Tippets: Action for the Tongass, History of American Shad, Britain’s Chalk Streams Under Threat, Restoring Guadalupe Bass

June 22, 2016 By: Erin Block

  • Senator Lisa Murkowski has introduced language into a draft wildfire bill that would stop the Tongass Land Management Plan, putting vital salmon habitat at risk. Take action here and ask Senator Murkowski to drop this provision.
  • Sarah Laskow writes about the saga of American shad, “The problem isn’t that we aggressively overfished shad populations or consciously exterminated them. We just made it much, much harder for them to reproduce.” The problem is dams, which prevent this native and once abundant fish from reaching spawning grounds. Read more via Atlas Obscura.
  • Britain’s famous chalk streams are under threat from multiple directions, including agricultural and road run off. But anglers are leading the way to restore healthy ecosystems, insect populations and fisheries. Via The Telegraph.
  • Matt Miller writes about restoring Guadalupe bass in the Blanco River in Texas’ Hill Country, and how oddly enough, native fish restoration in the Blanco “received a big boost from the most unlikely of sources, a devastating drought.” Via The Nature Conservancy.