Tippets: Endangered Status for Thompson Steelhead, EPA Suspends Clean Water Rule, Whirling Disease Found in Tennessee

February 21, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • Thompson River steelhead are now officially considered endangered under the Species At Risk Act in Canada. A recent assessment by The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada has determined populations in the Thompson River and Chilcotin River to be “at imminent risk of extinction,” writes Ross Purnell. Via Fly Fisherman.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency has suspended the 2015 Clean Water Rule. “EPA has promised to unveil a proposal this spring to ‘replace’ the 2015 Clean Water Rule with an interpretation that could eliminate clean water protections for headwater streams and millions of acres of wetlands,” writes Sam Davidson,”and could be disastrous for our nation’s waterways.”
  • Tennessee’s first known occurrence of whirling disease was recently found in populations of trout in the South Holston and Watauga tailwaters. Via The Chattanoogan.