I’m on a fast-revolving work treadmill until Saturday, and because the L&T is taking a little business trip – and leaving our high-velocity two year-old entirely in my care (mac & cheese!) – there’s going to be damned few words foaming out of Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters.

Still – even in the grip of a lingering cold and heinous overwork – I’m still all about the readers here at the Underground, so I’m throwing a few newsletts your way.

Naturally, I’m wrapping the little informational bites in the honey-sweet coating of

4 Out of 5Thieves Agree: Fly Fishing Gear Is Expensive

Several Colorado fly shops have been hammered by shoplifting bandits, and police are reporting upwards of $10,000 Worth of fly gear stolen. Let’s face it; in contemporary terms, that’s only two fly rods, a pair of high-end reels, and four spools of tippet, but it’s still gotta sting.

Let’s hope the cops reel in the miscreants before too many more overpriced fly rods are lifted (Uhh, sir, is that a shoplifted fly rod in your pants, or are you…).

Montana Stream Access Under Attack Again

Montana’s enlightened stream access law is once again under attack, this time in legislation aimed at reversing a court decision granting public access to Mitchell Slough.

From the Montana Standard:

Welborn said as a sportsman he supports access to streams, but the law has been abused in recent years by people who want to use private ditches. He said the language in the bill ensures that the public wouldn’t lose access to rivers.

But in testimony before the House agriculture committee, the attorney for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the bill would obliterate the state’s stream access law. Bob Lane, FWP chief legal counsel, said the provision of the bill that defines any stream that gets the majority of its water from return irrigation flows would privatize virtually every river in the state.

“HB 309 almost completely repeals the public’s right to recreate on rivers and streams,” he said. “The most comprehensive and partially hidden but intended effect of HB 309 is that return flows would count as diverted water when determining whether diverted water is the principle source of water in a stream or river.

“HB 309 as written defines the Bitterroot River as a ditch.”

Farling said while Welborn is claiming the bill is meant to clarify what is and isn’t a ditch, in fact it’s a gutting of the law at the request of a small group of landowners. He said if landowners are having problems on legitimate ditches, trespassing laws are more than sufficient.

Underground Fav Blog In the Back Eddy is also covering this topic, so it’s probably as good a time as any to add them to your RSS reader.

Time To Make Your Voice Heard on Bristol Bay

The Pending Mine Disaster at Bristol Bay has gotten scads of national coverage, but now – with the EPA agreeing to look hard at the issue, you can do more than shake your fist at ethically bankrupt, money-grubbing mine executives from a great distance.

In about fifteen seconds, you can send a letter to the EPA urging them to protect this last-place-like-it-on-Earth resource (courtesy Trout Unlimited, the other, less-famous TU).

For more background, visit this post at OrvisNews.com.

Do it today, and send a select group of mining executives the kind of valentine they so richly deserve.

Good News About Salmon (really)

While salmon figures in some rivers are still pretty bad, some Norther California Rivers are seeing good returns:

After years of declining fish numbers, some waterways, including the Smith River—which flows through giant redwoods into the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City—have seen their best salmon returns since the 1970s, according to the California Department of Fish and Game and local biologists.

…

The teeming fish runs are a turnabout from years of decline, when salmon populations were affected by dams, low rainfall and logging, which can smother salmon spawning areas with dirt. Although no one is sure why so many salmon returned this winter, some hatchery managers and others speculate heavy rain and favorable ocean conditions helped the healthy returns.

Scientists say salmon remain imperiled, and that some fish populations in California are extinct or nearing extinction. They are still trying to figure out what makes the populations fluctuate.

The story’s written by Underground Fav WSJ writer Justin Scheck, and while we’re happy to hear it, don’t get too excited.

Turns out the returns are good, but they contain few juvenile fish, pointing to poor returns next year.

Oy.

See you hunched over the keyboard, Tom Chandler.

Posted in News and tagged , , .