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. LAST DAY to Make Your Voice Heard on Roadless Protections in the Tongass
The Roadless Rule has been instrumental in conserving Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass National Forests and growing the economy of the state for almost 20 years. Tell the U.S. Forest Service that you want to see important areas for fish and wildlife on Alaska’s forests to continue to be conserved. The folks at America’s Salmon Forest have created a Take Action page to help you send the Forest Service a message.
Click here to make your voice heard TODAY.
2. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is Pro Mining but Opposes Pebble
As a Senator from the coal-mining state of West Virginia, Joe Manchin could never be accused of being anti-mining. Yet in a recent interview, he made clear his feelings about Pebble Mine:
I’ll give you the perfect example, the Pebble mine. There’s no way, shape or form that the Pebble mine should go forward when you are basically going to have the chance at ruining one of the greatest fisheries in the world.
That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. The reward is just not there. Why would we do it? So, [Murkowski] knows my position on that. And I was the one who voted for the [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge], because I saw her position and went up and visited the area.
So, you try to look at things in a pragmatic way: What’s the benefit, what’s the risk and what’s the balance between the environment and the economy?
So the next time someone tells you that anyone against Pebble is anti-mining, point them in the direction of Senator Manchin.
Click here for the full story.
3. Progress in the Fight to Restore the Everglades
The South Florida Water Management District has awarded a contract for the removal of 5.5 miles of old Tamiami Trail road bed that restricts the flow of water to the south, through the Everglades. It’s just another step in the process of restoring the historic water flow through the River of Grass.
“Removing this old road will facilitate flows into Everglades National Park and allow natural habitat within this Wetland of International Importance to re-establish,” said Erik Eikenberg, CEO of The Everglades Foundation.
Click here for the full story.
4. LA Times Op-Ed Comes Out Strong Against Pebble Mine
In an op-ed recently, LA Times contributing writer Jacques Leslie writes that “the proposed Pebble Mine project in Alaska stands out for its shamelessness.” He goes on to describe how the current administration has gone out of its way to breathe life back into the Pebble Project, which seemed on the brink of collapse.