Welcome to the latest installment of the Wednesday Wake-Up Call, a weekly 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, Bullsugar.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. Pebble Mine Updates
● Comment Period on Pebble draft EIS comes to a close
The final push for comments on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for Pebble Mine is over, as the comment period ended at midnight on July 1. Thanks to everyone who made their voices heard. According to the folks at Save bristol Bay, hundreds of thousands of comments were submitted, adding to the more than 2 million anti-Pebble comments submitted over the past decade.
Click here to learn more about where we go now.
● Thousands of Scientists Make Their Voices Heard on the draft EIS
Comments to the Army Corps of Engineers from thousands of fisheries scientists, resource managers, biologists and former mine employees make clear that Pebble Mine’s Environmental Impact Statement is anything but the rigorou?scientific assessment that Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others have said the project demands.
The comment period for the mine’s EIS ended at 11:59 p.m. July 1?
“When we started to look at the EIS in detail, we at first thought that we had failed to receive the whole thing, it was so deficient,” said SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol. “Unfortunately those deficiencies were not mistakes, but a calculated effort to gloss over or outright ignore major issues.
Click here for the full story from The Bristol Bay Times.
● The EPA Criticizes the Pebble draft EIS in a 100-page Comment
The EPA’s 100-page comment criticizes the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Pebble mine proposal. The EPA says the draft report lacks critical information and likely underestimates the risk the project poses to water quality and aquatic resources.
Click here for the full story from Alaska Public Media.
2. Tell Congress to Save the Everglades
The folks at The Everglades Foundation continue to urge Americans who care about Everglades restoration to send a message to their legislators, urging them to fund the Army Corps of Engineers’ Everglades restoration at the $200 million level that is needed to meet the federal obligation to complete these critical projects. This amount has already been earmarked to help the River of Grass, but Congress must release the funds.
Click here to email your members of Congress!
● What You Need to Know about Everglades Restoration Right Now
On the Captains for Clean Water website, there’s a great rundown of where things stand and what needs to happen for Everglades restoration to move forward. The article ends with an excellent exhortation: “Stay informed. Stay engaged on the issues. Show your support for the progress made. And don’t lose hope. Together, we will fix Florida and save our Everglades.”
Click here to read the whole story.
● Five Things to Know about Blue-Green Algae
So far, South Florida has not seen the widespread algae blooms that have plagued coastal waters in recent years, but that doesn’t mean that the state is out of danger. A great article on tampabay.com offers a primer on the causes, effects, and possible solutions.
Click here for the full story from tampabay.com.
3. Restoring Rock Creek’s Westslope Cutthroat Trout
Writing on the Trout Unlimited blog, the organization’s president and CEO, Chris Wood, describes efforts to restore a little-known population of westslope cutthroats in Montana’s famed Rock Creek. Working with farmers to improve irrigation technology is a big part of the project, and it’s great to see conservation organizations and landowners working together.
Wow, what great photos!