The Middle River Group, LLC

fly fishing, conservation and politics.

Conservation

Chris Hunt shouldn’t have to kiss a Llama…

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My good friend Chris Hunt who writes the very entertaining and informative Eat More Brook Trout has prostrated himself before the hat gods.

He read about my Waxed Cotton Cap like this one:

Waxed Cotton Stormy Kromer Cap

But what he really wants is a Hunter Green Original Wool Stormy Kromer Cap like this one:

Original Stormy Kromer Wool Cap

I feel for him…

they are pretty sweet brain toppers…

So I am taking up a collection of sorts for Mr. Hunt. So he no longer suffers from lid envy and keeps his creative noggin warm.

Drop a line to Stormy Kromer Mercantile and tell them you think Chris deserves a hat. Include this link – http://www.eatmorebrooktrout.com/2011/04/coveting-thy-lid.html – to his blog post so they know what the hell is going on.

It is the least we can do for the poor boy.

 

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Thinking About – Fish Hatcheries

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Been thinking about hatcheries lately.

The next year’s budget for federal fish hatcheries got hit with the budget axe and there are some folks who are pretty sore about it. The “whys” and “wherefores” are complicated. You are gonna have to take my word on that part. That is not something frankly I feel much like writing about.

Uncomfortable questions got me thinking

Read more after the jump > [Read more…] about Thinking About – Fish Hatcheries

Are “we” broke?

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I have been part of a conversation with some folks over on the Outdoor Blogger Network‘s forum about conservation funding.

We are talking about what “we” can afford and who is paying their fair share. So when I read E. J. Dionne’s  What if we’re not broke? this morning it got my attention. It offers an intriguing look at the “we’re broke” matra and what is behind it.

Some of us are going broke, or at least headed that way. It sort of depends on who “we” are however. There are some folks doing very well and some options off that table that perhaps should not be.

Worth the read.

And don’t be surprised if it becomes grist for the discussion over on OBN…

 

Sportsmen’s Organizations Oppose Conservation Cuts

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A deliberate move away from America’s long conservation tradition…

Responding to the draconian cuts passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in HR 1, 42 of the country’s leading hunting, fishing and outdoor organizations sent a letter to the U. S. Senate today urging restoration of funding to conservation programs.

The key point for me:

While we fully acknowledge that conservation programs should shoulder a fair and proportional burden of reductions to the Federal budget as required to address the budget deficit, these provisions of HR 1, in our view, represent a deliberate move away from America’s long conservation tradition and, specifically with respect to the interests of the hunting, fishing and outdoor community. We are very disappointed that the House considered these actions without consultation with the hunting, fishing and conservation community, and appeal to you to please give significant and favorable consideration to our perspectives. These vital conservation programs with long-standing track records of success are foundational to fish, wildlife and habitat conservation, good for the economy in creating jobs particularly in rural communities, and critical to providing opportunities for access to and enjoyment of fish and wildlife resources by America’s sportsmen and sportswomen. [emphasis mine]

You can add your voice with this Action Alert from Trout Unlimited

Full letter after the jump.
[Read more…] about Sportsmen’s Organizations Oppose Conservation Cuts

A Conservation Nightmare

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We were warned

When Bob Marshal wrote, This will be the year that will test the commitment of the outdoors community, he gave us fair and early warning of the assault on conservation that was coming.

The conservation battles sportsmen fought to protect fish and wildlife habitat in the past may seem like speed bumps to the wall being raised in Washington this year.

Hal Herring took up the battle cry when he wrote Are There Any Politicians Who Really Understand Sportsmen’s Concerns?

What is disturbing is that we seem to have lost any conservative political leaders who understand sportsmen’s concerns, or, in the same vein, who recognize that there can be value in undisturbed land, or waters, or that intact ecosystems, with their healthy game and fish populations, also hold economic value in producing clean water, clean air, grazing, wildlife, flood or invasive weed control, all those elements that may not always add to the bottom line of corporate profit, but are the actual bottom line of life on this planet.

Not long after that Kirk Deeter added his voice in Should Conservation Be a Political Issue?

In my humble opinion, conservation shouldn’t be a political issue. It should be a cultural issue. And in that regard, I think those doing the real heavy lifting to protect wild places for fishing and hunting aren’t so much “green” as they are “camo.”

U.S. House takes an axe to conservation

Yesterday Deeter sounded the alarm loud and strong in his reaction to the US House of Representatives passage of HR1, Proposed Conservation Funding Cuts Could Devastate Fly Fishing Resources.

HR1 is a bill in Congress right now that would slash funding for a number of important conservation programs that impact fly fishing from coast to coast. I don’t care what your political persuasion is…if you’re a fly fisher, this should concern you, because any threat to habitat is a threat to opportunity. And in many cases, once a resource is gone, it’s gone.

He joins calls to action from Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited!

Are you getting the message yet? If not, then you are not paying attention!

[Read more…] about A Conservation Nightmare