TU salutes the National Wildlife Refuge System’s over 100 years of habitat and wildlife conservation, and look toward a bright future of opportunity.
Trout Unlimited’s (TU) 140,000 members nationwide are dedicated to protecting and restoring North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. The National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System plays a key role in achieving our mission. “Salter” brook trout, Snake River cutthroat trout, the endangered Columbia River steelhead and California Chinook salmon find solace within NWR boundaries. But there is much more that the NWR can do, both for trout and people.
Great examples of Refuges conserving trout habitat are spread across the Nation. The Wertheim NWR is one of the few undeveloped estuary systems remaining in New York, protecting one of Long Island’s last strongholds of unique “salter” brook trout. In the West, TU volunteers of Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Chapter have spent hundreds of hours restoring habitat on Flat Creek, whose native Snake River Cutthroat trout flourish in the National Elk Refuge. And the Toppenish NWR of eastern Washington’s Yakima Valley serves as one of the last remaining habitats where the endangered Columbia River Steelhead still reproduce in good numbers. As the Refuge system expands and evolves, we hope these examples provide a strong basis for an increased emphasis on fish habitat protection.
Expanding into new landscapes also improves the NWR’s ability to enhance youth education and conservation outreach programs. With President Obama’s “Great Outdoor Initiative” and First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Outside” program, America has already taken critical steps toward improving outdoor education and the inherent values that experiencing nature, fish and wildlife present. Our children are the future of coldwater conservation and we urge the NWR System to be ever more available to TU’s youth programs and other appropriate educational opportunities.
TU salutes the National Wildlife Refuge System’s over 100 years of habitat and wildlife conservation, and we look toward a bright future of opportunity.
Anderson Smith, Trout Unlimited
