Conservation

What Is a "Cutt-Slam?"

Fishing slams are an interesting concoction that offer a legitimate challenge for those looking for a new challenge. In the most general sense, a fishing slam is when an angler catches two or more species of fish in a day. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) recognizes a few different types of slams, including the Fantasy Slam (five species in a...

Why Hatchery Salmon and Steelhead Are Dangerous

MidCurrent has recently reported on a few of the challenges facing wild salmon and steelhead across the world. Hatchery-raised salmon and steelhead pose a serious threat to wild fish, but it's not always clear why, even to those who consider themselves well-versed in conservation. This recent article in Fly Fisherman Magazine can help alleviate some of...

Montana Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Kids

Four years ago, a group of sixteen kids filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana, alleging the state has violated its constitution by prioritizing fossil fuel development over the health and safety of Montana residents. According to Hatch Magazine, that case made it all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, where the justices ruled in favor of the...

Stocking Brookies to Save Cutthroat

I've had the pleasure of documenting many cutthroat restoration efforts over the past decade, mostly in Utah, where I grew up. But this recent story from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is one of the most interesting cutthroat conservation tales I've ever heard. Rachel Gonzales wrote the story for Colorado Outdoors, and I highly recommend you read the...

Opinion: The Biggest Environmental Win Ever for Trout Anglers?

In reporting on recent legislation passed by the United State Congress, Kirk Deeter, over at Fly Lab, questions whether this new bill is perhaps the biggest environmental win ever for trout anglers. Deeter makes this claim about the recently-passed Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hard Rock Mines Act, which was approved in "the House by voice vote...

Washington State Poised to Ban Net Pen Aquaculture

According to the Wild Fish Conservancy, Washington state is "on the verge" of permanently banning and removing net pen aquaculture from Puget Sound. Net pen aquaculture is the practice of raising fish in pens in the ocean. For years, it was seen as a way to keep robust populations of endangered fish from going extinct (alongside hatcheries located on the...

Federal Funding Helping Brook Trout

Thanks to funding from president Joe Biden's America the Beautiful Challenge, a tri-state initiative in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York will benefit native brook trout throughout the upper Delaware River watershed. According to Zoe Read from WHYY, this group will get just over $3 million to help "federal and state environmental agencies, as well as...

Opinion: Monumental Decision

Tom Bie, editor and publisher of The Drake, recently wrote a story on the magazine's website about a potential new national monument. It's become common for presidents to designate national monuments on their way out of office, and with Joe Biden leaving in a little over a month, Bie thinks this presents an opportunity to permanently protect a unique area...

Alaskan Group Voices Concern Over Gold Mine

Salmon Beyond Borders, a conservation group focusing on maintaining and sustaining wild salmon populations in Alaska and Canada, has voiced its opposition to a new gold mine. New plans have been filed to develop the New Polaris Gold Mine Project in the headwaters of the Taku River system, which flows into the Gulf of Alaska just outside of the state's...

Pollution May be Stalling Carp Invasion

Invasive silver carp are a problem just about everywhere they're found here in the U.S. But according to Nora Schoenberg at the Chicago Tribune, pollution in the Illinois River may be slowing the silver carp down near Chicago. Carp made it to the Illinois River, about 50 miles from Chicago, nearly ten years ago, but they haven't moved into Lake Michigan...