Tippets: Grazing Goats, Headwaters Matter, Black & White

June 17, 2014 By: Erin Block

  • Bozeman’s Fish Technology Center is getting help controlling weeds with Boer goats. 400 were recently dropped off at the facility for a two-week stay to cut down invasive species such as leafy spurge, Scottish thistle and knapweed, to make room for native plant species.
  • In support of updates to the Clean Water Act, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited David Nickum wrote a recent op-ed in The Denver Post on why headwaters matter. “There is a bedrock natural law that anglers and most people understand as common sense-all waters are connected,” writes Nickum. “If we trash or pollute a creek upstream, it could affect downstream conditions as well.”
  • In the high, muddy waters of spring runoff, black and white patterns often are the most effective. Think rainy afternoons and Turner Classic Movies. “Conventional wisdom is, when water is stained, fish brightly colored flies. That works to a point, but when fish lose their ability to see color altogether the logic breaks down,” writes Louis Cahill. “What does a bright pink fly look like in black and white?”