamath Rivers. Also, TU recently garnered $2.54 million in grant awards for fish passage projects on Deer Creek and Payne's Creek - major salmon and steelhead spawning tributaries to the Sacramento River. On the Eel River, we filed new comments in the FERC relicensing process for the Potter Valley Project, two dams and a water conveyance tunnel in the Eel's headwaters. TU and Wild Steelheaders United have been engaged in this process since its inception, to improve passage for the Eel's wild steelhead population and other native fishes.             How many steelhead can you fit into a given watershed? Put another way, what is thecarrying capacity of a given watershed for steelhead? This question, and its answer, are important for steelhead fishery managers, and anglers, as we collectively try to rebuild wild fish runs up and down the West Coast.

The Wild Steelheader, 7-11-17

July 11, 2017

On June 29th, five members of Congress from Washington and Oregon introduced legislation that would override a federal court's ruling that the federal government's salmon plan for the Columbia and Snake rivers was deeply flawed and would reinstate the plan through 2022.   Needless to say, it's legislation we can't support and we're not the only ones. An op-ed in Monday's Lewiston Tribune (ID) blasted the legislation, calling it no more than an election appeal - a reliance on "slogans that will flame out the second they're exposed to an honest debate on the national stage." Our take?  Steelhead and salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers deserve a lot better than the federal salmon plan tossed out by the court that the legislators are trying to resurrect. The evidence of that fact is overwhelming. This year's Snake River wild steelhead runs are projected to be the worst on record and we have made little progress overall toward wild steelhead recovery. It is time for major stakeholders in the Columbia and Snake basins to come together to chart a new path forward, one that works for people and fish. This approach has worked to resolve similar complex, long-standing conflicts in salmon and steelhead country, including in the Klamath and Yakima river basins.   That soapbox and more in this week's edition of the Wild Steelheaders United newsletter.           By Rob Masonis Lonesome Larry was the only sockeye to make it from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho's Redfish Lake in 1992. That was only one year after Larry's fellow Snake River sockeye salmon were protected under the Endangered Species Act because they were on a path to extinction. Despite the passage of almost three decades and the expenditure of billions of dollars, Larry's offspring continue to have few traveling companions on their 900 mile journey to Idaho. The same is true for all wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake River basin, which have required protection from Endangered Species Act since the 1990s. Today, recovery of Columbia and Snake River salmon remains a distant goal. By contrast, these were once the most abundant populations of salmon and steelhead in the world. This year, the numbers of wild steelhead returning to the Snake River are projected to be the lowest on record. And a bill recently introduced in the United States House by five representatives from Oregon and Washington isn't helping in the quest to find solutions for restoring wild steelhead to the Snake River.         While our Initiative is focused on the West Coast where steelhead are native, there is also interesting research being done elsewhere in areas where steelhead are not native. For example, most anglers know by now that we also have "steelhead" in numerous streams draining the Great Lakes region and the East Coast. Those fish in the Great Lakes have been there for decades, and are admired and loved by thousands of anglers.         Last newsletter we posted an update on fishing regulations in the Columbia Basin for Washington. Since then Oregon has followed suit as expected and taken reasonable steps to limit sport fishing impacts to wild steelhead returning to the Columbia River.Check here for the latest regulations before you go fishing on Oregon's Columbia River tributaries.

Your Land

This film by outdoor journalist Kris Millgate is posted on the Hatch Magazine site. Click on the link for the accompanying story. Money quote:

The National Wildlife Federation, national membership 6 million, sent me around the country to ask members what public lands mean to them. The film Your Land was the result. Trout Unlimited, national membership 154,500, launched 30 Days of Public Lands in September. Stories of public lands and the people who use them. And Backcountry Hunters and Anglers sold t-shirts. A plain black t-shirt with three words in block letters across the chest: Public Land Owner. They’ve sold 1,000. On a national scale, that’s barely a bleep, but the ball just started rolling. BHA is small and young compared to NWF and TU, but its national membership doubled to 7,500 in 2016. And it reaches 1 million people weekly on Facebook. They’re on to something and now the rest of the nation is too. Power to the public.

On a personal note, tell me why you would want to give up your hunting and fishing lands--and a whole way of life, and the legacy of your children and grandchildren--so a few rich bastards can get even richer and grind you down even further.

The Wild Steelheader, December 28, 2016

December 28, 2016

It's been more than two years since Trout Unlimited's Wild Steelhead Initiative left the boat ramp. This initiative was born of committed steelhead anglers whose hope for a brighter future for wild steelhead is matched by their stubbornness in fighting for the improvements in habitat and policy required to realize this vision. For too long, steelhead management has been based on old studies and policies inconsistent with today's science, ecological conditions, fishing pressures, and the desire of most steelhead anglers to conserve wild steelhead while having an opportunity to fish for them responsibly. In just two years, the Wild Steelhead Initiative has made significant, sometimes exceptional progress in our mission to conserve and restore wild steelhead and improve and sustain opportunities to fish for them. Coupled with TU's robust habitat restoration program, we have improved habitat conditions in wild steelhead rivers through partnerships and projects that improve water management and use, and keep more water in streams when steelhead need it most.   We have educated and organized thousands of steelhead anglers to speak on behalf of wild steelhead and push for policies that better protect them in the future. Our leading steelhead scientists and passionate ground-level activists have helped drive improvements in hatchery management, upgrade wild steelhead angling regulations, and establish wild steelhead management zones in priority steelhead rivers across five states. In this season of hope, we are proud of our accomplishments to date but sobered by the challenges that remain. Yet thanks to the thousands of anglers who now support the Wild Steelhead Initiative, we are bullish on the future of wild steelhead. We deeply appreciate your commitment to our cause, and wish you good fortune in 2017, both on and off the water.         2016 Milestones Science and Advocacy: On Washington's Olympic Peninsula we and our partners worked for new regulations adopted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for the benefit wild steelhead. These included limits on bait fishing, an end to harvest of wild fish, and protection of six miles of the Hoh from excessive fishing pressure by boat. In southwest Oregon we advanced theFrank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary bill, which would protect the North Umpqua River's most important steelhead-spawning tributary. In Oregon and California, we generated strong angler support for protecting the headwaters of the fabled Smith River from proposed hard rock mining, and were a major factor in the California Fish and Game Commission's designation of the South Fork Smith as a Wild and Heritage Trout Water. Last, we played a major role in designating wild steelhead management zones for the Nisqually, Elwha, Grays and Chinook rivers in Washington. Our volunteers participated in "angler science" projects on the Olympic Peninsula, Skagit River, Siletz River and Smith River (OR) to generate more accurate steelhead data. Community Building More than 5,500 anglers have now signed the Wild Steelheaders United credo, and the Wild Steelhead Initiative currently has over 18,000 total followers on social media platforms, with 10,000 weekly views of our Science Friday posts.  More than 40 leading companies in the angling industry -- including Sage/ Rio/ Redington and Echo -- now support us. And our local angler-advocates have generated some 2,500 letters and comments in support of management decisions that will better protect and restore wild steelhead. Habitat Improvement and Protection We reached a major milestone in the long campaign to restore the Klamath River(historically, the third most productive watershed for salmon and steelhead on the West Coast) with signing of the revised Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement in April -- this agreement provides for removal of four old dams below Klamath Lake starting in 2020. In Washington we helped open 30 miles of steelhead habitat inManastash Creek in the Yakima Basin, and introduced legislation to protect 340,000 acres of public lands from open pit mining in theMethow River headwaters. In Oregon we helped to protect more than 14,000 miles of rivers by expanding logging buffers on private land. We played a key role in a transaction on California's Carmel River that will convert a 36-hole golf course to regional park land and return 98 million gallons of water to the lower river annually. Our partnership-projects in Washington and California improved irrigation efficiency and water supply security for farmers and residential landowners -- and kept millions of gallons of water in important steelhead streams such as Pescadero Creek at times when fish need it most. And, our capacity to drive and support better results for wild steelhead populations and habitat expanded in 2016, with the hiring of Luke Kelly as restoration ecologist. Luke's focus will be habitat conservation and restoration projects on the Olympic Peninsula.           Three things you can do right now for wild steelhead Provide scoping comments on the Columbia River Systems Operations Environmental Impact Statement. This EIS includes a review of the Lower Snake River Dams - Learn More - Take Action  Donate Today: With a generous matching offer from the Sol Duc Foundation, all donations through the end of 2016 will be doubled.  If you donate $10 we will be pleased to send you a sticker. For $40 donations we will send you a Wild Steelheaders United hat. All donations go 100% to support the Wild Steelhead Initiative. Share this newsletter with your steelhead angling friends, and encourage them to sign up with Wild Steelheaders United and  donate to the cause.         Our ambitious goals for 2017 Science and Advocacy Work toward re-opening the Skagit River for catch-and-release steelhead angling. With the state and tribes having submitted a plan for federal review, there is now an opportunity to complete the environmental review process to evaluate the re-opening of the Skagit for a spring angling season. As we push for a commitment to manage the Skagit for wild steelhead over the long term, and as our science team works to develop a new life-cycle model that will help establish and achieve wild steelhead escapement goals, we will need your voice in support. Other priority goals include passing state legislation establishing pilot projects to improve management of guided fishing on the Olympic Peninsula and Klickitat River (WA), working with managers to install SONAR units on the Hoh and John Day rivers to gather accurate data on wild steelhead run size, and expansion of our "angler science" projects to California and Idaho. Community Building Our goal in the coming year is to grow the supporters of Wild Steelheaders United to more than 8,000 anglers. Please help us reach this goal by sharing this newsletter and our blog and social media posts with your friends and business partners. We welcome your feedback in how we can improve our communications with our supporters and the angling community -- send your thoughts to dmeadows@tu.org. There might be a small prize in store for the best suggestions. Habitat Improvement and Protection   In 2017 WSU will kick off a three-year effort to secure perpetual conservation easements on 100 miles of riparian corridors, restore degraded riparian zones, and secure up to 30,000 acre-feet of clean water inputs in the Upper Klamath Basin. These actions will help prepare for the return of steelhead and salmon to this part of the watershed after the four lower river dams come out. In addition, in the coming year we aim to double summer base flows in Pescadero Creek, perhaps the best wild steelhead stream on California's central coast. We will fight hard in the State Water Board's current Bay-Delta Plan process for improved water management in the lower San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, to save dwindling runs of wild steelhead and salmon in California's Central Valley. We will work to pass the bipartisan Frank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary bill for the North Umpqua. We will improve streamflow and habitat quality in the Methow and Wenatchee rivers (WA) and Upper Salmon river basin (ID). We will implement our first wild steelhead habitat restoration projects on Olympic Peninsula rivers. Have a wonderful New Year - See you on the water Please consider a donation to our work.  All donations up to $5,000 will be matched by the Sol Duc Foundation until the end of the year.   Dwayne Meadows dmeadows@tu.org via votervoice.net

The State of TU 2016

State of TU 2016 from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo.
Watch Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited, deliver
the 2016 State of TU speech at the TU Annual Meeting in Bozeman, MT.

Raising Gus -- A Public Lands Story

Raising Gus | A public lands story from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo.
The Eaton family headed out on a year-long journey fishing our public lands/waters throughout the country. In this video they share their experiences and talk about what public lands mean to them and their children.
Go to www.tu.org/publiclands to find out more.