I have. I didn’t mean to. It’s a cute little hamlet of 400 tucked up among thousands of acres of Forest Service and BLM lands along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, which is why I was actually there. I hate burning spots- not everywhere needs the attention of the South Platte or the… Read More Have you ever been to Lake City?
I don’t know if I’ve ever written just about crayfish- odd, given the outsize role they’ve played in my life. One of my earliest outdoor memories is standing ankle deep in a gravel bottomed Ozark stream with my grandmother, bent over, with an aquarium net, catching crawdads as they scooted along the bottom. She showed… Read More On Crayfish.
I needed a social media cleanse after an online argument with a kid convinced everyone between the east coast and the Rockies resents biodiversity and wild places. It wasn’t true, I said, listing off initiatives to remove dams, restore habitat, protect and restore endangered species, manage invasives, provide outreach and education opportunities, and advocate for… Read More Last Best Streams- #322
They came in fits and starts, given a cold snap and wet weather earlier this spring. Then one afternoon, while mowing the lawn, I found an empty exoskeleton clinging to the grass. Then another. Every two or three paces you’d see one. A week or two later they were clinging to the chicken coop, crawling… Read More Cicadas, we hardly knew ye.
The US Supreme Court issued rulings in two cases last week, drastically limiting the ability of federal agencies to rely on agency expertise when developing regulations. The Supreme Court’s decision could effectively neuter federal agencies, putting decisions on natural resources management and conservation in the hands of politicians informed by the wishes of powerful lobbies… Read More How the repeal of Chevron deference could hurt your favorite fishery.
A couple inches of snow on the ground and a couple prints, back from the frame shop, ready to hang in the home office. First up, a pair of orangespotted sunfish. One of my first summer jobs was surveying sand-bottom prairie streams, where these guys hang out in slow pools and weedy backwaters. They typically only get two… Read More nostalgia.
It’s the last day of 2023, and the sun can’t decide if it’ll come out. Chores are finished, and in a bit I’ll kindle a fire and start the hoppin’ john for a low-key evening with the dog and a toast to the new year. I’ve earned it. This last year’s been a whirlwind of putting out… Read More 2023 in the books.
I like when tall clouds catch light from beyond the horizon, and finding bumblebees asleep on blue spires of lobelia. It rained a bit, cooled off a bit, and the leaves are just beginning to drop- so I figured it was an opportune time to catch up with the local trout stream. The water’s still… Read More First of October.
That time when rivers and streams are at their lowest, when fish- for the most part- are done spawning and growing for the year. When the leaves start falling in temperate climates, kicking off the base of the food chain in headwater streams. When we can look forward to spring rains. I took a break… Read More It’s a new water year
theoutsidebend.com 