MIDDLEBURG, Va. – The National Sporting Library will hold a public symposium on fly fishing on Saturday, November 21, “A River Never Sleeps: Conservation, History, and the Fly Fishing River.” This will be a full-day program featuring lectures and a panel discussion on fly fishing rivers and conservation, past and present. Speakers include authors James Prosek (“The Compleat Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton,” “Fly Fishing the 41st Parallel,” etc.); (Hoagy B. Carmichael (“The Grand Cascapedia, a Salmon River of History”); and John Ross (“Rivers of Restoration”); as well as environmental and angling historians, Dr. Bryon Borgelt and Dr. Samuel Snyder. Advanced registration is required, and seating is limited to 100. There is a $75 registration fee ($50 for students), and public registration begins on August 1. For more information, contact Elizabeth Tobey at 540-687-6542 x 11 or visit http://www.nsl.org/flyfishingsymposium.html. Historically and today, anglers have played a major role in controlling and protecting the resources essential to their sport - rivers and streams. In the 19th century, North American rivers such as the Cascapedia in Quebec and the streams of the Catskills and Adirondacks attracted recreational fly fishers from the wealthy industrialist class. But pollution from mining, lumbering, and industry and the stocking of streams with non-native species threatened the health of rivers and native fish populations. In the U.S., anglers were responsible for early conservation efforts, which included restricting access to streams, legislating shorter fishing seasons, and regulating fishing on some rivers to flies only. In 1959, the organization, Trout Unlimited, was founded on the banks of the Au Sable River near Grayling, Mich. Today’s conservation organizations such as TU and the Federation of Fly Fishers have helped to protect fly fishing rivers from numerous environmental threats, so much so that the Journal for Conservation Biology recently touted recreational anglers as essential to the future of fisheries conservation/restoration. The fly fishing symposium is made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor. A DVD of the symposium will be recorded and will be available for purchase through the Library. The National Sporting Library is a state-of-the-art, non-lending research facility dedicated to the world of horse sports, shooting, and fishing. It is open to the public and admission is free. Its 17,000-book collection covers a wide range of horse and field sports, including foxhunting, Thoroughbred racing, dressage, eventing, steeplechasing, polo, coaching, shooting, and angling. Over 4,000 rare books from the sixteenth century onwards are housed in the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room. In addition to books, the Library owns important manuscript, archives, and periodicals relating to field sports, and also features an audiovisual center that stores non-print materials, including films, videos, and DVDs. The John H. Daniels Fellowship program supports the research of visiting scholars. The Library hosts temporary art exhibitions and holds many fine works of sporting art, including paintings, sculpture, works-on-paper, and sporting artifacts in its permanent collection. Two galleries in the National Sporting Museum opened next door to the Library on January 1, 2009, and a new addition to the museum will open in late 2010. CONTACT: Elizabeth Tobey, 540-687-6542, ext. 11, etobey@nsl.org
DENVER - Colorado State Parks will celebrate Colorado Day by offering free entrance at all 42 state parks on Monday, Aug. 3. Colorado Day was created by the state legislature to mark the anniversary of statehood, granted in 1876 by President Ulysses S. Grant. Free entrance at the state parks is an annual Colorado Day tradition. “Colorado Day is annual opportunity for all Coloradans to get outdoors at the state parks, enjoy the natural beauty of these places and experience all the recreational activities that the parks have to offer,” said Dean Winstanley, Colorado State Parks Director. All other fees will remain in effect on Aug. 3. The state parks throughout Colorado showcase the state’s diverse landscapes, including the prairies of the eastern plains at John Martin Reservoir State Park, the alpine beauty of the mountains at Sylvan Lake State Park and the unique geological landscapes at Roxborough State Park. There are also plenty of opportunities to enjoy Colorado’s rivers at James M. Robb-Colorado River State Park and Yampa River State Park, as well as the state’s reservoirs at Lake Pueblo State Park and North Sterling State Park. There are a huge variety of recreational opportunities at all Colorado State Parks. Recreational activities include, bird and wildlife viewing, boating, jet skiing, sail boarding, water skiing, swimming, fishing, whitewater rafting, geocaching, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, off-highway vehicle riding and many more. This Colorado Day, be sure to get out to a state park for a fun-filled day that the whole family can enjoy. Throughout 2009, Colorado State Parks is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a leader in providing opportunities for outdoor recreation, protecting the state’s favorite landscapes, teaching generations about nature and partnering with communities. Attracting more than 11 million visitors per year, Colorado's 42 state parks are a vital cornerstone of Colorado's economy and quality of life.Colorado State Parks encompass 242,531 land and water acres, offering some of the best outdoor recreation destinations in the state. Colorado State Parks also manage more than 4,000 campsites, and 57 cabins and yurts. For more information on Colorado State Parks or to purchase an annual pass online, visitwww.colorado.gov/parks
By Charlie Meyers The Denver Post
Some summer morning, perhaps sooner than we know, some fortunate angler will make a cast into an obscure stream called Grizzly Creek and pull out a purebred cutthroat trout.
Funded in large part by MillerCoors, the Forest Service and Trout Unlimited and bolstered by a small army of volunteers, the effort will begin the first week of August with a launch of equipment and materials that will make the creek suitable for fish while erasing a rash of environmental scars. Read more
From Eco-wordly.com: Written by Michael Ricciardi - Published on July 28th, 2009 - Posted in 4270, About Society
Water For People is a non-profit with a noble and global agenda: fresh, clean drinking water for all the world’s people. The charity seeks to “help developing nations develop sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and health and hygiene eduction programs.” Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing an environmental study of the proposed 560-mile-long pipeline, which could carry up to 250,000 acre feet of water a year from the Green River, in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir area, near Wyoming's southwestern border with Utah.
"I'm not sure they have adequate definition of the need for the project to even do the analysis," Freudenthal said Tuesday. "I think this is just a rich guy who just wants to move water." Read More
By Charlie Meyers The Denver Post
Funded in large part by MillerCoors, the Forest Service and Trout Unlimited and bolstered by a small army of volunteers, the effort will begin the first week of August with a launch of equipment and materials that will make the creek suitable for fish while erasing a rash of environmental scars.
A buck-and-rail fence will be installed to prevent motorized incursion, while a mile of unauthorized road will be obliterated to further aid in stream protection. At the same time, a single-track trail will be maintained for hiking and other backcountry uses.
Design and construction will be managed by Frontier Environmental Services, the firm that earlier was contracted by West Denver TU to design and build the so-called Golden Mile on Clear Creek.
The Clear Creek Watershed Foundation will oversee the project once it has been completed, an effort that includes on-ground remediation and metals reduction.
by Jason GonzalesHerald Staff Writer
Ty Churchwell, backcountry coordinator for Trout Unlimited, spoke during the public hearing and said the city is doing a great job keeping the Animas River clean.
"We had some good storm-water rules in effect, and this just steps things up a hair," he said.
http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/07/29/Commissioners_OK_stormwater_changes/
NOAA - Year of the Ocean Website: www.yoto.com
80 percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from land-based sources, such as runoff pollution. Runoff pollution includes many small sources, like septic tanks, cars, trucks and boats, plus larger sources, such as farms, ranches and forest areas. Read more
ColoradoDaily.com - By Brittany Anas - Tuesday, July 21, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows. Read more
