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. What’s Next After Last Week’s Congressional Hearing on Pebble Mine?
Last week, we told you about the hearing before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, about Pebble Mine and the EPA’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The folks at Save Bristol Bay have put together a great round-up of where things stand and how the Pebble Partnership is ramping up its lobbying efforts in Washington.
“If it’s not financially viable, it’s not going to be built. And if it’s not going to be built, what the hell are we doing here today?” . . . At the end of the day, Pebble’s failure to conduct responsible, transparent and productive financial matters calls in to question their trustworthiness to build a mine in a unique and fragile environment.
Click here to read the full story.
More Pebble Mine news:
- Medium: World’s Salmon Supply in Jeopardy
- KTUU: EPA Granted Another Extension Regarding Pebble Mine
- LA Times: This Alaska mine could generate $1 billion a year. Is it worth the risk to salmon?
2. Watch “Artifishal” in Its Entirety
After making the rounds at festivals around the country, the film “Artifishal: The Fight to Save Wild Salmon” was released on Youtube today. Directed by Josh Murphy, the film is about people, rivers, and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores wild salmon’s slide toward extinction, threats posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms, and our continued loss of faith in nature.
Tell decision makers to stop wasting money on failed plans and invest in science-based solutions to save endangered wild salmon and orcas: Stop hatcheries, reduce harvest, remove dams and restore rivers.
3. Protecting Maine’s Arctic Char
Floods Pond in Maine is an outdoor laboratory for rare Arctic charr. Undeveloped and closed to angling, boating, swimming, etc., due to its use as a public water supply, we can detect big-picture problems such as climate that would be harder to detect in a water open to angling and other uses.
Click here for more on Maine’s arctic char.
4. Op Ed: We Need the Roadless Rule to Protect Trout and Salmon
Writing in the Juneau Empire, TU Southeast Alaska Program Director Mark Kaelke makes a compelling argument for why repealing the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest is bad for the native salmonids that inhabit the forest’s waters:
The national Roadless Rule has been in place in the Tongass for most of the past two decades. It has helped shape our tourism and fishing economy by maintaining strong salmon runs, lush old-growth forest, and clean air and water. How? By preventing new roads that would open the forest to clear-cut logging in undeveloped areas.
Artifishial is the best documentary that I have ever seen. A true inspiratio for anyone that loves and craves fisheries conservation!