Middle River Dispatches

A gumbo of fly-fishing, conservation, politics and days afield, for what it is worth....

Water is my business

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As a fly fishing guide,  a member of the board of directors of the America Fly Fishing Trade Association and president of the Massanutten Chapter of Trout Unlimited, I spend a lot of time thinking about water. The fact is, I make part of my living in water and without it much of what I hold dear would be lost.

Lately I have found myself drawn back into conversations about clean water and the need to protect it. EPA has a rule making underway and there are some who would like to undermine that effort. In looking around the inter webs recently, I came across an excellent report from Trout Unlimited. Rising to the Challenge shows just how important small, seasonal and headwater streams are and why they need to be protected.

TU shares a pretty simple equation (not unlike one you see often on this blog) and points out three things that make a healthy stream.

  • Cold, clean water
  • Habitat for juvenile fish to hide, and for big fish to grown and spawn
  • Sensible rules that protect streams from development

Pretty simple Venn diagram if you ask me.

The report shows “the connection between seasonal streams that may run dry at certain times of the year (i.e., “intermittent and ephemeral” streams) and historic trout and salmon habitat.”

There are maps for 14 states, including Virginia below:

TU VA WOTUS Map

 

Download the report and learn how you can make water your business too.

If you want to learn more about EPA’s rule making here is a link > http://www2.epa.gov/uswaters

Here is some information from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership > http://www.trcp.org/issues/wetlands/cleanwateract#.VDHMnr51qaF

 

 

Stewardship and Mentoring

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S BLOG

With Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward. Photo by Marie Majarov

One of the exciting things about being OWAA’s executive director is the chance to visit with other outdoor communicators.Recently I had the chance to attend the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association’s annual meeting. Here are a couple of highlights.

Virginia’s new Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward gave the keynote at the conference. We had a chance to visit and talk about the stewardship of our natural resources and the importance of outdoor recreation to Virginia’s economy. Encouraging the public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources is part of OWAA’s mission and having the chance to tell Secretary Ward about how important OWAA members and supporters are that effort was time well spent.

The Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, like OWAA, has an excellence in craft contest. Matt Reilly, an OWAA student member, was one of the winners. The cool thing about Matt was he was also a winner of Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development essay contest and went to Washington D.C. to meet the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. According to SFRED, “Jewell has said that engaging young people in conservation and nurturing their connection to the outdoors are critical to the health, economic and social benefits of conserving our public lands.” (http://sfred.org/media-center/news/youths-interior-secretary-talk-public-lands)

Sitting on the couches, from left, are Haley Powell, Rebecca Brown, Sally Jewell, Matthew Reilly and Jarred Kay. Photo by Tami A. Heilemann/DOI

Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development is a coalition dedicated to conserving irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on America’s public lands. The coalition is led by the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, all OWAA supporting groups.

Part of the OWAA mission is being mentors for the next generation of professional outdoor communicators. That part of our mission is critical to our future. I think you will agree the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development, and Secretary Jewell are doing a great job with that one.

 

In Good Company

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This week I got a somewhat cryptic Facebook message from my friend Toner at Truchacbra, “Congrats on the appearance in Trout, Tom.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

I then came upon this post on Troutrageous! “I Have Lost All Faith In Trout Unlimited.”

Kinda made me wonder what was going on?

Come to find out Dispatches is in some mighty fine company in the an article by Chris Hunt in the Spring 2012 issue of Trout.

It was an unexpected honor to share the “Ten Fly-Fishing Blogs You Should Check Out” with those other fine blogs. If you are looking for a ready-made blog roll this list would be hard to beat.

Blogging for Fish – Trout Spring 2012

Conservation Messengers

As Hunt notes in the article, there is a strong conservation message in these blogs. Hunt knows what he is writing about he not only works for TU, but also has a blog, Eat More Brook Trout that should be on this list as well.

What is interesting and important about this list is the conservation challenges these bloggers often write about. Conservation can be a tough beat. The policy and the politics can be rough going and sometimes the comments can be a bit troublesome to say the least. But these bloggers wade in and slug it out in both an informative and entertaining way. Blogs are an increasingly important channel of communication for getting the important conservation messages out to people. These folks are some of the very best at doing that. I am very proud to be in their company.

The Ten Fly-Fishing Blogs You Should Check Out list

Fly Talk

Buster Wants to Fish

Moldy Chum

The Fiberglass Manifesto

Troutrageous!

Compleat Thought

Dispatches from the Middle River

Chi Wulff

Gink and Gasoline

Trout Unlimited blog

And if you don’t belong to TU or haven’t renewed your membership, what are you waiting for. Go to TU.org now and throw a few extra $$$ in the pot for good measure.

Why more fish are bad for business.

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Editor Note: The post below showed up on OBN inviting other to use it as a guest post. The economic connection caught my attention.

Sounds counterintuitive doesn’t it, how can more fish be bad for business?

As Schustrom and Farling explain, angling numbers have declined on Flathead Lake as well as tourism dollars. Read below to learn why.

Not convinced? Check out this great Flathead lake fishery FAQ on Chi Wulff; The Battle to Restore the Flathead’s Bull and Cutthroat Trout Goes On…

Flathead Lake fishery collapsing thanks to non-native lake trout

By Chris Schustrom and Bruce Farling

This spring native westslope cutthroat and bull trout will stage for their epic journeys from Flathead Lake to spawning streams in the Middle and North Forks Flathead River.  Once quite common, their numbers are significantly diminished from the recent past because many cannot navigate the gauntlet of predacious non-native lake trout (and illegally introduced northern pike) that occupy the lake and river. Our neighbors, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, want to bolster the populations of native fish to once again provide a diverse sport fishery as well as revive an important part of tribal culture. With the support of anglers, the assistance of objective science and a review panel of biologists from state and federal agencies, as well as the university system, the tribes are working hard to strike a reasonable balance in the fishery at Flathead Lake. They deserve your support.

west slope cutthroat trout

Flathead Lake once hosted one of Montana’s most popular and robust sport fisheries, featuring millions of kokanee salmon, cutthroats, yellow perch, bull trout and lake trout. Today, the salmon are gone and cutthroat and bull trout numbers have been reduced dramatically. Also gone are many fishermen. Perch and lake whitefish remain, but their availability fluctuates year to year, depending on water levels and predation. Well-meaning state managers who introduced Mysis shrimp into the Flathead system in the 1980s triggered the decline in the lake’s fishery and fishing opportunities. The shrimp provide an ample food source for young lake trout, improving their survival rates. Once these lake trout get larger they feed on other fish. In the nineties the exploding lake trout population consumed about 10 million kokanee in Flathead Lake, collapsing perhaps the most popular lake fishery in the state. Angling numbers then dropped by about 50 percent.  When the kokanee disappeared, so did hundreds of bald eagles that gathered each fall to gorge on spawning salmon at McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park. Thousands of tourists then stopped coming to view the eagles. Tourism dollars dropped.

one of the bad guys, a non-native lake trout

The large lake trout population – as well as illegally introduced northern pike — also preys on bull trout. The result has been an alarming loss of the native fish in the lake and the connected North and Middle Forks. Today, adult bull trout in Flathead Lake are estimated to be only about 3,000 fish. Localized spawning populations continue to disappear. It is now illegal to fish for them. Scientists estimate lake trout numbers, however,are around 1.8 million. They are tough to catch without a large boat and specialized gear. Lake trout migrating from Flathead Lake have also nearly eliminated bull trout from 10 of 13 lakes on the west side of Glacier Park. Further, they have severely reduced cutthroat numbers in the upper Flathead system, reducing their population to less than half of what they were before Mysis arrived. Because many of the easier-to-catch cutthroats in the upper Flathead River system migrate from the lake, angling opportunities – and the tourism dollars they generate — in the Middle and North Forks are threatened by lake trout.

The near monoculture of lake trout in Flathead Lake threatens the future of sportfishing in the upper Flathead basin. The tribes, however, are addressing this challenge head-on. They are evaluating tools, including maintaining fishing tourneys coupled with limited and scientifically based netting, that can reduce the lake trout population to a reasonable number. This could reduce predation and benefit native bull and cutthroat trout, as well as other sportfish such as perch and lake whitefish. It would also still maintain a lake trout fishery for the minority of anglers who can afford powerboats and the specialized gear it takes to pursue them. Despite the fears of the small cadre of commercial charter operators who fish for lake trout, it would be impossible to eliminate their favored fish from Flathead Lake.

Without new approaches at Flathead Lake, bull trout and cutthroat trout will eventually be reduced to a tiny fraction of their historical numbers, or even extirpated. Without new approaches, angling opportunities and the economic benefits they generate, will continue to dwindle. Without trying, and instead turning the lake and river over to lake trout, we will be judged harshly by future Montanans who will never feel the tug of a large cutthroat on their line at Flathead Lake.

[signoff]

Sportsmen For The Green

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Fishin' the Green

A couple of years ago I had the chance to fish the Green River with the Rivers of Recovery crew. At the time the notion of taking billions of gallons of water from the river and the Flaming Gorge Resevoir was a side conversation to the fishing and companionship of my colleagues, the guides and the combat vets we were fishing with.

The Green River, Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the surrounding public lands offer some of the best fishing and hunting in the West. There is an $118 million recreation-based economy in the region. Unfortunately the absurd idea of taking water from the Green and sending it via pipeline to Colorado has not gone away. A Colorado developer, Aaron Million, wants to take 81 billion gallons a year out of the Green River and Flaming Gorge, and pump it 560 miles to the Front Range of Colorado.

As Trout Unlimited’s Walt Gasson said, “You know, Million pipeline is a proposal that is elegant in both its simplicity and its insanity.”

Take a moment to watch the video on the Sportsmen For The Green website. It is a compelling look at the Green River, Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the people who live, work and play there.

When you come right down to it the sheer madness of this proposal should be enough to doom it. But these days it seems bat shit crazy is a virtue so we can’t just hope this one goes away. If you want to lend a hand then click on this Join the Fight link.

Facts courtesy of Sportsmen For The Green:

Initial construction costs for this project will exceed $7 billion, with annual operating costs totaling over $123 million. Yet that’s not the worst part. The Million Pipeline is a potential economic and environmental boondoggle that could unleash a host of destructive impacts on local communities, fish and game habitats, and taxpayers in three states.   A pipeline project of this magnitude has the
potential to:

  • Ruin world class kokanee salmon and lake trout populations by
    increasing water temperatures and raising salinity levels.
  • Destroy the Blue-ribbon fishery for trophy rainbow and brown
    trout in the Green River.
  • Harm critical mule deer and pronghorn habitat and hunting
    opportunity.
  • De-water wetlands in the basin and impede waterfowl hunting.
  • Impact Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Browns Park
  • National Wildlife Refuge, Dinosaur National Monument, as
    well as Ouray National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Lower water levels significantly, making it virtually impossible
    to access the reservoir for recreation.
  • Further the spread of cheat grass, tamarisk and quagga mussels,
    which will harm hunting and fishing in the area.
  • Force the government to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer
    money to reconstruct boat launches, campgrounds, marinas,
    fishing piers and other access points.
  • Destroy a $118 million recreation-based economy the
    communities in the region depend on for their survival.
  • Slow the recovery of endangered native fish like the razorback
    sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, and bonytail chub. Until
    these fish are recovered and removed from listing under the
    Endangered Species Act, the area’s recreation-based
    economy will continue to operate with restrictions required
    under federal law.

Yup it sure is...

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!

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