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, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, and Conservation Hawks (among others), we’ll make sure you’ve got the information you need to understand the issues and form solid opinions.
1. Klamath Dam Removal Project On Track to Open 420 Miles of Salmon Habitat This Fall
For the first time since 1918, an astonishing 420 miles of salmon habitat in the Klamath River watershed in California and Oregon will be fully connected by September. This results from the world’s largest dam removal effort, the Klamath River Renewal Project. The amount of habitat opened up on the Klamath is equivalent to the distance between Portland, Maine, and Philadelphia–a journey through seven states. . . .
“I think in September, we may have some Chinook salmon and steelhead moseying upstream and checking things out for the first time in over 60 years,” says Bob Pagliuco, NOAA marine habitat resource specialist. “Based on what I’ve seen and what I know these fish can do, I think they will start occupying these habitats immediately. There won’t be any great numbers at first, but within several generations—10 to 15 years—new populations will be established.”
Click here for the full story in the Lost Coast Outpost
Related Stories:
- The Salmon Diaries: Life Before and After Klamath Dam Removal, on ucdavis.edu
- Four Dam Removals on the Klamath River, with Amy Bowers Cordalis, on Resources Radio
2. Warm Water Threatens Northwest Salmon Runs
Although the Columbia River system is experiencing some record salmon runs, rising water temperatures threaten the health of the fish returning from the sea.
“Those water temperatures are warmer than ever this year,” said Tom Iverson, regional coordinator for the Yakama Nation Fisheries. “Literally, they’re almost too warm to swim in.”
That’s because the fish — including a record run of nearly 740,000 sockeye past the Bonneville Dam at border of Washington and Oregon as of Sunday, nearly 235 percent above the 10-year average — prefer a water temperature below 68 degrees.
The Okanogan River, which will be traversed by the majority of those fish during the final leg of their journey into British Columbia and a series of four chain lakes, has reached temperatures of nearly 83 degrees in recent days, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.
Click here to read more from E&ENews
3. Help Stop Overharvesting of Baitfish
Saltwater anglers recognize the importance of forage fish, such as menhaden and herring, to the health of the ecosystem and the fishery. The mass removal of these species through commercial netting is having serious consequences all along the Atlantic seaboard. This is why sportsmen and sportswomen are calling for regional fisheries managers to change their approach to managing forage fish like menhaden and herring.
Click here to learn more at trcp.org
4. House Appropriators Move To Slash Funding, Target Public Lands
[On July 9], the House Appropriations Committee voted on party lines to advance an Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that would slash funding for federal land management agencies for Fiscal Year 2025, reducing funding levels for the second year in a row. As one of the nation’s leading grassroots advocacy groups aimed at conserving North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) stands strongly in opposition. If enacted, this budget would have significant negative impacts for public lands and waters, and the hunters and anglers who rely on them.
“The increased funding cuts for the management of our public lands represents a devastating attack on the foundation of our hunting and fishing heritage, and the valuable fish and wildlife habitat that benefits all Americans,” said BHA President and CEO Patrick Berry. “The bill would gut agency funding, significantly weaken conservation efforts on millions of acres, reverse ground-breaking land management strategies, and undermine science-based management of sage-grouse. We strongly oppose this bill which clearly shows disdain for the public lands that provide opportunities for millions of hunters and anglers.”
Learn more from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
5. Profile of a Conservationist: Wade Fellin
Wade Fellin is an established guide, outfitter, and coldwater fisheries advocate. As a founding member of Save Wild Trout, Fellin works with a coalition of anglers, river advocates, citizens, and businesses to protect wild trout for the benefit of all by developing science-based solutions aimed at protecting cold-water fisheries for future generations.
A native Montanan, Wade Fellin has spent his life exploring, guiding, and stewarding the wild, trout-rich rivers of Montana’s Big Hole Valley. Concerned about the declining health of Montana’s wild trout fisheries due to climate change and other factors, Fellin has worked with Save Wild Trout to address the urgent need for conservation actions to preserve these vital natural resources and to coalesce a community around the shared values of clean water and vibrant, healthy rivers.