The true worth of fishing, as the experienced, sophisticated angler comes to realize, lies in the memorable contacts with people and other living creatures, scenes and places, and the living waters great and small which it provides. -Sparse Grey Hackle
One of the really cool things about getting involved in something new is seeing the recognition grow. When I picked up a tenkara rod for the first time I had no idea it would become such a part of my life.
On the cover: Flyfishing Without A Reel
Since then I have had the opportunity to introduce tenkara to people who then do a story about tenkara. Of course I appreciate the coverage of tenkara and naturally since I am a bit of a ham, enjoy seeing my name and face in print.
The article and photo’s in Garden & Gun August/September issue may very well be my favorite. It gave me a chance me to introduce two new friends to tenkara, fish in my favorite places and because of their excellent craftsmanship, share tenkara with Garden & Gun’s readers.
First stop was Ramsey’s Draft with the article’s author Donovan Webster. Don was an accomplished fly fisherman and he was a quick study with the tenkara rod. As you will see, Don did an outstanding job of capturing the essence of tenkara in his article Whisper Fishing.
Michael J.N. Bowles is an extremely talented photojournalist and no slouch with a fly rod as well. He was a bit reluctant to pick up the tenkara rod since he was supposed to be shooting images not fishing. When he finally did and caught a fish, his excitement was infectious. You can see his marvelous photos from our trip to the Rapidan River in Fly Fishing Without A Reel.
Garden & Gun is a favorite in our house and has been long before I was fortunate enough to grace its pages. If you want great writing and beautiful photography steeped in southern charm, then do yourself a favor and subscribe.
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The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation caught a lot of flak for supporting legislation to open up roadless and wilderness areas. There membership didn’t agree with that position and RMEF to its great credit withdrew its support. Read it here.
More on this topic later but for now some brilliance from Hal Herring: Roads to Nowhere
Here is a taste,
“What we are witnessing with the demand to dismiss any new discussion of wilderness or roadless public lands is part of the tremendous move in our country to privatize wildlife and to make the quality hunting and fishing available only to those who can afford to buy land and rivers, lease hunting rights, to bring hunting and fishing into line with the other privileges that are the sole province of the wealthy.”
and his parting comment,
“I’m not saying that we need to start declaring wilderness and roadless designations willy-nilly across the public lands. I am saying that we don’t need politicians to wave their manicured hands and declare the debate over, and declare themselves, their ideology, and their contributors’ the winners.”
Ravaged by toxins spilling from the abandoned Eagle Mine near its headwaters, the Eagle River went sour in the early 1990s before the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program helped it return to life over the course of a 10-year cleanup.
If the fishing downstream from the mine this week serves as any indicator, the resilient river has mounted quite a comeback.
Just another example of that simple equation: healthy habitat equals opportunity that creates economic activity.
Here is a an update on the conservation funding bill that is headed to the House floor next week. The administration weighed in this afternoon with a STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY on H.R. 2584, The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
The SAP, as they are known, is five pages of details of the funding and policy problems created by this bill should it become law. Worth a read if you are still unsure how bad this is…
Just to prove it is not just the renegades over at the Appropriations Committee trying to undermine conservation and environmental policy, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to gut the Clean Water Act by passing H.R. 2018, The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act.
Conservation, Sportsmen’s and Outdoor Industry Organizations Oppose H.R. 2018
Before the vote, The American Fly Fishing Trade Association, Trout Unlimited, The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Izaak Walton League of America and The National Wildlife Federation sent a letter strongly objecting to this legislation.
The bill would adversely affect waterways nationwide, and would lessen protective standards provided by the Clean Water Act for 38 years. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held no legislative hearings on the bill, and rushed to pass it through committee. The bill deserves far more scrutiny.
Yup, you read that correctly. This legislation didn’t get a hearing, in fact the bill was introduced at the end of May and apparently the need to gut the Clean Water is such a high priority for the Republican leadership in the House it got to the floor in short order.
Puts nation’s waters, fish and wildlife at risk.
H.R. 2018 proposes sweeping changes to the Clean Water Act that would undercut the progress the Act has made in restoring our waters over the last four decades. The bill purports to strengthen “cooperative federalism” by giving the states more control over EPA’s Clean Water Act oversight. In fact, the bill undermines the federal‐state partnership on which the Clean Water Act is based.
We would welcome committee consideration of an appropriate increased role for the states. However, as written this bill clearly is intended to weaken implementation of the Clean Water Act.
Of course water tends to travel across state lines so while one state might hold the water in the state in high regard, their up stream neighbor might not be so conscientious. That was one of the reasons for having the Clean Water Act in the first place.
Habitat equals opportunity that creates economic activity
Clean water is key to 40 million anglers who spend about $45 billion a year and about 2.3 million hunters spending $1.3 billion each year hunting ducks and other migratory birds. The U.S. House continues to ignore the simple economics of outdoor recreation in favor of poorly conceived “solutions” to unfounded “problems”.
Who voted for this?
Wondering how your Representative voted? You can check the final vote results for Roll Call 573 here.
