Wilderness compromises don't please everyone

“When you’re willing to compromise your principles you’ve given up. You abandon them. When you compromise nature, nature gets compromised.”  -Conservation Pioneer Martin Litton who died on Nov. 30, 2014

While the Secretary of the Interior and groups like TU and TRCP held their noses and applauded compromises on wilderness bills and other public lands initiatives attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, some groups say the deals went too far.

Greenpeace, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Watersheds Project and a handful of Montana-based groups sent a letter to senators Monday urging them to remove the natural resources related provisions from the defense act.

Calling the public lands package a "stealth" provision driven by provincial political considerations, the groups say the bills will result in logging, mining and grazing in exchange for modest wilderness protections.

LINK (via:The Spokesman Review)

The top 5 offensive provisions of the public lands rider according to the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Our Most Valuable Resource Sits Here

Scott Thompson (Minturn Anglers guide) with a mini-steel grip and grin from a recent trip to Western NY.  Upon photo review, a more powerful message from above far outweighs the grip and grin.

Right place.  Right time.

Push for National Monument established to protect trout in West Virginia

Birthplace of Rivers is project is a citizen-based initiative to preserve a rare and iconic part of West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest.

WV Gazett highlights the effort here

Landmark Water Sale Near Sisters Could Help Steelhead

A Sisters-area development group Wednesday announced it would sell 63 acres of "pioneer" water rights to a central Oregon water conservation group.

The deal will restore a small, but significant, amount of water to Whychus Creek – a tributary to the Deschutes River. Instead of using the water on farmland or golf courses – the water will now be left in the stream.

LINK (Via: OPB News)

What If?

Whitefish Can't Jump serves up your 2011 New Year's resolution.

What if every fisherman who values wild fish gave up 10% of their fishing time to tackle conservation issues?

Amen brother.

Set Gold Standard for Ocean Health Care

Yvon Chouinard recently wrote a guest opinion piece in the Santa Barbara Independent advocating for the approval of the Marine Life Protection Act in Southern California that restricts fishing in designated protected areas.

The MLPA takes us a step towards making the 21st century the Century of the Environment, as Edward O. Wilson calls for in his 2002 book, The Future of Life. Government, the private sector, and science need to come together and cooperate to find ways of solving the major environmental challenges we face. All of California’s ocean users, from surfers and environmentalists to fishermen and scientists, have been called in to take part in the public process of establishing this important network, which in addition to safeguarding some of our priceless ocean habitat, will make the ocean more resilient to additional stress.

LINK

The act was just narrowly approved by California State Wildlife officials. The 3-2 vote in Santa Barbara by the California Fish and Game Commission bans or restricts fishing in dozens of protected marine areas designed to replenish depleted fish populations and protect marine life.

LINK (Via:The SLO Tribune)