Rick Crawford
April is Earth Month, and even though we are living in some truly strange times with COVID-19, I am glad to be able to share a message of hope with my interview with Trout Unlimited President and CEO, Chris Wood! We discuss everything from environmental threats to cold water species; how TU is applying natural climate solutions by protecting, reconnecting and restoring cold water streams; and how TU is the leading conservation organization working to protect the Clean Water Act, save Bristol Bay and help solve climate change with the Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act. Hope you enjoy!
Trout Unlimited has 100’s of chapters across the country who do amazing work restoring streams and hosting clean ups and they are a great organization to get involved with if you are looking make a positive impact in your community. Here are some stats from 2019 demonstrating what Trout Unlimited is doing to protect what we love:
- Protected 1,142 river miles by keeping “backcountry land intact, improving water quality downstream, and providing a stronghold for native fish and other species.“
- Reconnected 418 river miles by removing obsolete dams and diversions, installing fish ladders and fish passage resulting in sufficient water left so that fish can migrate through the river.
- Restored 508 river miles by reconnecting tree shaded river to the flood plain, protecting water quality through better grazing and development practices and reducing industrial and agricultural pollution.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of amazing work Trout Unlimited does for our trout and salmon. If you’d like to support Trout Unlimited’s work, I would encourage you to become a Trout Unlimited member today and also get involved with your local chapter. If you’d like to take action on the policy front, here are some important issues TU is working on:
Special thanks to Chris Wood for the interview, and thanks to our sponsor OluKai for sponsoring this episode of The Sustainable Angler podcast, which is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Also, special thanks to YOU for listening! If you like what you are hearing, it would help us out a lot if you gave us a follow, rating or review and/or subscribed and shared our episodes through social media so that we can continue to educate and create more awareness about environmental threats to our fisheries while also sharing success stories that inspire action!