Photo credit: Charlie Lansche and Devan Ence
The Henry’s Fork Foundation is honored to receive a $1 million federal grant from the US Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program to develop the revolutionary DIRTT Plan: Developing Infrastructure to Reduce Temperature and Turbidity.
Water temperatures and changing hatches are at the forefront of anglers’ minds, and for good reason. Average water temperatures are increasing and may be the culprit in changing hatches. Plus, nutrient levels in the river are looking like the next big issue on the horizon.
It’s time to look at massive-scale engineering solutions, as well as grounded, nature-based solutions. We want to reduce the amount of sediment sent into the river, and to reduce water temperatures flowing through Harriman Ranch.
DIRTT aims to improve water temperatures and turbidity to build resilience for the river and the fish and insects that call it home. This might include variable-elevation withdrawal gates at Island Park Dam, tributary restoration, sediment stabilization, and deep-water oxygenation (adding oxygen to the reservoir for trout).
HFF is uniquely positioned – with the expertise, experience, data, and community – to be a leader in answering the difficult questions being asked across the fly-fishing world.
I know my last blog post left you on the edge of your seat. Today I’m going to answer the question that has doubtlessly been on everyone’s minds: did I catch a fish? Let me tell you, it was getting down to the wire. I’d been out many times with the incredibly patient Claude, to no avail. Not even a bite. Claude’s patience was really commendable as I stubbornly, astoundingly refused to improve.
As my time here at the foundation wraps up, I have been doing a lot of reflection. As such, I have concluded that the amount you can learn in one summer internship is unrivaled. It can range from scientific technical skills to office interpersonal skills, and anywhere in between. Some things are self-explanatory, and some are learned through trial and error. This range is what makes internships so valuable. I’ve compiled a list of the
Putting in the hours. Credit: Estelle Edwards Fish are omnipresent. Whether Claude’s talking about his latest catch, an angler is asking me what fly to use (I don’t know), or I’m taking Utah suckers out of gillnets, I am drowning in fish… but I have never caught one. I have yet to be blessed with a bite on a Parachute Adams, Zebra Midge, or Montreal Whore, but thanks to fishing-adjacent research experiences, I’ve gotten a
I grew up fishing on the North Carolina coast. From flounder and speckled trout (not actually in the trout family) deep in the creeks to Spanish mackerel and bull redfish right off the beach, all the way out to what feels like the middle of the ocean trolling for king mackerel and cobia, I loved the wide variety of fish. One sunny July morning a few summers back, my dad and I headed offshore in
