Editor’s note: To celebrate the holiday season, we are counting down the twelve days of Christmas with a fly-fishing theme. (Yes, we realize that the actual Twelvetide celebration comes after Christmas, but that didn’t seem as fun.) We’re using classic posts that align with the lyrics of the traditional tune as closely as possible. Some of the most important “pipes” for fly fishers are culverts, which often cut off fish from good spawning habitat, which is why Orvis and Trout Unlimited teamed up to create the 1,000 Miles Campaign.
“On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven pipers piping. . .”
The Orvis/TU 1,000 Miles Campaign is an ongoing project to reconnect streams across the U.S., creating miles of spawning habitat and fishable water. Here’s a great video that explains why the work being done on culverts is so important to anglers. As TU’s Chris Wood says, “This is real basic. You know what we’re doing? We’re making fishing better.” Hard to argue with that.
Click here to visit the Orvis/TU 1,000 Miles Commitment page.
The more habitat opened to spawning, the more fish like this Bonneville cutthroat trout anglers can pursue.
photo courtesy Trout Unlimited