Photo courtesy Montana Angler
Welcome to the latest installment of the Wednesday Wake-Up Call, a roundup of the most pressing conservation issues important to anglers. Working with our friends at Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Everglades Foundation, Captains for Clean Water, VoteWater.org, and Conservation Hawks (among others), we’ll make sure you’ve got the information you need to understand the issues and form solid opinions.
If you know of an important issue–whether it’s national or local–that anglers should be paying attention to, comment below, and we’ll check it out!
1. Interior Department Cancels Mining Leases, Ensuring Long-Term Protections for Boundary Waters
A broad coalition of hunters and anglers today applauded an announcement by the Department of the Interior to cancel two federal hardrock mineral leases located in the Superior National Forest within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness watershed, citing the importance of this move to sustaining the Boundary Waters’ recreational, economic and fish and wildlife values.
Click here for the full story on outdoorlife.com and backcountryhunters.org
2. Climate Change and Aquatic Invaders Threaten Native Trout
Photo by Craig D. Young
Using three decades of monitoring data, local researchers in northwestern Montana have revealed how the interplay of aquatic invaders and warming stream temperatures are driving steep declines in native trout populations. Bull trout and westslope cutthroats are particularly susceptible to these factors.
Click here for the full story in the Flathead Beacon
3. TU Launches New Yellowstone Initiative
Today, Trout Unlimited announced the formation of a new project designed to help protect a region beloved by anglers. The Yellowstone Basin Initiative will work to resolve water rights challenges and develop a legally enforceable drought plan. To protect against future threats, it will also build drought resiliency by partnering with ranchers and federal land managers to enhance existing floodplains and wetland habitats that store and release cold, clean water in the late summer, when fish need it most.
Click here for more on TU.org
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