You Can Help Raise 50K for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

How? By voting for Jim Range as the Budweiser Conservationist of the Year.

Jim Range, one of the country’s greatest champions for sportsmen-conservationists, has been honored with a posthumous nomination as a finalist for the Budweiser Conservationist of the Year award.This annual program recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to perpetuating the American outdoor way of life.

Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will donate $50,000 to the 2010 winner’s conservation organization of choice, with the money to fund the group’s conservation efforts.

Here's a story that will tell you why you should take the time to cast your vote for Jim with a link to the Budweiser site. LINK (Via: Ammoland)

You will need to give the folks at AB your vitals to vote but it only takes a a minute or two and it's a worthy cause.

Black Wave - The legacy of the Exxon Valdez

As the debate continues regarding the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat and the associated supertanker traffic, here's a reminder about how oil tankers and pristine coastlines do not mix.

(Via: I'm Laila Yuile, and This Is How I See It)

Rivers on the Edge

Rivers on the Edge is a short film Charles Rangeley-Wilson made for WWF UK to support their campaign of the same name.

Rivers on the Edge introduces us to the English Chalk stream and demonstrates the threat they are now under due to the amount of water we use, an increasing population and the effects of climate change.

(Via: Caught By the River)

The slide toward extinction - A tale of two ditches...and a water trust

KlamBlog investigators have been back to  the Scott River watershed to check on the status of adult Chinook salmon. Their latest investigation was on November 4th and they have good news and bad news to report.

This is a must read on how water policy from the Bay area north to the Oregon border is continuing it's assault on endangered fish.

LINK (Via: Klamblog)

Message from the Gyre

We've all heard about the giant islands of floating trash in both the Atlantic and Pacific. These photographs of albatross chicks were made in September 2009 on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

New Summer Strong Runs

In this issue:

Columbia River wild steelhead decline

Bates Park: Fish passage and watershed health before local recreational interests

South Umpqua Steward update: I refuse to let my home waters be a sacrifice river

An NFS Film Event: Where Hope Resides

Nehalem River: A Stewards' view of agency actions that could impede wild fish recovery

First half of 2009 NFS accomplishments

LINK (Via: Osprey Steelhead News)