Photo Courtesy Rep. Simpson's Office. Idaho's 2nd District G.O.P. Rep. Mike Simpson, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Stanley-to-Redfish Lake Trail. 

The Bold Effort. An Idaho Congressman shares his thoughts.

Conservation, Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2020, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2020, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Salmon/Steelhead2 Comments

In April 2019, Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, gave a somewhat stunning keynote address at an environmental conference hosted by Boise State’s Andrus Center for Public Policy. His comments were thoughtful, educated, and encouraging. But mostly, they were surprising, particularly his thoughts about what might be necessary to save Idaho salmon. Rep. Simpson and I discussed the topic in mid-December, and his quotes below come from his keynote and our conversation. Can Idaho salmon truly be saved? No one knows. But the Congressman has been down a similarly daunting path. In 2015, Mr. Simpson’s 15-year effort to broker a seemingly impossible deal resulted in the creation of Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness. (Which Mark Menlove covered in his 2014 feature, “A Fisherman’s Monument.”) If wild salmon and steelhead can indeed be saved, then Rep. Simpson is providing these essential fish the best shot they’ve had in decades.

Drake Magazine Southeast Alaska Tongass

Photo by Jim Klug

The Roadless Rule in America’s Salmon Forest

Conservation, Daily Drake, Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2019, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, Opinion, Policy/Politics/Laws, Salmon/SteelheadLeave a comment

“Judge Sharon Gleason, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Alaska, ruled last week that the Forest Service violated federal law by approving future logging in the 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest.”

I pay my bills here in Southeast Alaska, at least in part, by having short and intense conversations on airplanes. I help wedge wadered clients from all over the globe into DeHavilland Beavers, then drop in on some of the planet’s most spectacular temperate rainforest

A FAT BATCH OF NEWLY MINTED ELWHA CHROME.

PHOTO BY SHANE ANDERSON

Undeleted – Story of Elwha River

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2019, Salmon/Steelhead, The Put In, TroutLeave a comment

The return of the Elwha’s steelhead Give a rainbow trout a direct line to the ocean and you have a potential steelhead. Throw a dam in its path and watch anadromy hit a wall. Salmonids in Washington State’s Elwha River, on the northeastern edge of the rain-soaked Olympic Peninsula, found their long-lost gateway to the…

A Magnificent Seven

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2018, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, The Put In, U.S. places1 Comment

Craft beer and flyfishing go together like Jell-O shots and bachelorette parties. In the fishier towns in America you’ll find angling-themed beers of every taste and style, from Trout Slayer Wheat Ale (Big Sky Brewing, Missoula, MT) to Cutthroat Porter (Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, CO) to Steelhead Extra Pale Ale (Mad River Brewing, Humboldt County,…

Salmon in Pebble Bay Alaska

Stand for Salmon in Pebble Bay

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2018, Policy/Politics/Laws, Salmon/Steelhead, The Put InLeave a comment

Every year for the past decade the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay seems to die, only to rise again from its still-warm ashes. Despite lawsuits, a rigorous permitting process, and continued opposition by local organizations, Sam Snyder, campaign manager for the Wild Salmon Center, says the mega-mine isn’t just hanging on, it’s gaining momentum.…

Pete Soverel works for Salmon Conservation

At the Helm- Salmon Conservation

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Spring 2018, Fly Fishing Industry, Salmon/SteelheadLeave a comment

The status of wild winter-steelhead populations can drive the most committed steelheaders to seek refuge near the fringes of Salmo Mykiss’ geographical range—fewer anglers can mean a few more fish. So, after 19 hours of driving, I pull my truck into the dark driveway descending to a rustic lakefront cabin. Towering cedars block what scant…

Pebble Mine will effect the whole ecosystem.

Reignited – Pebble Mine Project

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2017, Policy/Politics/Laws, Salmon/SteelheadLeave a comment

The proposed Pebble Mine, subject of 20 years of controversy, 2.2 million public comments, a dozen Congressional hearings, multiple documentary films, media campaigns, ballot initiatives, lawsuits, and the most ubiquitous sticker in all of fishingdom, is back on the table. Seemingly the result of one 30-minute meeting between two men: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and…

A public-lands debate at your doorstep

Utah’s Monument Problem

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2017, Policy/Politics/LawsLeave a comment

IN THE SPRING OF 1996, President Bill Clinton created the 1.8-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, encircling a swath of twisted canyon country in southern Utah. Using the Antiquities Act, he sidestepped Congress—as 16 presidents have done, creating 157 national monuments—and delivered the proclamation in a ceremony on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Umpqua Feather Merchants collaborates to conserve habitat in Tongass National Forest.

Umpqua Marks 45th Anniversary with $45k Pledge

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LOUISVILLE, CO — Forty-five years ago, Umpqua Feather Merchants opened its doors to anglers and shops in search of high-quality flies and unmatched variety. Now it’s wrapping its anniversary celebration around a good cause, collaborating with Trout Unlimited and the Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska to raise $45,000 to help conserve and restore key salmon and…

Son of Forks, Washington

Gray Struznik

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2016, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, Salmon/Steelhead6 Comments

IT’S NOT DIFFICULT to imagine the tiny community of Forks, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, kindling the kind of small-town restlessness that prompts its sons and daughters to move elsewhere. But Gray Struznik, born into this land of tall trees and deep puddles, was never struck by that desire to bounce. Instead, he stayed and…

IT’S AN EARLY MAY MORNING IN SOUTHEAST ALASKA AND I WAKE TO THE SOUND OF SOMETHING EATING CRACKERS.

Two Sides of Southeast Alaska

Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2012, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Spring 2012, Lifestyle, Salmon/Steelhead, U.S. places2 Comments

Rolling over from my plywood perch on the top bunk, I peer down to see all three of my cabinmates asleep. So I rule them out. Slipping the headlamp from beneath my pillow and turning on the light reveals not one but two Alaska-sized mice sitting on top of a cooler, munching saltines. I stare…

The Greatest Steelhead State that Never Was

The State Of Jefferson

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2011, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2011, Humor, Lifestyle, Salmon/Steelhead, U.S. places1 Comment

STATE OF ARMS AS WOULD ANY GUY SPAWNED FROM THE gravels of Oregon, I had deep reservations about driving the backroads of my home state in a rig blasphemed by California plates. It was a red Tacoma with a watertight canopy and a rod rack permanently bolted to its hood, an otherwise brilliant fishing truck,…

One man’s battle to free the Klamath

Flowing Ambition

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Spring 2016, Lifestyle, Policy/Politics/Laws7 Comments

[The Obama administration and California officials are set to announce an agreement to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, sidestepping Congress to restore its salmon and steelhead fisheries. The move would result in the largest river restoration in U.S. history. A news conference trumpeting the deal will take place today at the Yurok Reservation in…