Backcasts: A Global History of Fly Fishing and Conservation 9780226366609

Citation preview

Backcasts

Backcasts A Global History of Fly Fishing and Conservation

EDITED BY

SAMUEL SNYDER B R YO N B O R G E LT ELIZ ABETH TOBEY WITH A FOREWORD BY JEN CORRINNE BROWN AND AN EPILOGUE BY CHRIS WOOD

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London

S A M U E L S N Y D E R is the Alaska Engagement Director of Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program. B R Y O N B O R G E L T is principal of Saint Rose School in Perrysburg, Ohio. E L I Z A B E T H T O B E Y is an art historian and independent scholar affi liated with the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland. She lives in Greenbelt, MD. All three are avid anglers. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2016 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2016. Printed in the United States of America 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16

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ISBN-13: 978- 0-226-36657-9 (cloth) ISBN-13: 978- 0-226-36660-9 (e-book) DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226366609.001.0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Snyder, Samuel, 1978– editor. | Borgelt, Bryon, editor. | Tobey, Elizabeth M., editor. | Brown, Jen Corrinne, 1980– writer of foreword. | Wood, Christopher A., writer of afterword. Title: Backcasts : a global history of fly fishing and conservation / edited by Samuel Snyder, Bryon Borgelt, and Elizabeth Tobey ; with a foreword by Jen Corrinne Brown and epilogue by Chris Wood. Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2016. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015041742 | ISBN 9780226366579 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226366609 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Fly fishing. | Fly fishing—Environmental aspects. | Fishes—Conservation. Classification: LCC SH456 .B245 2016 | DDC 799.12/4—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041742 This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).

Contents Foreword: Looking Downstream from A River ix JEN CORRINNE BROWN

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction. A Historical View Wading through the History of Angling’s Evolving Ethics

1

SAMUEL SNYDER

PA R T O N E

1

Historical Perspectives

Trout and Fly, Work and Play, in Medieval Europe

27

RICHARD C. HOFFMANN

2

Piscatorial Protestants Nineteenth- Century Angling and the New Christian Wilderness Ethic

46

BRENT LANE

3

The Fly Fishing Engineer George T. Dunbar, Jr., and the Conservation Ethic in Antebellum America

60

GREG O’BRIEN

PA R T T WO

4.

Geographies of Sport and Concern

Protecting a Northwest Icon Fly Anglers and Their Efforts to Save Wild Steelhead J ACK W. BER RY M A N

79

CONTENTS

5

Conserving Ecology, Tradition, and History Fly Fishing and Conservation in the Pocono and Catskill Mountains

101

M AT T H E W B R U E N

6

From Serpents to Fly Fishers: Changing Attitudes in Blackfeet Country toward Fish and Fishing

113

KEN LOKENSGARD

7

Thymallus tricolor The Michigan Grayling

126

B R YO N B O R G E LT

Native Trout and Globalization

PA R T T H R EE

8

“For Every Tail Taken, We Shall Put Ten Back” Fly Fishing and Salmonid Conservation in Finland

143

MIKKO SAIKKU

9

Trout in South Africa History, Economic Value, Environmental Impacts, and Management

162

DEAN IMPSON

10

Holy Trout New Zealand and South Africa

178

MALCOLM DR APER

11

A History of Angling, Fisheries Management, and Conservation in Japan MASANORI HORIUCHI

PA R T FO U R

12

Ethics and Practices of Conservation

For the Health of Water, Fish, and People Women, Angling, and Conservation GRETEL VAN WIEREN

vi

195

223

CONTENTS

13

Crying in the Wilderness Roderick Haig-Brown, Conservation, and Environmental Justice

237

ARN KEELING

14

The Origin, Decline, and Resurgence of Conservation as a Guiding Principle in the Federation of Fly Fishers

252

RICK WILLIAMS

15

It Takes a River Trout Unlimited and Coldwater Conservation

274

JOHN ROSS

Conclusion: What the Future Holds Conservation Challenges and the Future of Fly Fishing

297

JACK WILLIAMS AND AUSTIN WILLIAMS

Epilogue: Chris Wood, CEO, Trout Unlimited 313

Appendix. Research Resources: A List of Libraries, Museums, and Collections Covering Sporting History, Especially Fly Fishing 317

Contributors 331

Notes 335

Index 397

vii

Foreword: Looking Downstream from A River JEN CORRINNE BROWN

Forty years ago, the University of Chicago Press published a charming little volume called A River Runs Through It. Norman Maclean, the author and a retired English professor from the University of Chicago, wrote a deeply personal narrative about fly fishing and family in Montana. Reckoning with loss, Maclean’s lyrical voice told a touching and often hilarious story that quickly became a classic. It remains poignant even today, four decades later. The anniversary of A River’s publication invites historical reflection. The beauty and obsession with fly fishing that Maclean so poetically documented in A River Runs Through It inspired fly fishers both before and after him to play a central role in protecting rivers and fish. That is essentially what Backcasts is about. This edited collection offers a unique examination of the history of fly fishing and coldwater conservation around the globe. Knowing the past enriches human comprehension of the world. The contributors of this edited collection have shared their histories, and the histories that have inspired them, in order to better understand the present and the future of trout, salmon, steelhead, and coldwater habitats. “The supreme purpose of history,” as one of the many angling presidents, Herbert Hoover, put it, “is a better world.” Not only does this book provide histories of environmental protection, but also it has inherited a fine tradition ix

JEN CORRINNE BROWN

of writing and thinking present in fly-fishing literature. In addition to family and fly fishing, Norman Maclean demonstrated to a broad audience that fly fishers can write pretty damn well. Backcasts is no exception. It adds to the significant literature on the sport. Fly fishers proudly consider their craft a contemplative man’s recreation, if I dare quote that bait-fishing Episcopalian Izaak Walton. A nice mix of historians, conservationists, ethicists, and activists have written the thoughtful pages that follow. Above all, they are anglers, ones who care deeply about the importance of the sport’s history and conserving resources for future generations. The musings and meditations that spring up in quiet nature are only disturbed by the sounds of water that have clearly made their way into the many chapters of this volume. While enjoyable to read, Backcasts offers new insights into a growing scholarly body on trout, fly fishing, and conservation. Notable recent examples include Paul Schullery’s Cowboy Trout: Western Fly Fishing As If It Matters (Montana Historical Society, 2006), Anders Halverson’s An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World (Yale, 2010), Are Trout South African? Stories of People, Places and Fish (Picador Africa, 2013) by Duncan Brown, and my own Trout Culture: How Fly Fishing Forever Changed the Rocky Mountain West (Washington, 2015). Much of the new scholarship dwells on individual nations or regions. This book, however, boasts a geographical breadth missing in the literature, with topics ranging from across the United States to Finland, South Africa, Europe, Japan, and the Antipodes. If the book’s global scope enriches the literature, so too does its sweep of topics. The authors share interesting histories. One recounts a time, however unimaginable, when fly fishing was work and not play. I suspect that Norman Maclean would have approved of the chapters that illustrate there is no clear line between religion and fly fishing history. Furthermore, the book is filled with characters. Women, reverends, engineers, Blackfeet, steelheaders, and many others become unlikely and previously unheard- of fly-fishing heroes. Some blazed trails for the nineteenth- century conservation movement while other grassroots conservationists made important gains later in the twentieth century. The mix of surprising and diverse chapters makes for a good read. You may read the book like you might approach a trout stream. Either start at the beginning and work your way upstream in a chronological manner or methodically pick and choose productive holes (chapters) and go in any order you would like. Regardless, you are ensured some solid fishing in print with fresh topics. While it expands the scholarship as well as entertains readers, the x

FOREWORD

most vital aspect of Backcasts is the essential information and context it provides on conservation. Quite a bit of uncertainty about the future of coldwater habitats and species exists in the modern world. To work for the future, the authors chronicle historic and present- day dangers to trout and how conservationists failed or succeeded in the face of these threats. Some chapters address why fly fishers have been on the forefront of conservation and how anglers worked on environmental issues both inside and outside official channels. Others cover the shifting meanings of conservation over time and place. Given the enormous area where trout now live around the world, many authors here focus on how nations and management agencies have recently struggled with nonnative species and on the different approaches they have taken. The topic echoes themes present in A River Runs Through It, where Norman Maclean shared stories of fly fishing for nonnative rainbow trout and brown trout. Much of the meaning might have been lost on readers had his quarry been endemic western species. But, by the 1930s and later in Maclean’s imagination, rainbow trout reigned king in Montana. The presence of trout around the world ensured that readers recognized both Maclean’s prey and authority. Other chapters in Backcasts go beyond invasive species problems. Climate change now puts fisheries around the world at risk. The conclusion expands on the problem in depth, providing details and recent scientific studies. In the end, though, the book celebrates the value of different perspectives, a concept that fly fishers can certainly appreciate. Fly fishers know that little changes in orientation can often yield big results, whether that is tying flies, measuring tippets, casting, or finding fish. Therein lies the beauty of history and its ability to provide context, understand change over time, and recognize the roots of contemporary issues. As the Dutch writer Margriet de Moor understood: “There’s history, and then there’s the future, too. In between the two is the fascinating moment when the world changes.” The authors of this volume would agree. Backcasts concludes with a call to action for concerned anglers. The editors and authors have taken this call seriously and agreed that any royalties will help fund the First International Trout Congress, a gathering of scientists, conservationists, artists, writers, and educators from around the world. To be held in Bozeman, Montana, USA, from October 2 to 6, 2016, the congress is at once a celebration of trout as well as a practical way to create a vibrant international network of citizen- conservationists. For more information, see their website at http://troutcongress.org/. xi

JEN CORRINNE BROWN

When Norman Maclean hoped that a fish will rise, he informed readers that fly fishers have a cautious optimism. Armed with knowledge, connected to others dealing with similar environmental perils, and acting on a grassroots level, perhaps a bright future lies ahead for coldwater anglers. At any rate, enjoy the book, attend the Congress, act locally, and fish globally. Jen Corrinne Brown is an assistant professor of environmental history at Texas A&M University– Corpus Christi. Her first book, Trout Culture: How Fly Fishing Forever Changed the Rocky Mountain West, was published by the University of Washington Press in 2015. She is currently working on a book project about the history of animals and anthropomorphism.

xii

Acknowledgments As we move into the second decade of the twenty-first century, the cold, clean waters of salmonids face deep threats. Bristol Bay, the most complex and abundant salmon ecosystem on the planet, is threatened by large-scale mining development, most notably the Pebble Mine. Anglers who flock to the historic Western waters of the United States face threats to access to rivers whose meaning extends well beyond simple sport. Climate change threatens native trout habitat throughout America. Yet, amidst these troubling developments, anglers in the Pacific Northwest are plotting the recovery of salmon and steelhead as plans to remove dams come to fruition. Elsewhere, anglers are working to secure the restoration of native cutthroat trout, in small, protected, and secure watersheds. Whether working to fend off threats to coldwater ecosystems or restore those ecosystems previously damaged, these activities are inspired by a long history of angling, engagement with nature, and the construction of a shared community of concern based on shared passions for sport. In Bright Waters, Bright Fish, Roderick Haig-Brown noted that if the angler is “at all serious about the sport, the angler should recognize problems, and his concern should always be to err on the side of generosity—the fish and to the resource as a whole.” This book project is about the recognition of those problems and the role of fly fishing in responding to the “side of generosity,” of which HaigBrown wrote so passionately throughout his life. First and foremost, we must thank the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia xiii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

(www.nsl.org). On November 21, 2009, the NSL&M hosted a symposium entitled “A River Never Sleeps: Conservation, History, and the Fly Fishing River.” This symposium brought us together, along with artist and author James Prosek and author and historian Hoagy Carmicheal. Paul Schullery, a historian of fly fishing and conservation, Nick Lyons, publisher and author of fly fishing books, and fly fishing instructor and guide Marcia Woolman deserve recognition for the help and advice they gave Elizabeth Tobey when she was planning and selecting speakers for the symposium. Further, lead editor Sam Snyder was a John Daniels Fellow at the library during the early spring of 2010, where he and Elizabeth Tobey hatched the plan to pursue this edited volume. We would like to acknowledge the Daniels family and other supporters of the fellowship program whose support cultivates important scholarship on field sports such as fly fishing. In addition to the NSL&M, we are grateful for all the museums, libraries, and historical collections, notably the American Museum of Fly Fishing, who work to keep the history of fly fishing alive as the sport evolves and grows into the future. Of course, we must thank all the anglers, including those covered in this book, who have fished before us. Those anglers who have explored river, expanded the sport, and passed it down for generations. Most importantly, those anglers such as Roderick Haig-Brown, Joe Griffith, and Lee and Joan Wulff, who have not only devoted their lives to a sport but, more importantly, have dedicated their work to the difficult work of fish and coldwater conservation. Along with those leaders, we owe thanks to the thousands of “anonymous anglers” who have done that same work while never gaining fame or recognition. We walk and fish in your footsteps and they are big footsteps to fill. As editors, we cannot ignore our authors. Thank you to each and every one of your for your efforts to help us tell this story. We also thank our respective families—parents, siblings, spouses, and children—for helping to see us through the long process of getting this book from idea to print. Many thanks go out to Christie Henry and the editorial team at the University of Chicago Press. Thank you for giving this book a chance, showing enthusiasm for this project, and helping us tell parts of this story. Thank you for your patience as we worked to make this book a reality. Perhaps most importantly, thank you to all the anglers past and present who do more than just fish. Thank you for passing down the sport through generations. Thank you for recognizing the need for eth-

xiv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ics and conservation practice. Thank you for speaking out and standing up for our waters. We can only hope that our work and our telling of these stories helps inspire future anglers to do the same, so the next generation can wet a line on coldwater streams, searching, hoping, and praying for that tug of a trout at the end of the line. Regards and tight lines, Sam, Bryon, and Liz Proceeds from this book are being donated to the World Trout Congress, whose inaugural meeting is October 2016. For more information, see www.troutcongress.org.

xv

INTRODUCTION

A Historical View: Wading through the History of Angling’s Evolving Ethics SAMUEL SNYDER

“Shams” During the summer of 2006, I sat in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, coffee shop interviewing local anglers involved in restoring dwindling populations of Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis), the native trout of the region. The topics ranged from why a person fly fishes and the values of native trout to the politics of river restoration. Karen Denison, a local fly fishing guide and Trout Unlimited chapter leader, whom I was interviewing at the time, spotted an old friend. To her friend she mused, “Get this— this guy is doing his dissertation about fly fishing.” She laughed. I think she called it “a sham.” Denison meant nothing rude in the comment. She took delight in the subject matter and that I was pursuing it as a dissertation topic. In light of her prodding, however, I had to remind her that not only did she get paid to fly fish but, more importantly, that my research was more than just about fly fishing. Of course, the vast history of fly fishing has never been just about fishing— at

1

SAMUEL SNYDER

Rio Grande cutthroat caught on the Rio Costilla in New Mexico’s Valle Vidal. Photo credit: Ben Casarez.

F I G U R E 0 .1

least that is what authors from Izaak Walton to Harry Middleton have argued. I have long been interested in the role of anglers in the history of conservation and movements rooted in fly fishing. I believe that fly fishing provides an important and unique lens through which to study the ways that Americans understand, relate to, and value the natural world. By thinking historically about fly fishing and coldwater conservation, this book as a whole aims to explore how experiences in nature shape values of nature and provide essential undercurrents to fly fishing’s contributions to coldwater conservation and the eventual restoration of native species. A love of sport, as Aldo Leopold argued, provides motivation for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of North American salmonids (trout, salmon, and char).1 Conservation projects at times succeed and at other times fail— sometimes miserably, even with good intentions. In some cases, though, concerned citizens, through hard work, learned success by paying attention to earlier mistakes. They moved from overuse of hatcheries to focus their attention on the importance of intact habitats or the restoration of native species, watersheds, and ecosystems. 2

A HISTORICAL VIEW

The journey has not always been easy; it has always had a subcurrent of self-interest with currents of unqualified elitism and snobbery, which has, at times, been debilitating, leading to conflict rather than collaboration. Other times, enlightenment has prevailed and led to local, regional, or federal policies that are in the best interest of ecosystems, not just anglers. Either way, the waters and ways of angling, particularly fly fishing, offer interesting cultural avenues through which to understand the role of values and culture within environmental politics. The values range from aesthetics to something resembling religious fervor, the culture can be exclusive or embracing, and the politics are always slightly turbulent. Through all of this, anglers have gradually expanded their gaze from self to watershed. This book, wading through snippets of our history as a sport, culture, and evolving conservationists from around the world, then, follows that journey. Along the way, I realize I am talking about a select population of anglers; this does not apply to all anglers or all fly fishers, merely a small portion. Yet it is a portion who have had great influence on their sport, on conservation practice, and on fisheries policy. As the angling population expands, changes, and diversifies, and as impacts from development, human population, and climate change alter not only our fisheries but also the ways in which we engage those fisheries, it is important that we address both success and failure stories in our sport’s varied history. This introductory chapter, and the book as a whole, is much more of a celebration of successes and marking of milestones than an investigation into failures and errors. That said, as scholars examine the future of the sport, examining these trends and milestones will provide opportunities to understand how we might successfully confront future challenges caused by overuse, water disputes, or loss of habitat due to resource development or climate change.

Expanding the Gaze, Thinking Like a Watershed Although not always considered a primary figure in the pantheon of angling authors, there is no doubt that Aldo Leopold—the great American forester, conservationist, sportsman, and father of American environmental ethics—was deeply shaped by fishing, particularly fly fishing. Leopold wrote exhaustively on a number of subjects, but we mostly remember him for teaching us that “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic com3

SAMUEL SNYDER

FIGURE 0.2

Aldo Leopold

munity. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”2 The famous “land ethic” of A Sand County Almanac is also a water ethic, and we anglers have been wrestling with that ethic throughout our haphazard history. Broadly speaking, I see four phases of environmental thought and action in American fly fishing, and these are mirrored in other global contexts. Through those evolutions in thought and practice, fly anglers have gotten a little bit closer to Leopold’s guiding vision of the “land ethic,” or gotten closer to “thinking like a mountain”— or, if you will, thinking like a watershed.3 Abundant fisheries and a mentality of manifest destiny among anglers, coupled with pollution from the industrial revolution that quickly led to declining fish populations, defined the first phase (1730–1880).4 Secondly, as fisheries declined by the mid- to late 1800s, fish hatcheries emerged as a supplement for fish stocks while anglers assessed in newly formed sporting periodicals the impact of pollution, population, deforestation, and the increasing rate of damming rivers (1880–1970). Third, by the mid-1970s, fisheries conservation turned its attention toward watershed conservation with a focus on protecting populations of wild trout instead of hatchery-reared fish (1970–2000). Toward 4

A HISTORICAL VIEW

the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries, through organizations ranging from Trout Unlimited to the Wild Steelhead Coalition, anglers began leading initiatives to protect and restore populations of native trout, steelhead, and salmon (2000–present). Of course, these periods overlap. As we will see throughout this book, these phases emerge differently in different contexts around the world. None of these phases is without its controversy or lingering advocates, as the hatchery rearing of trout and salmon remains a popular management tool for sport fish stocks as much as for foodstuffs. Over time, however, new approaches for fisheries management, conservation, and policy have emerged and been guided by cultural values, coinciding with advances in the biological sciences and ecological understanding. Following this timeline of angling’s evolving ethics, the spheres of concern have largely expanded, albeit with hiccups (sometimes serious) along the way. Anglers have moved from utilitarian self-interest toward biocentric, ecosystem-based conservation. Historical literacy is important for dealing with issues facing coldwater conservation today. I wonder how the analysis of historical trends can help move downstream into the future of fishing and conservation. Such an approach requires critique as much as, if not more than, caretaking of cultural ideas, mythologies, and traditions.

More than Play, More than Recreation Angling, and particularly fly fishing, is for its practitioners considerably more than simply fishing. A survey of the culture reveals that fly fishing quite often powerfully affects the practitioner, through experiences of nature, methods of casting, or understanding of ecology. I have long been intrigued by the ways in which fly fishing is celebrated as something more than simply fishing. It affects people deeply, heals them, and provides pathways toward ecological awareness. In my field research I heard anglers continuously, and quite seriously, couch their practice in terms that reveal the affective dimensions of the sport, exhibit intense emotion when describing the power of fly fishing to heal (from cancer, for example), or inspire collective environmental action.5 In doing so, they often drew upon a long history of writing devoted to fly fishing, fish, and nature worship, a historical trajectory I have devoted considerable time to researching in the archives of places like the American Museum of Fly Fishing or the National Sporting Library and Museum. Understanding this history is crucial for comprehending 5

SAMUEL SNYDER

FIGURE 0.3

Egyptian angler

how angling, as a recreation, creates certain aesthetic preferences that, along with science, have been influential in determining the management, conservation, or restoration of fisheries. Thinking historically, then, evidence suggests that techniques of hook and line, common to definitions of angling, date back at least 50,000 years before the present.6 Early evidence of recreational fishing, that is, fishing not motivated by personal consumption, sale, or trade (in other words, fishing for fun), derives from an image displaying an Egyptian noble fishing and dates back 3,290 years.7 Richard Hoffmann details the overlap of sport and commercial fishing in Europe dating back to the thirteenth century. In doing so, he shows that at the heart of the intersect between work and play is an emergent traditional ecological knowledge, “which included animal behavior, capture techniques, and the value of conservation measures, passed orally through generations of illiterate medieval fishers, while those contemporaries who possessed literate skills, mainly professional churchmen, saw little reason to apply them to such mundane matters.”8 While anglers tout the likes of Juliana Berners, Izaak Walton, and Charles Cotton as fly fishing’s ancestors, fly fishing is first reported 6

A HISTORICAL VIEW

from Macedonia about 1,800 years ago.9 As for recreational fishing, broadly speaking, one of the earliest European texts devoted explicitly to recreational fishing was the Heidelberg fishing tract, or “How to Catch Fish,” first printed by Jacob Kobel (1493) and reprinted in Richard Hoffmann’s Fishers Craft and Lettered Art (1997).10 But yet an earlier, clear reference to angling as a distinct recreation is found over one hundred years earlier in The County Farm (1307), in which the author refers to angling equipment and “the seasons and time of the year fittest for sport.”11 This reference to “sport” is crucial. The term “sport” derives from “disport,” which means to take one’s ease or to “re- create” the self. The concept here, in its origins, has clear psychological, affective, or aesthetic implications. After all, for generations anglers have celebrated fly fishing because it refreshes, restores, and recreates the soul. The sport, along these lines, has strong experiential values, which not only help restore the soul but can also potentially lead to the restoration of nature. It also has significant aesthetic implications, which have proven crucial in the evolution of fishing environmental ethics and management plans.12 Fly fishing situated within the realms of the aesthetic and affective is hardly new. Some have gone so far as to trace the sport to religion. After all, Hollywood took Norman Maclean’s famous line that in his family “there was no clear line between fishing and religion” and made it common well beyond fly fishing circles.13 But Maclean has hardly been the only one to address the fuzzy distinction between fishing and religion. Since Maclean, artist and author James Prosek took a religious pilgrimage as a part of his senior thesis project to follow the streams of fishing and the thought of “fishing’s patron saint,” Izaak Walton.14 In these contexts, the use of religious terminology is tricky and controversial, but what is important is understanding how fly fishing is described and understood culturally as unique, experiences of fly fishing as significant, and the sport as somehow special. These proclamations can wander onto touchy ground. In their slippery manifestations they can lead to elitism, snobbery, and idolatry, all of which we address over the course of this book. In order to understand the relation between sport and conservation, however, it is useful to investigate cultural proclamations of sport and nature-based experience as unique and special in the context of fly fishing. Such investigations allow us to understand the role of cultural values in social, economic, or ecological decision making. In short, I fully believe that the social, psychological, religious, and aesthetic values of fishing— and fly fishing— are 7

SAMUEL SNYDER

paramount for comprehending the history of fisheries management and conservation.

Evolution of Angling Ethics Before fly fishing developed environmental ethics, it was, and still is, a source of varied and interesting social ethics. These are also worthy of all sorts of historical scrutiny. Broadly speaking, however, one of the earliest environmental ethics articulated and enacted was that of catch and release fishing. The “father of fish culture” Seth Green and his son Chester touted catch and release fishing and the use of a barbless hook in a series of articles for Forest and Stream Magazine in the mid- to late 1870s.15 Today, the message of catch and release remains a prominent and primary platform for a variety of fisheries-related groups from the Federation of Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited to the Professional Anglers Association, B.A.S.S., and many others. While pervasive, catch and release fishing is fraught with all sorts of debate in the terrain of ethics, philosophy, neuroscience, and more. Pages of fly fishing magazines continue to be devoted to the issue. In North America, many tout Lee Wulff as the father of catch and release fishing, for his statement in 1939 that “game fish are too valuable to be caught only once.”16 Now, Wulff is by no means the originator of this practice. He just spoke about it in a way that stuck in people’s minds. One of the first references to releasing fish is in the fifteenth century Ploughman stories, and the famed yet potentially mythical Dame Juliana Berners (1496) argued for a conservative harvest to protect resources.17 The Game Act under Charles II (1671) set limits for the size and number of fish caught, establishing one of the first known examples of a bag limit.18 By 1828, Sir Humphrey Davy mused that “every good angler, as soon as his fish is landed, either destroys his life immediately, if he is wanted for food, or returns him to the water.”19 In the 1853, or fifth, edition of the Compleat Angler, Charles Cotton added this line: “This is a diminutive gentleman, e’en throw him in again and let him grow till he be more worthy of your angle.”20 And in 1913 Frederick Halford noted that “the sportsman is not only wiling to return any fish below legal limit to the water, but exercises great care both in extracting the hook and returning the fish to the water.”21 Note the expansion of values here, the emergence of care for the fish. Today, fly tying guru Randall Kaufmann often cuts the hook off his flies, therefore engaging the fish 8

A HISTORICAL VIEW

through the rise but never more than the immediate tug.22 The tug of the trout is all he needs. For Europeans seeking angling opportunities in their new North American homes and colonies, the rivers and fisheries seemed so abundant that the notion of releasing fish seemed irrelevant. Anglers responded to their abundance with an air of angling manifest destiny, catching their fill on waters that appeared limitless. However, in time, resource decline became apparent and anglers voiced their concern in early fishing and hunting publications such as American Turf Register, The Spirit of The Times, or Forest and Stream. Anglers lamented the “game hogs” who were catching hundreds of fish or started to point fingers toward the problems of pollution. At the time, however, the language and intent was largely self-interested. It was less about the fishery and more about opportunities for others to catch fish. Conservation ideas in the American fishing and sporting world did not really emerge until the years following the Civil War when sportsmen’s organizations around the country began to (1) spring up in part because they saw outdoor recreation as a healing response to the war and (2) advocate for more responsible stream management as they watched conditions deteriorate.23 At the time, however, the notion of conservation was new, amorphous, and hardly named. The magazine world was pivotal in setting that tone and hashing out an ethic, and many contributors mentioned some degree of catch and release, while more famed writers of the early to mid-1900s, such as Theodore Gordon, Zane Grey, Roderick Haig-Brown, and of course Lee Wulff, set the tone for the debate. Today, catch and release fishing is only one small part of the story of trout, salmon, and fisheries conservation as driven by the realms of sport fishing. While important, it did not take long to realize that catch and release fishing was hardly a sufficient approach to fisheries management. Therefore, the second phase of fishing- driven fisheries conservation and management turned to fish culture and hatchery practices.

Evolution of Hatcheries and Transplanted Fish Historically, fish introductions have always been a major part of sport fishing around the world, and salmonids are the most common candidates. They are, it seems, the most charismatic of the cold freshwater fishes. This charisma, based upon cultural values, aesthetics, and ar9

SAMUEL SNYDER

FIGURE 0.4

New Caledonia Fish Hatchery, author’s collection

ticulations of sacred experience in nature, is crucial for understanding the choices of fisheries management.24 While “fish culture” emerged as a primary tool for fisheries conservation in America by the mid-1800s, fish hatcheries have a much wider global story. Malcolm Draper, a contributor to this volume, demonstrates how, in the European context, cultural identity and trout were bound up in the colonial enterprise in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America.25 For European colonialists, trout were seen as a means for re- creating home, in the new colonial homelands. Trout were so important that they were included in the programs and plans of what were termed “acclimatization societies,” which sought to make settlers feel as much at home as possible by making their new homes much like their old homes. Transporting and transplanting trout was one primary program of these efforts. Introducing fish to colonial waters was one way to make and mark territory, so to speak—what environmental historian Alfred Crosby called “ecological imperialism.”26 Frank Forester, Seth Green, and Fred Mather (in the 1840s) first touted fish propagation in America as a means to restore game fish to waters depleted by dams, pollution, and over fishing. Forester was quickly joined by voices such as Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Thaddeus Norris, George Dawson, and Genio Scott, along with countless “anon10

A HISTORICAL VIEW

ymous anglers” writing under pseudonyms in national sporting periodicals. As historian John Reiger noted, the volumes of periodicals are “replete with protests against the dumping of sawdust, mine wastes, factory chemicals, and other pollutants into the country’s waterways; demands for fish ladders at dams so that migratory fishes could pass”; and of course the restocking of fisheries.27 There was such strong concern over the decline of trout through the nineteenth century that in 1879 Forest and Stream magazine suggested that “This is probably the last generation of trout fishers.”28 Recently, famed angler Lefty Kreh made a similar claim.29 Anglers keep making these pronouncements, but trout fishing continues to grow globally. Amidst this early growth of sport and decline of fisheries, hatcheries seemed a golden conservation opportunity. Little did early fish culturists know that mixing trout would later be understood as ecologically disastrous on many levels. This is in part due to the reality that early and modern fish culture and propagation has often been driven by anglers’ aesthetics and interest, but not by science. Or to look at it another way, the science of fish culture was driven by anglers while the scientific fields of conservation biology or fisheries ecology, as we know them, were still decades away. Yet these early efforts by anglers provided the foundations for the established scientific disciplines we know today. In response to increasing alarm over deteriorating fisheries, the administration of Ulysses S. Grant established the United States Fish Commission in 1871. Its first project was to detail the declines of coastal and freshwater fishes. The second task was to remedy those declines, and fish hatcheries were put to work. In no time, brown trout were imported from Europe (1883) and rainbow trout were making headway in their own global journey at the hands of anglers and fish culturists.30 These efforts continued to build over time, and in 1927 Herbert Hoover argued for more hatchery work in an address on April 9 to the Izaak Walton League in Chicago entitled “A Remedy for Disappearing Game Fishes.” He emphasized stocking America’s rivers with fish, so that “there is less time between bites.”31 Hoover certainly espoused religious perceptions of angling, as he argued elsewhere that “next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man . . . . fishing is a chance to wash one’s soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of the sun on the blue water.”32 Clearly his most religious experiences, it seems, came from catching fish, not necessarily the “time between bites,” hence the need for a strong hatchery program. 11

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By Hoover’s administration, the United States Fish Commission was well on its way stocking trout around the country. Much of this work was driven by and simultaneously helped drive a particular fish aesthetic, ultimately tethered to recreational fishing. Trout were superior game fish as many officials, fisheries scientists, and anglers believed. As early and leading figure in fish culture Livingston Stone noted in 1873 regarding brook trout, “He surpasses all other fish in grace of form, in beauty of coloring, in gentleness of expression, in fascination of manner, in gameness of spirit, in sweetness and firmness of flesh, and in general personal attractiveness”— clearly a charismatic species.33 Based on these ideals, fisheries programs set about stocking brook, rainbow, and brown trout in a variety of rivers, lakes, and waters around the country. Some locations, particularly in the West, were originally fishless areas. However, angler- conservationists believed that they were improving the sporting nature of these “wilderness” areas by adding trout to them. Moreover, they were aiming to curtail declines of fish in popular rivers and watersheds. The intentions were certainly noble. They understood the economic benefit of maintaining (semi)healthy fisheries, but they also deeply believed in the psychological and even spiritual benefit of having places for Americans to fish regularly.

From Wild Fish to Native Fish Even though the actions of introducing hatchery-raised fish into the wild were noble, the practice was certainly misguided: it operated on the assumption that a trout was a trout, so mixing trout in waters was not only okay but good for the ecology of the river and the genetic makeup of the native trout. We have learned, thanks to the insights and developments of conservation biology (and despite the continued dependence on hatcheries and fish-stocking programs), that these actions were, as Paul Schullery explained, more akin to throwing the reality of “ecological integrity” into a blender.34 This news is not new; anglers and conservationists just rarely listened. In 1918, the conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote a little known, rarely read article titled “Mixing Trout in Western Waters.” Here Leopold would signal his famous “land ethic” that was to come forty years later. As Leopold biographer Julianne Newton Warren explained, in this article Leopold expressed one of the earliest scientifically guided management proscriptions for trout that also reveals his admiration for

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A HISTORICAL VIEW

native species and their place in the biotic system. But his views would be slow to catch on.35 By the mid-1900s, a new phase was emerging in trout conservation, one in which “wild trout” became more valuable to anglers and fly fishers around the country.36 This preference shifted attention toward maintaining populations of fish in streams, rather than simply putting more fish in the water. This was a step in the right direction, as the gaze began to expand to issues like stream and watershed health necessary for maintaining populations. This shift coincided with the emergence of mandatory catch and release rivers, fly fishing– only rivers, and seasons for fishing straddled around spawning. This phase of “wild trout” also marked the emergence of troutspecific and fly fishing– specific conservation groups, such as Trout Unlimited, who were certainly responsible for some of the management regulations just noted. The earliest groups date back to after the Civil War, but those were more often clubs, not conservation-minded nonprofit organizations. Of course, some of these sportsmen’s organizations were certainly conservation minded—most notably the Boone and Crockett Club, founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. However, national trout- and fishing- centered organizations really did not catch on until the mid–1900s. Trout Unlimited, whose history is presented in this volume by John Ross, was born on the banks of the Au Sable River in 1959. Ironically, their focus was on conserving wild trout fishing in the Au Sable, not the native grayling, which originally made its home in Michigan’s water. Coeditor and author Bryon Borgelt traces the history of the grayling’s decline in this volume. If, perhaps, the mid-1900s marked a phase of “wild trout,” anglers are finally moving into an era of native trout (and native fish) in these early years of the twenty-first century. In part, this comes from an awareness of the impacts of nonnative species on native ecosystems. The impacts of brown trout in Western waters extends beyond their outcompeting native cutthroat, also impacting salamanders, macroinvertebrates, or other smaller native fish like the darter, dace, or sucker. Currently the World Conservation Union ranks both brown trout and rainbow trout among “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species.”37 Beyond science, however, the move from wild to native trout depends heavily upon aesthetics. As Schullery noted in Cowboy Trout, “Most recently, it wasn’t all that big a step from preferring wild fish to preferring wild native fish, which are now seen by many as provid-

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SAMUEL SNYDER

ing a more authentic angling experience in nature. A fish that actually evolved over many millennia in the water has certain aesthetic advantages over a fish that only arrived a few decades ago.”38 Many anglers value native fish for aesthetic reasons, but angling has also taught them basic streamside ecology so that they understand the importance of native fish in native habitats, ecologically speaking. That said, there remain countless debates over restoration projects for native trout, as many anglers would prefer to continue catching wild browns or rainbows, which they might see as better sport. Responding to these realities of science and aesthetics, groups like Trout Unlimited are funding programs such as “Eastern Brook Trout Venture” or “Bring Back the Natives.” Rick Williams provides a detailed history in this volume of a Federation of Fly Fishers program. The “native fish policy” seeks to restore native fish species, and their habitats as essential components for the continuation of “fly fishing heritage and tradition, as well as the betterment of ecosystems.”39 In one (of many) grassroots example, the bylaws of New Mexico Trout state that the trout streams of New Mexico must be protected, not only because “trout waters and their pristine surroundings offer nourishment, solitude, and comfort to the human spirit” but also because “native trout waters are a gift of nature to be understood, preserved, and protected.”40 We are only now beginning to come to terms with the value of native fish and native ecosystems; however, many restoration projects across the West remain hotly contested.

Wading toward Holistic Perspectives Responding to the issues of hatchery fish, anglers have turned their gaze from trout to their salmon cousins. They are realizing that along with dams, introduced hatchery-reared fish significantly impact salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. For example, after the deconstruction of the Elwha Dam in western Washington, wild fish advocates have fought against the use of hatcheries as a means of speeding up the recovery processes. Following a lawsuit from the Wild Fish Conservancy, a judge ruled in March 2014 that federal agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving plans to release hatchery fish to the Elwha River.41 Suits like these are increasingly common, brought by anglers concerned with wild and native fish over hatchery– driven fisheries. These positions, also, are driven by a

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A HISTORICAL VIEW

scientific understanding of the impacts hatchery fish have on wild and native fish stocks. Attention to native fish has, in part, coincided with shifts in biology, or the emergence of the field of conservation biology, which insists upon systemic, rather than species-specific, approaches to conservation. Angler- conservationists have learned that watersheds must be defended and restored if the fish are to be conserved and protected. One cannot simply put more fish back in; one cannot, as Leopold said, mix trout in western, or any, waters. Anglers and fly fishers are gradually moving from a species perspective to a watershed perspective, learning that native fish require restored ecosystems, and arguing more frequently that native fish need restoring, not for fishing but because they have inherent value and the right to exist in their native streams. Thinking systemically, fly fishers have learned that native species, such as the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, are the proverbial “canary in the coalmine.” These trout, more than hatchery–reared trout, need clean clear water. If they cannot survive, then the watershed is sick. This approach is moving in positive directions; rivers and ecosystems are indeed being restored. John Ross documents twenty- one successful stories from the work of Trout Unlimited in Rivers of Restoration.42 There are many feel-good stories. Lessons are being learned and watersheds are in some cases improving. Anglers are getting closer to the land ethic, getting closer, as Leopold taught, to thinking like a mountain or thinking like a watershed. Yet they are still very far from getting it right. This work, however, is far from easy and is certainly controversial— from the use of piscicides such as Rotenone or Antimycin A to clean out nonnative fish from a river to the removal of dams, each project has its own dilemmas. But numbers in some contexts are improving, fishing is improving, and anglers are so pivotal in that process that the Society for Conservation Biology touted recreational anglers as “instrumental in successful fisheries conservation through active involvement in, or initiation of, conservation projects to reduce both direct and external stressors contributing to fishery declines.”43 Historically, a lot of the success stories do not come from federal management but from the hard work of grassroots groups. Eventually, maybe the federal management catches up; that, again, is driven by aesthetics and the preferences of recreation/sport anglers. But there are many struggles ahead. Steelhead numbers are plummeting, as steelhead devotee Dylan Tomine painfully documents in “The

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SAMUEL SNYDER

A worn- out sticker on the bow of a Bristol Bay sportfishing guide boat. Over the course of a decade, this sticker has become the symbol of the fight against the proposed Pebble Mine, decorating fly-rod cases, drift boats, cars, and street signs in Alaska and around the world. Photo credit: Sam Snyder.

FIGURE 0.5

State of Steelhead.” Jack Berryman details the history of their decline and the response by anglers to work for their conservation in chapter 4 of this volume.44 Salmon have been the catastrophic casualty of overfishing, dams, and, of course, poorly managed hatchery and fish-culture programs. Mineral development threatens trout and salmonids globally. Most notably, the world’s largest remaining runs of sockeye salmon—up to forty million a year—in Bristol Bay, Alaska, are threatened not by nonnative species but by nonnative mining companies. As one of the leading historians of fly fishing, Paul Schullery, mused, fly fishers “wouldn’t know history if it came up and bit us on our breathables, but we love to think it is on our side.”45 His point is very valid. He is describing what other sociologists and historians might refer to as “historical illiteracy.” There are books on religious illiteracy and food illiteracy, and I am mostly convinced that the bulk of fly fishers today do not know much about fly fishing history. Nor do they necessarily care to. Perhaps this is not a problem. I, however, am often bothered by it— particularly when I think of the hurdles our fisheries still face and the role that fly fishing, and the broader angling community, can play in clearing those hurdles. Fly fishers often talk and write about following 16

A HISTORICAL VIEW

streams to their sources and wading into headwaters. We fantasize about magical origins to our favorite fisheries. We seek the flows that give cold, flowing life to the spaces where we feel most at home. As we wade upstream, casting, splashing, spotting trout, or identifying bugs, we participate in an age-old ritual that unites us with the history of our sport. Today, amidst all of the glitz, technology, and shifting elements of our sport, we sometimes forget to look back from whence we came. By gazing back into the headwaters of history, we can better understand the evolution of our sport’s techniques, technology, and tributaries. Regarding our fisheries, a historical perspective can tell us where we have gone wrong, where we have succeeded, and perhaps where we should go in the future. Looking back at this history and looking ahead toward these struggles, not only anglers but scholars of environmental history and politics must ask “So what?” From a theoretical vantage point, the question pertains to what looking at fly fishing, trout, and salmon brings to the table for scholars of religion, environmental ethics, environmental history, or environmental policy. From an engaged and practical perspective, we as anglers and historians have an integral role to play in the future of fisheries and watershed conservation. We believe that a scholarly volume such as this one helps start that conversation.

Chapter Overview Capturing the entire global history of fly fishing and conservation in one volume is admittedly an impossible task. No doubt some readers will read this book or skim the table of contents and wonder why we covered what we covered or ignored what we did. We have not ignored anything but instead sought to select a unique array of narratives and essays that capture the complex dynamics of the sport as it has evolved globally, while examining the spaces of conservation that anglers have devoted their energies to in unique and impactful ways. Backcasts is loosely divided into four sections. The first section, “Historical Perspectives,” examines three unique and diverse aspects of fly fishing’s history. These range from medieval angling and early American angling and theology to the legacy of Southern fly angler George T. Dunbar. The second section, “Geographies of Sport and Concern,” takes a glimpse into particular geographic areas of importance in North American fly fishing history. In this section, some readers might wonder how we chose these four articles. From the Catskills and Po17

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conos to the steelhead waters of the Pacific Northwest, we felt that not only did these authors take us into critical centers of North American fly fishing, they did so in unique ways that include addressing fly fishing and Native Americans in the Montana landscape. Third, in a section titled “Native Trout and Globalization,” the book takes seriously the globalized nature of the sport. In so doing, authors provide perspectives from Finland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Japan. Combined, the chapters of this section explore trout in their native waters as well as the journey of brown trout from Europe to America and to Southern Hemisphere climates such as South Africa or Australia. In the fourth section, “Ethics and Practices of Conservation,” the book concludes with a concentrated look at some of the more complicated dynamics of fly fishing culture. In part, Gretel Van Wieren explores the “ambivalent legacies” of women in fly fishing, while Arn Keeling digs deeper into the conservationist ethics of Roderick Haig-Brown. Every chapter in the book takes seriously the interconnections of sport, ethics, and conservation, but these do so more directly than others. In that regard, it is only fitting that this section contain detailed discussions of two of the leading fly fishing organizations in the United States: the Federation of Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited. While this book is historical in nature, history provides lessons for future action. With that in mind, Jack and Austin Williams conclude by taking a close look at the potential impacts facing coldwater fisheries as a result of climate change. In addition, they offer suggestions for angling into the future and key priorities for conservation. These sections and chapters by no means tell the entire story of American or global fly fishing. Yet, in their own way, each captures elements of fly fishing that resonate around the world, as well as lend themselves to ethics and actions of conservation. Again, it is important to underscore that this edited volume, in many ways, is much more of a celebration of successes and marking of milestones than an investigation into failures and errors. That said, as scholars examine the future of the sport, examining these trends and milestones will provide opportunities to understand how we might successfully confront future challenges caused by overuse, water disputes, or loss of habitat due to resource development or climate change. Backcasts begins by wading into the early years of fly fishing history when conservation was a yet to be formulated concept and concern. Medieval historian Richard Hoffmann shows the complex relationship between commercial fishing as work and play in the lives of medieval anglers. At the heart of the intersection between work and play is an 18

A HISTORICAL VIEW

emergent traditional ecological knowledge, “which included animal behavior, capture techniques, and the value of conservation measures, passed orally through generations of illiterate medieval fishers, while those contemporaries who possessed literate skills, mainly professional churchmen, saw little reason to apply them to such mundane matters.” By evaluating the written record from later Middle Ages documents such as those by epic poet Wolfram von Eschenbach (1217/20) or books from Fernando Basurto (1539) to the English Treatyse printed by Wynkyn de Worde (1456), Hoffmann traces the role of trout, salmonids, and the fly played in shaping that ecological knowledge. Brent Lane brings the conversation to the North American continent and engages the relationship between the ecological knowledge fostered by fly fishing and the wilderness ethic of early Christian America. Lane explores the ways in which, from George Washington Bethune to Henry Van Dyke, the pursuit of fish became a conduit for communing with nature and, therefore, God. This is a sentiment the reader will see has various articulations throughout the history of fly fishing. Whether noting Norman Maclean’s famous line that there was no clear line between fly fishing and religion in his family, anglers throughout the history of the sport have heaped religious and spiritual sentiments upon the sport, and often that elevated view of sport and nature proves essential in the development of a conservation ethic. Fly fishing is notable for its figures of influence, some more noted than others. Hardly a fly fisher could admit to not knowing the names, at least, of Izaak Walton, Roderick Haig-Brown, or Lee and Joan Wulff. However, other anglers have been hugely influential on the sport and its publication history, and yet, to the larger culture, remain somewhat anonymous. One of those “anonymous anglers” was George T. Dunbar, a civil engineer who wrote under the pseudonym “Piscator.” While he celebrated fly fishing’s trout heritage and piscatorial authors, Dunbar brought attention to fishing the South and encouraged an early conservation ethic through his collection and documentation of fish. In “The Fly Fishing Engineer,” Greg O’Brien gives us a glimpse into Dunbar’s life and work as an engineer, fly fishing, and an early conservation ethic, namely in the South. While a Southern angler, Dunbar’s reach through his writing was well beyond his bioregion, influencing readers of the popular Spirit of the Times. As this volume shows, fly fishing’s geographic history is filled with famed waters from British Columbia to South Africa for fish from steelhead to transplanted trout. Other waters such as those of central Pennsylvania cannot be ignored for the impact they played in shap19

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ing the fishing and writing of leaders such as Vincent Marinaro or Ernest Schwiebert. Matthew Bruen quickly wades into the waters of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and the Catskills of New York to explore their monumental place in fly fishing’s history and currents of coldwater conservation over the years. As love of sport drives a conservation ethic for salmonids, sometimes there are unintended consequences for good of the whole ecosystem, and the stories told by Bruen, Draper, Borgelt, and others underscore the dilemmas. From the early angling waters of the American east this volume takes the reader to the famed waters of Montana. In doing so, however, author Ken Lokensgard explores the intersection of western sport and Native American worldviews. While the waters of the Blackfoot are historically some of the finest trout waters of North America, the native inhabitants of the region, the Blackfeet Indians, rarely fished, particularly for sport. In “From Serpents to Fly Fishers,” Lokensgard explores the attitudinal evolution of the Blackfeet to fishing for trout and the conservation of native species amidst the cultural landscape of Montana. Lokensgard tells an uncommon tale of common waters, with native peoples grappling with a changing landscape, albeit through fishing. For better or worse, fly fishing has played an integral role in altering the scope of landscapes and coldwater ecosystems around the globe. Coeditor Bryon Borgelt wades the waters of Michigan’s Au Sable River, tracing the decline of native grayling due to overfishing, logging, and industrial development. The Au Sable is famous as the birth place of Trout Unlimited in 1959, now the world’s largest coldwater conservation organization. In doing so, Borgelt underscores the work of early angling conservationists such as Thaddeus Norris and William B. Mershon, who fought for the declining grayling and wrestled with the introduction of brook and brown trout to their waters. The now-famed brown trout of the Au Sable arrived in Michigan from Europe by way of Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Mikko Saikku analyzes the historical protection of native brown trout, native grayling, char, and native Atlantic salmon in Finland. While Finns have fished for salmonids since the last ice age, recreational fisheries for anglers were developed only during the nineteenth century. Fly fishing gained more popularity in independent Finland after 1917, and more attention was paid to the study and preservation of game fishes and recreational fisheries. However, the mid-twentieth century produced a sharp decline in native salmonid stocks due to overfishing and humaninduced environmental change. Probably most significant was the 20

A HISTORICAL VIEW

degradation of the streams vital for the species’ reproduction, especially after World War II. Counter to the introduction of brown trout in Michigan’s Au Sable, Saikku tells of the impact of North American brook trout and rainbow trout to this historic European fishery. Yet the globalization of trout is not without conflict and controversy, and two chapters wade into the messy waters of trout acclimatization or salmonization in South Africa and New Zealand. Though South Africa was settled by the Dutch in 1652, it was not until the late 1800s that they carried trout to their new environs. As a part of the work of acclimatization, European colonists sought to make their new homes like their old and carried their passion for sport with them. Dean Impson details this history, underscoring the impact of nonnative trout upon diverse aquatic ecosystems and native fishes. Despite this troubled legacy, however, Impson shows that in the last few decades sport anglers, and fly fishers in particular, advocated for greater conservation measures. Yet conflicts have arisen between anglers desiring nonnative salmonids and those seeking biodiversity conservation. Malcolm Draper picks up this history and conflict by comparing the context of South Africa and New Zealand as separate case studies in the history of fisheries management and policy in the Southern Hemisphere. Following these conversations, Masanori Horiuchi moves the narrative further East to the waters of Japan, where he examines the diverse geographies of trout fishing in Japan and then outlines the administration system for fishing to highlight a sociological background of trout fishing in Japan, including the increasingly popular tenkara fishing. He concludes with an examination of how trout anglers have engaged in various levels of river and fisheries conservation, from management to the opposition of hydropower projects threatening Japanese trout fisheries. Throughout each of these chapters the reader will catch snippets of fly fishing, its global history, its leadership, and the ways the sport has influenced the human relationship to the natural world. The final section of the book is devoted to examining issues of ethics and conservation in fly fishing’s history. Before addressing conservation directly, Gretel Van Wieren’s chapter on women anglers examines the role of women in the history of the sport. In doing so, however, she takes a unique approach to the subject by exploring the relationship between angling, science, and conservation. Arn Keeling follows Van Wieren with a close examination of Roderick Haig-Brown, who was seemingly ahead of his time advocating for conservation measures in the steelhead waters of the Pacific Northwest. If Dunbar, discussed earlier, exemplified a regional spirit in fishing, then a more noted fig21

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ure in the history of fly fishing and conservation who embodies the bioregions of steelhead is Haig-Brown. In his article, Keeling, who has devoted much of his career to studying the life of Haig-Brown, explores the evolving conservation thought and practice of Haig-Brown as he fished and advocated for the preservation of the fisheries of British Columbia. As Haig-Brown’s message influenced anglers around North America, it obviously resonates most heavily in the steelhead fishing communities of the Pacific Northwest. Jack Berryman explores the rise of steelhead fishing in the Pacific Northwest and the role of steelheaders in leading the charge for the reform of fisheries management from hatcheries and dam removal to harvest policy. In this narrative, he builds on the legacies of Zane Grey and Roderick Haig-Brown and underscores the importance of a new age of steelhead anglers who have drawn upon the collaborative resources of an array of conservation groups to advance steelheading as a subculture of fly fishing and mobilize the passion of this subgroup to impact changes in fisheries management and policy. From father figures of conservation, Backcasts shifts to close explorations of the histories of the two largest fly fishing– based conservation organizations in the United States, also examining future challenges for anglers and the watersheds of fly fishing. Both Rick Williams and John Ross tell the tales of the two most prominent fly fishing organizations in America. As Williams shows, the Federation of Fly Fishers began as a fly fishing club, with little focus on conservation specifically. However, as sport and organization grew, they could not avoid engaging in crucial discussions and activities that had conservation as a central theme. On the other hand, as John Ross shows, Trout Unlimited, born on the banks of Michigan’s Au Sable River, began with conservation as their goal. Whether intended or not, Trout Unlimited has grown to be the largest coldwater conservation organization in the world and is at the forefront of many major contemporary issues—from oil and gas development in the West to protecting the last great salmon fishery on the planet in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Whether catch and release, resource development, or ecological restoration, coldwater conservation faces an uncertain future, particularly in the face of growing invasive species and the impacts of climate change. Wrapping up this volume, Jack and Austin Williams ask what lessons history holds and explore what the future looks like for coldwater conservation in North America. In doing so, they chart a path for increasing awareness of and engagement with fisheries conservation 22

A HISTORICAL VIEW

through fly fishing and sport in ways that increase resilience of both human and natural communities so that this great history of the sport will have a legacy to pass on to our children.

Conclusion In the end, we believe that the essays included here provide a spectrum of readings that will appeal to those concerned with the relationships between sport and environmental ethics, as well as environmental ethics and the engaged practices of conservation or ecological restoration. Through biographies on Roderick Haig-Brown, Lee Wulff, or even the obscure George T. Dunbar, Jr., the reader will get a glimpse into the lives of known and lesser-known anglers who have shaped a sport rich in tradition and evolving concern for nature. Coldwater conservation does not arrive without issues on conflict and contention. As English social historian E. P. Thompson wrote of the moral ecology of the English Commons, historians must account for the nature of conservation and the moral implications it has on both the natural resource and the community that depends on it. By its nature, conservation is a contest between opposing forces, often creating a tenuous relationship between outside intervention and local home rule, private restrictions and public access, fly fishing only and bait fishing, subsistence fishing and recreational fishing, hatchery trout and wild trout, native trout and nonnative trout, and introduced trout and native species. These conflicts guide and define angling conservation; they also redefine law and can move traditional practices from established to illicit. This book will continue the analysis of the moral ecology of salmonid conservation. Access to water and to fish raises issues of class and privilege, of traditional local use and vested outside intervention. Along these lines, these stories, while historical, are hardly outdated. Currently, anglers in Idaho and Montana are lobbying for continued access to what have historically been public waters for fishing— a reality that has defined the cultural and ecological landscape of the American West. The same holds for other issues such as development and pollution, deforestation, habitat decline, and the accompanying impacts on native fish habitat. Backcasts establishes a collected, historical account of fly fishing conservation that will benefit current and future social and environmental historians. Up to this point, fly fishing history has been rather nar23

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rowly focused, mainly on the instruments of the trade, such as tackle, or particular rivers or personalities. Never before has a book delved into the nature of the sport and its implications with the environments that make the sport possible. We hope that this volume will be the beginning of a larger conversation around the role of fly fishing, sport, and outdoor recreation and the conservation of natural resources.

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ONE

Trout and Fly, Work and Play, in Medieval Europe

1

RICHARD C. HOFFMANN

Schîonatulander mit einem vederangel vienc äschen und vörchen, die wîl sie las . . . Schîonatulander . . . vische mit dem angel vienc, dâ er stuont ûf blôzen blanken beinen durh die küele in lûtersnellem bache.2 [Schîonatulander caught grayling and trout with a “feathered hook,” while she read . . . Schîonatulander . . . caught fish with the hook, standing there bare-legged in the cool of the clear, quick brook.

( A U T H O R ’ S T R A N S L AT I O N )]

About 1217–20 CE, Middle High German epic poet Wolfram von Eschenbach depicted a fictive noble youth, Schîonatulander, a scion of the Grail dynasty, on an outing with his girlfriend, Sigune, cousin to King Arthur. While she sat on the bank reading and playing with a dog, he waded barelegged in a cool, clear stream to catch trout and grayling with a vederangel, medieval German for an artificial fly. This may be the oldest depiction of a leisured fly fisher catching trout. The scene of Schîonatulander angling poses a curious historical problem of understanding not in present- day terms, which is deceptively easy, but in terms of medieval culture, the evolving behaviors and ideas of Europeans between the sixth and sixteenth centuries. What is going on here? In shaping an answer I start from three essential components—fly, play, and trout— and then move out to the broader histories of medieval fisheries 27

RICHARD C. HOFFMANN

F I G U R E 1 .1 Illustration of an angler, reproduced from Dame Juliana Berners, A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (London, 1880), a facsimile reproduction of the 1496 edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde.

and the idea of outdoor “sport.” There, I want to observe two historic phenomena: (1) how the knowledge of the natural world embodied in Schîonatulander’s fishing drew on the now nearly effaced traditional experience of nature by people who fished for a living, as work; and (2) how in the last medieval centuries some select parts of this knowledge began to be moved from storage in memories and transmission 28

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by voice to texts, written and soon printed, meant to define uplifting play in the natural world. My overall thesis is that cultures of medieval Europe knew fly fishing, trout, “sport,” and “conservation,” but not in their close present- day relationship. Only at the end of the Middle Ages did some new connections emerge.

A Long Tradition of Fishing with a Fly Nothing is said of the artificial fly in the thousand years after Roman essayist Ælian (ca. 170–230 CE), who provided a now well-known hearsay description of Macedonians binding red wool and waxcolored feathers to a hook to catch speckled fish that were eating a certain insect.3 Wolfram’s sudden portrayal of the sporting young fly fisher Schîonatulander (and his earlier allusion to the deceitful vederangel) initiated a slow rise in late medieval references to fly fishing.4 The artificial fly became a well- documented practice for catching trout and grayling in upland central Europe, England, northern Italy, and Spain. Fly fishing in central Europe is so far traceable through passing references in legal and political records, such as the right confirmed in 1360 to a householding couple at Lambach on the Traun in upper Austria to fish with the fly even outside their regular license on the local abbey’s waters. A political tract falsely attributed to the late Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund circulated in 1439 at the reformist church council of Basel; it called for free access to small waters for passage and fishing with the vederangel. Legal historian Hermann Heimpel cogently argues that fly fishing was understood as the common man’s ultimate right of access for subsistence fishing in private waters owned by a lord.5 Since the 1490s, moreover, several surviving German collections of fish- catching advice include recipes for making vedern. Within a century a hundred different fly patterns were documented. Pioneering Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner reported in his 1558 Latin volume on fishes that “Certain skillful fishers fabricate diverse kinds of worms and winged insects from feathers of birds in various seasons of the year, and place such bait on the hook: for grayling  .  .  . and for trout.  .  .  .” These, however, “change for the various seasons of the year.  .  .  .” He then offers six flies of the month covering April through September for each species.6 The next oldest run of evidence for medieval fly fishing has its start in English manuscript and printed texts from the mid-fifteenth 29

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century. An anonymous tract called “Medicina piscium” in Oxford’s Bodleian Library anticipates the thinking of Gessner’s booklet: And iff ye fisch for hym in the lepyng tyme ye must dubbe your hoke with the federys of a pecock or with the federys of a pertriche or with the federysse of a whyld doke and ye must lok what colowr þat the fley is þat þe trowght lepythe aftir and ye same colowre must the federisse be and the same colour must the sylke be of for to bynde the federysse to your hoke.7

Similar views are differently expressed in a roughly contemporary tract in British Library MS Harley 2389.8 These mid- century English tracts are both older and independent of another English textual tradition which culminated in the anonymous but now well-known “Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle,” which Wynkyn de Worde printed in the second Boke of St. Albans in 1496.9 The dozen named patterns for “dubs” recommended for trout and grayling remained until 1620—the last new English references to the artificial fly. Modern ethnography points to a tradition of fly fishing in northern Italy, although no manuals survive. Historical evidence relies so far upon a single work of art, a triptych altarpiece which Jacopo da Bassano (ca. 1510–92) painted for the parish church of Borgo del Grappa near Treviso (Veneto) in 1538. The artist grew up and then still lived in nearby Bassano, a town on the mountain-fed Brenta River. One panel of his altarpiece depicts San Zeno, a late Roman missionary and bishop of Verona, who allegedly caught fish to feed the poor. Late medieval iconography customarily shows San Zeno with a fish dangling from his pastoral staff or even from a robust rod and line. Jacopo, however, depicted the saint in full episcopal regalia holding a long, thin rod with a line from which dangle three artificial flies, one with a grayling still attached.10 Sadly the dearth of Italian scholarly interest in medieval and early modern rural life means that local legal records or manuscript collections remain unexplored. Thus scholars lack the supporting evidence for Italy that appears in similar English and German sources. Finally, a well- established Spanish tradition of fly fishing for trout burst into the historical record with Fernando Basurto’s Dialogo, a literary discussion between a noble hunter and a commoner fisher printed at Zaragoza in 1539. Ecological and cultural aspects of Basurto’s work are treated elsewhere;11 the concern now is his clear portrayal of fly fishing for trout. Having in the practical section of the dialogue treated tackle, baits, and other species, the fisher tells how he had caught trout using natural insects and then goes on to their imitations: 30

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The feather of the capon or duck or of another bird called a buñal is a very excellent bait for trout in the months of April, May, June, July, and August in clear water and swift streams. But note that the feather by itself is worth nothing if it is not tied to the body of some flies made of the same color of silk, at times yellow, at times brown, and at other times black, because these are the colors of the same flies that the trout eat in the streams evening and morning. And you should know that in different months there run different flies in the streams. And to find out in those rivers where there are trout, you must put yourself by the stream and look at the color of the fly that flies there and take it alive. . . .

The old fisher instructs his protégé how to make these objects and to choose “feathers” for use when the trout are not rising, then continues: With the feather one must fish, as I said, in swift streams without lead and without float but with the feather alone, throwing down the stream and going up the stream with reasonable speed so that the feather goes along the top of the water to the upper part of the stream, for in such a manner the trout eat real flies and so we fool them with artificial ones.12

In a technical sense this considerable medieval record of fly fishing, established in three and perhaps four European linguistic cultures, thus achieved its epitome in the explicit and independent statements of imitative theory found in “Medicina piscium” and MS Harley 2389 and the printed books by Basurto and Gessner. On more than purely literary grounds, then, we may surmise that the technique practiced by  Schîonatulander was familiar to at least some early-thirteenthcentury and later audiences. Nothing in the early historical record, however, offers fly fishing as a novelty, invention, or distinctively recreational or conservation- oriented method.

Fishing for Fun Fishing as a recreational activity has a broad, if obscure and neglected, history throughout the poorly documented medieval centuries before and the ever-better reported ones after 1200.13 In the summer of the year 831 and again in 834, Emperor Louis the Pious (r. 813–35), son of Charlemagne, set aside governmental affairs to enjoy hunting and fishing around Remiremont in the Vosges.14 In an eleventh- century romance, a prince, Ruodlieb, twice goes fishing at a lake with friends “for fun” (ludant atque iocarentur). The latter fictional characters secured 31

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their catch with a seemingly magical powder called buglossa, an herb with chemical properties paralyzing to fish. A real mid-twelfth- century young nobleman, the cleric Gui of Bazoches, wrote home to his mother that he was “dedicated to his games and studies” (Et ludis datus et studiis). In a somewhat later letter he explained to friends that having left Paris (due to some scandal), he spent more than a year at his uncle’s small rural castle near Rumigny where he alternated devotion to his studies with “play in the out of doors” (ludere camporum nunc per aperta libet) at “lighter games” (leuibus nunc seria ludis), namely hunting, fowling, and fishing. When the season was right and he wanted “to fool fishes by various means” (pisces uariis ludificare modis), he used hook and line, nets, and the seine to take seven local fish varieties and so refresh a mind weary from the world and intellectual effort.15 By then more figures of high medieval literature were also fishing for fun. Among them was the “Fisher King” of the Grail cycle of chivalric romances, whose wounds prevented his hunting as a “pastime.” Thirteenth- to fourteenth- century French works present a fictionalized poet Ovid catching inland fishes with nets, hooks, a seine, and traps.16 Sketches and palace murals dating between the 1360s and 1410s in Verona, in the castle at Pavia, and at Castel Roncolo (Runkelstein) near Bolzano in south Tirol depict men and women in elite costume angling and catching fish in nets. So did a tapestry made in 1402 for Queen Isabeau of France and a panel painting of the court of Holland on an angling outing. In 1440 Doña Blanca, Infanta of Navarra, traveled to Valladolid to wed Prince Enrique, heir to the throne of Castile. To relieve the journey her escort, the Count of Haro, entertained her for three days with jousting, hunting, and fishing in a pond specially stocked with large trout and barbel for her pleasure.17 Beatrice d’Este, wife of Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza (r. 1479/94–1505), herself fished with nets on a country outing and the court then picnicked on her catch of pike, lamprey, and other species.18 The Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1493–1519) also enthusiastically engaged in fishing.19 Concerned for the aquatic resources of his lands, in 1504 he instructed his hunting office use reports of his Fischmeister, Martin Fritz, and compile a Fischereibuch von Tirol und Gorz, so that he could evaluate “such fisheries regarding use and pleasure” (solher vischwaiden allzeit zu nuetz und lust). Officials organized the finished product by regions and bodies of water and embellished it with six illustrative scenes of Maximilian and his court hunting and fishing. Each of the many entries identifies the fish varieties available in the 32

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water and indicates whether it might better serve the emperor’s table (nutz) or entertainment (lust). The lake at Ambras, with its pike, carp, bream, and tench, was lustiger because its vicinity to the Innsbruck residence meant it could be fished with a net as pastime while hunting deer. The Himmersbach at Wiesen bei Rinn “has good trout and the prince may have fun there fishing with a small hand net and angling rod.” The Emperor’s Tirolean servants plainly thought he would enjoy fishing with everything from seines and traps to rod and line and for species from gudgeon and minnow to grayling, trout, and pike. Angling, however, is mentioned only as a means to pursue lust. Courtiers shown with rod in hand wave it over the water without weight on the line as speckled fish leap about.20 Maximilian further displayed his lust for fishing in his autobiographical Weisskönig, where woodcuts specially commissioned for his personal copy show the emperor angling in the midst of other fishing activities.21

Encounters with Trout in the Middle Ages Present- day taxonomists endlessly debate the lumping or splitting of the many highly variable and diverse European members of genus Salmo not salar. Because speakers of medieval European vernaculars referred to any spotted, torpedo-shaped freshwater fish as a “trout,” we shall do the same. Still, early medieval texts rarely differentiated among generic pisces (fishes). Medieval Europeans ate trout all across the fish’s wide range. Trout bones occur in food waste from sites of early and central medieval date in northern Italy, along the southern Baltic coast and its hinterland, at the Cluniac abbey at La- Charité-sur-Loire, in central England, and at several monastic and lay sites in Ireland. Even from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries, on which less zooarchaeology has been done, trout remains have turned up in latrines of castles from English county Durham to the Danube below Vienna, and urban sites from Otranto on Italy’s heel to Orleans in central France.22 This is despite (1) the elevated fat content of salmonid bones, which reduces their survival in most archaeological contexts; and (2) the difficulty of identifying archaeological salmonid bones to species level, which inclines archaeozoologists to label large specimens salmon and smaller ones trout. Written records agree. For instance, as early as the sixth century Frankish king Theuderic’s physician advised that trout and perch were 33

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the fishes most suitable for human food. The Parisian householder who in 1395 prepared for his young wife the homemaking manual called Le Menagier de Paris included a buying guide and recipe for trout: Trouts. Their season begins in May. (Item, their season is from March until in September.) . . . Trout are cooked in water and plenty of red wine, which ought to be eaten with cameline [a spiced sauce] and served in portions of two-finger size. On meat days [serve] as patê on large strips of bacon.23

Contemporary English cookbooks also provide recipes for trout, and they appear on the menus for royal banquets held in the Tower of London in early July of 1483, preceding the coronation of King Richard III.24 Trout were recognized as a resource in the estate survey done in 862 for the monastery of Bobbio, which received rent payments in trout and eel from Lake Garda, known since Roman times for its large endemic lake- dwelling Carpione, sometimes called Salmo trutta carpio.25 The right of ordinary citizens to catch trout in particular was guaranteed in several eleventh- to thirteenth- century royal charters for self-governing communes in northern Castile.26 A Florentine statute of 1450 restricted fishing in the Casentino mountain district southeast of the city “where in the rivers and waters there present are procreated and made those fish which are called trote, and truly noble fishes they are.”27 Learned medieval references to trout are not rare but add little to the discussion. Early compendia of natural history offer only etymological, allegorical, and occasional dietary remarks.28 Mid-thirteenthcentury Dominican theologian and Christian Aristotelian natural philosopher Albert the Great described fishes in his ca. 1260 encyclopaedic De animalibus: truthae are river fish living in fast streams of the mountains. They have scales and in summer reddish flesh like salmon but in winter are white and less tasty. The back bears yellow, red, and black spots.29 We must await the pioneer mid-sixteenth- century ichthyologists, Conrad Gessner among them, for thorough discussion of the biological as well as cultural features of European fishes, including trout. While it is therefore plain that medieval Europeans were aware of trout, in no respect did they grant these fish any special cultural recognition or status. So how did three widespread traditions—knowledge of trout, a social pastime, and a particular capture technique— coexist and connect in medieval European culture? This essay aims to establish some links.

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First a summary narrative of evolving medieval European fisheries reveals peoples whose work experience in the natural world engendered deep familiarity with local aquatic life, trout included, and ways to capture them. Subsequently this traditional knowledge flowed into an evolving concept of sport among late medieval literate elites. Medieval religious custom in western Christianity forbade consumption of meat on a weekly and seasonal basis about 135 days (35  percent) of the year yet allowed fish as a meat substitute. This practice shaped regular and patterned consumption of fish by all who could afford it. The archaeological and written record confirms medieval Europeans ate fish throughout, with locally available varieties—meaning overwhelmingly freshwater and diadromous species— dominant everywhere into the eleventh century and thereafter a slow and piecemeal increase in consumption of marine fishes in durably preserved form. Where possible, however, everyone always preferred fresh fish, and for most that meant those, like trout, taken in local fresh waters.30

Medieval Fisheries Provided Working Experience of Aquatic Ecosystems Changing medieval patterns of effective demand for fish motivated three successive institutional forms of fisheries: subsistence, small-scale artisanal, and later large-scale commercial. While the last evolved in a marine environment irrelevant to this immediate discussion, subsistence and artisanal fisheries were the primary modes of exploitation on the inland waters inhabited by trout and other freshwater species. Their growth occurred within a larger pattern of medieval socioeconomic development. In the earlier Middle Ages (into the twelfth to thirteenth centuries) subsistence fisheries predominated, and some remained locally important well into modern times. In a subsistence fishery the catch fed the household of the fisher, whether he was its patriarchal head (direct subsistence) or a servant supplying a larger establishment (indirect subsistence). Records of fishing activities and fishes consumed indicate that fishing for the consuming household exploited local waters and fish populations everywhere. Direct subsistence fishing was a part-time seasonal activity of peasant households and communities who had access (not always formally legal) to local aquatic resources. Indirect subsistence fed local elite households from the lord’s resources (increasingly

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conceived as “his” property) using the labor of subordinates, whether servile peasants or household servants fishing part time or full-time specialist “fishers.” What we can learn about subsistence fishers of both types establishes their deep empirical familiarity with local organisms and ecosystems. A direct subsistence fishery was, for example, practiced by households in an early- eleventh- century settlement of “peasant knights” on Lac Paladru in the Alps north of Grenoble. This lake contained trout and char as well as cyprinids, perch, and pike. Annual rings in scales and vertebrae recovered from middens establish that about half of the fish were taken in spring and a third in the fall. Archaeologists also found bronze hooks, iron fish spears, and cork floats plus stone and ceramic weights for nets.31 Tegernsee Abbey, an eighth- century foundation on its namesake lake in the Bavarian Alps, had by 1291 acquired exclusive lordship and fishing rights over the seventy-two-meter deep lake, its tributaries, and its outlet. Already in the eleventh century and still in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the abbey employed a half- dozen full-time fishers to fish the lake for lake trout (Seeforellen), whitefishes, and cyprinids, using boats and various specialized nets and traps. In December and January, for instance, they captured schools of whitefishes spawning at ten- to twenty-meter depths. Other subjects who paid a license fee could catch crayfish, trout, and the local sculpin and sell them to the monastery at set prices. A hundred trout angled from brooks received thirty-four kreuzer (a small coin) and four loaves of abbey bread; a hundred from the larger Mangfall earned forty-three kreuzer and four loaves. Any fish longer than a forearm had to be offered for sale to the monks, who paid four kreuzer per pound for trout, pike, grayling, huchen, or barbel. An economic manager’s ledger indicates that trout were thought “best” around Whitsunday when certain flowers bloomed and “long bugs” appeared in the lake. They started to spawn around St. Bartholomew’s feast day (August 24) and remained in brooks up to St. Martin’s Day (November 30).32 Abbey officials heavily fined people from a village in the next valley who covertly crossed to poach lake trout spawning in upper reaches of the main tributary.33 Management clerks also compiled, likely between 1497 and 1505, a book of fishing advice that contained more than fifty patterns for vederangeln and recipes for baits. Fly fishing techniques and knowledge at Tegernsee were clearly part of the subsistence repertoire. Artisanal fisheries—where fishers sold their catch at a market—first appeared in tenth- century records. Such local markets for fish were an 36

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integral, indeed often precocious, element in the early rise of an exchange sector, what historians call the commercial revolution of the Middle Ages, which expanded during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Artisanal fishers first appeared at inland and coastal sites with access to consuming centers, especially emerging towns such as Ravenna, Gdansk, Dieppe, Lincoln, or Worms. Well- documented later cases confirm that subsistence fishers who had earlier supplied their lords with fish came to sell their surplus. Medieval artisanal fishing was a household enterprise, not the specialty of whole settlements. Like subsistence fishers artisans targeted familiar local fish varieties with their selection from a common inventory of basic capture techniques, from small-scale baited hooks or pot gear to large weirs and crew-served nets. They kept large seasonal catches alive in tanks, cages, or ponds or preserved them with simple, short-run methods. Village bylaws regulated access to aquatic as to other commons and often forbade sale outside the community, or at least ensured first refusal rights to local consumers. Early on professional fishers from a town or region formed, as did other crafts, associations of mutual interests. It was the fishers’ collective that negotiated in 943 with the Bishop of Ravenna a monopoly of market access, and so, too, all the “fishers of Worms” who in 1106 provided whole salmon each year to the bishop and count in return for control over that fish market.34 Such guilds then regulated themselves under municipal or territorial authority. Fishers at Tulln on the Danube, for instance, could each employ only one helper and had each Christmas to declare whether they would fish with a seine, trap net, or hook and line for the coming year.35 The thirty-two vischmaystern of the lower Traun themselves declared their ordinances in 1418, including a ban on taking small pike, huchen, or trout between April 24 and October 13.36 Artisan-supplied markets provided fresh catches from nearby waters and only later fish caught further afield. Well into the 1200s the trout, herring, or sardines kept to eat later mostly came from fishers’ home waters and were consumed in quantity only a few score kilometers away. When a learned Milanese gentleman, Bonvesin de la Riva, wrote to praise his native city, he remarked how fishers brought to its market from area lakes, rivers, or streams “every manner of fish, trouts, lake trouts (dentici), chub, tench, grayling, eel, and lamprey,” while crayfish were especially appreciated during Lent.37 Other fishes eventually did reach markets across wider spaces: fast pack-train relays got marine varieties from Norman ports to thirteenthcentury Paris in some thirty-six to forty- eight hours. Beyond that 37

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roughly 150 kilometer distance, however, preindustrial technologies could not move a fresh product. Slow boats ferried brined herring, dried cod, or barreled Scottish salmon up the Seine. City fishmongers typically organized such transport to pool regional catches and balance seasonal abundances of different varieties. Many also maintained live storage facilities and some helped capitalize fishers by advance purchase of their catches. In a printed De Romanis piscibus libellus (Booklet on Roman Fishes) from 1524, humanist physician Paolo Giovio described the fish market of papal Rome. Among the forty-three varieties available fresh, Giovio provides erudite knowledge of ancient admiration for trout and remarks on the diverse phenotypes present in his own time. Giovio saw that “the more discerning” consumers especially enjoyed the carpione from Lake Garda, processed in the open air.38 Increases in human numbers and economic development changed parameters for medieval relations with aquatic systems. Purposeful and unintended anthropogenic pressures together impacted water quality, habitat, and biodiversity. When people turned woodlands into cultivated fields across large areas of Europe they destabilized many hydraulic regimes. About 1300 an Alsatian chronicler commented on the appearance within his own lifetime of more erratic seasonal stream flow from the newly- cleared Vosges. Barrier dams built to drive water mills on lower- order streams fragmented riverine habitats. Contemporaries observed negative effects on migratory fishes in Atlantic salmon rivers and elsewhere, as, for instance, with the River Sarca in 1210 where dams blocked trout or shad access from Lake Garda. Accelerated erosion-siltation episodes coincident with phases of regional arable expansion and subsequent changes in land use are visible from England and France eastwards to Poland. Even eutrophication from dense, mainly urban populations can be detected archaeologically on the Bodensee beside later medieval Konstanz. Contemporary observers in the Low Countries, Tuscany, and central Europe blamed fish kills on toxic effluents from, for instance, processing hemp and flax or washing metallic ores.39 While such insults harmed natural productivity, rising human numbers and wealth increased pressures of demand and pushed prices upwards. The rising cost of fish indicated demand in excess of traditional supply and motivated both more fishing effort and competitive conflicts over resource access. King Philip IV of France in 1289 bemoaned the depletion of “each and every river and waterside of our realm, large and small.  .  .  .”40 While the best independent confirmations of the king’s diagnosis refer to anadromous and estuarine salmon 38

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and sturgeon,41 some local populations of the more widespread trout also suffered. The rich resources of the Pinzgauer Zellersee, high in the Salzburg Alps, attracted a group of artisans, who contracted to pay the archbishop 27,000 whitefish and eighteen lake trout a year for the right to take, smoke, and sell still more. After one human generation the whitefish catch collapsed, and replacement stockings of pike ate nearly all the trout, so the fishing community determined to rest the lake for three years and then to fish only with far fewer nets in a limited season and a restricted area.42 High and late medieval Europeans were often well aware of insecurity and shortfalls in the supply of fish and considered countermeasures. Their several responses included privatization and public regulation of fishing rights and methods; purposeful manipulation of aquatic systems; and step-wise expansion of fisheries on Europe’s maritime frontiers. Privatization of valued fisheries resources, both inland and coastal, accelerated from the twelfth century onwards. Private possession of fishing rights constrained subsistence use by local communities and imposed greater economic rent on artisanal users. Some seigneurs also restricted the methods allowed on their private waters. A Picard lord banned trammel nets in 1225 and one in the Eifel demanded fishers keep one foot on the bank at all times.43 Local conflicts over access became common and eventually generalized in demands by revolutionaries in the German Peasants War of 1525 for free access by the “common man” to fish for noncommercial purposes.44 Enlarged public regulation of fisheries from the thirteenth century onwards was often articulated in terms of conservation and sustainability. Asserting a need to protect the fishery, Sicilian, French, Scottish, and other authorities set minimum size limits, seasonal closures, and restrictions on gear. They assigned enforcement to specialized officials or those generally responsible for local and regional public order. The laws not only suggest that some groups with political clout perceived changes in status of certain fishes, but also that their locally specific and detailed provisions further indicate practical experience of fish populations, habitats, and habits. Besides banning certain capture methods on the sovereign water of the Seine, French royal laws of 1260, 1289, and 1291 repeatedly adjusted the size limits for eight essential species in that lowland river.45 A 1399 ordinance of Pavia forbade cutting vegetation in the Po or Ticino to protect young fish, the 1433 regulations for Lake Garda set special closed seasons for carpione, and Florentine laws took account of spawning sites for trout.46 When Emperor Maximilian ordered consultation among his Fischmeister, local 39

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officials, and holders of fishing rights on the Austrian Danube and its tributaries in 1506 to draft regulations tailored to each region his proclamation used full- color pictures of eight principal species, trout, grayling, and huchen among them, to ensure unambiguous discussion.47 To my knowledge, however, medieval conservation measures nowhere gave special attention to fishing with the fly. Both private and public management were effective in sustaining certain inland fisheries to the present day. Natural productivity remained, however, limited, and the total of traditional freshwater, estuarine, and coastal resources diminished in the face of rising demand. Medieval Europeans further intervened at several levels with intent to manipulate their aquatic systems. Local stocking and species transfer was always an option, as recorded in estate management manuals and practiced from Sicilian lagoons to Yorkshire rivers. From 1279 the self-governing commune of Perugia, with lucrative fish trade to Rome and Florence, was actively stocking several species, including trout, in nearby Lake Trasimene.48 Circa 1400 one French landowner even recorded his experiments with artificial spawning of trout.49 Indeed, aquaculture was a major area of medieval innovation, with development, perhaps first in eleventh- through twelfth- century France, of ways to manage fish stocks and water in rearing native cyprinids, pike, and other stillwater species. Purposeful large-scale enterprises spread eastwards by and after 1300, now specializing in production of fast-growing exotic carp for elite inland consumers. Trout are rarely mentioned as objects of these large-scale fish farms. For Moravian churchman Jan Dubravius, who in the 1530s prepared the first comprehensive work on central European fish culture, trout were an afterthought, reared for delicate-tasting party treats, not for profit. They required cold running water, ponds with hard sand and gravel substrates, and supplemental feeding with carp fry, bleake, or other little fishes.50 Having surveyed key aspects of medieval inland and coastal fisheries, two essential points can be concluded. The people who really knew about fish in general and trout in particular gained this knowledge through work. What the fishers, fishmongers, and pond masters experienced in pursuing, catching, keeping, even rearing, fish they stored in memory and passed on by word of mouth. Such an information system is now called “traditional ecological knowledge” (TEK) This understanding, which included local habitats, animal behavior, capture techniques, and the value of conservation measures, passed orally through generations of illiterate medieval fishers. The names, for 40

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instance, of multigenerational families of expert fishers on the Zürich See are still recoverable, and so, too, how individuals in the employ of Tegernsee Abbey advanced over the years from helping the old fishers to running their own boats.51 Yet their contemporaries who possessed literate skills, mainly professional clerics, saw little reason to apply their letters to such mundane matters. What changes came to encourage transfer of fishing TEK to literate elites?

Evolving Cultural Attitudes toward Nature, Work, and Play In the earlier Middle Ages and notably up to the twelfth century attitudes prevalent among ordinary and learned Europeans alike saw the natural world as hostile, a place to struggle for survival against material and even demonic forces. Both groups judged demeaning the physical work required, and the dominant ideological position among the clerical elite made labor both a shameful consequence of mankind’s Fall into sin and at best barely supportive of an essential journey of the soul to salvation. While some members of religious communities worked, they did so as an act of penance and self- discipline. The only respectable “arts” were the seven learned artes liberales, the study of grammar, rhetoric, logic (dialectic), geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music, which prepared the way for the only really needful science, theology— an access route to the supernatural. Thanks to a blend of improved material circumstances and deep cultural changes affecting the European belief system, in the twelfth century a more favourable view of this world, the saeculum (whence our word “secular”), began to emerge among some articulate Europeans. Incipient changes affected attitudes toward the natural world and toward physical work. Men who would later be called philosophers and theologians at rising centers of learning in northern France articulated notions of a benign nature, even portraying it as an entity meant to collaborate with humans to achieve divine plans for a better world. A parallel development saw a willingness among new social groups— students, courtiers, and especially townspeople—to consider the natural world as a place for relaxation. The poetry of wandering scholars and troubadours reflects this thinking and so, perhaps, do the skating outings reported of twelfth- century Londoners on the frozen Thames.52 Gui of Bazoches likely shared this view, as did the fourteenth- century Florentines whom Bocaccio’s Decameron (1350s) depicted enjoying riding, hunting, games, and even fishing at country villas. What medi41

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evalist David Herlihy called a “recreational” attitude toward nature53 was evidently cultivated by people, like fly fisher Schîonatulander, not themselves compelled to struggle with the material world. The canon Hugh of St. Victor, who led a community of learned secular priests in Paris in the 1120s, offered in his Didascalicon a new approach to human knowledge, grouping a much enlarged catalog of “arts” into the theoretical, practical, discursive, and mechanical, all of them needful for human life. Hugh is thus reputed the first western thinker not to condemn but indeed to value physical work for its own sake. Among the seven mechanical arts, defined as imitating Nature by making useful objects, he classified food preparation, agriculture, and hunting; in the latter he included fishing with, for example, nets, lines, hooks, and spears. Later medieval educational and moral writers propagated widely in both Latin and various vernaculars Hugh’s newly articulated respect for work.54 Some generations thereafter Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) and later thirteenth century theologians, all trying to consider how Christians ought best live in their societies, extended Hugh’s thinking to include physical play as having potential pedagogical, moral, and social value. Against earlier absolute moral strictures Thomas argued that play in decent moderation provides necessary recreation and rest for the soul.55 On the secular side evolution of play as calling for knowledge and proper behavior had actually begun somewhat earlier with falconry, culminating in the De arte venandi cum avibus (“On the art of hunting with birds”), which Emperor Frederick II completed in the 1240s. Literary allusions would put terrestrial hunting on a similar track by 1200; in early-fourteenth- century France the chase reached the level of formal written instructions, which were soon copied and emulated elsewhere. These texts and teachings set out rules of correct behavior by social participants in selected and approved forms of the “art.”56 Such ways of thinking converged in educational and moral advice from secular and religious writers of fifteenth- century Italy. In Four Books on the Family from the 1430s, prominent humanist Leon Battista Alberti urged fellow Florentines to enjoy the fresh air, pure water, and spiritual satisfaction available on their rural estates.57 A younger contemporary, Giacomo della Marca (S. Jacobus de Marchia, 1391–1476), a dynamic revivalist Franciscan preacher and inquisitor, emphasized the need to ease tensions of the spirit and of the body. Having identified physical activity, called recreatio and “bodily solace,” as an appropriate remedy for the soul, what games and activities were licit? Certainly 42

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not gambling, sexual flirtations, nor violent knightly tournaments.58 Now Giacomo codified the reasoning of Aquinas to specify licit play as avoiding excess under the circumstances and notably neither leading to mortal sin, coming before God and religious duties, harming neighbors, causing scandal, encouraging lust, occurring in a prohibited place, nor being undertaken for greed. Later preachers stressed the need for careful discipline of games and sports appropriate to the participants’ age, social status, time, and setting.59 Whether in cities or the out of doors, proper recreation brought moral and physical benefits when done according to certain rules.

The Sport of Angling The knowledge and skills to enjoy nature were already possessed by people who worked as hunters and fishers. The written record from the later Middle Ages documents transmission of their traditional ecological knowledge from an oral to a literate culture. The letter dedicatory to the first printed work on fishing, the Heidelberg booklet of 1493, indicates Johann Rittershofen, town clerk at Neustadt an der Hardt, had gathered its recipes among local fishers of Rhine tributaries, and a few years later the Tegernsee compilation of fishing advice names one informant, Martin Vörchel, and alludes to another. The diction and style of both texts still reveal strong oral qualities.60 So, too, do those of the midcentury English manuscript tracts and the printed Treatyse of 1496 itself. In a passage absent from the earlier manuscript the latter author pleads personal ignorance of fishing for carp but recommends baits “as I haue herde saye of persons credible” as well as in some written source.61 The 1577 Arte of Angling, the second such printed work in English, also makes cryptic reference to a local [church?] warden as jealous of his expertise to catch trout.62 The Spaniard Basurto explains that his practical advice “is taken from the experience of many and great fishers and from my own . . . ,” while Gessner in 1558 attributed the knowledge of fly fishing he had obtained from his German booklet as originating with “certain skillful fishers.”63 In the late Middle Ages TEK of fishing finally migrated from those who fished for a living to those who fished for play. The two cultural currents of knowledge transfer and of sport are joined together in two independent texts sharing a special enthusiasm for fishing the fly for trout. What could not yet have been even implicit in Schîonatulander’s angling becomes plain in the 1496 Treatyse and in Basurto’s 1539 dia43

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logue. Both now echo the moralists, secular and religious, to establish the value of angling as sport, simultaneously craft and art. The Treatyse begins with the Solomonic proverb that “a glad spirit makes a flowering age,” and declares that such a merry spirit comes from “good and honest dysportes and games.” Dismissing hunting, hawking, and fowling, as too chancy and laborious, leaves “the sport and game of angling” as the best for a long and happy life. This, says the anonymous author of the Treatyse, unlike other kinds of fishing, brings no cold, discomfort, or other than self-inflicted grief. The text promises to prevent the last by showing how to succeed. And even if the waters fail to hold the desired fish, the angler shall enjoy his wholesome walk in nature and benefit in soul, body, and goods from his early rising. “And therfore to al you that ben vertuous: gentyll: and free borne I wryte & make this symple treatyse folowynge: by whyche ye may haue the full crafte of anglynge to dysport you at your luste. . . .”64 Following practical instructions, the final two pages of the printed Treatyse actively recall the sporting purpose with a charge to “ye that can angle & take fysshe to your plesures.” Do not poach in privately owned water, break or loot fish traps, break gates or leave them open. Do not use this “crafty dysporte” for material gain nor go angling with a crowd. Remember your prayers; angling avoids the vice of idleness. Do not take too many fish. Printer Wynkyn de Worde added his own editorial note: were this treatise published as a separate pamphlet, “some idle person” lacking in moderation might destroy “the sayd dysporte of fysshyng.” Hence he has compiled it into a second edition of a larger book [of St. Albans] directed to “gentle and noble men.” The ethos exudes social distinctions, moral values, and rules.65 In this atmosphere of morality (and inchoate conservation), “sport” plainly included but was not exclusive to fishing with the fly. Throughout the debate between hunter and angler that frames Basurto’s practical instruction, the Spanish author articulated a welldeveloped sporting philosophy for an indigenous tradition of recreational angling. With a rich supply of anecdotes from Spanish and Christian literature and history the aged fisher confronts the noble young hunter with the social and moral hazards of the chase. Hunting, he continues, “is a human activity (exercio) for the recreation of the body—though also for its danger— and fishing is divine and human: divine in that it saves the soul and human in that it pleases the body with repose.” The fisher seizes the initiative, establishing the superiority of his sport in its balance (equidad) and lack of excess (superfluidad). Since the angler follows a simple, solitary, and contemplative 44

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pursuit, even hearing mass in the morning before setting off, he does no offense to God, his neighbors, or himself. Against the jibe that none heard of princes or nobles who fished, the angler replies with still better precedents, Christ’s Apostles, who fished even after their call. Thus not only is fishing a recreation (recreación) superior to hunting, concludes the angler, the simple pleasures of angling will also purify the noble soul for its right task of struggle against the enemies of justice, religion, and Spain itself.66 It is almost as if Basurto were checking off items on Giacomo della Marca’s list. For Basurto fishing is indubitably a sport, not an occupation, 67 giving “recreation to the body” as well as benefit to the soul. The old fisherman explains that his long practice of it has guarded him against those vices which harm both. His enthusiasm for the sport demands full concentration and obliterates his worldly cares, sometimes causing him to forego sleep and the attentions of his beloved. He thus must warn fanatics of its hazards: Yet in truth it is not unreasonable to advise those who work that they should not go fishing at all good fishing times, for their absence will be felt in their households; nor should clerics go every day, at least not before finishing with what they owe God in saying their mass and reciting their hours, nor should men of learning [letrados, lawyers] for the harm they will do to those who have lawsuits. For though this exercise may be absorbing, it is not that in the hands of the man [who can] give it up when chance comes along.68

Only in context of medieval cultural reevaluations of the natural world, of human work, and of human play could one form of so common, mundane, and laborious an activity as fishing be so redefined as an “art” or “craft” and acquire moral value, secular and spiritual, to justify an active transfer of its essential knowledge of aquatic nature from those who experienced it through work to those who encounter it through their play. What now might be thought the two breakthrough texts for angling sport in a modern sense explicitly included fly fishing for trout in their transfer of cultural knowledge from the world of work to that of licit play. Those who now gain pleasure from angling, notably when it comes to trout and flies, thus stand down a long and changing stream of cultural heritage.

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TWO

Piscatorial Protestants: Nineteenth-Century Angling and the New Christian Wilderness Ethic BRENT LANE

Introduction As American sport historians like John F. Reiger have noted, and others in this edited volume document, recreational anglers became a driving force in the latenineteenth- and early-twentieth- century conservation movements and helped usher in a new respect for the American wilderness.1 Influential men of the nineteenth century, though perhaps not always noted primarily for fishing prowess, understood the reverence in which gentlemen anglers held nature. From nature writers and social reformers such as Washington Irving and Henry David Thoreau to politicians like Daniel Webster and Theodore Roosevelt, scores of iconic Americans experienced New England trout fishing first hand. Outside of random notes in journals and innocuous defenses of the sport, few American piscatorial works existed prior to the 1800s, but the genre took off after the turn of the century, facilitating a trend of wilderness withdrawal. Typifying this development, three influential Reformed ministers, George Washington Bethune, Henry Ward Beecher, and Henry 46

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Van Dyke, personified the Protestant contribution to this new wilderness ethos through streamside musings and reflections that perpetually capture the archetypal angler’s affection for nature. By the 1870s, angling literature flew off American presses and resulted in notable increases in participation in the sport as hordes of city dwellers flocked to backwoods to practice the “gentle art.”2 While American intelligentsia discovered countryside fishing’s benefits of fresh air and exercise of both mind and body, disciples of the Enlightenment began to develop a maxim regarding modern commercialization: materialism affected humanity’s morality, and industrialization often negatively impacted the purity of the wilderness. With the future of society’s principles and the American frontier hanging in the balance, a source of unity to temper both effects emerged in the increasing popularity of “truehearted” angling.3 Initially, though some evidence indicates that nearly all males in seventeenth- century New England fished, Puritan culture did not readily associate angling with righteousness like genteel British society often did in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.4 Before American sport fishing reached its zenith in the last few decades of the 1800s, this would change as even polite New England society became immersed in trout lore. The emergence of sporting periodicals such as Spirit of the Times and American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine related the joys of angling to cosmopolitan readers in the 1830s.5 Irving and other Romantics “completely bitten with the angling mania” helped further erase some of the stigma of incivility associated with sport fishing.6 Reverend John J. Brown published An American Angler’s Guide, a seminal work on American angling in 1845, Reverend George W. Bethune’s edition of Walton gained notoriety in 1847, and Charles Lanman produced An Angler in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the United States in 1848. By the following decade, when Henry Ward Beecher encouraged readers to join him “a-fishing,” the brand of the vulgar fisherman had been erased to a small but significant extent.7 Transcendentalists supported the escape to the woods, and even Thoreau posited that fishermen were “often in a more favorable mood” for observing nature than “philosophers and poets even, who approach her with expectation.”8 Beyond secular arguments, moral justification in express response to Puritan concerns appeared most often in the works of Puritan descendants themselves. Protestant ministers represented the most visible vanguard of popular angling for gentlemen in America. They forged a new image of the respectable, masculine, and above all pious fisherman, and along 47

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with perceived righteousness, the Christian angler experienced God through the open book of nature. In “A Discourse at Amoskeag Fall” published in 1743, Anglican missionary Reverend Joseph Seccombe tendered a religious vindication of angling that emphasized the way that fishing “enlivens Nature [and] recruits our Spirits.”9 Historian Charles Goodspeed asserted that this was likely a direct response to the Puritan disapproval of amusements that prevented Christians from furthering the message of the Gospel, suggesting that fishing was popular enough among ministers to warrant censure, and it became the first significant American dialogue on transcendent angling.10 In 1846, John Keese, an innovator in black bass angling, offered that “as a Christian I certainly say that, in some of my solitary rambles, or boat- excursions, with my rod, I have been favored with the most devout and grateful emotions of the heart in contemplating the beauties of creation; and, looking up from the works of my Maker around me to Him who made them all, my meditations on the divine goodness have been most sweet.”11 An 1847 Christian Inquirer editorial comment stating that “angling is, without contravention, a highly honorable calling, promoting good health and spirits, just what Americans need” signaled that by midcentury, prevalent religious crowds recognized the meditative nature of the sport.12 Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, heavyweight Protestant ministers and theologians actively advocated the benefits of angling and outdoor adventures. Although all three of these ministers practiced conventional fishing at some point, fly fishing appears to be held in the highest esteem, and an inexorable connection from the fly to piety is established. Dr. Bethune felt so drawn to fly angling that he remained “satisfied not to fish when the fly cannot be used.”13 Beecher fished by any means at hand, but he was interestingly inclined to associate pristine riverine settings with a reverenced for sactin flies, while conversely assigning live-bait fishing as an anecdotal foil to the presumed relaxing nature of angling. Likewise, Van Dyke regularly used bait in his angling narratives to amuse but occasionally painted bait fishing “vulgar” in contrast to using flies.14 Recent scholarship on angling and religion generally confirms the adage that among its adherents, “angling was a sign of grace, of membership of a ‘brotherhood’ of pious and peaceable men.” 15 Both Bethune and Beecher, the former quite orthodox and the latter anything but, laid a foundation for men of Van Dyke’s ilk to establish a newfound nature ethic built on religious principles practiced through fly fishing. The works of these important clergymen confirmed that through the pursuit of the contemplative man’s recreation, fishermen 48

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discovered more than simply fishing by experiencing God in nature, and they wholly embodied the essence of “the complete angler.”

George W. Bethune: Modest Angler Among out- door recreations, none has been a greater favorite with studious men . . . because none is more suited to quiet habits, fondness for retirement, and love of nature, than angling, not in the sea, but in brooks or rivers, where the genus Salmo abounds.16

Few angling ministers of the nineteenth century enjoyed the same widespread literary success as Reverend George Washington Bethune. Regarded as an outdoor pioneer in the “golden age of clerical etiquette,” he shook off “its choking cravats, imperious black coats, and long

F I G U R E 2 .1

George W. Bethune

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faces” and created an image of rugged, masculine piety “years before the muscular school of Christians came into vogue.”17 Possessing what he considered the most complete collection of angling literature in the world, Bethune’s passion for fishing was perhaps superseded only by his pursuit of its knowledge. He edited a celebrated edition of Walton’s Compleat Angler and became one of the earliest American theorists on designing flies.18 A self- described “modest angler” despite a deep interest in the sport’s history, he remains a forerunner in the chronicles of American fly fishing and symbolized the enormous change wrought in mainstream Calvinistic nature attitudes in the nineteenth century.19 Angling afforded Bethune much more than mere toleration of suffering to secure an evening’s supper—it allowed escape from the city and the rigorous obligations of a clerical profession. Echoing the transcendentalist’s call to turn to nature for refreshment, Bethune insisted that upon returning to the city from an angling adventure, the minister resumed his duties “sturdy in body and happy in spirit.”20 Every activity of the present life represented preparation for spiritual immortality and business, science, and even leisure time could be virtuous if used correctly. When pursuits of life turned to a “hum of anxious voices” and a “clamor of incessant toil,” a break was often required.21 Relief, however, could not be found in “the crowded saloons of water places  .  .  . or the haunts of hackneyed resorts” but rather in a breaking away from crowds and a turning to the birthplace of man “amidst trees, and herbage, and flowing waters,” where “there are the works of God.”22 As a minister during a period of widespread migration to cities, Bethune found his clerical responsibilities more demanding and thus his leisure time more important. Like Thoreau, he felt that nature offered essential respite: He, who is pent up in a town, vexed by the excitements of the day, and driven, in spite of himself, to late and irregular hours, could get profit every way, if at times he would seek the purer air, free from the city’s smoke, and with his rod as a staff, climb the hills, and ply his quiet art in the brooks that wash the mountain side, or wander through the green valleys, shaded by the willow and the tasseled alders.23

Having been a member of an immensely successful fishing club in New York, he recognized the significance of the sustained habitat and wilderness setting in which he plied his “quiet art.” Although the terrifying prospect of erosion of American wilderness remained decades away, the reverend implored educated and literary men to seek the tranquil setting of the mountain stream in pursuit of transcendent escape from 50

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the “insatiable craving[s] of the human heart”: materialism, commercialism, and the accumulation of wealth.24

Henry Ward Beecher: Transcendental Angler Perhaps one’s experience of “fancy tackle” and of fly-fishing might not be without some profit in moral analogies; perhaps a mountain stream and good luck in real trout may afford some easy sidethoughts not altogether unprofitable for a summer vacation.25

Henry Ward Beecher led a group of romantically inclined authors in suggesting that angling inexorably drew men into a transcendental relationship to the natural world. Although more renowned for his efforts in the antislavery movement and theatrical preaching style, he com-

FIGURE 2.2

Henry Ward Beecher, courtesy of the Library of Congress

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bined an inclination toward high taste and proper society with an unparalleled passion for the rugged outdoors. Beecher’s angler rose before daybreak, delighted in early morning bird songs, and “as soon as the meadow was crossed, the fence scaled, and a descent begun, all familiar objects were gone.”26 His angling outings often found him resigning to lay aside the rod and enjoy the wilderness solitude, claiming that his most memorable excursions included plenty of lying down. 27 The river, which afforded Beecher “the greatest amount of enjoyment among all natural objects,” set the angling experience apart from other wilderness adventures and distinct from every other event in life.28 Christ, who “had a peculiar habit of drawing instruction and knowledge from the symbolisms of nature,” taught his disciples to “fish for men,” and Beecher enthusiastically employed the knowledge of angling to forge his own style of ministering.29 Nature showed Beecher how to pray, but angling taught him how to preach. Beecher’s focus on flowing waters revealed part of the aesthetic attraction to angling, and through his descriptions of trout streams, he turned transcendental in his approach to nature. Central to his awe for the river was its power to shock the angler from the comfort of experiencing nature and bring him into a wholesome being as part of nature, a position he defended in the essay “The Mountain Stream”: This rush of wild waters about your feet; this utter lawlessness of power and beauty, so solitary, with such instant contrasts, with the sound of waters beneath and of leaves above, and you, alone and solitary, standing in the fascination until you seem to become a part of the scene. A strange sensation steals over you, as if you were exhaling, as if you were passing out of yourself, and going into diffusive alliance with the whole scene!30

The river itself was alive and he heard it whisper songs of both joy and melancholy. He perceived its enticing call to the angler and rejoiced in its babbling paeans to the creator, wondering if there was “ever a better closet” for prayer.31 Waterfalls became scenes of “raging power covered all over with a robe of perfect beauty . . . down below there is a suppressed thunder, as of an organ playing beneath the uplifted song of a thousand voices.”32 Indeed, intimacy with God in nature proved the best explanation for why Beecher went fishing. He offered supplementary justifications of health, worldly knowledge, and sublime experiences, but in his response to public condemnation of his gentle art, his defense was simple. Angling reminded Beecher that he was a child of God, and that 52

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his Heavenly Father spoke to him frequently on the banks of the trout brook: There is that incomparable sense of freedom which one has in remote fields, in forests, and along the streams. One who believes that God made the world, and clearly developed to us his own tastes and thoughts in the making, cannot express what feelings those are which speak music through his heart, in solitary communions with Nature. Nature becomes to the soul a perpetual letter from God, freshly written every day and each hour.33

The call from God into nature encouraged Beecher to promote early ideas regarding conservation, and it led him to consider himself a “protector” of natural beauty.34 The “perpetual letter from God” was written not merely for utilitarian or scientific gain but for sustained gratification in the pursuit of God through nature.35

Henry Van Dyke: True-Hearted Angler ’Tis not a proud desire of mine; I ask for nothing superfine; No heavy weight, no salmon great, To break the record or my line. Only an idle little stream, Whose amber waters softly gleam, Where I may wade through woodland shade, And cast the fly and loaf and dream: Only a trout, or two, to dart From foaming pools, and try my art: ’Tis all I’m wishing— old fashioned fishing, And just a day on Nature’s heart.36

After George Perkins Marsh published the classic conservationist manifesto Man and Nature in the 1860s, Americans merged the emotional aspects of transcendental natural awe with the practical temperance of science. Scores of influential men associated with the roots of latenineteenth- century environmentalism solidified the righteousness that they found in the wilderness. John Burroughs demanded the preservation of nature, William H. H. Murray endorsed the benefits of retreating to it, and Gifford Pinchot praised the economic profit of using it wisely— and all three were notably skilled anglers. In the midst of the emerging popularity of retreating to nature, Presbyterian minister Henry Van Dyke, the country’s consummate angling sentimentalist, combined aspects of conservation with an endorsement of going a-fishing to reconcile modern man to nature. He authored several anecdotal fishing books like Fisherman’s Luck and Little Rivers, held various positions in conservation clubs, and preached that connections with nature led to spiritual rebirth and that angling provided the quintes53

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FIGURE 2.3

Henry Van Dyke, courtesy of the Library of Congress

sential vehicle to experience the divine in the wilderness. His approach hailed the rejuvenating physical benefits of time spent in the woods and employed traces of Bethune’s piety with a dash of Beecher’s sublime transcendental experience of the divine. While his revision of the Presbyterian catechism claimed notoriety, Van Dyke’s prowess as a hunter and fisherman landed him on the Illustrated Outdoors News top ten sportsmen list of 1906 that included both Charles Hallock and Theodore Roosevelt. Though lauded as an excellent shot with the rifle, Van Dyke eventually shelved his firearms for the exclusive pursuit of fish with the fly rod.37 At the height of his fame, he chose to focus his mettle in brooks and streams and penned popular expositions on the discovery of nature’s God and the deliverance of humanity through angling. Ultimately Van Dyke offered four impulses that drove him in pursuit of fish: “First, because I like it: second, because it does no harm to anybody: third, because it brings me in touch with Nature, and with all sorts and conditions of men: fourth, because it helps me to keep fit for work and duty.”38 These rewards that fishing encouraged, both to

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body and to soul, echoed the same benefits that his angling clergyman predecessors promoted. Human nature in the modern city demanded “intervals of rest and relaxation,” and Van Dyke celebrated the vigorous pursuit of good health and exercise while angling’s setting supplied him with the sport’s greatest joy, intimacy with nature.39 To him, the true angler was “ever on the lookout for all the various pleasant things that nature has to bestow upon you.”40 Much like other romantically inclined sentimentalists, Van Dyke eloquently expounded on the joys of experiencing God through nature, and his 1895 creation of Little Rivers placed him in a flourishing group of American nature writers that included John Burroughs, Charles Dudley Warner, and John Muir. Throughout the book he movingly contemplated the wonders of the wilderness and its flowing waters—the river offered insights to the mysteries of nature, and he marveled at how cheerfully angling “lures you on into the secrets of field and wood, and brings you acquainted with the birds and the flowers.”41 He opened the book agreeing with Robert Louis Stevenson that rivers quiet a man down “like saying his prayers” and that “there is, after all, no place like God’s out- of- doors.”42 With the publication of Little Rivers, Van Dyke reinforced nature through angling as a muse for what would be one of the most highly respected literary careers in American history. Like Beecher, Van Dyke made it clear that the best part of fishing relied on its surroundings. He suggested to Boy Scouts that a good fisherman “should remember that it is not all of fishing to fish, but that the pleasant memories and close observations of nature which he brings home with him from a day’s outing are really his best reward.”43 Nature offered him proof of God’s grace, and as he drew closer to nature, Van Dyke felt he became more like Christ, who was more sensitive to “the rhythmic element in nature” than any other man. 44 He also related stories from his own childhood in which nature’s scenes became more vivid “when the . . . boy who walks among them carries a rod over his shoulder.”45 He recognized that man’s experience of those wild scenes demanded treks from the city to visit the “God of the Open Air”: For men have dulled their eyes with sin, And dimmed the light of heaven with doubt, And built their temple walls to shut thee in, And framed their iron creeds to shut thee out . . . And thou hast wooed thy children, to restore their fellowship with thee, In peace of soul and simpleness of mind.46

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A recurring theme of nearly all American angling literature of the period required the experience away from modern cities, and Van Dyke supported the charge with frequent condemnation of the ways in which modern man habitually turned away from nature to commerce and materialism. Looking beyond the soothing enchantments of nature and “see and hear the handwriting and the voice of God” lay at the crux of his philosophy.47 Van Dyke believed that the restoration of man lay in fellowship experienced beside the flowing waters of the trout stream. “The stream can show you,” he mused, “better than any other teacher, how nature works her enchantments with color and music,” and it was the brook that ultimately drew him to angling.48 Like Beecher, Van Dyke’s eloquence regarding the rivers where he fished approached a distinctly transcendental air, yet he sounded a more mature tone that seemed as practical as it did emotional. Waters called men from lives of toil to moments of rest, from politics and markets to quiet interludes of meditation. His favorite streams lured him “away from an artificial life into restful companionship with nature.”49 Religious imagery shrouded the idyllic trout brook, and like his angling forebears, Van Dyke devoted scores of lines to the spiritual nature of flowing water. He cherished the “rivers of God” for their image of renewed strength, and he believed that swift waters, emblems of “violent and sudden change, of irrevocable parting, of death itself,” symbolized baptism, repentance, and restoration of fallen humanity.50 The connection to nature was important, but separation from civilization and rehabilitated energy played an equally pleasant role predicated on the cheerful surprises of streamside fly fishing. Van Dyke believed that “the earth, as God created it,” was “full of comfort for all who have a quiet mind and a thankful heart,” which angling helped to cultivate.51 In The Ruling Passion, Van Dyke suggested that fishing developed a sober mind and promoted patience, a vanishing trait in the modern world, and assured readers that through it there was no better method to “unlearn” haste.52 As modernization strained sincere relationships, friendships “formed beside flowing streams by men who study to be quiet and go a-fishing” forged the sturdiest of all connections.53 In Little Rivers, Van Dyke guaranteed that frequent nature experiences beside soft waters aided greatly in relieving the tensions of the modern world: If we can only come back to nature together every year, and consider the flowers and the birds, and confess our faults and mistakes and our unbelief under these silent stars, and hear the river murmuring our absolution, we shall die young, even 56

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though we live long . . . and carry with us into the unseen world something which will make it worthwhile to be immortal. 54

Van Dyke relished the uncertainty in angling that contrasted the increasing predictability of modern life, and the calm temperament that it encouraged drew him from his city dwelling into nature. In Fisherman’s Luck, he addressed a revelation of human nature that suggested an important reason that contemplative men go a-fishing: “The attraction of angling for all the ages of man, from the cradle to the grave, lies in its uncertainty  .  .  . There is nothing that attracts human nature more powerfully than the sport of tempting the unknown with a fishing-line.”55 He labeled angling fate “Fisherman’s Luck” but recognized that good or ill fortune constituted part of “distributions of a Wisdom higher, and a Kindness greater” than man and that purpose and meaning lay in the blessings of God.56 The natural setting, the observances of nature, and the spiritual tug of the wilderness prompted Van Dyke to promote the wise and proper use of the natural resources of which he was so fond. Few ministers endorsed organized conservation outright, although, like Beecher, they endorsed temperance in all activities. Van Dyke, however, earnestly petitioned for the preservation of fish and game populations and natural habitat. As early as 1883, and in the same vein as Reverend W.  H.  H. Murray, he pleaded with the public through the New York Tribune for the preservation of the Adirondacks.57 Memberships included the North American Association of Honest Anglers and the Advisory Board on Educational and Inspirational Functions of National Parks, and he is credited with influencing the foundation of the Izaak Walton League of America.58 Van Dyke never undermined the anthropocentric nature of Christianity, yet he consistently maintained that faith fashioned his passion and reverence for the outdoors: We are nearer heaven when we listen to the birds than when we quarrel with our fellow-men. For since his blessed kingdom was first established in the green fields, by the lakeside, with humble fishermen for its subjects, the easiest way into it hath ever been through the wicket- gate of a lowly and grateful fellowship with nature. 59

Conclusion Roderick Nash claimed that “the literary man with the pen, not the pioneer with his axe,” initiated the American obsession with the wil57

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derness.60 Perhaps nowhere is that sentiment demonstrated better than in the words of American clergymen. The works of early Protestants like Jonathan Edwards and Cotton Mather proclaimed the evidence of God in nature, but seldom did church fathers promote withdrawal to the wilderness prior to angling pioneer George Bethune’s suggestion in 1846 that Christians go fishing and “gather the incense- cups of nature.”61 These were literary men indeed, and undoubtedly they shared the transcendentalists’ appreciation for nature because none were economically attached to it. From the days of John Calvin, Protestants believed that nature revealed divine purpose and viewed the study of nature as a unique manner of worship, initially only available to the upper classes to which Bethune, Beecher, and Van Dyke belonged.62 Without time and resources affording frequent intervals from town duties, ostensibly none of them could have held nature in the regard that they did. Nevertheless, as the Industrial Revolution brought affluence to new classes, ministers like these did in fact promote the retreat from commercialism into the frontier to help modern man keep morality in perspective. As early as Bethune’s first days at the pulpit with American industrialization still sinking its roots, modern commerce and materialism became objects of scorn from both secular and religious reformers. The elimination of poverty and destitution and the spreading of the gospel to un- Christianized peoples had generally been considered worthy goals in most American Christian societies, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, concerned Protestant ministers recognized a dearth of morality in the increasingly flourishing city. All three ministers understood the importance of returning to the wilderness in search of spiritual reconnection with the creator in the same manner that Christ did. Despite theological differences, many ministers agreed on the paramount wilderness activity that provided the best retreat from modernity. Throughout the history of the sport, promoters of fishing have been forced to justify the morality of the “gentle art,” and invariably they concurred with Walton’s estimation that “God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation, than angling.”63 Bethune surmised modern man could “get profit in every way” by finding sanctuary and “putting every muscle into full action” into an outing on the trout stream.64 Beecher admitted that when he was forced home from angling, he was always full of “a certain sadness” that he was leaving the friends that he found in solace, silence, and communion with God.65 Van Dyke built upon the transcendental qualities of both and 58

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found that almost all pleasures associated with the sport demonstrated surprising and sublime characteristics. Above all, each understood that fishing put the Christian in a meditative disposition that was at once ready to experience God in nature. These three ministers emerge unmistakably in line with Progressive efforts at promoting a return to wilderness as a catharsis for modern society. Their anecdotal musings blended with theological reflections maintained the spirit of nature writing that long defined angling literature. Because nineteenth- century American Protestants in general supported utility, these three might have represented a bit of a departure from Romantic-inspired preservation, but each seemed to understand that the rise of industry, and subsequent desire for commercial gain, threatened the soul of the modern Christian and the cherished American wilderness alike. Perhaps this plays a large role in their neglect by historians of conservation and sport while Romantics like Irving and transcendentalists like Thoreau are given a preponderance of credit for qualifying nature appreciation with a mystical touch. But certainly through a wealth of angling literature, men like Bethune, Beecher, and Van Dyke sensed and communicated the spiritual attachment that fly fishers experience in untouched wilderness and contributed to the genesis of the modern American nature ethic.

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THREE

The Fly Fishing Engineer: George T. Dunbar, Jr., and the Conservation Ethic in Antebellum America GREG O’BRIEN

Introduction The engineer George Towers Dunbar, Jr., insisted in 1844 that he fished “not so much for the pleasure of killing fish, as for the actual enjoyment it affords him by being brought in contact with Nature in her primitive loveliness—who whilst his frame is being renovated by wholesome exercise, is endeavoring, by studying the economy of Nature, to store his mind with useful knowledge.”1 In numerous publications Dunbar asserted outsized fishing prowess and established his credentials as a master fisherman. “I have taken the brook trout by hundreds with a hawk weed for my rod, six feet of gut, and an earth worm,” he boasted, while insisting that he could entice trout to seize his flies even in winter when other sportsmen turned to hunting game animals. He had caught pike and rockfish (striped bass) and “every variety of sea and river fish,” including the alligator gar and here was explaining how he fly fished for black perch (black bass) in Louisiana. He meant his fishing exploits to be envied, and by all appearances they were. Moreover, in addition to being a passionate fisher60

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man, Dunbar used his love of the outdoors to become an accomplished engineer, a gifted naturalist, and an advocate of conservation.2

The Conservationist Engineer George Dunbar’s life exposes the amazing breadth of intellectual engagement that many engineers embodied in antebellum America. After his first professional work as a surveyor in his hometown with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the early 1830s, Dunbar conducted surveys for other railroads in Virginia, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Moving to Louisiana in 1835 to survey the route of the proposed New Orleans-Nashville Railroad, Dunbar invested heavily in land along the proposed road, but he suffered personal bankruptcy in the aftermath of the 1837 financial depression. He assumed the seemingly more stable position of chief engineer of the Louisiana Board of Public Works in 1838, overseeing a variety of projects such as removing obstacles from the state’s rivers and designing canals in New Orleans, until politics forced his removal from that position in 1843. Later in 1843 he accepted the position of surveyor (civil engineer) for the Second Municipality (the newer upriver “American” district) of New Orleans to the west of Canal Street. While in that position he was responsible for surveying property boundaries, maintaining the municipality’s roads, sidewalks, wharves, and other public structures, clearing new land for development, and sundry other duties as called upon by the municipal council. He reached notable local acclaim and some national recognition when he was credited with saving New Orleans from the disastrous Sauvé Crevasse flood in 1849. Along the way, in addition to writing for the New York City-based Spirit of the Times newspaper, he became an artist of wildlife, architecture, and portraiture; a mineralogist; an avid fisherman; an entomologist; a gardener of exotic flowering plants; and one of the foremost ichthyological experts of the waters of the southeastern United States. He was reported to have met John James Audubon in New Orleans, who “was delighted” with Dunbar’s wildlife drawings and biological studies. It is likely that had Dunbar’s life not been cut short due to illness at age 38 in 1850, he would be better known to scholars and the public today.3 A fundamental dichotomy of Dunbar’s life is that he was both an enabler of altering the natural world as an engineer while also an avid outdoorsman and conservationist of nature’s unspoiled beauty and wonder. Although Dunbar claimed that his professional life and per61

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sonal interests went hand in hand, it is easy to see in his writings that natural history and fishing informed his being. It is not even apparent that an engineering career was foremost in Dunbar’s mind while a youth, though his skill in math and other interests led him in that direction. Natural history was his first love, and he pursued it throughout his life. At parties at his parents’ home when a boy, George was encouraged to open up his “magnificent cabinet of insects” to show the guests, and he remembered fondly years later the enthusiastic reaction from young friends and his future wife to “the wonders before her.” He “began collecting and arranging in systematic order entomological specimens” at age nine and continued to do so throughout most of his adult life, eventually amassing thousands of bugs. He also collected minerals and plants as a boy and organized them according to type.4 Following the example of his mother, who cultivated magnum bonum plums as well as pear varieties, he cultivated tropical and flowering plants as an adult in New Orleans, maintaining around 200 camellia japonica bushes (a highly sought-after “luxury” flower that reached the height of its value and popularity in the antebellum era) “and lots of small plants” in his greenhouse by 1850.5 His reputation for such “play” followed him throughout his life, as he took to the outdoors to fish, hunt, and explore at every possible opportunity. In a fictionalized biographical account of his upbringing written by a close friend of his in 1843 and published in the Spirit of the Times, Dunbar’s “father” defended his lenience towards George’s youthful activities by explaining that George’s mother “marked” him with the sign of Pisces for being born in February and therefore his interest in fishing and being outdoors could not be abated: . . . my son has a devil of a hankering after pleasant shady streams, and so on. I’ve catched him a hundred times all alone in the spring woods, and deep in the damp forests of a warm, moist day, and so forth. He will take my fishing tackle and go and set on an old bridge in the country in cloudy weather, and so like, and I can’t get him to go to school, nor mind his mother.6

Piscator: The Angling Author George’s passionate curiosity for nature and fishing led him to begin a detailed ichthyological study of the fishes of the southeastern United States, which he worked on the entire time he served in various engineering posts. Like with his contemporary and partial role model 62

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Audubon, Dunbar harvested fish and sought out new species in part to describe their physical characteristics and make detailed drawings of their anatomy. Every time he encountered a new fish species, he got “busy among them, with pencil and brush” making sketches and preserving their heads and hides.7 One of his daughters recalled that she “often sat by him as he caught fish and watched him note in his field book its colors and other characteristics.”8 He even sent fish samples to his friends around the country, such as Spirit of the Times editor William Porter, who received a sixty-pound alligator gar specimen from Dunbar in 1846.9 By the time of his death, he had amassed plates and text describing over one hundred fish species with the intent of publishing them in a large folio volume. As one of the initial and few subscribers to Audubon’s massive Birds of America books, Dunbar likely sought to emulate what he called “the beautiful plates of Audubon’s birds.” Unfortunately, nearly all of Dunbar’s writings and drawings were consumed in a fire after his death, and it is primarily through the Spirit of the Times that we know him outside of his engineering activities.10 The Spirit of the Times published the reports, humor, fiction, and scientific studies of dozens of authors, or “capital correspondents,” during the mid-nineteenth century. Vermont native William T. Porter, editor of the Spirit and master trout fisherman, nearly single-handedly created a new American literary style that emphasized folksy humor to tell about the sporting life in America: horse racing, hunting, fishing, foot races, and more. The most famous examples of this new literature originally published in the Spirit were the humorous fictional essays by Thomas Bangs Thorpe, such as “Tom Owen, the Bee-Hunter,” “Mysteries of the Backwoods,” “The Big Bear of Arkansas,” and others. For many years the Spirit provided the primary outlet for such stories from the South, especially the new Southwest of Tennessee, Alabama, Missis-

F I G U R E 3 .1

Spirit of the Times header, courtesy of Sam Snyder

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sippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. As one scholar noted, the Spirit “served as a kind of central headquarters for a huge nation-wide club of outdoor enthusiasts.”11 New Orleans has also been justifiably recognized for its contributions to nineteenth- century American humor like that found in the Spirit. By the 1830s, the city’s newspapers drove the publication of tall tales, embellished scenes of city life, sporting experiences, and other humorous asides. Several New Orleans writers, like Dunbar, contributed to the Spirit as well. Porter was a close friend of George Wilkins Kendall, editor of the New Orleans Picayune newspaper (another major source of antebellum southern humor), and two of Porter’s brothers worked for the Picayune for a stretch. Dunbar, too, counted Kendall as a close friend, fishing partner, and fellow contributor to the Spirit. The Picayune’s office served as a sort of meeting house for writers such as Thorpe, who was also a friend of Dunbar, to converse and share stories. Within this encouraging environment, Dunbar found his written voice.12 Unlike many of the southern humor contributors to the Spirit, however, Dunbar wrote stories based on actual experiences and observations rather than fiction, even if he did apparently exaggerate on occasion. In one of his last contributions to the Spirit in 1846 he explained that his friend Thomas Bangs Thorpe wanted him to contribute a humorous chapter to a book, but he declined saying that “I never could write anything funny unless I adhered to the strict truth.”13 Dunbar saw the humor in everyday happenings and was a keen observer of personalities. Among numerous examples in his published writings, Dunbar described the river pilots who lived and worked at the mouth of the Mississippi River as “stout-hearted souls” who could “spin you a yarn on any topic . . . you may desire.” But they had a fault, he said, in being “rather too kind to their friends.” They should “never again show their delight at meeting an old acquaintance to a greater extent than twelve gin cocktails before breakfast; he may be able to stand twelve, but eighteen is rather too digging.” Encountering a group of his river pilot friends one day in New Orleans, Dunbar claimed “’twas with the greatest difficulty I could keep from getting ‘hoxy’ with them . . . but I got off by drinking four juleps, which, I think, under the circumstances, was doing pretty well.”14 Whether embellished or real, stories about drinking alcoholic beverages and partying in New Orleans were already de rigueur by the early nineteenth century, as Dunbar made clear in several of his columns. Dunbar appreciated humor and frequently contributed portions of it to the Spirit, but he valued most the true and detailed stories of 64

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fishing told by other natural historians. In such descriptions could be found the best baits and rods to catch assorted species of fish in various circumstances. Certainly fishing was fun and a passion, but it also enabled a person to better understand how nature worked. Dunbar insisted that those who hunted or fished “for amusement alone” could rarely discover the particular behaviors of fish and game or how best to attract them with baits and flies, whereas “men acquainted with every habit of the fish” had earned the title “naturalists” and enjoyed success every time they ventured into field or water.15 For example, in writing about fishing for black bass in Louisiana he noted that the best fishing was to be had “where the river is subject to the influence of tides,” but “it is perfectly useless to fish for black perch on a flood (rising) tide, as [the bass] quit rising [to the bait] the moment the tide ceases to ebb.”16 Similarly, while scouting a lake in rural Louisiana he encountered the colorful American Purple Gallinule bird for the first time, and after catching one declared that “none but a naturalist can imagine the delight we experienced while examining his beautiful plumage.”17 Dunbar submitted humorous and technical essays to the Spirit of the Times on fishing for black perch (black bass), alligator gar, sturgeon, tarpon, spoonbill catfish, and varieties of trout, while also mentioning fishing for snapper, red fish, perch, striped bass, pike, and shad. He described different fishing techniques: a self-made rod of ash and hickory for the alligator gar, hand lines for the sturgeon, trolling rods for striped bass, and live bait consisting of worms, frogs and crickets. With a fly rod he even accidentally caught a “bird, many dragon flies, several snakes, and lots of frogs,” as well as an alligator.18 He considered his catch of a tarpon on rod and reel “as the greatest piscatorial feat I ever performed, notwithstanding I have successfully played and killed, with a rod and reel in each hand, two fish, each weighing over twentyfive pounds.”19

A Passion for Trout Dunbar obsessed over fly fishing for trout; it was his preferred method and target. In one impassioned column written in October 1844, Dunbar complained that his work duties as surveyor for the Second Municipality of New Orleans had kept him from fishing and that living in the city had even more alarmingly prevented his pursuit of trout. Feeling “put out of sorts generally, by tales of taking black perch, red-fish, sheep head and such like—them’s common [species] to me,” Dunbar swore 65

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that “say, trout, once, only once,” and “I’m a boy again” in a cold, clear summer stream in sight of a waterfall. Forget other fresh water fish for “they’re common cotton” whereas trout were “regular silk goods.” Almost anyone could catch those other fish, Dunbar insisted, “but Trout!! Oh you leopard skinned beauties, there’s a refinement in you that none but a native born piscatorial gentleman can appreciate.”20 Dunbar then riffed in a nearly elegiac tone on how much he missed trout fishing: Trout—Trout— what associations your sunny forms call up. My native mountains [of Maryland and Pennsylvania]— my old companions— my school boy days— the many floggings and threatenings that I’ve received for playing truant, the Sunday tearing of clothes and skin, the awful risks of lickings from sundry old curmudgeons who would have preserved your delicate bodies for the especial comfort of their old bellies, without showing you the remotest chance with a lovely fly and a delicate hair, that I have endured for your dear sake! Trouts— farewell! Farewell ye rushing streams, ye little brooklets, ye hills carpeted in— in— in red clover. Farewell ye moss clad rocks, and all ye lovely sun lights, ye dark shades, ye lovely breezes, and treezes, that make trout fishing a virtue. Farewell . . . Piscator can’t go fishing no more!21

Dunbar was no mere youthful pursuer of the lovely trout but, rather, a technician of fishing techniques and equipment. In an era when commercially made rods and reels were expensive and difficult to procure, Dunbar made his own tackle and bought equipment made in England, New Orleans, and New York City. His favorite tackle shop in New Orleans was located “under the verandah on St. Charles St.” (possibly part of the St. Charles Hotel) where “may be seen all day protruding from the door way of one of the rooms, a jointed rod, having suspended from its tip a landing net, float, and a mother of pearl fish with a dolphin hook quaintly set into it, evidently for the purpose of entrapping any foolish fish who might make a mistake and think it was the real thing.” The shop’s selection of items included “hooks of every size, from the tiny minnow to the heavy dolphin, and lines of all hues, qualities, and makes, to which said hooks are to be attached.” Besides hand lines, hooks, and natural baits the fisherman could also “find fly hooks and lines, which he may never again have an opportunity of procuring easily, and rods from the double hander, to the sweetest little gem of a fly rod for brook trout.” Moreover, the “landing nets & floats, leads, swivels, knives and everything appertaining to the Anglers equipment are here, and at the New York prices.”22 66

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FIGURE 3.2

St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, LA, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Dunbar’s fishing equipment was varied and extensive and illustrates his commitment to the sport of fly fishing and to studying, as a natural historian, the life ways of trout and other fishes. Laid out on a table in his home were various types of fishing lines “consisting of platted silk, prepared flax, raw silk, hemp,” and others, including a “silk and hair fly line, beautifully graduated and tapering throughout.” Beside the lines were two old reels, including a nonworking one that was the first that Dunbar ever owned. Next to them were three more reels made by the Conroy Company of New York City, and then were laid out “some two to three thousand hooks, of all sizes and patterns.” Dunbar favored O’Shaughnessy Company of Ireland’s Limerick hooks, and he shipped boxes of them to his friends around the country. Next on Dun67

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bar’s table could be found “the umpires, in the shape of sundry rolls of double salmon gut— and such gut! Every individual strand worth a moderate fortune.” For every fisherman it is the items to be found in the tackle boxes that really get to the heart of the skills and knowledge of the owner. In Dunbar’s “black box” could be found floats made of porcupine quills, hollow wood, cork, and swan quills, along with “snap and gorge hooks, bead leads, and baiting needles, swivels and gymp, disgorger, and all the paraphernalia of the experienced troller.” Materials for tying flies could be found in two rosewood boxes, including “the glossy feathers of all the plumed tribe” along with mohair and moleskin, fur from rabbits, bats, pigs, and bears, and “silks and wax of every hue, forceps and scissors, knife and hand vice.” Finally, Dunbar owned several rods, from fly rods to a general rod with two butts. Excitedly, Dunbar proclaimed that “if the ghostly hand of old father Izaak Walton could only grasp that fly-rod, methinks the Archangel’s trump[et] would sound for him, and he would leap into his mortal mould again!”23 Of particular interest to Dunbar and other fisherman in the early 1840s was a rod and reel maker named John Conroy of New York City and his “general rod.” Back in 1836, Dunbar explained, he had purchased a single-handed fly rod of English manufacture in New Orleans that had served all of his fishing needs for fish weighing up to twenty pounds. If it had not been accidentally broken he would have used it

Ad for Thomas J. Conroy fishing tackle. Dunbar’s favorite fishing rod was reported to be a Conroy bamboo fly rod. This particular ad was published in Forest and Stream, June 17, 1891. Image courtesy of Todd Larson and Whitefish Press.

FIGURE 3.3

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longer, and a noted fisherman friend of his called it “as a fine a rod as he had ever handled.” But after special ordering and receiving a Conroy rod in 1843, Dunbar declared it “as superior to my [old rod] as it was to a hawk reed.” The Conroy rod was a “glorious thing” for trout fishing. Conroy objected to Dunbar’s request for putting the rings on the rod close together but did so anyway, as Dunbar found the close rings “a necessary thing in a delicate fly tip.” Dunbar credited Conroy with vastly improving his rod designs by the early 1840s, having not liked his initial efforts for being heavy and “badly balanced.”24 In Conroy’s first Porter’s General Rod in the early 1840s, named for the editor of the Spirit of the Times, Dunbar saw some improvement in “the substitution of fi xed trolling guides for rings,” though the rods still weighed too much. “Now,” Dunbar wrote in March 1844, “I can freely say, that as far as a general rod can go, the ‘Porter’s general’ are perfect beauties.” The latest version in terms of “finish, solidity, elasticity, and every requisite that a fine rod calls for, Mr. Conroy’s rods are so superior, that it would be casting a slur upon them to place any imported rod in the scale of comparison with them.” Approvingly, Dunbar proclaimed that “here may the travelling piscator find in Porter’s general rod, an instrument such as cannot be produced across the Atlantic, and reels which run by themselves—if he lets them.” In the latest Conroy rods “the guides have been reduced in weight, greater grasp has been given to the butts, and a better proportion throughout the rod substituted; the sockets and ferrules, with the rings and tips, reel slides, and other fittings, are beautifully made and put together.” A fisherman in 1844 could do no better than to own one of Conroy’s Porter’s General Rods, concluded Dunbar.25 Dunbar’s numerous writings for the Spirit of the Times from 1841 to 1846 reflect not only his love of fishing and knack for story telling but also his spiritual and scientific relationship with nature and his concerns for conservation. Through him we can fill in our standard timeline of the development of American environmental thought in the early decades of the nation, and we can broaden our conception of what types of people became early conservationists. In 1844 Dunbar explained that he had “passed half his life in the woods, in the study of the wonders around him, and for whom the smallest pebble, the tiniest insect, or the commonest plant, possesses a world of treasure.”26 This focus on natural history distinguished Dunbar from so- called “gentlemen sportsmen” of his day and made him an important transitional figure in the development of conservation. Dunbar brought scientific methods and rigor to fishing that enabled him to write about fish 69

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much like wildlife biologists from a later era approached their subjects. Dunbar’s emphasis on scientific understanding of nature in combination with his spiritual love of the outdoors made him an ideal early advocate of conservation.

A Voice of Conservation By way of example, at several points in his published writings, Dunbar expressed dismay with the overconsumption of nature. As an avid hunter and fisherman, he became intimately aware that unsustainable harvesting of game animals threatened the future of the sports he loved. While stationed in northeastern North Carolina surveying for the Portsmouth-Weldon Railroad in April 1833, Dunbar had a rollicking time fishing at the falls of the Roanoke River in Weldon for shad, striped bass, and sturgeon. “This portion of the Roanoke forms one of the most beautiful fisheries for shad in the country,” he wrote, “inasmuch as it enables any poor fellow who can contrive to rig a dip net to a pole, and furnish himself a dug- out or dingy, to catch hundreds of the finest shad daily in the running season.” Below the falls of the Roanoke, rockfish, or striped bass, also made a run up the river in April. At no place in the world, claimed Dunbar, was there a “locality where more and of a superior quality of these fine fish may be taken.” The fish swam in such abundance that “from three to four hundred, running from five to sixty pounds, may be taken in a single night by two boats.” Fishermen used two boats connected by twelve- to fifteen-foot beams with a net dangling between them ten feet deep in the water to catch as many fish at once as possible. Dunbar considered the practice “poaching” and saw the danger: This night fishing is very destructive, and whilst I was located in the neighborhood, I tried hard to get the inhabitants to discontinue it, pointing out to them the certain destruction of their fishery in course of time, if it should be continued. How far I succeeded I cannot tell, but I suspect if I were landed at the foot of the rapids now [in 1845], with my traps, I would be found, like Marius, weeping over the ruins. 27

In another evocative story about seeing and fishing for the first time for the spoonbill catfish in Louisiana, Dunbar exulted in the as yet unspoiled beauty of the natural setting. He called on his readers and Spirit of the Times editor William Porter to join him in on a metaphorical journey flying from the east coast to the southwest “as we speed from 70

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the busy haunts of man to gaze on Nature in her primeval garb! And where is she to be thus found? For the bright, sunny South, in the land where the air is redolent with the mingled breath of the jasmine and lily, the rose and the violet.” Figuratively descending to earth as dawn breaks in rural northwestern Louisiana, “Where mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been” (quoting Lord Byron), Dunbar emphasized the natural wonder of this area “where the sound of the axe was never heard, where the giant trees have stood for ages.” He continued with a wonderful, somewhat sentimental, description of the flora and fauna of the area “where Nature seated on her flowery throne pours forth all her treasures!”: Perched upon the loftiest branch of a tall cotton-wood, the mocking-bird, the king of the forest, sounds the first flute-like note of the concert. He is followed quickly by the merry fly- catcher, and the twittering swallow, and anon, the whole feathered tribe join in one glad, glorious song, as the first of the rays of the rising sun gild the tops of the old tenants of the forest. Now, good Spirit, look around thee and say if ever thou didst behold aught so beautiful! The old trees are hung with festoons of the luxuriant grape, the earth is carpeted with flowers of every shade and hue; the bright green holly is gemmed with the golden flowers of the yellow jasmine, and scarlet woodbine; and the sweet honey-suckle throws its delicious perfume all around. Cast your eye upon the Lake! The willow forms its feathery crown, whilst the somber cypress hung with long grey beard, reminds us that time is fleeting, and that the lovely scene before us will soon yield to the axe and fence. From his perch among the willows, the gros-bec sounds his hollow whistle, the garde soleil (hummingbird?) gazes on the “day- god” as he rises to his glory, the restless starling is busy among the branches, seeking insects for his young, the oriole is singing his love song to his listening mate, the white crane stands motionless, on tip toe, watching for his finny prey; the lazy gar is rolling himself among the bonnets. List[en]! That sharp, snapping noise denotes that the patasa (bream) is on his morning feed, and now the quick splash at the gaudy dragon-fly tells that the black perch is astir. So, back to thy tenement of clay, good Spirit; thou hast seen my forest lake, and now resume thy earthly labors while I recount the scene gone by.28

When Dunbar and his companions, including his white assistant and African American slaves who had been employed in removing obstructions in the Red River under Dunbar’s capacity as the Louisiana state engineer, fished for the spoonbill catfish at this beautiful lake, they harpooned sixty- one of them. Afterward, Dunbar felt regret at the “work of destruction,” writing that he “often thought of that day—the heap of slaughtered, innocent creatures—the water of the beautiful 71

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lake dyed with their blood.” His assistant, named Chips, had “his face, hands, and clothes splashed with blood.” Chips’s exuberance at seizing more fish “made an impression on me that ‘Will not wear away / Till I have done with this new day’” (again quoting Byron). “It is sufficient,” Dunbar wrote, “that the lesson taught me was a wholesome one.” As with most Americans of his day, Dunbar could be possessed by the blood lust of unthinking consumption of natural resources. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he quickly came to regret such profligate behavior, and we can assume that he reformed his own ways even if he had uncertain impact on the actions of those around him.29

A Passion for Angling, A Devotion to Nature Dunbar’s writings about nature place him in a small but growing stream of conservationist thought that was emerging in antebellum America. Washington Irving famously suggested in 1820 that many Americans, like Dunbar, “may trace the origin of their passion [for fishing] to the seductive pages of honest Izaak Walton.”30 Walton’s The Compleat Angler, first published in 1653 and revised and expanded several times in later editions, including a very popular edition produced by John Major in 1824, inspired American appreciation for the joy and refinement found in fishing. From of that passion for fishing and literature arose a more generalized passion for unspoiled nature. Although a contemporary of Concord, Massachusetts, residents Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Dunbar made no direct mention of their writings in his own. Emerson and Thoreau were not the only representatives of a new way of seeing the human role within nature, nor did other Americans need their example to arrive at similar attitudes towards the intrinsic worth of nature. Fishermen who happened to also have professional careers as lawyers, publishers, politicians, and engineers, among others, drew attention to nature’s importance as a place of beauty, solace, and rejuvenation.31 Dunbar may have been familiar with some of Emerson’s ideas, especially as expressed in Emerson’s essay Nature published out of Boston in 1836, or he independently embodied a similar stance towards the power and value of nature (or both). In the famous “transparent eye-ball” section of Nature Emerson writes that “In the woods, we return to reason and faith . . . [t]he currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.” “In the wilderness,”

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Emerson continued, “I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.”32 Dunbar expressed similar thoughts in many of his essays but comes closest to mirroring Emerson in this passage written in New Orleans the day after Christmas in 1841: There is nothing which brings man nearer his Creator (and consequently renders him happier) than an intimate knowledge of the works of his hand, and all of us have time sufficient, apart from our labors, to acquire a portion of that knowledge. ’Tis true that the occupations of some afford better opportunities than others, and, fortunately, mine places me directly in contact with nature. I’m in the forest wild— I see the eagle with his ‘yard wide wings’ sweep the tall grass of the savannah— I see the hurricane in its wrath shiver the giant oak, and anon I hear the soft voice of the spirit wind murmuring in the pine tops, for the mischief it had done.33

Whether or not Dunbar read Emerson, what mattered most was Dunbar’s utilization of a similar trope expressing simultaneous wonderment at nature’s nearly inexpressible beauty and sentimental sorrow at man’s overuse and destruction of unspoiled natural splendor. Dunbar drew upon a host of Western scientists and writers for inspiration. In addition to Izaak Walton, who we expect any literary fly fisherman to cite and after whom he assumed his nom de plume of Piscator, Dunbar mentioned or quoted famous scientists and naturalists in his essays such as Pierre André Latreille, Carl Linnaeus, Johan Christian Fabricius, Jan Swammerdam, and André Marie Constant Duméril, as well as novelists and poets like Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, Walter Scott, and James Fenimore Cooper. Cooper’s 1823 novel The Pioneers contained sentiments that Dunbar echoes, for instance, such as concern for overconsumption of forest resources for mere firewood and calling for conservation laws. The celebrated explorer and painter George Catlin is often credited with originating the idea of national parks in the 1830s to preserve the prairie lands and the Native American people who lived on them. Dunbar, though he does not mention Catlin, reached a similar conclusion in 1842 about the archaeological ruins of Indians in Louisiana, writing that the national government “has made no provision for the protection of these interesting remains of a race probably extinct, as they are, or ought to be, objects of deep interest to every enlightened mind.” He lamented the destruction of the aboriginal shell mounds that dotted the river banks of Louisiana

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for use in road construction and worried that future generations would not know that their carriages “were grinding to dust the bones of kings and princes.”34 Though he did not mention him by name, Dunbar’s writings possibly reflect the ideas of another major environmental writer of his day, the influential Prussian explorer and ecologist Alexander von Humboldt. Especially relevant to Dunbar’s thoughts was the basic Humboldtian idea of the interconnectedness of all living beings within nature. Humboldt sought to understand nature scientifically and inspired a generation of American naturalists and engineers in the first half of the nineteenth century with stories of his travels in South America. Dunbar, for example, counted the well-known civil engineer Caleb G. Forshey among his friends and fishing partners in the 1840s, and Forshey published a review in 1850 entitled “The Baron Humboldt’s Cosmos: The Physical History of the Universe Examined and Displayed,” demonstrating that Humboldt was a topic of interest within Dunbar’s intimate circle of professional acquaintances.35 When Dunbar explained from where his knowledge and love of nature derived he reflected thoughts similar to both Emerson and Humboldt, saying that his expertise was gained from a lifetime’s experience in and intimate knowledge of the outdoors. He counted himself lucky to be able to study nature, and this desire to be outdoors, whether fishing, hunting, surveying, or working on engineering projects, was all of a piece in Dunbar’s mind, as he wrote in 1836: I thank God that I am one of those who can be happy alone with his rifle in the midst of the wilderness. The most minute insect or insignificant plant, the smallest pebble are to me objects not only of interest and importance, but of intense enjoyment. I have studied nature— not from books, but from her own image, expressed in everything around me, from God’s most beautiful creation— woman— to the tiniest moving thing: in every object living or inanimate, have I traced the wonderful power of the Creator’s hand, and whilst imbibing in knowledge, I have drunken deeply of enjoyment.36

George Dunbar, Jr., stopped submitting essays to the Spirit of the Times in 1846. Though it is certain that he continued to correspond with William Porter and various writers for the Spirit, he never again put his thoughts about fishing and nature in print. On February 17, 1846, he and his wife lost their three-year- old son George T. Dunbar III to yellow fever in New Orleans. That personal loss and the ever-growing demands of his job as surveyor for the quickly- expanding Second Mu74

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nicipality of New Orleans consumed his time and energy. More than likely, he would have returned to writing columns and his folio book one day, but the Sauvé Crevasse flood in New Orleans in May-June 1849 nearly killed him as he led efforts to close the break in the levee. Already weakened by recurrent flare ups of malaria first contracted in Suffolk, Virginia, in 1833, Dunbar grew feeble before dying on December 29, 1850, aboard the steam ship Alabama as part of the surveying team, under Major J. G. Barnard of the US Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with surveying a route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to aid in travel between New Orleans and California. His premature death at age thirty- eight denied us an early and eloquent voice in the development of the conservation ethic, although the fishes of Louisiana might have counted themselves lucky to be spared the skills of this master piscator.37

Dunbar’s Legacy and Forgotten History It might be overstating the case to say that Dunbar’s conservation views necessarily shaped broader American attitudes towards nature, though some of his writings for the Spirit attracted attention for their high quality and were republished in other journals and newspapers. Certainly he impacted the views of his readers. At the least, his life and career serve as an important reminder that some Americans of the early to mid-nineteenth century gained physical, intellectual, and spiritual sustenance— as opposed to merely material benefit— by interacting with nature. Dunbar sought to preserve parts of the natural world much as it was rather than exploit it until it was completely consumed. That a man whose livelihood depended upon altering nature through civil engineering and participation in the “market revolution” of antebellum America came to such conclusions is on the surface somewhat surprising. Yet many Americans who shared Dunbar’s upper-middleclass background and Whig political inclination, like John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and George Perkins Marsh, dominated the sports of fishing and hunting, as well as the subsequent creation of a conservation ethic in antebellum and post– Civil War America. Somewhat uniquely, Dunbar spent his career in and wrote about the South at a time when the most vociferous American defenders of nature, especially the better-known persons mentioned above, resided in New England and the Northeast. However, through his wide circle of associates and submissions to the 75

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Spirit of the Times, Dunbar placed himself at the forefront of new environmental thinking. It was anglers like Dunbar who, according to historian John Reiger, in the 1840s led “the very first environmental crusade to capture the imagination of a significant segment of the American public.”38 Despite the fact that history has largely forgotten George Dunbar, Jr., his friends and family remembered him fondly and were noticeably impressed by his rare abilities and enlightened thinking. “There are few gentlemen in this city whose decease could have excited deeper and more general sorrow than that of George T. Dunbar, late surveyor of the Second Municipality,” insisted one newspaper editorial. “We saw him just before he left,” wrote the editors of the Daily Delta newspaper in New Orleans, “and knowing his passionate devotion to science and natural history, his love of camp scenes and duties, and the sanguine, happy, enthusiastic character of his mind and temperament, we felt a deep sympathy in his views and feelings, and a warm hope that he might be spared to continue his career of usefulness, in a department of his profession in which he had few equals.” The high regard that his contemporaries felt for him, “his numerous accomplishments as a naturalist, and skill as an engineer,” would be difficult to replace. He “had attained the topmost round in his profession” and the “qualities of his heart, the genial temper and social virtues,— above all, the domestic affections and tastes, of our lamented friend, were traits in his character as loveable and admirable as his talents and public services were remarkable and valuable.”39

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Protecting a Northwest Icon: Fly Anglers and Their Efforts to Save Wild Steelhead JACK W. BERRYMAN

In the end . . . we will all be remembered not so much for what we built and developed but for what we protected and refused to destroy. UNKNOWN

Introduction Pacific steelhead and salmon are salmonids, of the scientific family Salmonidae. They are anadromous fish, which means that they migrate up rivers from the ocean to spawn in fresh water. Pacific salmon are the scientific genus Oncorhynchus, which includes pink, sockeye, chum, Chinook, and coho salmon, steelhead, and rainbow trout. Steelhead trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, can reach up to fiftyfive pounds and forty-five inches in length, although the average size is much smaller. Unlike Pacific salmon that die after spawning, steelhead often return to the ocean and then come back to their natal stream to spawn again. In the United States and Canada, steelhead are found along the entire Pacific Coast and inland to Idaho. Worldwide, steelhead are naturally found in the Western Pacific 79

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south through the Kamchatka peninsula. They can be divided into two basic reproductive types, stream-maturing and ocean-maturing. The stream-maturing, or summer-run, steelhead enter fresh water between May and October and require several months to mature and spawn. The ocean-maturing, or winter-run, steelhead enter fresh water between November and April and spawn shortly thereafter. Anglers, and especially fly fishermen, have been drawn to these bright, aggressive, and fierce fighting fish since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Accordingly, steelhead fishing has been a long, storied, and noble tradition in several Northwest states and British Columbia. Numerous books, magazines, museum exhibits, conferences, clubs, equipment, merchandise, lectures, and businesses have been devoted to steelhead and steelheading over the years, and steelhead fly fishermen are some of the most devoted and passionate anglers in the region. The anticipation and thrill of “the grab” or “the take” of a fly tied by oneself along with the potential for an epic battle on light gear in a wild and scenic river is the lure and the drug of avid steelhead fly fishermen. In this regard, one of Washington’s past directors of the Department of Fish and Wildlife was correct in saying that the steelhead is “one of the icons of the Pacific Northwest. It’s like the orca. It’s almost like a religion.” British fly fishing traditions came to the Pacific Northwest during the first thirty years of the twentieth century via English immigrants who settled in British Columbia. Tommy Brayshaw, Bill Nation, Noel Money, and Roderick Haig-Brown brought their love of fly fishing, etiquette, and knowledge of equipment and tactics used as young men in the rivers and lakes of their home country. Brayshaw became a wellknown steelhead fly fisher, tier, and rod builder in the lower mainland; Nation, a popular guide, innovative fly fisher, and tier in the Kamloops region; Money, a respected steelhead fly fisher and tier on Vancouver Island; and Haig-Brown, a book author, magistrate, and important conservationist also from Vancouver Island. At the same time in Oregon, Maurice “Mooch” Abraham was preaching a steelhead angling ethic to his fellow Multnomah Anglers Club members and Jordan “Major” Mott brought his Eastern gentlemen’s outdoor creed to share with other steelhead fly fishers on the Rogue and North Umpqua. All six anglers were important components of the early connection between steelhead fly fishing, outdoor ethics, and the movement to protect wild steelhead in the Northwest.1 Both Zane Grey and “Mooch” Abraham carried the concept of catch and release, often credited to Lee Wulff and his 1938 book Handbook of 80

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Freshwater Fishing, to the Northwest, as early as 1919. In Tales of Fishes, Grey explained that he and his companions regularly released fish, “inaugurating a sportsman-like example never before done.” Later, in the same book, he warned: “Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone.” In his “Rustlers of Silver River,” a serialized novel about the destructive logging and commercial fishing on Oregon’s Rogue River published in Country Gentlemen in 1929, Grey lamented: “Then take the fly-fishermen. They’re too many to count . . . Are a few men to be allowed to kill the food value and the sport value of the river?” Abraham, a well-known champion fly caster and fly tier in the Portland area, took an early stand on releasing fish in the 1920s and a colleague from that era remembered that “Mooch was a nut on releasing fish unharmed.” Another fishing companion noted that “Mooch” had “an attitude toward fishing [that] was entirely on the quality side. . . .” And, by 1939, Haig-Brown was writing about “Limits & Ethics” in the Western Angler.2 These fly fishers not only paved the way for a devoted culture of Pacific Northwest steelhead fishing but, as this chapter shows, did so with a foundational water conservation ethic as the basis for their sport and angling tradition.

Fly Fishers Discover Northwest Steelhead Fly fishermen began to catch steelhead on flies up and down the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to northern California in the early twentieth century. As stories of the wild steelhead’s beauty and power appeared in both regional and national literature, a bevy of steelhead aficionados perfected their craft and became the first generation of wild steelhead conservationists. Tommy Brayshaw caught his first steelhead in 1910 and Money in 1914. Portland’s William F. Backus, owner of Backus and Morris Sporting Goods, published “Steelhead Trout on the Rogue River” in Field and Stream in 1916, and two years later, Zane Grey took his first steelhead in Washington’s Deer Creek, soon to be a fabled river in steelhead lore and legend. Grey described his prize as “a strikingly beautiful fish, graceful, symmetrical, powerfully built, with a great broad tail and blunt, pugnacious nose. The faint pinkish color, almost a glow, shone from a background of silver and green.” On California’s Eel River, Jim Pray and Lloyd Silvius were landing plenty of fish on flies in the teens. By the early 1920s, Noel Money was making flies for winter fishing in British Columbia, Washington’s Ken McLeod caught a Deer Creek steel81

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head, and Grey was writing about fly- caught steelhead in the Rouge. Grey published “Steelhead” and “Fishing the Rouge” in 1923 in Country Gentleman, and the following year, McLeod wrote “The End of the Rainbow” for Field & Stream and one of the editors of The Morning Oregonian, Ben Hur Lampman, penned “A Fish of the Warrior Class.” By 1926, Haig-Brown caught his first steelhead, also in the famed Deer Creek, Lampman published another editorial on “What Is a Steelhead? Identity of Steelhead Trout Discussed,” Grey published a seven-part series on “Rocky Riffle on the Rogue” in Field & Stream, and McLeod introduced “Deer Creek— Home of the Rainbow” to a national audience in Outdoor Life.3 As the decade came to a close, Washington’s Al Knudson was catching winter runs in the North Fork Stillaguamish and selling flies, and Peter Schwab’s “Wood Pussy Bucktail” and “Paint Brush” steelhead flies gained national attention because he substituted deer hair for the more traditional feathered flies.4 Steelhead fly fishing became firmly established in the Northwest during the 1930s, and knowledge of its popularity spread throughout the United States and Canada. The feats of Oregon’s Harry Van Luven, Joe Wharton, Mott, and Abraham; California’s Ben Andersen, Art Dedini, Pray, and Sam Wells; and Washington’s McLeod and Knudson became part of the early regional lore. Mott published his exploits in Forest and Stream and before he released a North Umpqua steelhead asked: “Gad man— did you ever see anything so wholly beautiful? Now then—take a quick look, as the little fly in the tough part of the upper jaw has done no harm and this chap goes back to his freedom.”5 Zane Grey’s “North Umpqua Steelheads,” published in 1935 in Sports Afield, attracted significant attention to the region with stories of one hundred steelhead in three months and the testimony that “there is no stream in the United States that can hold a candle to the Umpqua for wet or dry fly-fishing.”6 Schwab’s “Challenge of the Steelhead” appeared in Sports Afield the following year and further glorified the North Umpqua along with the Rogue and Klamath.7 Also gaining attention were the “double haul” casting technique taught in Portland by “Mooch” Abraham to Marvin Hedge, a young man who won the national casting events in the “Anglers Fly Distance” event, better known as “the steelhead event”; Hedge fly lines for steelhead; steelhead rod builders Edwin Powell and Lew Stoner of R. L. Winston; and fl ies like Pray’s Demon and Thor. In Washington, Enos Bradner, Ken McLeod, Ralph Wahl, and Walter Johnson caught winter run fish on their flies like the famous Purple Peril and Skykomish Sunrise. By the end of the decade, steelhead, steelhead flies, steelhead fly rods, steelhead fly lines, 82

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and steelhead rivers gained stature, recognition, and national notoriety, and anglers began to take notice.8

The Beginning of Wild Steelhead Conservation Those early pioneers of steelhead fly fishing during the first few decades of the twentieth century were also among the earliest conservationists. By the end of World War I, both sport and commercial fishermen in the Northwest were feeling the impact of pulp mills, dams, and logging on salmon and steelhead numbers, the two species that everyone considered a public resource. Steelhead fishermen, also known as “steelheaders,” fly fishermen, and gear fishermen alike were also concerned about poachers using gillnets in rivers, the abundance of fish traps at river mouths, and lack of enforcement of fish laws by county governments. Accordingly, a small group of hardcore steelheaders in the Seattle Sportsmen’s Association broke away in 1928 to form the Steelhead Trout Club of Washington. Ken McLeod, one of the founders, organized this new group to petition the state legislature and convinced them to declare steelhead a game fish once it was in fresh water in 1929. McLeod became president in 1930 and the following year began to write the outdoor news for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a position he maintained until 1950. In this role, he wrote regularly about steelhead fly fishing and the protection of steelhead and their habitat. In 1931 McLeod also began publishing and editing the Northwest Sportsman, a monthly magazine in the “interest of outdoor recreation and the conservation of natural resources of the Northwest.” That same year, he became secretary of the Washington State Conservation Association and spearheaded Initiative 62 the following year, resulting in the formation of separate state departments of fisheries and game. In 1934, McLeod worked tirelessly to get Initiative 77 passed to outlaw fish traps, became a founding member and secretary-treasurer of the Washington State Sports Council, and served as executive secretary of the Salmon Conservation League. The following year, he helped close Deer Creek to fishing to protect wild steelhead and was the key figure in Washington’s decision to designate steelhead as a “game fish,” thereby disallowing their sale and permitting only hook-and-line fishing. This was a clear victory for sport fishermen, signifying a triumph of recreational values over economic ones. With this designation of the steelhead as a “game fish,” the Department of Game, rather than fisheries, had jurisdiction over this resource. This resulted in divergent views 83

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F I G U R E 4 .1 Ken McLeod with a wild Deer Creek steelhead caught on a dry fl y in 1931. Photograph from The Northwest Sportsman, August 1931. Author’s collection.

of native fish species: steelhead as “sport fish” and salmon as “food fish.” Also in 1935, Zane Grey warned the people of Oregon that “unless strong measures are adopted. . . . this grand river will go . . . And it will be a pity because the value of the Umpqua, with its wonderful steelhead, is inestimable.” By 1939, McLeod was joined by Enos Bradner and a few others to found the Washington Fly Fishing Club, whose early leaders were top steelhead fly fishers. And one of their most significant achievements was convincing the Washington State Department of Game to institute fly- only rules on the famed North Fork Stillaguamish, for which Deer Creek is its major tributary, in 1941.9 84

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Similar developments were also taking place in British Columbia and Idaho. General Money became president of the Qualicum Fish and Game Association in 1939 and Haig-Brown’s Western Angler, published that same year, featured chapters on “Winter Steelhead,” “The Future,” and “The People’s Right to Good Fishing,” along with regular reminders of sound ethical practices. Idaho’s Ted Trueblood, discussed in this volume by Rick Williams, who pioneered steelhead fly fishing on the Snake and Clearwater, became fishing editor for Field & Stream in the early 1940s and brought steelhead conservation to his national readership. Oregonian editor Lampman wrote of “The Valiant Steelhead Trout” and “Ascent of the Steelhead” and published Steelhead Trout: Dynamite Dressed in Sheer Silver in 1945. In this book, he called steelhead “the fi nest fish of them all” and argued for their respect and protection. Bradner became the outdoor editor of the Seattle Times around this time and continued his regular column, “The Inside on the Outdoors,” until 1969. In his column, Bradner offered his “Fly of the Week” and served as a spokesman for Northwest steelhead fly fishing and the protection of wild steelhead and their habitat. Haig-Brown published his literary classic A River Never Sleeps in 1946, which was a testimony to fly fishing, steelhead, rivers, and conservation. Soon thereafter, Brayshaw became the founding president of the Hope Rod and Gun Club and McLeod fought the building of dams on Washington’s Nooksack, Skagit, and Cowlitz Rivers. He also convinced authorities to move the proposed dam on the Green River, just outside of Seattle, upstream from its original site to be above the migratory fish range.10

Steelhead Fly Fishing and Conservation at Midcentury Steelhead fly fishing success and advancements in the 1940s set the stage for further conservation in the 1950s. The Pray “Optic” and Silvius “Fall Favorite” were the standard fly patterns in California waters, Schwab’s articles on steelhead lines, flies, and techniques appeared regularly in Sports Afield, and Washington fly fishers Ralph Wahl and Ralph Olson designed special flies and set records on Washington’s Skagit River. Brayshaw designed his famous Coquihalla series of steelhead flies and newcomers like Jack Hemingway, Bill Schaadt, Bob Nauheim, and Jimmy Green were gaining both regional and national recognition for their stellar fishing and casting abilities. Huge steelhead entered into Field & Stream’s big fish contest focused attention on the Skagit and Eel especially, and two-handed rods and tapered lead- core shoot85

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ing heads revolutionized techniques. Fly fishermen Claude Krieder and Clark Van Fleet published their classic books Steelhead and Steelhead to a Fly in 1948 and 1951, respectively. Krieder’s book featured the Eel and Van Fleet wrote reverently about the Eel, Klamath, Rogue, and North Umpqua, while discussing releasing fish, conservation-minded steelheaders, and the failure of hatcheries. He concluded with an insightful chapter, “What of Tomorrow’s Fishing?”11 And it was Haig-Brown in Fisherman’s Spring, published in 1951 as well, who put steelhead in a group of “really worthwhile fish” that “are nowhere sufficiently numerous to withstand unlimited fishing” and are not “able to hold their own against the determination of anglers to kill them, and of industry to poison them or bar them out or dry up their water supply.” He went on to conclude that “if one is convinced of this, as I am, some thought of limiting one’s own killing is inevitable.”12 Once again, steelhead fly fishers led the movement to protect steelhead and their habitat in the 1950s. Lloyd Silvius was a leader of California Fly Fishermen United, Northcoast Fly Fishermen, South Humboldt Bay Conservation Club, Fish Action Council, and Redwood Sportsman’s Club, and his fly shop in Eureka sold more Cortland steelhead fly lines than any other store on the West Coast. In 1952, a thirty-four-mile stretch of the North Umpqua was designated fly fishing only, a plan pushed through by the Roseburg Rod and Gun Club. Three years later, in Everett, Washington, several steelheaders founded the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club. The club’s insignia featured a Knudson “Spider,” and early members included Lew Bell and Bill Nelson, who would eventually play central roles in the founding of the Federation of Fly Fishers ten years later (discussed by Rick Williams later in this volume). It was also in this decade that several key players in steelhead conservation were first introduced to steelhead fly fishing. Pete Hidy, an Easterner with strong ties to the Angler’s Club of New York and the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, arrived in Portland. Fishing guide and restaurant owner Frank Moore bought the Steamboat Inn on the North Umpqua. Angling writers Bill Bakke and Bill McMillan were directly influenced by the writing of Haig-Brown.

Conservation Reaches New Heights in the 1960s Once again, it was Haig-Brown who garnered national attention for the plight of wild fish. In his “Articles of Faith for Good Anglers,” originally published in 1960 in Life, he argued for “respect for the fish, re86

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spect for the fish’s living space, and respect for other fishermen,” and noted that “the fish is the real base of the whole business. He is not an enemy, merely an adversary and without him and his progeny there can be no sport.”13 The following year in Portland, just after a group of mostly gear fishermen formed the Association of Northwest Steelheaders, Pete Hidy and a few others started the Flyfishers Club of Oregon. Soon thereafter, they began publishing their pioneering fly fishing journal The Creel: The Bulletin of the Flyfishers Club of Oregon, and in the first issue, editor Hidy published Haig-Brown’s “A Talk to Oregon Fly Fishermen.” Here, Haig-Brown suggested, “Loving the sport of fishing, and especially fly fishing, and the creatures surrounding it, the environment about it, the fly fisherman inevitably must seek the preservation and perpetuation of these values for future generations.”14 HaigBrown’s “Ethics and Aesthetics” followed in 1963 in Trout and Salmon, and his “Outdoor Ethics” was published in Trout the next year. In the first article, with respect to fish’s environment, he urged fly fishers “to protect it to the best of his ability and to fight for it if necessary,” and, in the latter piece, Haig-Brown called for “sound ethical behaviour” and “sound ethical codes” at a time of “increasing population and decreasing resources.”15 When Bill Nelson moved from Everett, Washington, to Eugene, Oregon, in 1964, he was instrumental in starting the McKenzie Fly Fishing Club, and during that same year, Lee Wulff and Bob Wethern, Hidy’s coeditor of The Creel, corresponded about the idea of a national group of fly fishers starting an organization “to protect our native fisheries.” This idea came to fruition in June 1965 when the McKenzie Club hosted the first Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) conclave. Much of it was East coming West, highlighted by Wulff, Trueblood, and Ed Zern. But western steelhead fly fishers like Bradner, Wahl, and Brayshaw, among several others like Dave Carlson and Polly Rosborough, also played key roles as panelists and exhibitors. And Bradner was elected charter vice president.16 Several significant events occurred in the second half of the 1960s that became central to wild steelhead conservation. At the second FFF conclave at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Wyoming in 1966, several steelhead fly fishers who fished the North Umpqua around the Steamboat area discussed the idea of an organization “to promote fly fishing” and the “conservation of our natural resources.” The Steamboaters were born and became a charter member of the FFF soon thereafter. Central to their charter was the protection of steelhead water, steelhead research, conservation, and a code of ethics for true sportsmanship.17 87

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FIGURE 4.2

Frank Amato on Oregon’s Deschutes River in August 2011. Author’s collection.

The following year in Portland, Frank Amato began publishing Northwest Salmon Trout Steelheader (STS) magazine. Amato read Haig-Brown’s books as a high school student in the 1950s and after graduating from college decided he wanted to start a fishing magazine. He looked to Haig-Brown as a man “who could teach and inspire me. He knew when to kill or release steelhead. He conveyed a caring spirit toward the fish and the full river environment.” At that point, Amato remembered, “it became my goal to do the same and also to preserve that type of wilderness and that type of fish.”18 Accordingly, his editorials over the next several years favored and stressed “the making of the steelhead a game fish in Oregon,” “the welfare of the steelhead,” the need “to join conservation-minded clubs,” “creation of more catch and release streams,” and support for the Association of Northwest Steelheaders.19 The Flyfisher, the official magazine of the FFF, began in 1968, and that same year, at the urging of Frank Moore on the North Umpqua, a film called Pass Creek and North Umpqua River Basin was made to document the effects of clear- cut logging practices on an important steelhead spawning stream. Frank took the fi lm to the FFF Conclave in 1968, and after the Bureau of Land Management denied their destructive impact, he flew the movie in his private plane for a showing in 88

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Washington, DC, greatly influencing the Natural Resources Committee of Congress and eventually the passing of the Forest Practices Act in 1973.20 But all of this progress from an angler’s point of view was not without controversy. Northwest Native American tribes, especially in Washington, began staging “fish ins” to express their belief that treaties gave them the right to gillnet steelhead in rivers. Regulation of this fishing was done by the state Department of Game, whose main constituency were sportsmen who believed rivers were reserved for rods and reels, not nets. After a major confrontation and case from the Puyallup River reached the US Supreme Court, the court ruled on May 27, 1968, that the state could only restrict tribal fishing for conservation purposes. The following year, Ken McLeod convinced the Washington State Legislature to name the steelhead as the state fish. The Steelhead Committee of the British Columbia Wildlife Federation met for the first time to discuss the conservation of wild steelhead, and R. P. Van Gytenbeek, a fly fisherman, became the new executive director of Trout Unlimited. The battle over steelhead raged between sportsmen and Native Americans and both parties hoped for relief when the US Attorney for Western Washington filed a suit on behalf of the tribes, US vs. Washington, on September 18, 1970, in US District Court in Tacoma. Each of these events would play significant roles in future wild steelhead protection measures.21

Steelhead Fly Fishing Becomes More Popular in the 1970s and the Admiration, Respect, and Appreciation of Wild Fish Results In 1970, the news of Karl Mausser’s massive twenty-seven-pound, eight- ounce fly- caught wild steelhead from British Columbia’s Kispiox River excited anglers worldwide and signaled the beginning of a flurry of activity, including new books, magazine articles, and specialized tackle.22 Later that same year, Bill Luch, the vice president of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders, and Frank Amato published Steelhead: Drift Fishing and Fly Fishing. Ken McLeod’s pioneering Scientific Anglers book Steelhead on a Fly? Here’s How (1962) was joined in 1971 by Jimmy Green’s Fenwick-sponsored book Fly Casting: From the Beginning and Trey Combs’s The Steelhead Trout, one of the first books published by Frank Amato Publishers in Portland.23 Haig-Brown’s article “Fascinating Challenge” was published in True, and later that same year, the great Joe Brooks wrote “Steelhead or Atlantic Salmon” for Outdoor Life.24 89

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Ralph Wahl also published his remarkable Come Wade the River in 1971 and Enos Bradner’s Fish On! appeared at the same time. Wahl celebrated wild steelhead and rivers with his beautiful black and white photography and Bradner included two chapters on steelhead fly fishing.25 By 1975, Haig-Brown would write “Steelhead Angling Comes of Age” for the Flyfisher, which at the time was edited by Seattle’s Steve Raymond and printed by Frank Amato.26 The following year, Trey Combs published what became “the Bible” for steelhead fly fishers, Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies. It featured photos from Amato, Wahl, and McMillan, among others, beautiful color photos of flies tied by the best in the Northwest, a thorough history of the sport, and valuable instruction in tactics and techniques.27 As was the case in earlier years, a heightened concern for the conservation and protection of wild steelhead went hand in hand with their popularity among fly fishermen. In 1970, at a meeting in Port Coquitlam, a group of steelhead fly and gear anglers formed the British Columbia Steelhead Society with major goals to protect rivers from aggressive logging, stop the pollution of Howe Sound, and actively participate in their federal government’s new Salmon Enhancement Program.28 Haig-Brown’s riveting article “Along the Steelhead Rivers” was published in the American Sportsman later that year and concluded by suggesting that every angler “should be satisfied to limit his kill” and that wild steelhead “have more important duties than fi lling freezers or posing for posthumous pictures.”29 Frank Amato stepped-up his criticism of hatcheries in his STS editorials, and his Washington Field Editor, Les Johnson, published a “wake-up call” article, “Are Washington’s Steelhead Facing Disaster?” in Field & Stream.30 In Idaho, Ted Trueblood’s friend Jack Hemingway, also a regular fly fisher on the North Umpqua, became Northwest field editor for Field & Stream in 1970 as well and began fighting a pit mine and proposed dam on the Snake River. 31 Finally, during Christmas week that year, a group split away from Trout Unlimited in San Francisco to form a new conservation group dedicated to “protecting and restoring wild trout and steelhead waters throughout California.” They became known as CalTrout and produced a model, standard, and philosophy soon to be copied in other parts of the Northwest. Their first major accomplishments included successfully stopping the federal relicensing of a hydropower dam on the Eel River and convincing the California Fish and Game Commission to approve a statewide Wild Trout Program.32 Jack Hemingway, who caught his first steelhead on a fly in Washington’s Kalama River in 1942, became a wild steelhead advocate instantly. 90

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After a long association with Frank Moore on the North Umpqua and many fishing trips with Dan Callaghan, an original Steamboater and Salem attorney, Hemingway became very active in his home state of Idaho. He sponsored a fundraising party in Sun Valley for the Democratic candidate for governor, Cecil Andrus, and when he won the election and became governor in 1971, Andrus appointed Hemingway to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission (IFGC), a position he held until 1977. That year, Hemingway published “The North Umpqua Story” in Field & Stream as well as “Will We Let the Pink and Silver Warrior Die?” in National Wildlife. In the latter article, Hemingway predicted that “the day of their decline or even demise in the Snake River watershed of the Columbia might be closer than many of their admirers realize.”33 In 1972, Frank Amato published a blistering editorial in STS noting that “when it comes to the management of native or wild trout streams, the public agencies involved make horrible showings.” He went on to conclude that “departmental officials are mediocre. They lack the courage to be leaders showing the way. Rather, they drag their feet and need to be pushed by organizations such as CalTrout, Federation of Fly Fishermen and the Steelheader’s Council of Trout Unlimited, which all do more for wise fishery management than any state agency.” Later that year, Amato asked Bill Bakke to be conservation editor for STS. Bakke was a Portland-area steelhead fly fisherman who began a regular column called “Perspectives on Fisheries Conservation.”34 Finally, to illustrate the “tone of the times,” Haig-Brown’s new foreword to A River Never Sleeps, republished in 1974, was very telling. He explained that “We know much more about fish and their needs, especially the anadromous trouts and salmons, and we understand their values better . . . It is time now to move into an era of constructive conservation that nourishes the natural world and all its creatures instead of destroying them.”35 While US vs. Washington was still pending, the US Supreme Court upheld the right of Native American tribes to commercially harvest steelhead in a November 19, 1973, ruling. The following year, on February 12, US District Court Judge George C. Boldt ruled in a 254-page decision that Native Americans were entitled to half of the fish. Now the conflict broadened to include salmon and suddenly all nonnative fishermen, regardless of harvest method, were competing for half as many fish as a group. Boldt’s decision undermined the basic principle of the earlier Initiative 77, that everyone should have equal access to fish, and further exacerbated the fight between steelheaders who were fishing for fun and gillnetters who believed their livelihoods were be91

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ing threatened. Sportsmen’s groups in Washington, namely the Washington State Sportsmen’s Council and the Northwest Steelhead and Salmon Council of Trout Unlimited (NWSSC), fought the decision with lawsuits, boycotts, and “fish ins,” among other tactics, into the mid1970s. The state of Oregon sided with sportsmen and banned the sale of steelhead “incidentally” caught while fishing for salmon, which effectively decommercialized steelhead in that state. Washington tried the same tactic in 1979 and 1981, with NWSSC support, but the proposal never made it out of committee.36 Bill McMillan, who was influenced as an eighth grader by the writings of Haig-Brown in the 1950s, became an avid steelhead fly fisherman. He moved to the banks of Washington’s Washougal River in 1970 and started writing about steelhead, mostly in STS. By 1974, he realized that wild steelhead were being replaced by hatchery steelhead and began to articulate the dangers of hatchery fish. It was at this time that McMillan, who remains a major stalwart in wild steelhead conservation today, began his active, consistent, and constant fight to save wild steelhead. He was instrumental in starting the Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers in Camas, Washington, in 1975 as a “conservation” organization. They initiated letter writing campaigns “as a primary means of conservation activism,” McMillan remembered, but they soon realized they needed data. So they started to conduct spawning surveys and snorkeling expeditions to count fish. McMillian said, “We would collect and make the data talk for wild fish. We became an independent generator of wild fish science.”37 CalTrout continued their wild steelhead efforts at this time too, sponsoring their first national catch and release symposium in 1977 and pushing for the California Trout and Steelhead Conservation Act, which became law and state policy in 1979.38 Oregon got more involved as well, when Hemingway, Callaghan, Moore, and the new owner of Steamboat Inn, Jim Van Loan, convinced the Secretary of the Interior, Cecil Andrus, to visit and fly fish the North Umpqua. This event, in 1977, gained national attention, and Andrus stopped plans for an ill-advised road on the south side of the North Umpqua.39 The following year, thanks to the efforts of Bill Bakke and Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louisa Bateman in particular, Oregon adopted a wild fish management plan.40 Later that year in Portland, Frank Amato started a new fly fishing magazine, Fly Fishing the West. It was the first national publication devoted to fly fishing, continued the wild steelhead advocacy Amato had started in STS, and featured a group of steelhead fly fishing editors like Don Roberts, Marty Sherman, Dave Hughes, and Les Johnson, who were all major players in fish conservation and wild fish protection.41 92

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A More Formal Approach to Wild Steelhead Conservation is the Hallmark of the 1980s Bolstered by a few notable successes to save wild steelhead in the early 1980s the Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers, with the biology of Bill McMillan and the leadership of their young president Randy Stetzer, convinced the Washington State Department of Game to proclaim the Wind River as “the first formally designated wild steelhead river in the Northwest to be managed strictly for wild steelhead with hatchery fish eliminated.”42 In 1983, after editing TU’s Trout magazine since 1977, Tom Pero, by now a converted steelhead fly fisher, launched a newly expanded color magazine that included expanded coverage of the Northwest, especially salmon and steelhead issues, and columns by national fly fishing leaders like Leon Chandler and Michael Fong and fisheries experts such as Robert Bachman, Robert Behnke, and Ray White.43 That same year, Bill Bakke, who had been working for the Oregon Wilderness Coalition to establish the Northwest Power Planning Council, met Dick May, the president of CalTrout. After interacting with him, fishing with him, and discussing conservation issues with Dave Hughes from Astoria, Oregon, Oregon Trout was formed in 1983. Bakke worked as executive director and conservation director into the  1990s. They followed CalTrout’s lead and worked very hard for wild steelhead in Oregon.44 The NWSSC, after a series of defeats over attempts to fight the Boldt decision and to decommercialize steelhead, supported a wild fish conference in 1983 where a call was made for cooperation among user groups and special protection for wild steelhead and salmon. The outcome was a decision to work with tribal biologists and fishermen in the name of conservation. This infuriated John Kelly, chairman of the Washington State Sportsmen’s Council, who accused Jerry Pavletich, executive director of the NWSSC, of “surrendering” to, and “joining hands” with, the tribes. Later that year, on the North Umpqua, it was revealed that a hydroelectric power dam was proposed near the town of Winchester. Knowing the impending danger to the river’s anadromous fish, the Steamboaters and the Umpqua Fisherman’s Association protested. Others, also fly fishermen, formed the North Umpqua Foundation to further oppose the project.45 In late 1985, the president of the FFF’s Northwest Regional Council asked Seattle steelhead fly fisherman Bob Arnold to serve as chairman of a steelhead committee. Arnold agreed and in 1986 started the Washington Steelhead Committee, composed of “a handful of steel93

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Frank Moore (left) and Bill Bakke (right) share a hug in Joel Lafollette’s Royal Treatment Fly Shop in West Linn, Oregon, before a fishing trip in 2010. Author’s collection.

FIGURE 4.3

head fly fishermen I regularly encountered on the Stilly, Skykomish, Sauk, Skagit, and Wenatchee.” Included were John Farrar, Alec Jackson, Bill McMillan, and Steve Raymond, among a few others. The group immediately got involved in the Deer Creek Restoration Fund, “hammered out a policy on wild fish,” and proposed catch and release regulations for several rivers late in the season when mostly wild steelhead were present. By the following year, the Steelhead Committee of the FFF published the first issue of their new journal, the Osprey. In it, the group made it very clear that they believed that “in the future virtually all rivers having anadromous fish should be managed for their wild fish populations, with increased reliance or natural reproduction and less dependence on hatcheries.”46 In 1987, the governors of Washington and Oregon each appointed steelhead fly fishermen to their respective state fish and wildlife com94

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missions. Appointees included John McGlenn, a devoted conservationist who caught his first steelhead in 1963, in Washington, and Jim Van Loan, owner of the Steamboat Inn and member of both the Steamboaters and the North Umpqua Foundation, in Oregon.47 In British Columbia, the outcry of steelhead fly fishermen over the netting of Skeena River–bound steelhead as part of the traditional salmon harvest eventually had an impact in 1989. This was instigated by a widely circulated “Steelhead Run Status Report,” which listed by actual numbers of wild steelhead killed, the impact of commercial fishing. As a result, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from Ottawa, who finally understood the significant “incidental catch” of wild steelhead, instituted a “selective seine fishery” at the mouth of the Skeena.48 The idea of forming a wild fish conservation group in Washington like CalTrout and Oregon Trout was discussed by several members of Bellingham’s 4th Corner Fly Fishers, and in 1989, with the leadership of their conservation of-

Bill McMillan in his wet suit after doing a snorkel survey on Washington’s Icicle River. Author’s collection.

FIGURE 4.4

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ficer Dick Van Demark, a steelhead fly fisher, a group met in Ellensburg to form Washington Trout. The entire board of directors were all fly fishermen and the first executive director, Kurt Beardslee, was also a steelheader.49

The Numbers of Steelhead Fly Fishers Grow and the Fight to Save Wild Fish Intensifies in the 1990s As the 1990s began, Idaho Rivers Unlimited was formed to help safeguard that state’s imperiled wild steelhead and salmon runs, and British Columbia’s Steelhead Society started their Wild Steelhead Campaign in 1991.50 During the same year, two Washington steelhead fly fishermen released their classic books on steelhead. Trey Combs’s giant Steelhead Fly Fishing was both historical and contemporary and Steve Raymond’s Steelhead Country was provocative and inspiring. Raymond wrote about the “steelhead tradition,” noting that “the complete steelheader” must show “appreciation and respect for the fish” and had an obligation to “preserve and protect” steelhead. In his epilogue, Raymond wrote of his faith in the future and “a new angling ethic, a new attitude of consideration toward fish and fishing. . . . a greater awareness and respect for rivers and the life in them. . . .”51 In 1992 Oregon steelhead fly fisherman Deke Meyer published his highly successful book Advanced Fly Fishing for Steelhead. Meyer, like so many other steelheaders, believed “in the catch and release of all wild steelhead and the preservation of those runs.” He went on to argue that “the future of all steelhead rests with its wild fish.”52 And also in 1992, Peter Soverel and Tom Pero, both devoted steelhead fly fishers with a long connection to wild steelhead, founded the Wild Salmon Center in Portland “to conserve wild salmon and steelhead around the Pacific Rim.”53 By mid- decade, the book and magazine literature focusing on steelhead and steelhead fly fishing continued to put their demise in the public eye. Oregon State English professor Ted Leeson, driven by steelhead like Steve Raymond and others, penned his exquisite book The Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing in 1994. He admitted that “Above all other fish, steelhead were to me the most intriguing natives of the Northwest. They defined its angling identity.”54 In 1994 Tom Pero began publishing Wild Steelhead & Atlantic Salmon magazine while also advertising the magazine’s Wild Steelhead Library of books for sale.55 That same year, Nick Amato and Amato Publications began publishing the new Steelhead River Journal, which featured major 96

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issues devoted to the top steelhead rivers authored independently by many of the leading steelhead fly fishers.56 The following year, Bill Bakke’s Oregon Trout was renamed the Native Fish Society and another steelhead fly fisherman who would become a major force for reform, Bill Redman, joined the FFF Steelhead Committee. He was past president of the Washington Fly Fishing Club and started steelhead fly fishing in the 1960s. His first article was published in the Osprey in 1995 when John Sager was the editor.57 Then, in rapid succession, steelhead fly fishermen began to publish significant books that all called for wild steelhead protection, better management by state agencies, and the leadership of other fly fishermen. Examples are: Baughman, A River Seen Right; Arnold, Steelhead & the Floating Line; Thornton, Steelhead; and Rose, Fly Fishing in the Olympic Peninsula.58 Two other books, McClintock and Crockett’s Watermark and McGuane’s The Longest Silence, also stressed the importance and value of anadromous fish and the need to protect them.59 A final development, at decade’s end in Washington, was the appointment of Pete Van Gytenbeek as a State Fish and Wildlife Commissioner in 1998.60

Steelhead Fly Fishers and the Status of Wild Steelhead as the Twenty-First Century Begins A newcomer to the battle to save wild steelhead emerged on the scene in early 2000, due to the closure of the popular catch and release season  on Washington’s Skagit and Sauk Rivers. A group of disgruntled anglers, the majority being fly fishermen, officially formed the Wild Steelhead Coalition (WSC) as a nonprofit association in 2001. Their goals and objectives were straightforward: “Dedicated to increasing the return of wild steelhead to the waters of the Pacific Northwest.” Specifically, the WSC believed that “over harvest, habitat degradation, poor hatchery practices, construction of impassable barriers to migration, and misguided management strategies have all contributed to the decline, and in some cases extinction, of wild fish runs.”61 Later in their first year, for distribution at public hearings on steelhead fishing regulations before the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, the WSC released their first research report, titled “Biological and Economic Benefits of Wild Steelhead Release.”62 At this same time, the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited presented their “Wild Steelhead Conservation Policy” statement and report. It was spearheaded by Richard Burge, a fly fisherman and retired fisheries biologist from the 97

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WDFW, and included a series of wild steelhead run size graphs for most of Washington’s major rivers compiled by another fly fisherman and retired engineer, Larry Doyle.63 British Columbia fly fishermen intensified their efforts to protect wild steelhead in 2002. The South Coast Steelhead Coalition and the North Coast Steelhead Alliance were both formed that year, and the British Columbia Conservation Foundation released their “Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Recovery Plan.”64 Later that year at the University of Washington, the WSC hosted a Wild Steelhead Summit, attended by over thirty recreational fishing and conservation organizations from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Attendees formed committees, planned position papers, and agreed to meet regularly in the future.65 Through the efforts of the WSC, TU, and the FFF Steelhead Committee in particular, and with the help of WDFW commissioner Pete Van Gytenbeek, Washington’s rules for wild steelhead retention went from thirty to five a year in 2002. Then, through intense lobbying, scientific data, and testimony, the February 2004 meeting of the WDFW Commission resulted in a decision to put a two-year moratorium on killing any wild steelhead, slated to go into effect from April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2006. This landmark decision was appealed and in 2004 was changed to allow one steelhead to be killed statewide in a handful of rivers.66 Finally in 2005 in British Columbia, Friends of Wild Salmon was formed. Leading this group of fishermen and nonfishermen was Andrew Williams, a steelhead fly fisherman and Terrace resident. The group was formed to fight against “the dangers of floating feedlots” for Atlantic salmon, citing the risks of pollution and disease to BC’s wild fish.67 By mid-decade, the WSC published their second major research report, “The Status of Wild Steelhead and Their Management in Western Washington: Strategies for Conservation and Recreation,” and joined Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, the Pacific Rivers Council, the Native Fish Society, and the Sierra Club in a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Specifically, the lawsuit was brought against NMFS because they decided to “lump wild and hatchery steelhead together and downlisted Upper Columbia steelhead based on the numbers of hatchery fish, even though it also found that those hatchery fish pose a threat to the survival and recovery of the wild steelhead.”68 It was at this time, too, that the dwindling numbers of Pacific Northwest wild steelhead stocks gained more national attention and attracted representatives of major fishing and outdoor recreation companies to help support the cause. A new WSC trustee and fly fishing tackle 98

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representative, Dylan Tomine, also became involved by writing “The Tragedy of Steelhead” for Wild on The Fly magazine and “Teetering on the Brink: Olympic Peninsula Hatcheries and Steelhead Politics” for The Flyfish Journal in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Some exciting fly fishing videos were also produced, with a portion of the profits donated to helping wild steelhead. One in particular, “Rivers of a Lost Coast,” was made by two young California filmmakers and avid steelhead fly fishers, Justin Coupe and Palmer Taylor. In their award-winning video, they documented the rise and tragic fall of Northern California’s phenomenal steelhead and salmon fly fishing and emphasized that the same thing could happen elsewhere if corrective measures are not taken.69 More encouraging things have happened for wild steelhead as this chapter is being written. Following the release of the video “Rivers of a Lost Coast,” the Russian River Wild Steelhead Coalition started in California, and in Oregon, the North Umpqua Wild Steelhead Coalition was formed to lobby for no harvest of wild fish and the elimination of the hatchery program.70 In Seattle, Rob Masonis, the new vice president for Western conservation for TU, organized a partnership between his organization, the WSC, and Long Live the Kings to reform wild steelhead management plans, and the Pike Place Fish Market stopped selling wild steelhead because of angler protests.71 Jack Berryman, WSC past president and board member, published “Wild Steelhead Need More Advocates” and WSC trustee Bob Margulis published “Yes We Can: What You Can Do to Save Wild Steelhead.”72 And, even more recently, several fly fishermen, including Will Atlas of the FFF Steelhead Committee, Richard Burge of the WSC, and Bill and John McMillan, successfully convinced the WDFW to close the Snider Creek wild broodstock hatchery on the famed Sol Duc River.73 Lastly, the WSC (Rich Simms) joined with the Wild Fish Conservancy (Kurt Beardslee and Bill McMillan and others), Conservation Angler (Peter Soverel), and the Federation of Fly Fishers (Will Atlas) to file suit over the proposal to stock hatchery steelhead in Washington’s historic Elwha River upon the removal of a dam that blocked it since 1911. As a result, in late February 2012, the plaintiffs were notified that no hatchery stocks would be planted if they would drop their lawsuit.74

Wild Steelhead and the Future Steelhead fly fishermen have “won some and lost some” in the long fight to save wild steelhead and wild anadromous fish in general. Sig99

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F I G U R E 4 . 5 Past and current leaders of the Wild Steelhead Coalition at a Seattle fundraiser in November 2012. (Left to right: Jack Berryman, Rich Simms, Bob Margulis, and Dick Burge.) Author’s collection.

nificantly, though, they have not given up. In fact, fly fishermen are deeply embroiled in two of the most frightening proposals on the current scene with huge potential to damage fish and entire watersheds. One is the Pebble Mine project in the heart of Alaska’s Bristol Bay and the other is a coal bed methane project that could literally destroy British Columbia’s three major river systems—the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine. Without the conservation efforts of steelhead fly fishermen in particular, the current dismal situation for many wild steelhead stocks would have been much worse. There is still hope for these magnificent fish, however, because their future is in very good hands. And based upon this historical account, those “hands” will be holding fly rods casting to wild steelhead.75

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FIVE

Conserving Ecology, Tradition, and History: Fly Fishing and Conservation in the Pocono and Catskill Mountains MATTHEW BRUEN

Introduction Few places are as important, and celebrated, in the development of early American fly fishing as the cold, tumbling creeks of northeastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York. Indeed, anglers who fished the Poconos found inspiration in the waters, creating the Henryville Special and establishing several of America’s first fishing lodges. Meanwhile, fly fishers of the Catskill Mountains produced innovative fly patterns like the Quill Gordon and founded one of America’s few fly fishing museums.1 Combining natural beauty with daytrip accessibility, the Poconos and the Catskills were, in fact, home to two of America’s earliest outdoor tourism industries. In both places, fishing lodges, inclusive resorts, and local residents hosted out-oftown anglers, including presidents, artists, entertainment figures, and early residents of New York City and Philadelphia. These visitors and their hosts made emotional and

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aesthetic connections to the mountain landscapes, attachments that would eventually coalesce into conservation efforts in the twentieth century. These efforts were badly needed. Throughout much of the 1800s, the American industrial revolution affected the ecologies of both regions. In the Poconos, charcoal-hungry iron industries generated wide-scale deforestation, which in turn raised coldwater temperatures past acceptable levels for some native brook trout populations.2 Mining operations in the western part of the region exposed nearby waterways to acidic rainwater runoff, a development that killed most life in these streams.3 The Catskills faced similar nineteenth- century problems, with pollution and deforestation inflicting significant ecological devastation.4 In recent years, the Poconos and Catskills have seen population booms, which have led to more development and the subsequent loss of crucial forest habitat. In addition, the two regions are encountering a new set of problematic industrial processes, including hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking.5 In response to these and other threats, conservation-minded groups of fly fishermen have worked to preserve the coldwater streams of the two mountain regions. Because of the storied histories of these places, however, environmental conservation has had a surprising historical impact, too. That is, by protecting waterways like the Catskills’ Beaverkill, Neversink, and Willowemoc and the Poconos’ Brodhead, Marshalls, and Bushkill, fly fishermen have also preserved the history of their sport and enabled many of its traditions to continue today. Divided into three parts, this essay thus explores a new and relatively understudied cultural practice that I call “environmental-historical preservation.” In the first part, I offer an historical overview of fly fishing in the Pocono Mountains, paying particular attention to the Henryville House, one of the nation’s first fly fishing lodges. The second part reviews the history of the sport in the Catskills, examining the writings and innovations of Theodore Gordon, an early fly fishing innovator and conservationist. And, in the essay’s third part, I show how the conservation of the environment in both of these historical regions has also led to the preservation of fly fishing’s distinctive American history. In a brief conclusion, I discuss the exciting possibility of a broader environmental-historical preservation movement in both ecological conservation and in environmental criticism and discourse.

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F I G U R E 5 .1

Postcard 1 from 1950s advertising trout fishing in the Poconos, author’s collection

A History of Fly Fishing in the Pocono Mountains In many ways, the history of the Pocono Mountains is inextricably bound up with the tourism industry; in fact, the region’s many social, political, and cultural institutions were shaped by vacationers (and, of course, by their wallets). Few people realize, however, that the sport of fly fishing was one of the area’s first attractions.6 The allure of the speckled beauty, the squaretail, and the brook trout brought people out of the Northeast’s major metropolitan centers and into the wild woods of the Pocono Mountains. According to Lawrence Louis Squeri, the first tourists came to the Poconos in the 1820s.7 These visitors were Philadelphia Quakers, a group of people who desired a quiet landscape where they could practice religious meditation. The Pocono Mountains of the era certainly fit the bill: there were no railroads, no towns with over one thousand residents, no cultural art movements, and no hotels. Upon their return to Pennsylvania’s largest city, the early Quaker tourists related their experiences of the state’s forested, mountainous northeast to family and friends. Soon after the Quakers’ sojourns in the Pocono woods, the area’s hunting and fishing potential reached the ears of many well-to- do Philadelphians and New Yorkers, and several fishing lodges sprouted up in the eastern part of the region. As Squeri writes, “In the 1840s, the Poconos had been barely settled. Although mountain lions and elk were 103

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extinct, their passing had been so recent that hunters might still expect to find them. Bear and deer were plentiful. The sportsmen of the era stayed in travelers’ hotels or in fishing lodges such as the Henryville House, which began its 150-year existence in the 1830s.”8 Even before the Catskills captured the attention of early American fly fishers, the Poconos attracted enterprising anglers and hunters, men who survived the tortuous stagecoach trip to the area, the lack of amenities, and the perceived backwardness of the area’s residents. By the 1870s, Pocono trout fishing became a topic of interest in the northeast’s metropolitan areas, often appearing in publications like the New York Times and Forest and Stream. An 1878 article, for example, listed a number of Pocono trout streams, and explained how to reach them by train, stagecoach, or foot. According to the article’s author, the towns of Milford, Dingman’s, and Bushkill could be reached via a road “so marvelously smooth that the drive to these places is considered by tourists one of the greatest charms of the region.”9 The writer then commented on the region’s many trout fishing opportunities: The streams around these places are famous . . . At Bushkill are some of the best creeks in the Delaware Valley. Tom’s Creek, Saw Creek, the Big Bushkill, and the Little Bushkill are especially celebrated. With recollections of two June days’ fishing . . . one of which yielded 350 as fine trout as ever rose at the alluring fly . . . the writer may be excused for confessing some partiality for those [Pocono] waters.10

In the 1890s, the Times presented a fishing report, urging New Yorkers to travel to the Poconos: “Trout fishing has not been so good in fifteen years, some anglers say  .  .  . From Henryville, Stroudsburg, and Tobyhanna, in Pennsylvania, come excellent reports . . . At Pocono a trout nearly twenty inches long is reported to have been caught, and another near Scranton of sixteen inches.”11 Indeed, Pocono fly fishing became something of a craze in the mid-Atlantic of the late nineteenth century. As a result, droves of angler-tourists poured into northeastern Pennsylvania during the first decade of the twentieth century. The headline of a 1902 Times piece summed up the fishing craze quite succinctly: “Many New Yorkers at Mount Pocono: Trout being sought by Scores of Fishermen.”12 In the article, the author noted that “the mountain brooks are being invaded by scores of [fly] fishermen” and that many famous New York socialites spent their summers ensconced in various Pocono hotels.13 Fly fishing for trout in the Poconos, then, was a “thing to do,” and it remained a key part of the Pocono tourism industry for decades. In fact, many of the Poconos’ first hotels were built for fisher104

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FIGURE 5.2

Postcard 2 from 1950s advertising trout fishing in the Poconos, author’s

collection

men, and people such as Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, Calvin Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Annie Oakley stayed at Pocono fishing lodges.14 The Henryville House was one of these early lodges, and it began hosting fly fishing tourists in 1837.15 Nineteenth- and early-twentiethcentury hotel guests used specially designed flies, such as the Henryville Special, to imitate the area’s abundant caddis hatches.16 During the 105

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Depression Era, the House stocked its section of the Brodhead Creek with European brown trout, laying the foundation for the populations of wild brown trout that still inhabit the streams and its tributaries (including Poplar Run, Devil’s Hole Creek, and Mill Creek). And despite controversy in other regions surrounding the brown trout’s arrival, it was mostly greeted positively in the Poconos, where several area streams were losing their native brook trout populations to higher and higher temperatures. By the turn of the twentieth century, the House was thus a premier trout destination, and many New York and Philadelphia anglers stayed there, fishing in the adjacent Brodhead. According to a 1933 advertisement placed in the New York Times by the House’s owner, E. N. Henry, the hotel offered “five miles of wonderful trout stream, stocked, patrolled, and protected” while also providing “moderate rates” and “amusements and conveniences.”17 Another ad appealed to the fisherman’s family, stating that the House possessed a “concrete swimming pool, excellent tennis, horses, bicycling” and other outdoor, resort-oriented activities.18 The Henryville House’s popularity peaked in the 1960s. Many New Yorkers traveled to the House during this decade, where they gained access to water managed by the hotel’s midcentury owner, Alvin Ziegler. A proponent of consistent stocking and strict trespassing regulations, Ziegler offered an isolated oasis to fly fishermen fed up with overcrowding, overharvesting, and nonfly angling techniques.19 As outdoors author John W. Randolph wrote in 1960, “This Henryville Lodge, with its two miles of fine trout fishing on Brodhead Creek, is the kind of place that anglers may see more and more of in the East as populations grow and public fishing water diminishes. It is fishing for a price, but there is no doubt that the fishing is first class. The lodge’s water is full of brown trout—no brookies and no rainbows— and nearly all of them are eleven inches long or longer.”20 Randolph went on to explain that “stream fishing is with flies only” and that “all of Ziegler’s pools and runs are full of trout, many of which become quite wise from being caught and released more than once.”21 Restricted to fly fishers and full of brown trout, the House’s section of the Brodhead Creek attracted tourists to the Poconos for over one hundred years.

A History of Fly Fishing in the Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains also attracted scores of early American outdoorsmen. Enticed by the area’s natural charms, nineteenth- century 106

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“Brook Trout Fishing,” painted by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait for Currier and Ives, courtesy of the Library of Congress

FIGURE 5.3

residents of New York City flocked to the cool mountains, enjoying the open space and ample outdoor leisure activities. In the early twentieth century, the famous Borscht Belt tourism industry dominated the area, with several large, inclusive resorts catering to the city’s Orthodox Jew population. The mountains have also enchanted artists, providing inspiration to some of America’s first master painters. Indeed, Thomas Cole, one of the founders of the Hudson River School, painted Catskill landscapes, including Sunrise in the Catskills, Kaaterskill Falls, and The Clove Catskills. In addition, several works of American literature have featured the area, with Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” being perhaps the most famous. And, finally, the Catskills attracted Theodore Gordon and other early American fly fishing innovators, anglers who gave American fly fishing a distinctive identity. Born in Pennsylvania in the mid-nineteenth century, Gordon spent much of his adult life in and around the Catskill Mountains. Drawn to them because of their natural beauty, or perhaps because the mountain air offered cool respite to his consumptive lungs, Gordon became deeply connected to the area. His emotional relationship with the Catskill landscape gave him insight into its natural ecology, and he, in turn, used this knowledge to transform English flies and techniques into versions particularly suited to the North American environment. 107

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As John McDonald and others have noted, Gordon strengthened the hackle on dry fly patterns, allowing them to drift on the surface of the tumbling, graded Catskill streams he fished.22 Gordon also inaugurated a long-standing tradition of American fly tying: the precise imitation of the color and size of the aquatic insects that inhabit North American streams. His techniques achieved popularity through his writing; by the mid-twentieth century, dry fly fishing with precise imitations was part and parcel of the American fly fishing tradition. In part, Gordon’s innovations sparked a dispute that still rages today between “imitators,” those anglers who focus on imitating insect life in as precise a manner as possible, and “presenters,” those who devote themselves to the perfection of fly casting and stream reading. Gordon, however, was a master of both, and one speculates that he would have found contemporary debates to be quite hilarious. In addition to his technical innovations, Gordon established the Catskills as a go-to fly fishing haven, a distinction the area still holds today.23 In an article entitled “Fly-Fishing near New York,” he offered a detailed analysis of the area’s fishing potential. Throughout the piece, Gordon encouraged residents of New York City to travel there, while simultaneously calling for a state-level “fishculture” management that could keep Catskill rivers productive all year long. Gordon believed that “historic” streams like the Beaverkill and Willowemoc should be open to all fishermen, but he also recognized that “the demand on upon these waters has . . . become very great.”24 Management of the rivers’ resources, then, would allow them to remain “ideal trout streams” with water as “limpid as air.”25 As these quotations indicate, Gordon was more than an early fly fishing innovator: he was one of the first American fly fishers to argue for environmental conservation and management of any kind. In keeping with prevailing attitudes of the time, Gordon viewed stocking regimens as the best response to the environmental pressures facing Catskill streams. As he wrote in a 1903 article: With modern fishculture there is no reason why we should not have good sport in all our old well known streams, frequent restocking with fry, or if possible yearlings, making up for any drain upon them, at least by fair fishing. If a stream is heavily fished a fair proportion of the trout will soon become sufficiently educated to save them from the wiles of most anglers, enough to leave many breeding fish after the season for angling is past. I fear, however, that in a few years very little water will be free to the public.26

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Knowing that pollution from tanneries and instances of overfishing had transformed the ecology of the region’s coldwater streams, Gordon desired a hardier type of trout: either the western rainbow or the European brown. As he declared, “I am an admirer of the rainbow trout. . . . I am sure that this fish would be a great success in the lower waters of our large trout streams, such as the Beaverkill, Neversink, etc., as it can thrive in much warmer water than . . . other trout.”27 Gordon’s beliefs were steeped in a pragmatic approach to the region’s problems. That is, he loved the native brook trout, calling it “beautiful” and disagreeing with its taxonomic classification, but he also recognized that its presence in Catskill trout streams was likely a thing of the past. Stocking, then, was a realistic solution to overfishing and pollution, and Gordon used the platform of early-twentieth- century outdoors magazines to advocate for it. Gordon, however, was not the first person to fish for trout in the Catskills. In fact, other Americans, such as Charles Lanham, had fished rivers like the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, and Neversink since the early eighteenth century. Fishing was a way of life for many of these early Catskill residents: it allowed them to accrue food readily, provided them with an economic opportunity (especially selling shad and herring caught in and around the Hudson River), and injected tourism dollars into their small towns. The archival record reflects this historical phenomenon. In a 1793 advertisement placed in the Catskill Packet, for example, an early resident of the area touted the fishing opportunities on a piece of land he was trying to sell: “There is on said premises, a good frame House, of four rooms, a good frame Barn, an orchard containing about 200 fruit trees, of different kinds, and an excellent fishing place—the whole under good enclosure.”28 That the author of the advertisement highlighted the farm’s fishing prospects indicates, to some degree, what the sport meant to the people of the early Catskills. It was part of life, and if a family were to buy a farm, they would expect it to have at least one “fishing place.” Many other historical Catskill newspaper articles, advertisements, and poems make reference to the region’s early trout-fishing industry. For example, in an 1819 advertisement for his watchmaking services, Catskill merchant John Dodge listed trout hooks as part of his inventory.29 In addition, local papers ran stories about fantastical fishing events, which served as equal parts information and entertainment. Such a story appeared in Poughkeepsie’s Independence newspaper in 1832: “A paper states that a person at Enfield, crossing a pond, being

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thirsty, and perceiving a hole in the ice, stooped down to drink: being possessed of a very long red nose, a fish supposed that he had some bait, made a bold snap at it, when the man threw back his head, and drew out a trout weighing 31 lbs. 4 oz.”30 Meant to garner laughter in a fishing-wise town, the story nevertheless underscores how important fishing— and talking about fishing—was to early Catskillers. As a result, residents of the nineteenth- century Catskills were interested in the fishing exploits of other American areas. In 1820, the Orange County Patriot ran an article describing Lake Huron and Michigan by J. Rogers, a steamboat captain. In it, Rogers noted that the trout of the Great Lakes were particularly large: “The trout caught here exceed any I ever saw; they weigh from 5 to 60 lbs; I bought one for 50 cents that weighed 30 lbs they are beautiful fish, and as delicate as the best brook trout.”31 Fishing, and talking about fishing, was thus a component of early Catskiller regional identity, a tradition that continues to this day.

Conserving Ecology and History in the Catskills and Poconos American fly fishing thus has deep roots in the Catskill and Pocono Mountains. If not for the conservation efforts of fly fishermen, however, historical streams like the Beaverkill and Brodhead might have been rendered troutless and lost much of their historical value. Today, the ecologies of many of these streams are in better shape than they were in the decades of the past. As a result, contemporary anglers can fly fish for trout in many Pocono and Catskill streams, much like their historical brethren did centuries ago. A number of fly fishing organizations were behind these successes. Taking its name from the aforementioned Catskill legend, the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers (TGF) has preserved Catskill-area streams (and other American rivers) for almost fifty years. Formed initially to address concerns about rampant stocking regimens and the lack of nokill regulations in New York, the TGF has since become a major force in coldwater conservation. It was the driving organization behind the development of catch and release regulations on the Beaverkill, a river Theodore Gordon called “one of the most perfect trout rivers in [America].”32 According to founding member Ernest Schwiebert, the perfect river that Gordon knew was practically gone by the 1960s: . . . public fishing in the New York region had atrophied to the point that, in many places, we had trout streams without trout . . . except when the fish trucks came 110

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F I G U R E 5 . 4 Fly fisherman at Covered Bridge Pool on the Beaverkill River. Photo credit: Matthew Bruen

through. The good old days were not so good as you might think. We have more fish today in the Beaverkill and Willowemoc, since the no-kill stretches are filled with fish, and there is a bit less pressure elsewhere.33

In addition to pressuring the state of New York to institute catch and release water in the Catskills, the TGF worked to protect the region’s rivers by engaging construction and government groups in negotiation whenever a proposed project threatened the area’s ecological and hydrological integrity. As a result, twenty-first- century anglers can continue to fly fish for trout in historical rivers like the Beaverkill.34 Other Catskill fly fishing organizations have also preserved the region’s historical waters, including the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum (CFFCM). As one of the country’s only fly fishing museums, the CFFCM fuses environmental conservation with historical preservation.35 The institution’s official history describes its start: “In 1982 the board of directors bought a 35 acre, farmland site along the banks of the Willowemoc Creek in Livingston Manor, New York. The next year we opened a store-front museum on the main street of Roscoe (Trout Town, USA) to exhibit our growing collection of angling material and 111

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to tell the story of trout, their habits and the environment in which they live.”36 In addition to its educational goals, the CFFCM has made environmental preservation a top priority. The institution currently owns over fifty acres along a mile stretch of the Beaverkill, where it continues to preserve both the ecology and the history of the Catskill region. Although fly fishing conservation groups in the Poconos have not placed history at the forefront of their efforts, they have nevertheless sought to preserve the tradition of the sport. One such group is the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited (BCTU). Comprised of mostly fly fishermen, the BCTU’s mission statement states the following: “By the next generation, the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited hopes to ensure that robust populations of native and wild cold water fish once again thrive within Monroe County’s creeks, streams and lakes, so that our children can enjoy a healthy fishery in their home waters.”37 As part of this mandate, the BCTU has improved stretches of the Brodhead Creek once fished by residents of the Henryville House. Indeed, bankside reinforcement and streambed diversification have helped keep this part of the stream protected from degradation. Because of these projects, future generations will be able to fly fish for trout on one of the country’s most historic streams, continuing a nearly twohundred-year- old American fly fishing tradition. When fly fishing organizations conserve American rivers, they almost always preserve an element of history, too. Conservation groups around the nation should thus emphasize the environmental-historical angle of their efforts in fundraising campaigns, organizational meetings, public outreach, and political discourse. By doing so, these groups can tap into a wellspring of desire for historical preservation and use it to further their ecological goals. Likewise, historical institutions and organizations not normally interested in environmental conservation could look at what the CFFCM has done in upstate New York and see if land acquisition and preservation could help them fulfill their mission statements. A broader unification of environmental and historical conservation movements has the potential to alter the political and physical American landscapes for the better.

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SIX

From Serpents to Fly Fishers: Changing Attitudes in Blackfeet Country toward Fish and Fishing KEN LOKENSGARD

Fly fishers have long associated the Rocky Mountain region of the North American West with excellent fishing. In fly fishing literature, however, little attention is paid to Native Americans—the indigenous inhabitants of the Rocky Mountain West and the rest of the Americas. This chapter reverses this trend by examining the places of fish and fishing, especially fly fishing, among the Blackfoot Peoples and in their culture and environment. Residing in the American state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta, the Blackfoot Peoples live within the finest trout habitats in North America. Yet, historically, the Blackfeet rarely fished. Instead, they subsisted primarily upon bison and other four–legged animals. They fished so rarely, in part, because they associated fish with powerful and potentially dangerous beings that lived in certain waters. Now, however, quite a few Blackfeet fish. Some Blackfoot individuals and tribal governments even promote fly fishing on tribal waters. This shift in attitudes toward fish and fishing occurred for several reasons. First, after the disappearance of the bison in the 1880s, some Blackfeet had to fish to supple113

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ment their diets. Also, with the introduction and growth of Christianity among the Blackfeet, many left behind beliefs in such things as the dangerous water beings. In fact, traditional beliefs in these beings are hardly known today among present– day Blackfeet. Moreover, some of the living Blackfeet, who do continue to embrace traditional religious beliefs and practices, feel they need not treat the nonnative species of trout introduced to their waters in the same ways their ancestors treated native fish. The following pages present an exploration of these attitudinal changes as well as the cultural and environmental changes that informed them. While they share a common culture and language, the Blackfoot Peoples are actually three distinct groups. These groups are the Piikani,  or Peigan (Canadian spelling)/Piegan (US spelling); the Kainaa, or Bloods; and the Siksika, or Blackfoot proper.1 The Piikani are further divided into Aapatohsipiikani, or North Peigan, and the Aamskaapipiikani, or South Piegan. The Aapatohsipiikani, Kainaa, and Siksika reside on their own reserves in Alberta. The Aamskaapipiikani reside on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. The historical territory of the Blackfeet extended well beyond the current reserve and reservation boundaries. The Blackfeet consider this territory to have consisted of the mountains and plains east of the Continental Divide, south of the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, west of the Great Sand Hills in Saskatchewan, and north of the Yellowstone River in Montana. They call the landscape within these borders Niitsisskowa.2 Traditional Blackfeet—those who embrace the religious views of their ancestors and try to live their lives in accordance with those views as best they can in a modern world— believe that Niitsisskowa is populated by many living beings, including not only plants, animals, and birds but other beings as well. Furthermore, the Blackfeet believe all these beings are capable of acting intentionally toward others as persons. According to traditional views, these beings receive life and volition from Ihtsipaitapiyo’pa— literally “The Source of Our Life.” The Blackfeet identify Ihtsipaitapiyo’pa’s life-giving force with Sun’s rays. This force pervades the entire world.3 It is because of this shared connection to “The Source” that the Blackfeet consider nearly everything, human and otherwise, as animate and, potentially, a person. In the Blackfoot world, there are four main categories of persons.4 There are the sspommitapiiksi, or “above people.” This category includes Sun, as well Moon (Sun’s wife), the planets, the stars, and high-flying 114

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birds. There are also the ksaahkommitapiiksi, the “earth people,” who are the low-flying birds, plants, and animals. Next, of course, there are those beings associated with water, the soyiitapiiksi, or “underwater people.” This category includes fish, generally referred to as mamííksi, as well as wetland, riparian animals. The Blackfeet themselves are, collectively, the Niitsitapiiksi, “Real People” or “Real Persons.”5 All “persons,” whether they are Blackfoot or not, are those who act reciprocally, generously, and with a mind toward mutually beneficial relations with others. Among the fish belonging to the underwater people category are niitá’pomiiksi. These are the fish classified taxonomically in “Western” science as salmonidae and commonly referred to by English speakers as “salmonids.” Fish belonging to this family are among those most traditionally targeted by fly fishers. The niitá’pomiiksi native to Blackfoot territory are westslope cutthroat trout, bull trout, mountain whitefish, and grayling.6 Euro-Americans have also introduced many nonnative salmonids and other fish that they believed offered better sport than indigenous species. The Blackfoot category of “underwater people” is very large and extends well beyond riparian animals, salmonids, and other fish. Giant “One-Horned Serpents,” or Ni’tohkai’kimsskaiksi, who inhabit certain bodies of water also belong to this category.7 According to Aapatohsipiikani religious elder Allan Pard, the One-Horned Serpents are related to the fish and subsist partly upon them.8 Furthermore, in the Blackfoot view, there are beings sometimes described as half mammal and half fish living in specific waters. From a distance, they may appear as floating logs. Contemporary Blackfeet simply call these beings Soyiitapiiksi or “Underwater People.”9 Please note, this name should not be confused with the wider category to which the beings belong. To avoid such confusion in this chapter, the name of the hybrid mammal/fish being is capitalized, while the name of the larger category is left in lower case. Regardless, Underwater People are unusual not only because of their appearance but also because they have the ability to suck humans and other victims under the surfaces of the waters they inhabit.10 While they are not as closely associated with fish as are the One-Horned Serpents, the Underwater People also subsist partly upon the fish with whom they share their waters.11 Both the One-Horned Serpents and the Underwater People are truly “people,” in the sense that they are able to interact with humans and to reciprocate behavior directed toward them. They are very powerful, and therefore dangerous, beings, however. In English, they are some115

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times even described as “water monsters.” This seems especially to be the case with the One-Horned Serpents.12 Consequently, humans must be sure that their behavior toward these water beings is unswervingly respectful and generally positive. Indeed, the One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People have been known to eat or drown the occasional human who apparently did not show the proper awareness and respect before entering the beings’ watery domains.13 To show respect and to avoid offending the One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People, the historical Blackfeet generally left fish alone and subsisted upon gathered plants and hunted animals, particularly bison.14 Early ethnographers and whites living among the Blackfeet of previous centuries noted that eating fish was essentially proscribed for most Blackfeet.15 James Willard Schultz, who married a Blackfoot woman and spent a great deal of time with his wife’s people in the late 1800s and early 1900s, quotes a Blackfoot man as saying that fish are “forbidden by the gods.”16 This same man suggests to Schultz that Blackfeet will be “punished for eating them.”17 The “gods” Schultz mentions, who presumably would met out the “punishment” feared by his informant, may refer to the dangerous water beings or even to the “Source of our Life.” His vague translation of Blackfoot into English is not clear. Traditional Blackfoot culture centers on maintaining positive relations with the “Source of our Life,” fellow Niitsitapiiksi, and members of the above, earth, and underwater peoples. Many of these nonhuman beings make themselves available to the Blackfeet by embodying themselves in ceremonial amopistaanisti, or “medicine bundles.”18 Ideally, Blackfoot “bundle keepers” care for the beings embodied in bundles at all times, according to the ritual requirements associated with each bundle.19 When Blackfeet need to call upon these beings for help or to give thanks for help received, they conduct formal ceremonies to do so.20 Very few bundles have anything to do with the One-Horned Serpents, the Underwater People, or even fish. Most of those that do are associated with niitóyisiistsi, or painted tipis.21 The painted tipis having to do with water beings have the beings painted around their sides and back. Most of the origin myths or “ancient stories” (akaitapiitsinikssiistsi) associated with bundles involve a human person being taken under water to the tipi of a One-Horned Serpent or Underwater Person. The human usually returns to dry land and relays the underwater being’s offer of a sacred tipi and the need for the Blackfeet to reciprocate that offering through gifts to the water being. In some cases, the Serpent or Underwater Person eventually drowns bison or other game crossing his water for the benefit of the Blackfeet who have entered into rela116

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tionship with him.22 Some of these encounters were boldly sought out by humans looking for the aid or gifts of the Serpents or Underwater People; other encounters were accidental.23 The important points here are that the historical Blackfeet considered deep waters as the domains of two powerful beings. These beings had to be approached with special care. Likewise, Blackfeet generally avoided disturbing the other inhabitants—namely fish— of the domains watched over by these beings. This is not to say that the historical Blackfeet never fished. Contemporary Aamskaapipiikani fly fishing guide Joe Kipp says that some Blackfeet placed fishing weirs, or woven, wooden traps in which to catch fish, near the Great Falls of the Missouri River.24 Kipp’s claim is backed up by the ethnographic record.25 Kipp argues that those Blackfeet who used the weirs may have slowly died out in wars, famine, or during an epidemic of disease. Alternatively, he suggests they may have ceased fishing as a result of pressure from nonfishing Blackfeet, thus allowing the fishing proscription to grow in strength across Blackfoot society. Life has changed profoundly for the Blackfeet since the time that the traditional beliefs and practices discussed so far in this chapter were embraced and engaged in by a majority of people. Beginning in the 1850s, the US government relegated the Blackfeet in Montana, primarily Aamskapipiikani, to specific areas of the former Blackfoot territory. Soon, the government reduced those lands to the size of the current Blackfeet Reservation. The British Crown and the then British Dominion of Canada followed suit in the 1870s, eventually creating specific reserves for the Aapatohsipiikani, the Kainaa, and the Siksika.26 The lives of the Blackfeet on both sides of the border, within their reduced lands, were regulated by government representatives, who administered the American reservation and Canadian reserves. In the United States, many of these representatives were Christian missionaries. In the 1880s, Blackfoot children in both the United States and Canada were sent to schools, often away from the reservation or reserves, to be educated by Euro-Americans. Many of these administrators and educators were religious figures with clear interests in imposing their own, Christian beliefs and practices, not to mention their language, upon their “heathen” charges.27 The late 1800s and early 1900s also brought changes to Niitsisskowa. The most important of these are the decimation of wild bison and the introduction of nonnative fish. Because these changes reshaped the living Blackfoot landscape, the Blackfeet had to change their ways of relating to that land and its nonhuman inhabitants. 117

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Due to overhunting, the wild bison herds of the Northwest plains declined drastically and disappeared altogether by 1884.28 The loss of their primary source of subsistence was a tremendous blow to the Blackfeet. They had already been weakened, and their numbers greatly reduced, by three distinct smallpox epidemics. The last of these was during the winter of 1869 and 1870.29 They suffered even more loss in January of the latter year, when the US Army massacred a band of Aamskaapipiikani camped on the Marias River in Montana.30 During the early reservation/reserve era, the federal governments urged the Blackfeet to turn toward agriculture. Some did so with limited success, but the transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary life was immense and very slow.31 The transition was not helped by the fact that Blackfoot land was not well suited to the types of agriculture the governments asked their “wards” to embrace.32 Only later did government representatives admit the land was better suited to ranching.33 With their main food source gone, and having to rely on meager and often poorly managed government subsidies as they struggled to pick up farming in a difficult environment, the Blackfeet were in dire straits. The subsistence problems peaked among the Montana Blackfeet in 1883 and 1884. By this time, very few Blackfeet had transitioned to farming—those that did turned up poor crops due to drought and unusually long winters. Meanwhile, the US and Canadian agents for the Blackfeet did not have enough food supplies to make up for the loss of the bison.34 The Blackfeet did whatever they could to survive, including catching and eating fish. James Willard Schultz writes of visiting his Aamskaapipiikani brother-in-law at this time and finding those in a nearby tipi in mourning. He describes what he recalls his hosts telling him about the situation, in the following passage: In answer to my query, Boy Chief said: ‘They mourn for old Black Antelope. Dead because of his defiance of the gods. Hunger gnawing him, he caught some spotted fish (trout), they, as you know, the property, the food of the terrible Underwater people— food forbidden to our kind. We all begged him not to do it. He would not heed our warnings. Ordered his women to cook them for him. They would not even touch the spotted ones. He cooked them himself, ate them all, four big spotted fish. That was last night. Just before you arrived, he died.’35

During the course of the 1883/1884 winter, hundreds of other Montana Blackfeet died as well.36 118

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At the same time that the Blackfeet were struggling for physical survival, their traditional religion was placed in competition with the various forms of Christianity introduced by missionaries and government representatives. Many children were essentially indoctrinated into the new religion through their schooling. Worse yet, beginning in 1883, the US government began to ban certain traditional religious practices. The Canadian government did the same in 1896. These bans lasted essentially until 1934 and 1951, respectively.37 The banning of certain Blackfoot ceremonies and the imposition of Christianity through the educational system and through other means, combined with the understandable fact that some struggling Blackfeet may have questioned the efficacy of their own religion, meant that Christianity made quick inroads. Thus, many traditional beliefs and practices declined in the early reservation/reserve era, including those having to do with One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People. Fortunately, the practical administration of the US reservation and Canadian reserves improved, even if the suppression of Blackfoot religion continued. As time went by, some Blackfeet became successful ranchers and even farmers. While food was and is never something to be wasted among them, some Blackfeet were eventually able to fish as much for sport as for subsistence. People like Schultz were among the first to introduce the idea of fishing for sport and even the idea of fishing with flies. In the following passage Schultz talks about guiding, along with local trader and fellow guide Joseph Kipp, on the eastern side of the Blackfeet Reservation in 1889 (an area that would later become part of Glacier National Park): While I told of that and other of Grinnell’s and my experiences in the region, Colonel Baring was putting his fly rod together. I finished and he stepped over to the shore of the lake where the creek cut in, and we all interestedly looked to see what success he would have. At his very first cast he hooked a pretty good one; expertly played it. Jack Bean ran to him, offered to take the landing net. The Colonel refused; said that he wanted to handle the trout himself.38

Schultz writes elsewhere of fly fishing among Blackfoot friends. According to the dates provided in his book, the instance he discusses here must have taken place in the late 1870s. I had talked about the pleasures of fly fishing. The Indians were anxious to see this, to them, new phase in the white man’s arts. Ashton made the first cast, and his artificial flies were the first that ever lit upon the waters of the Two Medicine [Lake]. 119

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The response was generous. The placid water heaved and swirled with the rush of unsophisticated trout, and one big fellow, leaping clear from the depths, took the dropper with him in his descent. The women screamed, ‘Ah– ha– hai’!’ the men exclaimed, clapping hand to mouth, ‘Strange are the ways of the white men.’39

Narrating the same fishing trip, Schultz adds, “there were exclamations of surprise from our audience, with many comments upon the success of it all, the taking of so large a fish with such delicate tackle.”40 These passages show that fly fishing, or simply fishing for pleasure, was introduced to the Blackfeet surprisingly early, even before the bison were gone. Joseph Kipp, the man with whom Schultz guided the British bankers, also helped introduce fly fishing to the Blackfeet. Kipp had been present, as a reluctant scout for the US Army, during the 1870 massacre (before the massacre, Kipp correctly told the commander of the troops that the camp they were soon to attack was not the one they sought). Kipp rescued and adopted a Piikani boy who survived the carnage. He named that boy “John.” John became the great grandfather of Joe Kipp, cited earlier, who now guides fly fishermen on the Blackfeet Reservation.41 Joe says that Joseph Kipp bait and fly fished, just as Schultz did. He also says that these types of fishing were picked up by his Piikani great grandfather, John Kipp, who became a guide, like his adopted father and like Joe himself.42 John Kipp, as Joe points out, was not the “average” Blackfoot person of the time, since he was raised by a Blackfoot mother and a white father.43 Despite being familiar with the ways of the white world, however, John was thoroughly Blackfoot in his ancestry, and he was familiar with his Peoples’ traditions, too. Indeed, some of John Kipp’s descendants are among the most knowledgeable religious traditionalists on the Blackfeet Reservation today. For whatever reason, John Kipp embraced fishing, despite the stories of the One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People. Likely, he put little credence in them, or he simply worried less about these beings than members of previous generations did. Certainly, as we already know, many people of his generation—those that grew up during the worst years of starvation—fished because they needed the food. No doubt, the most traditional of these did what they could to maintain positive relations with the One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People while doing so. On the other hand, the most Christianized of the same generation would have paid the water beings no mind. Either way, fishing soon became an established practice on the Blackfeet Reservation. 120

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Fishing became a common practice on the Canadian reserves as well, probably for the same reasons.44 While there may have been fewer people like the Kipps or Schultz to introduce it to the Canadian Blackfeet, visiting relatives from the Montana reservation may have filled that role, as probably did members of the Royal Northwest Canadian Mounted Police. The “Mounties” were stationed at Fort Macleod, in the heart of Canadian Blackfoot country. In addition to the introduction of Christianity and the forced change in subsistence practices, the introduction of nonnative fish— fish that, from a very traditional view, may not belong to the OneHorned Serpents and Underwater People—probably contributed to the changing attitude toward fish and fishing among the Blackfeet.45 Some informal stocking of nonnative fish took place even before Montana became a state, in 1899. The first federal hatchery in Montana became operational in 1897.46 The Montana Fish and Game Department (now Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks) was established in 1901, and the first state hatchery, near Bozeman, was created in 1902.47 The state of Montana made efforts to regulate fishing by Indians early on, despite the fact that the federal government has ultimate legal jurisdiction on all reservations.48 Moreover, the Montana Fish and Game Department was given control over fish stocking on the Blackfeet Reservation as well.49 This was the case even though the federal government had previously stocked other federal lands within Montana’s borders, particularly Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks (established in 1872 and 1910, respectively). Indeed, in the late 1880s and 1890s, the federal government was stocking nonnative brown trout in park waters tributary or flowing directly into what would become state waters.50 Regardless, stocking by both the state and federal governments emphasized the introduction and maintenance of the nonnative fish populations described earlier, which were so attractive to “sportsmen.” For instance, in 1903 and 1904, the state hatchery in Bozeman produced brook trout, steelheads, “Lake Superior whitefish,” and species of rainbows not native to Montana, all for stocking.51 Undoubtedly the state stocked some of these fish on the Blackfeet Reservation. The Blackfeet Reservation fisheries management was finally transferred from the State of Montana to the federal government in the fall of 1962.52 After this date, the federal Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife worked in consultation with the Blackfeet Tribe and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to help the Blackfeet improve and maintain their fisheries. They did so in part to increase revenues from vis121

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iting sport fishers.53 Therefore, the stocking of nonnative salmonids continued on the Blackfeet Reservation. As was the case in Montana, the Canadian government probably stocked the national parks well before the Province of Alberta, which gained its provincial status in 1905, began stocking. Two of these parks, Banff National Park (established in 1885) and Waterton Lakes National Park (established in 1895), contain waters that run through or feed waters that are now within the boundaries of the Blackfoot reserves.54 The earliest records of provincial stocking outside of the parks date to the 1920s. Specifically, brown trout stocking records begin in 1921, rainbow trout stocking records begin in 1922, and brook trout stocking records begin in 1926.55 Each of these early stockings, incidentally, like many later ones, was made in waters that (like the national park waters) flow through or feed the reserve waters.56 Thus, nonnative fish were introduced to Canadian Blackfoot country at an early date. Since 1930, and the passage of the National Resources Transfer Agreement, the province has maintained primary responsibility for fisheries management (including stocking) in Alberta, while the federal government maintains responsibility for habitat.57 Currently, there is no existing arrangement for the province to stock waters on the Blackfoot reserves.58 Since the Canadian Blackfoot divisions do not have their own fish and wildlife management agencies, their waters are currently unstocked.59 Not only is there no direct stocking on the Blackfoot reserves, there is little fishing regulation at all. Greater regulation may soon be coming to the Siksika Reserve, at least. Members have recently begun to take advantage of the fact that the world-famous Bow River runs through their land. Visitors can now rent a tipi at the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, located on Siksika land, and fish the Bow River there.60 Having discussed the history of stocking in Blackfoot country, we finally return to the third reason that fishing may have grown in popularity among reservation and reserve- era Blackfeet. As stated earlier, this is the fact that many of the fish now living in Blackfoot waters are nonnative species; they are not the same fish that were historically associated with the One-Horned Serpent and the Underwater People. Today, the number of Blackfeet who firmly embrace the beliefs and engage in the religious practices of their ancestors is small. Nonetheless, among those who remain staunchly traditional, the need to respect such beings as One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People, not to mention the myriad of other underwater, earth, and above persons

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represented in the bundles, remains imperative. Doing so is a foundational part of their identity as Niitsitapiiksi, or Real People. I once asked elder Allan Pard if my own fly fishing was ever of concern to him or his peers. After a reflective pause, he responded that it was not. He said that the reason he was not concerned was that most of the local fish were nonnative.61 I related this conversation to Daryl Wig, senior fisheries biologist for Alberta, who laughed and said the Pard was right.62 Of course, both would prefer to see native salmonids once again dominate the waters of Niitsisskowa.63 Regardless, the point is that for even those who feel the need to respect the underwater and other nonhuman persons, there is less concern about offending the One-Horned Serpents and the Underwater People, since most of the fish belonging to them are long gone. I have fly fished with traditional Blackfoot friends in Canada. They enjoy fishing and, like Pard, they do not feel that fishing conflicts with traditional religious beliefs or practices. And while fly fishing is not generally very popular among the Canadian Blackfeet, other forms of fishing are. So there are many more Blackfeet fishing in Canada than the traditional few with whom I have fly fished. Joe Kipp suggests that sport fishing on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana probably took off in popularity around the 1940s and 1950s, when cars became relatively common on the reservation.64 Cars allowed those interested in fishing to take quicker trips to the remote lakes and streams than they had been able to before. Kipp argues that by this time both spin casting and fly fishing were common fishing practices among the Aamskaapipiikani.65 Kipp himself bought his first fly rod at the age of twelve. Kipp is very familiar with the stories of the One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People, and he does not discount the existence of these beings. Yet, he has never had any difficulties with them during his lifetime of fishing.66 In a development that is unique among the Blackfoot divisions, the Montana Blackfeet established their own wildlife department in 2008.67 Thus, federal management lasted only for forty-five years. According to Blackfeet fisheries biologist Toby Tabor, fish stock is still provided by a federal fish hatchery, but the actual stocking and management is done by the tribe.68 They are rigorous in these pursuits because the tribe wants to attract visiting sport fishers. The tribe welcomes these visitors as a needed source of revenue on the reservation. Accordingly, much of the stocking that occurs on the Blackfeet Reservation still focuses upon those nonnative species of salmonids his-

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torically favored by sport fishers. In fact, the reservation is probably known best today for its large nonnative rainbow trout (and hybrid rainbow/cutthroats). In his 2010 book Fly Fishing Adventures: Montana, John Holt writes about these fish. He describes them in the following lines: “Enormous rainbows that blast off and blow up a 5 wt. Or dog a wind- cheating eight down deep until the game is up and the sullen fish is pulled to shore.”69 These “enormous” rainbows are placed in many of the reservation’s lakes, which historically did not hold any fish at all. Recently, however, the tribe has also started stocking westslope cutthroat trout in some of its streams, trying to rebuild the native populations that once dominated those waters.70 Both Joe Kipp and Toby Tabor report there is now a strong and growing “contingent,” in Kipp’s words, of Blackfoot fly fishers on the Blackfeet Reservation.71 Whether these fly fishers consider themselves “traditional” or have any concerns about the underwater or other nonhuman persons is not known to the author. But the reader should remember that most Blackfeet are Christian or understand and practice their Peoples’ religious traditions in limited or altered ways. Besides, most people fish the previously fishless lakes of the reservation, which makes concerns about One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People irrelevant. Clearly, there are many non-Blackfeet fishing the waters of the Black feet Reservation too. According to Joe Kipp, the guiding of nonBlackfoot fishers was first allowed in 1985. Kipp became a guide that very year. Within a couple of years, guiding was restricted to Blackfoot tribal members. Since then, some Blackfoot guides have entered and left the business, but Kipp has guided steadily.72 The future of fly fishing, or any type of fishing at all, is uncertain in Blackfoot country, especially on the Canadian reserves. In the past, fishing was rarely practiced because many waters were the domains of dangerous One-Horned Serpents and Underwater People. Yet the information presented in this chapter shows that Blackfoot attitudes toward fishing have changed because both Blackfoot culture and the Blackfoot environment, upon which traditional Blackfoot beliefs and practices are built, have changed. As the bison disappeared, many Blackfeet began to fish out of necessity, for food. Not long after, in the early 1900s, the fish populations began to alter, as a result of the introduction of nonnative fish—fish that were not so closely associated with the dangerous underwater beings. Concurrent with these environmental changes were cultural changes. The most important of these were the changes that resulted from the introduction of Christianity. 124

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As more and more Blackfeet fell under the influence of this foreign religion, either willingly or because it was essentially imposed upon them, knowledge of the ancient stories about One-Horned Serpents, Underwater People, and all the other underwater, earth, and above people weakened. Even those who have maintained their traditional beliefs and practices question whether the nonnative fish that so widely inhabit Blackfoot waters today need to be left undisturbed, as they usually were in the past. All of these developments, together with the appearance of fly and other types of sport fishing in Blackfoot country, account for the new attitudes toward fish and fishing that exist among the Blackfeet today. All this, too, shows that the history of at least one group of peoples indigenous to the Rocky Mountain West both complicates and affirms the understanding that so many anglers have of the American West and fishing going hand in hand.

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Thymallus tricolor: The Michigan Grayling BRYON BORGELT

Hung over the door of the old Grayling Fish Hatchery was once a sizeable dorsal finned fish for which the town of Grayling, Michigan, was named and through which the stream gained its national notoriety. This particular grayling, or Thymallus tricolor, may have been the last grayling to be caught in the entire watershed of the Au Sable. In the 1930s a young angler pressed against the current as he made his way upstream. Just southeast of the old iron bridge, Bob Seager saw a fish rise. It was a sizeable fish and pushed the water to the side as it took the surface flies. As his bamboo rod flexed and carried his fly to the target he measured out silk fly line in his hand so as to have enough of his tippet fall upstream of the fish. One moment his fly was riding the flow of the river, and the next it was in the soft flesh of the fish’s mouth. Seeing his fly go under, Seager lifted his rod and felt the weight of the fish. It was all over the river. It jumped 10 or 15 times. I landed it and did not know what it was, cause I hadn’t been fishing that long, and I not knowing what it was  .  .  . I was a little ignorant and I put it in my creel . . . I took it back into camp and Fred Allen, one of the old timers, said “Do you know what you got? It is a Grayling and it is a no no.”1

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F I G U R E 7.1 An early view of the Grayling Fish Hatchery, one of the first conservation tools of the region. Used with permission from the Elmer Fenton Collection at the Devereaux Memorial Library, Grayling, Michigan.

The fish was dead so there was little to be done with it. Seager and Allen decided to take it into the town of Grayling. Seager did not know what ever became of the fish. According to local lore, it hung over the entrance to the hatchery, marking the historic legacy of this vibrantly colored coldwater fish to the throngs of children and their parents as they dumped bags of fish food into the cement spillways for the brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout that had never explored the great river beyond the confines of their cement lined tanks.

A Native Fish Grayling had a long environmental history in Michigan. Approximately ten thousand years ago, during an ice age that greatly changed the home water habitat of the world’s fish populations, the fluvial river adapted grayling of Montana followed the receding glacial waters and found a new home in the till of Michigan. Eventually a permanent ecosystem to the grayling’s liking was found in a few select streams in both the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula. The Otter River, which drained from the Upper Peninsula into Lake Superior, was one documented stream in the Upper Peninsula to have once hosted a wild and sustainable population of grayling. Numerous Lower Peninsula 127

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streams held the fish. Native grayling populations were found in tributaries to both Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.2 The most well-known rivers included the Hersey, Au Sable, Manistee, Pere Marquette, Black, and the Muskegon. These rivers, both large and small, were mostly spring fed and maintained a relatively stable temperature throughout the year. The aquifers moderated the temperatures during the summer heat and the cold of winter. Ideal water temperatures for both grayling and trout ranged between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The boggy, loaming soils of the central Michigan highlands filtered the rain and snow runoff, slowing the feeding of the streams. For the most part, the streams ran clear except for the slight tannic tint provided by the decay of leaves in the bogs and swamps that fed the streams with cool water. The rich biomass, steady stream flows, and moderate temperatures helped to explain the natural success of the grayling. Another important consideration was the lack of trout in these streams. For the most part, the streams of the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula, except those near Traverse Bay, held no other salmonids. While no fish is celebrated more in the contemporary history of Michigan fly fishing, the brook trout, a native char, was not native to the Au Sable system. With the exception of lake trout, northern pike, walleye, and muskellunge in the lower stretches, the grayling was at the top of the food chain. Few early reports existed about the state’s grayling. B. W. Sperry, an early logger in Crawford County, later recalled his early experiences with grayling. He wrote: I knew nothing of the fish in the streams of that section, having lived before then in the southern part of the State; by my love of fishing and fish led me to investigate, and I discovered the waters to be teeming with what the lumbermen called “Sable River trout.” . . . My first attempt to secure them was quite successful. I found in the swamps a long, light cedar pole, just the right proportion for my purpose. I then fastened a good-sized pickerel hook to the large end of it, and thus equipped crept carefully down to the water’s edge, crawled out a third of the way across the river on a “wing jam,” shaded my eyes with my hat and found I was right among them. When I slipped my pole in the water, the “trout” moved slowed more to the other side (there were thousands of them), but after a few moments would return to the channel. Lying on my stomach, with rod jammed well on the bottom to keep it steady, I bided my time. Soon a good sized fish hovered a moment over the hook, a quick upward jerk, and he was impaled and landed. I stopped to examine my prize, and 128

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A small catch of Michigan grayling staged for the camera. Used with permission from the William B. Mershon Archive at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

F I G U R E 7. 2

while I did not know then his true name, his long dorsal, clean cut, stylish markings and racy proportions proclaimed him to be of royal blood. I added several more to the string, dress them, and on my cabin stove fried them in pork fat to a turn, and then and there ate my first grayling; how delicious they were to an appetite sharpened by out- door work, youth and perfect health.3

Michigan was within the reach of a growing Midwestern population. The Michigan grayling became linked to the development of the modern American economy. It initially found its importance as a food commodity for Detroit and Chicago. Ports, such as Saginaw, made a steady business with cold storage holding a variety of wild game that became popular. While market fishing represented an important period of the Michigan grayling’s history, the esteemed status placed upon it by sporting men resulted in its national interest and scientific study. Grayling grabbed the attention of American sportsmen following its discovery by the scientific and recreational angling community in the 1870s. 129

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Credit for its discovery is attributed to D. H. Fitzhugh, Jr., of Bay City, Michigan.4 Fitzhugh sent a specimen to the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia where Professor Cope named it Thymallus tricolor. Two other sources pinpoint the naming of the fish in 1873. Charles Hallock, who gained his fame as a sportsmen editor of Forest and Stream published an influential book, The Fishing Tourist, in 1873 that commented on the mysterious origins of this new game fish. Hallock’s description stated that Fitzhugh sent a specimen to Thaddeus Norris of Philadelphia and Andrew Clerk of New York, who owned a fly fishing shop. Debate among these angling experts took place, and it was decided that the samples were too decomposed to resolve the issue. Hallock wrote that he requested additional samples from Fitzhugh, who had them speared through the ice by Native Americans on Hersey Creek.5 A letter from world-renowned ichthyologist Louis Agassiz in 1873 identified the samples as Michigan grayling and seemed to have settled the debate. Agassiz was a professor of zoology and geology at Harvard and his ichthyological studies helped to shape his theories on ice age. His identification of the grayling, before his death later that year, provided the final word and legitimately identified it as a distinctly Midwestern game fish.6

The Fishing Tourist and the Michigan Grayling Following Fitzhugh’s discovery Forest and Stream sent Norris to the Au Sable for his account of this incredible fishery. Norris gained fame and membership to the elite status of American sportsmen upon the success of his American Angler’s Book in 1864. He was the leading advocate for adventure angling, taking to the field in pursuit of far-off destinations and new species. In July of 1874 Norris joined Fitzhugh on a trip on the Au Sable. On July 30, the first day of the outing, the group paused at a likely looking stretch of the river to get enough fish for supper: So we uncased our “artillery” and “limbered up.” At the second cast I hooked, and after that a sharp tussle landed a fish of six ounces or so. “Throw him in,” said Dan, “we keep nothing under a half pound on this trip.” Well I looked at my first captive from snout to caudal, and as it was still struggling, before I took the hook from its mouth, I put it over the side of the boat to observe the play of its powerful tail and the tints and markings of its magnificent dorsal in the sunlight beneath the placid surface. ‘Poor fishing up here,’ said Len, “too much spearing and netting; but still 130

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we must have some for dinner, so keep on.” I thought it very good fishing and at noon, when we stopped to lunch, I had twenty handsome fish in my well, and Dan had about the same number.7

During the second day of fishing, which was interrupted by an overnight rain at their camp, Norris found a particularly effective fly, the drab-winged coachman. The method of the day was to fish several classic wet fly patterns on one line. Sometimes three to five flies would be fished on a line at a time—a successful method of fishing. Grayling were particularly attracted to the motion of the flies in the water, and the pull of the flies through the water by a hooked fish would entice other fish to hit as well. In the name of keeping the fishing sporting, Norris took one fly off, finding that it “kills them too fast. It’s slaughter.”8 Following lunch the onslaught of the grayling continued. While one of the guides held an overhanging cedar branch back, Norris hooked fifteen fish in five successive casts. The fishing continued until evening when it was time to pack the fish. Over the next few days the party caught, kept, gave away, and salted hundreds of grayling. In all they covered an estimated 160 miles of the river in six days. Norris wrote, “If the time spent in running the river had been devoted entirely to angling above the south branch I am confident we could have taken from six to seven hundred pounds.”9 Norris’s 1874 report found that grayling were plentiful and of good size, varying from a half a pound to just over one pound. The stream near the town of Grayling had some effects of fishing pressure, but a few miles downstream the fish were very abundant. The only interruption in the fishing came near Thompson’s Landing as the logging industry began driving logs down river in May. In other portions of the river the party passed over stretches where the water appeared to be choked with fish. Fifty to a hundred were stacked in pools, and they were very eager to take the artificial flies. Norris found, “The grayling is the fish of the river.”10 Some suckers and shiners were found, but no other game fish. The grayling was king of his environment, and a handsome king at that. The metallic scales of the grayling, matched with a colorful dorsal fin that had no match in the freshwater world, captured the imagination of Norris and his readers. He wrote, “I frequently held them for a while beneath the surface of the limpid water to admire the colors and motions of the dorsal fin. It looked like a beautifully colored leaf waving in the metallic spots. The pectorals and ventrals also exhibited pretty metallic spots.”11 131

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William B. Merhon at rest during one of his frequent camps. During the Au Sable’s long lineage of fishing conservationists there was no greater early advocate for protection of this coldwater resource than Mershon. Used with permission from the William B. Mershon Archive at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

F I G U R E 7. 3

In all Norris had described the ideal setting for urban anglers. The river was reachable by train, within hours from Detroit, Toledo, and Chicago. Guides were readily available. The drift down the river was through unharvested, if not wild, woodlands. Most importantly, the fishing was phenomenal. Even considering the possible exaggeration, Norris’s account painted a picture of an inexhaustible supply of game fish. The grayling represented the ideal object to the readers of Forest and Stream. In effect, what Norris did was put out a call to the masses of urban sportsmen. In the few short years since Fitzhugh had sent specimens east, the grayling rush had begun. Soon books focused on angling destinations found it necessary to include the grayling of the Au Sable and northern Michigan among its stories of Florida tarpon, Atlantic salmon from Quebec, and the black bass of Adirondack lakes. Word spread and the fishing pressure increased. William B. Mershon of Saginaw, through income from his box company, investments in mining operations out west, and lumber enterprises in the Upper Peninsula, had the time and the resources to hunt and fish in Michigan, Quebec, and the Dakotas. A proficient writer, reader, and antagonist of local and state government through reprimanding letters, Mershon took personal interest in the wildlife of Michigan. His favorite topics included the extermination of the passen132

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ger pigeon and his fight to save the grayling from the same fate. Like Norris, Mershon took delight in the sporting nature of the grayling and all the trappings of gear, tackle, and time that were required in its pursuit. Joining with the Michigan Sportsmen Association, Mershon and others called for the state to intervene and work to protect the grayling. By 1877 the sportsmen were having an impact on the Au Sable fishery. Mershon and his crew of sporting men came upon two parties of fishermen near where the North Branch joins the mainstream of the Au Sable. In all, Mershon estimated that five thousand grayling were killed by these two parties. . . . while I was on the river in August last, two large camps, all non-residents and strangers (in old Roman times the word meant enemies) killed five thousand fish, not going beyond five miles of the mouth of the north branch. They salted and carried away at least half of them. Many were eaten, more were wasted. For two miles below their camps decaying fish whitened the stream, and the offal and fish entrails left unburied in camp tainted the air, as the dead fish poisoned the water. Now when it is remembered that a salted grayling is more tasteless than so many salted chips, and that these fish were carried away, not for food, but only because of senseless strife-that one party might outdo the other and furnish evidence that they had not magnified the magnitude of their catch, it will readily be seen how unsportsmanlike and wicked is such wholesale slaughter. True, every fish they caught cost them from first to last at least ten cents, but it was a summer frolic of thoughtless business men-not sportsmen, to whom money was no consideration. The rule on the river, which the guides and the polers try to enforce, is to put back all fish below ten inches, yet in the strife between six or five boats as to who shall bring to the fish-pen the greatest number, the rule is disregarded and they take the benefit of a doubt-down to six or seven inches.12

In 1873 fishermen were able to find grayling in large quantities in the main branch near Grayling. By 1877 there were few to be found within twenty miles by land and forty miles by river of the town.13 F. H. Thurston, a notable angler and outdoors writer, noted that by 1892 the grayling fishery was on a decline. Fish were now forty miles downstream from where they used to be.14 In the matter of only a few years what appeared to be an inexhaustible resource began to show the effects of man’s actions on the ecosystem. The latter decades of the nineteenth century brought a perfect storm of grayling destruction to northern Michigan. The grayling’s demise centered on man’s activities, his greed, and, despite warnings, his inability to collectively overcome the destructive acts of individual actions. 133

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The Tragedy of the Commons Scientist Garrett Hardin wrote of the destructive nature of individual actions to the detriment of collective well-being.15 In his article discussing threats of human overpopulation, he presented the tragedy of the commons theory: individuals make logical decisions that benefit themselves but might not benefit the broader population. This related to the Au Sable when individuals fished without limits in a stream with a naturally limited fish population. The fishery could withstand the indulgence when fishing pressure was low, but it was unsustainable once the pressure increased following 1874. One of the factors that elevated grayling to the status of a prominent game fish was its willingness to take an artificial lure. Sportsmen held a higher regard for fish that preferred lures and flies over stinking worms, leeches, or other baits. Because fly fishing was considered the most befitting method of angling for the sportsmen, the grayling proved to be the best match for the bamboo rod and dainty, hand-tied flies. Norris wrote: The biggest of them do not exceed eighteen inches, is very gamesome at the fly and bites not often at the minnow; is much simpler than the trout and therefore bolder, for he will rise twenty times if you miss him, and yet rise again. He is taken with the fly of red feathers and outlandish bird, and a fly like a great or small moth.16

George L. Alexander, a Grayling man who fished the Au Sable, commented in Mershon’s Recollections of My Fifty Years of Hunting and Fishing, “Generally it will take the fly or bait as quickly as it is presented, whether you are in sight of the fish or not; the motion of the angler does not frighten or even annoy it. . . .”17 The grayling’s desire to chase the fly may have been what made it a great sport fish, but it was one piece of the puzzle that explained the complete annihilation of the species from Michigan. It could not survive the increased fishing pressure from so many vacationing anglers. Despite the early reports of an inexhaustible supply of fish, the grayling quickly demonstrated the effects of human activities. As early as 1875 reports indicated that streams near railroads had less fish. Norris found that the Au Sable and eastern streams had been “rapidly depleted for the Bay City and Detroit markets.”18 Mershon searched for answers as to the grayling’s demise, and he wrote about how the logging had covered the grayling spawning beds with silt and debris, choking out the necessary oxygen for the develop134

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ing eggs. Because grayling spawned locally, and did not run upstream into small tributary waters as trout did, the spawning grayling faced the torrent of lumber floods head on.19 The main bodies of water where they spawned were the very same waters that were most often used by the lumber companies. In 1912 Mershon wrote: Speaking of the Grayling, I have always had a theory that they were destroyed because of lumbering. You know the streams that they frequented were sandy streams. The fish were Spring spawners. In the Spring these streams were driven by loggers and in order to drive them successfully, they had to flood them once or twice every day and build dams at short intervals. Now how the Grayling spawn could have hatched when there was a log drive on in these sand bottom streams that were stirred up by the flooding of dams, was more than I could ever figure out.20

The roughly thirty years of lumbering along the Au Sable certainly took its toll on the river and the grayling. Grayling’s economy switched from logging to outdoor recreation. The lack of a grayling fishery was a threat to the area’s economic survival. Other game fish, in the form of stocked brook, rainbow, and brown trout were to lead the new outdoor economy.

F I G U R E 7. 4 The logging practices of the early Au Sable days involved winter felling of trees and spring floods of rafts downstream for processing. Imagine what logs of this size packed bank to bank did to the hydrology of the stream. Used with permission from the Elmer Fenton Collection at the Devereaux Memorial Library, Grayling, Michigan.

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Foreign Interlopers New predators were introduced into an ecosystem with a fi xed amount of resources, and the grayling could not adapt to their new neighbors. Grayling population began to fall off in the Manistee after stocked brook trout became plentiful.21 Fred Mather’s observation on the grayling that he raised alongside his trout supported Mershon’s belief that the trout had something to do with the grayling’s decline. Mather wrote, “My brother, who has had the care of my fish this season says that one trout will eat as much as six grayling . . . .”22 George Alexander, from Grayling, stated that “I am inclined to the opinion that even if the trout had not been introduced, the grayling would have disappeared or at least become very scarce, and its cold waters would be furnishing very little sport as compared to what it does as the present.”23 Mershon disagreed, stating in a much earlier correspondence in 1912 that the introduction of the brook trout certainly had something to do with the destruction of the grayling.24 One common belief was that the brook trout, which spawned in the fall, had a head start on the spring spawning grayling. Juvenile grayling were easy prey for the brook trout. Because no one specific cause can be attributed for the grayling’s extinction from Michigan, humans must take the collective blame. An unregulated lumber industry that harnessed the power of the river for its own gain knocked the grayling population closer to extinction. Over the twenty- to thirty-year onslaught on the woods and water, the grayling sought shelter in tributaries and deep pools, only to be taken from the river three at a time by greedy anglers. Both commercial fishermen supplying Midwestern cities and the upper- class vacationing sportsmen were to blame. Together they packed and salted grayling by the barrel. The final death blow came from finned competition. Growing numbers of trout, stocked in the Au Sable and countless other rivers to provide sport for visiting anglers, overcame the native population and pushed it over the edge.

A Conservation Legacy In an address to the Michigan Sportsmen’s Association from 1878 a call went out for grassroots activity to save the grayling. Members were asked to not only contact their legislatures but to personally take up the 136

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fight to save the grayling. Circulars were printed from the Fish Commission and members were asked to post them along their favorite waters. They believed that with the help of the guides and polers who depended upon the fishery they could raise awareness about the plight of the grayling. Guides and polers had an economic interest in protecting the resources, “. . . for however well they are paid, they do not care to destroy in one year the lifelihood of three, and work from daylight to dark, coming in wet and weary, if they might avoid it. . . .”25 As was often the case in an economically competitive market, the group hoped to act for the collective good, but when left to their own devices, individuals acted out of self-interest. In the end, the guides and the polers who very well may have tried to limit the slaughter of their livelihood by enforcing size limits were unable to overcome a system that was bent on destruction. Even the individual members of the Michigan Sportsmen’s Association were guilty of contributing to the decline in the face of the obvious destruction of the fishery. Mershon, perhaps the most outspoken advocate of regulation and protection, failed to practice what he preached. A reader of Forest and Stream wrote to the magazine in 1905 in reference to where he could find some decent grayling fishing. The magazine referred the reader to Mershon, an expert on the topic. Despite Mershon’s correspondence in which he stated his belief that grayling were all but extinct in Michigan he did recommend that the hopeful angler try his luck on the Black River where the fish were getting scarce, but the angler could find one or two in three days of angling.26 In 1906 he recounted how his fishing party on the Black River took one grayling. He wrote in a letter to a friend, “Morely took a Grayling that day about 11 ½” long; probably the last of his race. Next morning at breakfast it was religiously divided by Tanner, to whom it had been given, and we all united in saying that it was sweeter and better than trout.”27 Ironically, this letter was written while Mershon was working on his book about the passenger pigeon, a bird that faced a similar demise to that of the grayling, and of which Mershon took particular interest. Sportsmen such as Mershon, the loyal readers of Forest and Stream, and writers such as Hallock called for a number of measures to save their beloved grayling. Conservation in this era of early progressive ideology focused on legislation and procreation. The Michigan Sportsmen’s Association that sought the protection of sporting wildlife and regulation of hunting and fishing privileges called on the state legislature to protect grayling. In 1875 a law went into effect in Michigan that banned the sale of grayling and created a closed season from November 1 to June 1, protecting the fish during spawning. In 1881 137

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a six-inch limit was imposed upon the keeping of grayling. No limit was placed on how many one could possess.28 From the descriptions of anglers from the era, six inches seemed to be a relatively small size, since most accounts had the average fish at a half to a full pound. In 1901 the Michigan Game and Fish Protection League, with the efforts of Mershon, called for the closing of the upper waters of the Manistee. Forest and Stream lent its support, but the law failed to get by Governor Aaron T. Bliss, who was indifferent to the measure. State senator Augustine Farr, whose district held the upper Manistee, called the stream his river and opposed the closure.29 Even if regulations had passed, the enforcement of such laws would have been difficult. Game warders were few and far between. It was difficult to effectively regulate the entire river system. Upon the initial discovery of Michigan grayling in 1870 there was considerable interest to artificially propagate the fish. Rather than looking at entire ecosystems and their total health, the common practice of maintaining a fish stock was to plant the river with hatchery-raised fish. Seth Green took an interest in grayling. Early efforts by Green and Fred Mather did produce positive results. Mather was said to have been the first to hatch grayling in 1874 and introduced them to his streams and ponds, discovering that they fared very well.30 Mather ob-

Hatchery reared trout on the Au Sable. Established in 1959, Trout Unlimited sought to address overfishing and advocated for the end of fish hatcheries. Used with permission from the Elmer Fenton Collection at the Devereaux Memorial Library, Grayling, Michigan.

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served,“. . . they were larger at six months old than brook trout at the same age; this suggests rapid growth and early maturity. And I claim a great superiority for them in the fact that they do not eat each other.”31 Green was able to hatch some fish from eggs obtained from the Au Sable. The first eggs were said to have hatched in May 1874. By May 15 he had fish swimming. In December of 1874 the Fish Commission took interest in grayling and had sixteen raised alongside trout at the Pokagon hatchery.32 Despite these early successes, grayling were never mass produced like trout. Mershon and T. E. Douglas, a lumberman and lodge owner on the North Branch of the Au Sable in Lovells, both tried to restock the stream with grayling from Montana, but their efforts failed. The fingerlings that did survive were eaten by trout.33 In the end the grayling could not be artificially manufactured like the growing number of trout that took up residence in its streams. What did the grayling represent? Thymallus tricolor was yet another example of North American wildlife that was celebrated as much for it beauty as for what it represented. Like the American bison and passenger pigeon, whose numbers also crashed during this time period because of the progress of American society, the grayling was a symbol. It represented the possibilities of the American frontier, the beauty of nature, and the consequences of modern life. In the offices of urban America, where the frantic life of commercial interests dictated time, the urban elite angler could take solace in reading an article about a multiple day drift through wilderness, where men lived off the land and the stream as they idled their time away. The grayling represented a place, a state of mind, a way of being. The grayling was the delight of the sportsmen’s game: The sun’s rays lighting up the delicate olive-brown tints of the back and sides, the bluish-white of the abdomen, and the mingling of tints of rose, pale blue, and purplish-pink on the fins, display a combination of colors equaled by no fish outside of the tropics.34

Grayling gained the Au Sable national attention, and in the absence of its namesake, there evolved a coldwater conservation mindset that carries on to this day. The Au Sable’s history is much like the nation’s history of cold water exploration, exploitation, and an eventual acceptance that it will never again be what it once was, but that it can be better than it currently is. A series of conservation measures swept through the system. Mershon and others bought up huge sections of the river, hoping to fence it off and create their own personal aquatic Gardens 139

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of Eden. Special regulations were then created. The North Branch of the Au Sable moved through a period of regulatory enclosure when it became the first public water in the United States to be posted as fly fishing only. This controversial five-year period was less about scientific conservation measures than elitist fishing protection, but it did promote further state-sponsored studies on hook and mortality rates. The controversial law was repealed, reinstated for a short time, and finally repealed again until the Trout Unlimited era of the river. Launched in 1959 on the banks of the Au Sable, Trout Unlimited moved Au Sable conservation into a period focused on the protection of the ecosystem and less on the put and take mentality of the past. The ghosts of the grayling are still there, along with William Mershon, Rube Babbitt, Art Neumann, George Griffith, and Rusty Gates. It is a stream forever entrenched in its past but fighting to protect its future against invasive species, drilling, road building, climate change, angling pressure, and the many other threats that wash through our rivers.

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“For Every Tail Taken, We Shall Put Ten Back”: Fly Fishing and Salmonid Conservation in Finland MIKKO SAIKKU

The rich tradition of fly fishing in Finland remains almost unknown to international audiences as very little about the subject has been published in English. Even a short history of Finnish fly fishing and stream conservation can, however, illustrate the growing internationalization of fly fishing as a sport since the late nineteenth century and its strong conservation ethic. In Finland’s case, the fly fishing rivers of central Finland and the management of their trout populations offer probably the most illuminating example of such incorporation of international influences into a national angling culture. Finnish anglers have often trolled the larger rivers with a salmon fly (known in Europe as “harling”) and casted to the brown trout and grayling in the northern wilds, but it was largely in central Finland that the national fly fishing tradition and stream conservation ethic developed. The region’s rivers and rapids proved ideal for classic fly fishing techniques, gradually resulting in the advent of Finnish angling. A heavily forested Nordic country on the Baltic Sea, Finland possesses thousands of lakes and connecting waterways and has traditionally supported some of the largest 143

Major salmon and brown trout rivers of Finland mentioned in the text. National borders as of 2016. For a map of historical fly-fishing locations in central Finland, see figure 8.2. Cartography by Heli Rekiranta. F I G U R E 8 .1

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salmonid populations in Europe. In addition to the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (the stream-resident, potamodromous, and anadromous forms of Salmo trutta), native game fish species include the grayling (Thymallus thymallus), arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), and various species of whitefish (Coregonus ssp.). Like everywhere else in Europe, Finnish salmonid populations plummeted during the twentieth century. The Atlantic salmon originally inhabited all major Finnish rivers draining into the Baltic and Arctic, most notably the Kymi, Kokemäki, Oulu, Ii, Simo, Kemi, Tornio (Torneå), and Teno (Tana-Deatnu) Rivers, as well as many smaller streams. Additionally, a land-locked form was present in the Lake Saimaa and Ladoga systems in the southeastern part of the country. At the beginning of the twentieth century, native populations of salmon were found on some eighteen rivers draining into the Baltic; by the end, only two of these survived. In addition to the Tornio on the Baltic, only the Näätämö (Neiden) and Teno (both of which drain into the Arctic Sea) sustain viable original populations today. The spawning rivers of the land-locked form in the Lake Saimaa region were destroyed by the 1970s, and practically all salmon caught today from Finnish lakes are of hatchery origin.1 Other salmonids have similarly suffered drastic population reductions during the last century. Brown trout were originally almost ubiquitous to Finnish waters. Practically all streams draining into the Baltic and Arctic supported both resident and anadromous (“sea trout”) populations. Similarly, Finland’s thousands of inland streams and lakes provided ideal habitat for the species. Potamodromous forms, typically called “salmon” in the folk vernacular, were originally found in all major lake systems.2 The grayling’s original range included the northern part of the country, the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic, and the Lake Saimaa and Ladoga drainages in southeastern Finland. The “lady of the stream” was introduced to central Finland for sport fishing purposes only during the twentieth century. The arctic char still survives in fair numbers in Lapland, but southern populations in the Vuoksi drainage hover close to extinction. Because of their lesser requirements regarding spawning areas, whitefish have fared much better.3

The Origins of Angling in Finland While people inhabiting Finland’s modern boundaries have fished for salmonids since the last Ice Age, recreational fisheries for anglers 145

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developed only during the nineteenth century. There existed a long tradition of subsistence and commercial salmon fishing in Finland during the period of Swedish rule (twelfth through nineteenth centuries) at the mouths of major Finnish rivers draining into the Baltic. Locals built elaborate fish weirs and traps for communal fishing. Medieval settlement of northern Finland in fact was spurred by the abundant salmon resource as well as lacustrine brown trout. During the sixteenth century, the Vasa kings of Sweden established the concept of jus regale for salmon fishing: it was deemed a king’s right to fish the major rivers. Local landowners could continue their traditional fishing for ascending salmon only by paying heavy taxes to the crown. Human impact on fluvial environments remained limited: small watermills were constructed on suitable locations, but some lakes were drained for farmland by the eighteenth century.4 Granted the status of an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire in 1809, Finland retained its old legislation and was allowed to develop its own central administration with Swedish as its official language. In 1865, the grand duchy replaced eighteenth- century Swedish fishing legislation with its own laws. Fishing rights still belonged to the land (shoreline) owner while the crown retained its customary right to control salmon fishing in the major rivers. Legislation protected fish during spawning time and included various restrictions aimed at pollution control, yet enforcement was almost nonexistent.5 The earliest fly fishermen in the Grand Duchy of Finland were English and continental tourists who marveled at the country’s pristine rivers that provided some of the best salmon and brown trout fishing in Europe. The first resident fly fishermen were typically English industrialists who founded iron works and sawmills along Finland’s unchained rapids.6 The mighty Imatra Rapids in southeastern Finland became an international tourist attraction after the construction of the Saimaa Canal in 1856 and the completion of the St. Petersburg-Viipuri (Vyborg) railway in 1870. English diplomats and merchants and Russian aristocrats established respective clubs on the Vuoksi’s shores. Visiting anglers to the luxurious fishing lodge owned by General Astaschev included Czar Alexander III and his son, crown prince Nicholas, who both also fished for salmon at the imperial fishing lodge on the Langinkoski Rapids at the mouth of the Kymi. Italy’s Victor Emmanuel was also included on Astachev’s exclusive club’s guest list. By the late nineteenth century, British, American, and German anglers patronized the Oulu, Simo, and Kemi Rivers.7 Upper-class Finns also discovered fly fishing as a national pastime. 146

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Fly fishing in Finland showed conservationist tendencies from the beginning. Resembling their counterparts in Western Europe and North America, elite Finnish anglers and hunters of the late nineteenth century began to construct a distinct group identity. This new fraternity required its members to practice field etiquette, give fish and game a sporting chance, and embrace the whole environmental context of the sport.8 Journalist and teacher Alexander Hintze (1846–1924) is usually named as the father of Finnish sport fishing. Hintze was especially influential in introducing the international sportsman’s code to Finland, founded numerous sporting journals, and published the first Finnish book on angling (in Swedish) in 1883 under the pseudonym Salmo Salar. Hintze’s most successful journal, Tidskrift för Jägare och Fiskare, championed sustainable fishing, stocking of game fish, and construction of fishways to the dams in existence. A correspondent to the Fishing Gazette, Hintze owned a library of over two thousand books on fishing and hunting. He strongly discouraged harling and the use of natural bait in sport fishing and saw fly fishing as the only true form of angling.9 In 1886, Alexander Hintze was also responsible for founding the oldest Finnish angling club, Kalkis Jakt-och Fiskeklubb, which still functions under the name of Kalkkisten Kalastusklubi. For over a century the club has rented the fishing rights for the Kalkkinen Rapids on the Kymi immediately downstream from Lake Päijänne. The original club membership consisted mainly of Finnish-Swedish elite businessmen and professionals. Despite Hintze’s disdain for harling and use of natural bait, most of the trout fishing on the big stream was conducted by these methods.10 Herman Renfors (1849–1928) was another great figure in latenineteenth-century Finnish angling. Renfors was a largely self- educated inventor who designed his own lures for fishing the Kajaani River in northeastern Finland. He promoted fishing tourism in Finland already in the 1880s. Renfors designed and tied his own flies and even sent his younger sister Maria (1852–1934) to England to learn fly-tying skills. Maria Renfors became a legendary figure in Finnish angling for introducing British traditions of fly tying.11 Rental of fishing areas remained very difficult as rapids could belong to a whole village according to Nordic custom and agreements had to be approved by every single owner. The nation’s new fishing legislation passed in 1902 established the principle that owners of fishing rights should cooperate in sustaining fish stocks and determining protective zones. The law outlawed spearing and set strict mesh size regulations for gillnets. It became illegal to sell salmon and trout from September to April and the law dictated minimum keep sizes.12 147

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By the 1910s, the leading sporting journals Metsästys ja Kalastus and Tidsskrift för Jägare och Fiskare promoted recreational fishing as a healthy hobby for Finns of all social classes. Fly fishing for salmonids was portrayed as an elite sport while the masses were urged to angle for the “rougher” fish such as the perch, pike, and various cyprinids. The first Finnish-language angling guide, A. E. Salmelainen’s Urheilukalastus (“Angling”), appeared in 1914.13 As elsewhere around the world, and as Borgelt describes on the Au Sable in Michigan, the rising pulp and paper industry was increasingly chaining rapids around the country and causing massive water pollution at the turn of the century. The logging industry’s continuous dredging and channelization of rivers for log drives destroyed enormous amounts of prime salmonid habitat. Many fishing restrictions were lifted in 1917 due to wartime food shortages and poaching escalated. The resulting change in common attitudes lingered long after the war’s end. Only the rivers and rapids rented by angling clubs sustained their trout and salmon populations. Consequently, calls for a national organization of anglers to protect the dwindling stocks and the sport itself intensified during the 1910s.14

Juhani Aho and the Birth of Organized Fly Fishing with a Conservationist Attitude The new conservation ethic was clearly evident in the writings of the famous Finnish novelist Juhani Aho, who introduced fly fishing and the sportman’s code to wider audiences. His short stories of fly fishing on the Huopana Rapids in central Finland have long been recognized as the great classics of Finnish angling literature.15 The four rapids (the Potmo, Hilmo, Huopana, and Keihäri) between two major lakes in central Finland, the Kivijärvi and Keitele, had been nationally famous for their big brown trout—locally known as “salmon”— at least since the 1870s. During early fall, landowners at the Keihäri and Huopana rapids traditionally caught trout ascending to their spawning sites with spears, gillnets, and fish traps. The first rod-and-reel fishermen visited the rapids in the late nineteenth century. The locals learned from them how to utilize angling methods for effective summer fishing and soon devastated the resident populations of smaller trout. Landowners at the Huopana began to rent fishing rights to outsiders in the 1890s while retaining their rights for gillnetting. In 1904 the rap148

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Important fly fishing rapids of central Finland mentioned in the text. Cartography by Heli Rekiranta.

FIGURE 8.2

ids were rented for five years by Dr. E. W. Lybeck and his friends, who became the first true anglers at the Huopana. Gillnetting was restricted and later altogether banished. William Ruth invited Juhani Aho to his rental on the Huopana in 1906 and unknowingly created the first truly native fly fishing author. Aho was a keen small game hunter who also loved fishing for pike on the Baltic. Aho experienced an epiphany at 149

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Juhani Aho at the Huopana Rapids, photographed by Rudolf Ahonius in 1912. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Central Finland.

FIGURE 8.3

the Huopana while catching his first brown trout on the fly. With the zeal of a true convert, he almost overnight metamorphosed into the most influential Finnish proponent of fly fishing and salmonid conservation. Aho soon acquired a share of the Huopana rental rights and later rented the whole rapids in his own name until his death. After his first trip to Huopana, Aho intensively studied the English 150

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language in order to be able to read international fly fishing literature and translated Fred G. Shaw’s The Science of Dry Fly Fishing (1906) for his own use. Aho collected insect samples from his beloved stream and sent these to Hardy’s in England to serve as models for flies. The Huopana fly pattern has sustained its popularity among Finnish trout anglers to this day. Aho tirelessly promoted his new hobby in Finnish magazines. His collection of fishing essays, Lohilastuja ja kalakaskuja (roughly translatable as “Salmon Tales and Fish Stories”), helped grow the popularity of fly fishing in Finland during the twentieth century. Aho especially appreciated dry fly fishing but could tolerate the use of other methods if flies alone proved ineffective.16 By the early 1910s, Aho and his angling friends had transformed the Huopana into a Finnish fly fisherman’s paradise. In his writings, Aho stressed that after the Huopana had been rented by sportsmen, trout populations had made a tremendous comeback because of the artificial propagation of native fish and the strict enforcement of existing fishing laws. Vigilant game wardens had halted gillnetting, spearing, and worm fishing for small trout at the rapids. The Huopana could thus provide a national example of the rewards of sound stream management.17 Largely to due to the efforts by Aho, fly fishing gained more popularity in independent Finland after 1917, and more attention was paid to the study and preservation of game fishes and recreational fisheries. Anglers such as William Wallenius and Walter Wiik established new hatcheries for the propagation of game fish from local and imported stock. Wallenius had founded the Puntarinkoski Rapids hatchery near Joensuu already in 1908, while Aho’s hatchery at Huopana was completed in 1914. As the heavy netting pressure in lakes continued unabated, stocking of hatchery-reared local fry became a prerequisite for the survival of potamodromous brown trout in the southern part of the country. In 1929, for example, only one ascending fish was caught for propagation purposes at the Huopana hatchery because of massive gillnet operations in the narrows below the Huopana and Keihäri Rapids.18 In 1919, Juhani Aho and William Wallenius were joined by the eminent sports journalist and amateur naturalist Ludwig Munsterhjelm in establishing the national organization Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto (SUKL, “Finnish Federation of Anglers”). Aims of the new organization included renting of fishing areas for anglers, sustainable fishing, and education. The first fly casting schools were organized already in 1920. A firm believer in hatcheries, Aho originated the famous slogan “For every tail taken, we shall put ten back!” He acknowledged the folk tra151

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dition of pole fishing in Finland but lamented its lack of finesse and ignorance of sustainability issues. The rapid industrialization of Finland was a cause for concern. Forest industries were the backbone of national economy and their negative effect on lakes and rivers could be detected all over the country. During the 1920s and 1930s, concerned anglers actively lobbied for restrictions regarding the dredging and channelization of rapids for log floating and complained loudly about the water pollution caused by pulp and paper mills.19 SUKL soon created a national network of anglers to scout for suitable rental waters. The organization’s early rentals were located around the country and included stretches of big northern salmon rivers such as the Oulu and Kemi. Much of the fly fishing was carried out by harling, and the anglers often experienced problems with stubborn local gillnetters and poachers. Rentals in the southern part of the country were more suitable for traditional fly fishing, but clashes occurred also there. The rental along the Vuoksi was relinquished after the famous Imatra Rapids were dammed for hydroelectricity in 1928. During the interwar years, SUKL’s rentals in the Finnish lake region such as the Vuolenkoski and Mankala Rapids on the Kymi became very popular with fly fishermen who could not afford to join a private angling club and benefitted from their close proximity to Helsinki.20 Among the crown jewels of SUKL’s rentals in central Finland was the Hilmo River. Located between large lakes just ten miles upstream from the Huopana, these long rapids possessed abundant area for spawning and resident fish and drew lacustrine brown trout from both directions. The spawning area suitable for trout was about two miles in length and contained close to forty acres of prime spawning and fry habitat. Only the remoteness of the Hilmo could explain why it was not as celebrated as the more accessible Kalkkinen, Mankala, and Huopana in the interwar period. The trout resource at the Hilmo had been utilized solely by the locals until the early twentieth century and was depleted by overfishing and poaching when SUKL acquired the fishing rights in 1926. The catch by anglers that year was only a couple of dozen fish. Ban of gillnetting and strict enforcement of spawning time protections by hired game wardens soon resulted in a marked growth of trout populations augmented by stocking of fry from the Huopana hatchery and voluntary catch restrictions. By 1929 the trout populations were clearly on the rise and 145 trout weighing over two pounds were caught.21 The Simuna Rapids in Laukaa is another example of the rapidly evolving angling tradition in central Finland. The Simuna was utilized mainly by locals until the turn of the century with little attention paid 152

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to the 1865 fishing decree. The use of wooden fish traps, nets, and spearing continued unabated. Walter Wiik rented the fishing rights in 1920 and became a leading figure at the Simuna until his death in 1947. He employed wardens to detain the poaching of spawning fish in the fall and organized massive stockings of trout fry on a regular basis. Importantly, Wiik successfully introduced the grayling from Karelian stock to the Simuna hatchery in central Finland during the 1920s. The local anglers’ club, Simunankosken Urheilukalastajain Yhdistys, was founded in 1922 and has amassed uninterrupted catch records since 1924.22 Membership of SUKL in the 1920s and 1930s consisted mainly of businessmen, higher civil servants, and professionals as angling became something of a fad among the higher socioeconomic classes between the wars. Many luminaries joined the organization including current or future presidents L. K. Relander, Risto Ryti, C. G. E. Mannerheim, and J. K. Paasikivi. Angling on untamed rivers was seen as a manly activity for affluent urbanites of the young republic and a continuance of the Finnish wilderness and frontier experience widely celebrated in contemporary national culture. By the early 1930s, SUKL counted thirteen member clubs and hundreds of individual members around the country. Unfortunately Juhani Aho died in 1921 before witnessing SUKL’s full success. At the time of his death, Aho was working intensively on a comprehensive handbook for the Finnish angler. The manuscript was completed by his friend William Wallenius and published in 1923 as Urheilukalastajan käsikirja (“The Angler’s Handbook”). After Aho’s death, his Huopana fishing companions founded a formal club, Huopanan Urheilukalastajaklubi, which continued to rent the bestknown fly fishing rapids in Finland until the early 1960s.23

Call of the North: Fishing Tourism in Lapland By the 1930s, the Finnish interpretation of the angler’s ethics and sportsman’s code leveled growing criticism against “fish hogs” and selling of the catch by recreational fishers. At the same time, some anglers lobbied on economic grounds for the protection of remaining unchained rapids and against commercial fishing of salmonids. Fishing tourism could conceivably compete economically with hydroelectricity in many locations, and recreational salmon fishing could generate potentially more revenues than commercial fishing. Development of inter national fishing tourism was seen as viable addition to the 153

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economy of the young nation. The first fisherman’s guide to Finland in English was published in 1934, and three years later Hardy’s Anglers’ Guide included a chapter on fishing in Finland. Greatest hopes for tourist development were placed on the great salmon rivers of the north.24 The peace treaty with Soviet Russia in 1920 granted Finland the Petsamo (Pechenga) region and access to the Arctic Ocean. The region possessed two major salmon and sea trout rivers, the Petsamo and Paatsjoki. These pristine rivers, supposedly filled with forty-pound salmon, were widely publicized as an El Dorado for Finnish and international anglers by the well-known sportsmen Eero Lampio and Ludwig Munsterhjelm. Both Lampio and Munsterhjelm were orthodox fly fishers who disdained the use of spoons and plugs in salmon fishing. After publishing two well-received guides to the Petsamo region, Lampio drowned tragically while fishing the Saarikoski Rapids of his beloved Paatsjoki River in 1931.25 The Finnish state showed a clear interest in developing these rivers as tourist destinations. Spearing was soon completely outlawed and netting allowed only for the natives, the Skolt Sámi people. A highway to the Petsamo region through Lapland was completed in the early 1930s, and the number of tourists, both domestic and international, grew rapidly. SUKL soon established a fishing camp with a tantalizing name, Lohilinna (“The Salmon Castle”), on the Petsamo. The Petsamo especially proved an ideal fly fishing river, being shallow and suitable for wading. Fishways were built on the Paatsjoki during the 1930s, enabling ascending salmon to bypass the greatest falls. Overfishing by anglers and indiscriminate netting by locals, however, resulted in plummeting catches. By the late 1930s, plans for hydroelectric dams providing power for the Petsamo nickel mines threatened the river. The Petsamo and much of the Paatsjoki were lost to the Soviet Union in the armistice of 1944. The Russians subsequently completed a chain of hydroelectric dams on both rivers.26 During the 1930s, the development of infrastructure in Lapland opened up the Juutua, Näätämö, Lutto, Tuntsa, and Teno Rivers to anglers.27 The Teno (Tana), the border river between Finland and Norway, gained more prominence as an angling destination only after World War II. The river had a long tradition of hosting English elite fishermen since the nineteenth century but Finnish anglers flocked to this river only when salmon (and much of trout) fishing in the south of the country seemed permanently lost. Among these “refugees” was General V. H. Vainio (1892–1989), who flatly stated that the damming of the Mankala Rapids on the Kymi “had destroyed the basis for [his] 154

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life.”28 In his popular books, Vainio proposed a strong conservation ethic based on religion and praised the qualities of the Teno as the only surviving real salmon river while lamenting the wanton destruction of Finnish rivers during the 1930s and 1940s.29 Conflicts soon developed on the Teno between local subsistence fishers and anglers and also between the two nations on how to best utilize the river’s immense salmon resource. Most fly fishing was conducted by harling on the large river. The Tornio (Torneå), the border river between Finland and Sweden, similarly became more popular among anglers after the mighty Kemi and Oulu had been destroyed as salmon rivers. Like the Teno, the Tornio proved somewhat unsatisfactory for fly casting with most salmon captured by professionals near the river’s mouth.30

Angling in Hard Times The mid-twentieth century produced a sharp decline in Finnish salmonid stocks due to overfishing and human-induced environmental change.31 During World War II many fishing restrictions were again lifted because of lack of food. Fishing with hook and line became an everyman’s right, and differences of interpretation of this law caused much friction at the rapids rented by anglers. Not surprisingly, salmonid stocks at many rapids plummeted during the war. The most significant reason for the population crash, however, was the degradation of the streams vital for the species’ reproduction, especially after the war. Despite desperate pleas from prominent anglers, some of Europe’s best spawning rivers for the salmon and brown trout were dammed for hydroelectric purposes. Industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural practices caused harmful changes in the water quality of remaining natal streams. Furthermore, the channel morphology of many spawning rivers was already heavily altered for the purposes of log floating. Since the early 1960s, a boom in peat production and ditch construction on moist forestlands resulted in an enormous increase of the amount of sediment released into the nation’s waterways, while new nylon nets made recreational gillnetting on lakes even more popular and efficient. Finland lost approximately a quarter of its hydroelectric capacity in the war, yet Finns’ consumption of electricity tripled between 1950 and 1965. Much of this rise was due to massive hydroelectric development on Finnish rivers, typically with little or no consideration 155

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for anadromous and potamodromous fish. Dam projects on famous salmon rivers such as the Kokemäki, Oulu, and Kemi were completed by the late 1940s. Brown trout and land-locked salmon did not fare any better; celebrated angling locations such as the Mankala, Vuolenkoski, Pamilo, Puntarinkoski, and Patoonkoski Rapids were all dammed by the early 1960s. Construction of hydroelectric plants in the early 1960s destroyed productive rapids in central Finland such as the Hietamankoski.32 By the 1970s, only a handful of Finnish rivers supported salmon populations. The land-locked form was practically extinct in the wild, and large potamodromous brown trout had become increasingly rare. Good trout and grayling fishing, however, could still be found in the remote smaller streams of northernmost Finland. Finnish anglers became increasingly concerned about the future of salmonid stocks and their hobby, and by the late 1940s SUKL membership rose to over one thousand in number. In the postwar political climate, there was much pressure for the broadening of fishing rights, and many anglers were concerned about the threat of unrestricted fishing on trout and salmon streams. The new fishing legislation of 1952, however, managed to balance some of the needs of different interest groups and also introduced a state fishing license, now required of every fisher. The license fees were used for law enforcement and other conservation measures.33 SUKL rented a chain of rapids in the Saarijärvi area of central Finland from 1938 to 1946, but the trout populations at the time were deemed too low for good angling because of indiscriminate local fishing practices. However, the region was to become a pivotal setting for the development of “pure” fly fishing in Finland. The local angling club, Kalmukosken kalamiehet, was founded in 1937, renting the Kalmukoski, Haapakoski, and Naarakoski Rapids on the Saarijärvi route. The club president, Dr. L. O. Törnwall, emphasized fly casting as the preferred method of angling. Core members founded a new organization, Perhokalastajat (“Fly Fishers”), in 1949 as the first fly- only club in SUKL. The parent organization transferred its rental of the Puuskankoski Rapids to the new club in 1950. Contrary to the hopes of SUKL, the Perhokalastajat did not turn into a club open to all but remained an exclusive group. In 1951, the fishing rights for the famous Hilmo were won by the Perhokalastajat from SUKL at auction.34 The Hilmo log books kept by SUKL and Perhokalastajat between 1926 and 1956 tell of an exceptionally productive rapids system: while the total catch of brown trout did not match that of the Huopana, Kalkkinen, or Simuna, the size of the trout were extraordinary, with almost 156

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fifty fish over seven pounds (three kilograms) caught in 1938 alone. In 1952 two lucky fly fishermen were able to catch trout weighing over eighteen pounds (eight kilograms)!35 Despite game wardens, poaching in the remote area remained a problem, as some locals would regularly spear spawning trout.36 In the late 1940s, an angler brought a fateful guest to the Hilmo. While admiring the scenery and good fishing, the visiting power company executive realized how well the site lent itself for hydroelectricity. By 1956, the company purchased the necessary rights from local landowners, and the first section of the river system, the Potmo, was dammed. In 1957, a diversion channel was completed, and the flow of the Hilmo crashed from the average of 20,000 liters per second to a few dozen. In addition, the now- exposed river bed was almost completely destroyed by dredging and channeling in anticipation of log drives. Yet only once in 1960 were the chained waters released into the old channel for this purpose. By the late 1960s, the exceptionally large Hilmo brown trout had become extinct. The former river shrunk to a mere trickle until the mid-1980s when disappointed locals acquired a court order to increase the minimum flow to 500 liters per second. Even

FIGURE 8.4

Fishing on the Hilmo River in the early 1950s. (L. A. Saikku Collection).

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Mr. Ola Sjöberg with an 18-pound Hilmo brown trout caught in 1952 with a #4 Bridge, tied by the famous fly-tier Matti Tiitola (L. A. Saikku Collection).

FIGURE 8.5

this proved too little for the reintroduced brown and rainbow trout to thrive and trout had disappeared altogether by 1994.37 Another famous angling location in central Finland, the Simuna, fared better. In the late 1940s, most of the ownership of the Simuna Rapids was acquired by the G. A. Serlachius Co., which originally planned to build a hydroelectric plant to the site. Purchasing enough shares from the locals, however, proved a slow process. By the early 1960s, the project was no longer economically viable. Instead in 1963 the CEO, R. Erik Serlachius, repurposed the rapids as an exclusive fish158

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ing club. Regular visitors included the long-term president of the republic, Urho Kekkonen, who was nationally and even internationally known as an enthusiastic spincaster.38 The total brown trout catch at the Simuna between 1924 and 1990 has been documented as 4,461 legal (over fourteen inches, or thirtyfive centimeters) fish. The biggest trout was landed in 1929, measuring thirty-two inches and weighing eighteen pounds (eighty-two centimeters or eight kilograms). Like so many other Finnish trout streams, the Simuna increasingly suffered from environmental degradation and overfishing during the twentieth century. During the 1960s and 1970s, native stocks plummeted, and by the 1980s local spawners could not be collected for the hatchery. The fishing at the Simuna had become dependent on the stocking of nonnative fish.39

The Rise of Fly Fishing and River Restoration Since the 1970s Beginning in the late 1960s, SUKL concentrated even more upon conservation and angler education issues. The organization’s magazine Urheilukalastus (“Angling”), originally founded in 1937, has been in constant publication since 1965. By 1970, SUKL had lost all of its rental rapids as landowners realized that they could make more money by charging daily fees for public open river access. For example, the Huopana club lost its rental rights in the early 1960s. The legendary rapids were opened to the general public in 1963 which almost immediately resulted in serious overfishing and collapse of the local trout population.40 During the 1960s and 1970s, SUKL became especially active in promoting fly fishing for Finnish youth. The 1970s witnessed a remarkable rise in popularity of fly fishing in Finland, and many new fly- only clubs were founded. In the 1980s, SUKL and its member clubs promoted fly fishing and conservation ethics more aggressively, and the first Finnish magazine devoted solely to fly fishing, Perhokalastus (“Fly Fishing”), was launched in 1985. Due to availability of less expensive equipment, fly fishing was also rapidly losing its reputation as “a rich man’s hobby.” Finnish fly fishers actively followed developments in other countries such as catch and release fishing as early as the start of the 1990s.41 Since the 1970s, conservation and angling organizations have succeeded in mitigating the damage to Finland’s salmonid rivers. The spectacular rise in popularity of fly fishing since the 1980s played an important part in the commencement of stream restoration efforts. In159

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spired by American examples, some restoration of smaller waterways was attempted during the 1950s and 1960s. Since the early 1970s, the Finnish government has diverted more funding for river and stream restoration purposes. Today many rapids have been restored around the country. Government restoration of bigger rapids has typically been augmented by voluntary work on smaller streams, carried out by conservation organizations such as the Luonto-Liitto (Finnish Nature League), the Taimeninstituutti (Trout Institute), and the Virtavesien hoitoyhdistys (Society for Stream Conservation). The membership of these organizations has included many active fly fishers. Examples of successful river restoration can today be found all around the country. On the southern coast, the Vantaa and Kymi Rivers have experienced a true renaissance since the 1980s. Now both salmon and sea trout regularly reproduce in these rivers— a development that seems almost incredible considering the sorry state of these rivers only a couple of decades ago. Fly fishers can today hook a twentypound wild salmon on the Vantaa within five miles of the Helsinki city center.42 Since the 1970s, the declining spawning rivers of the brown trout in central Finland have been a rallying point for restoration efforts. For example, serious efforts to restore the Huopana trout populations began in the early 1990s, and a major restoration of the rapids took place in 1993 and 1994. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the restoration of the Hilmo, long and enthusiastically lobbied for by environmentalists, anglers, and local landowners in cooperation with the state and regional environmental agencies, was finally completed. The minimum flow was raised to two thousand liters per second after an elaborate restoration of the dredged river channel. The Hilmo of today may be a pale shadow of its former glory with the reduced flow and nonnative browns and graylings, but natural reproduction is taking place on the newly established gravel beds. Fly fishers can now catch both hatchery-reared and wild trout (with mandatory release of the latter) from this beautiful little river with barbless hooks.43 Despite the destruction of many important spawning sites in the past, Central Finland could still show great promise for brown trout: massive restoration work during the last decades transformed the remaining spawning sites into generally good condition. There still exists ample food source for trout with great schools of the vendace (Coregonus albula), European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), and common bleak (Alburnus alburnus) in the lakes. The water quality generally remains good to excellent, although problems still persist in areas affected by 160

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peat production. In many locations, fry production maintains strong levels. The greatest problem seems to be the high mortality of the potamodromous forms: while stream-resident populations may be doing quite well, almost all potamodromous fish are killed by indiscriminate trolling and recreational gillnetting once they enter the lakes. In order for the wild brown trout to survive, drastic cuts must be achieved in the number of gillnets in use— a tall order as gillnetting still forms an important part of the national fishing culture. Also, all fishermen have to be taught to distinguish between wild and stocked fish.44 In the 2010s there exist dozens of open access rapids around the country, owned either by the state agencies or by organizations of private landowners (“osakaskunta”), where fly fishers with a valid state fishing license can pursue their hobby by paying a daily or seasonal fee.45 Consequently fly fishing is more popular than ever: of the over fifty member clubs of SUKL, most are devoted solely to fly fishing.46 Serious threats, however, remain in place for the future of Finnish fly fishers and their beloved salmonids. The introduction of alien species, especially North American rainbow and brook trout since the 1960s, has increased interspecies competition at some locations. While the decline of commercial fisheries has moderated some of the pressure on the remaining native populations of brown trout and salmon, other threats have emerged. Most recently, the fear of global warming has intensified calls for damming of the remaining and, in many cases, already restored spawning rivers in order to produce renewable “green” energy. Similarly, peat excavated from Finnish mires with tremendous cost to aquatic environments continues to be marketed by the producers as a “renewable and sustainable” source of domestic energy. Despite genuine interest in the conservation of the remaining wild salmonids by scientists, government institutions, and anglers around the world, there is a lack of consensus on a plan of action and the plight of the remaining stocks continues. Thus the fate of wild salmonids— and traditional fly fishing— during the twenty-first century will provide an illuminating example of the problems of democratic decision making at the interface of science, economics, and politics. Finland will be no exception.

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Trout in South Africa: History, Economic Value, Environmental Impacts, and Management DEAN IMPSON

Fly fishers in South Africa love catching rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and brown trout Salmo trutta, and have been perfecting this fine art for more than one hundred years, when these two species were first introduced.1 Several other salmonid species were also introduced to our waters, notably brook trout and Atlantic salmon, but these introductions failed because of environmental factors. The first serious river surveys by government biologists in the 1920s were to assess rivers for the suitability of trout and other alien fishes as well as to report on the success of these introductions into several rivers.2 Divisions of Inland Fisheries were subsequently established in South Africa’s then four provinces (since 1994, there are now nine provinces), which focused most of their attention on producing and stocking trout. Laws were passed, even by nature conservation organizations, to protect trout waters and optimize trout angling. Trout interest groups established Frontier Acclimatization Societies to provide local support for the activities of Inland Fisheries and to ensure that preferred rivers and impoundments were stocked with what were regarded as suitable edible and sporting 162

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fish such as rainbow trout.3 South Africa, unlike most countries that have native or introduced populations of trout, is generally warm and dry. There are relatively few areas that can be regarded as optimal for trout. Such areas would have daytime temperatures generally less than 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and annual rainfall exceeding thirty- one inches. The only parts of the country, generally mountainous regions, where large concentrations of trout are present and trout are common in rivers are shown in figure 9.1. However, the country is still blessed with many fine rivers and impoundments for trout. Compared to other better-watered countries, most of our recognized trout rivers are small and rarely yield fish over one pound. However, many impoundments yield fish over six pounds, with some productive waters in cool areas annually yielding trophy fish  over ten pounds. Rainbow trout farming is also the dominant

F I G U R E 9 .1 Map of South Africa showing prime trout areas (hatched), provincial boundaries, and the location of the Orange and Vaal Rivers, the two largest rivers. (Provinces: 1=Western Cape, 2=Northern Cape, 3=Eastern Cape, 4=Free State, 5=KwaZulu-Natal, 6=North-West, 7=Gauteng, 8=Mpumalanga, 9=Limpopo). Map courtesy of Riki de Villiers, CapeNature.

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freshwater aquaculture industry, albeit small by international standards. One of the joys of catching trout around the world is to be able to fish for them in beautiful surroundings, often in magnificent natural settings. This is especially true in South Africa, where the coolest and most unpolluted waters, habitats required by trout to thrive, are often in majestic mountain scenery and frequently within protected areas (figure 9.2). The news with trout in South Africa, however, is not all good. Both rainbow and brown are invasive alien species in South Africa and will be regulated in terms of the Alien Species Regulations that were enacted in August 2014 as part of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) 10 of 2004. They are invasive species because of their ability to establish breeding and expanding populations in several mountain streams as well as having a negative ecological impact on native aquatic communities. South Africa is recognized globally for its extraordinary levels of biodiversity, much of which is found nowhere else, and the negative impacts of trout and other invasive alien species in such environments cannot be viewed lightly by anyone interested in the conservation of nature. There has unfortunately been substantial conflict between conservation bodies and fly fisherman in South Africa since 1985 regarding

F I G U R E 9 . 2 The Witte River is a famous brown trout stream located in a nature reserve within the Cape Floristic Region. Photograph courtesy of Leonard Flemming.

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the management of trout waters and trout. The media has been quick to cover the conflict and headlines and reporting of a sensational and often one-sided nature have helped build antagonism on both sides. Recent national legislation and detailed negotiations between angling stakeholders, scientific and government agencies regarding the management of trouts and other alien fish species (e.g., largemouth bass [Micropterus salmoides] and carp [Cyprinus carpio]) should hold great promise for the future use and enjoyment of trout in South Africa.

South Africa, a Unique Global Biodiversity Hotspot Africa is an ancient continent, where freshwater systems have had a long evolutionary history compared to temperate zones.4 This has allowed remarkable speciation to take place. South Africa has tremendous variations in topography and rainfall, contributing to landscapes that can vary from mountainous deserts and highland grasslands to lowland rainforest. These features have contributed to remarkable levels of endemicity in all taxonomic groups. South Africa is globally unique in that it is the only country in the world to have one of the world’s six floral kingdoms, the Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK), entirely within its borders. The CFK has the greatest extratropical concentration of higher plants species in the world with 8,200 species, of which 5,682 are found nowhere else, in an area of just 45,000 square miles,5 about the size of Ireland. Regarding its floral treasures, it can be compared to the United States, England, Germany, and Russia, countries with passionate trout fishing communities that all share just one floral kingdom (the Boreal). In South Africa, the CFK is one of five biomes, of which two others will be of special interest to readers. A well-known biome is the savanna biome, which straddles the iconic Kruger National Park that is home to healthy numbers of the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo). The other well-known biome is the Succulent Karoo, with its remarkable diversity and endemicity of semidesert plants and animals and stunning spring flower displays. This hotspot of about 65,000 square miles with almost 5,000 plant species is home the richest succulent flora in the world.6 Even by international standards, South Africa is a well- developed country with intensive and highly productive mining and agricultural industries. Generally nature suffers in intensively farmed and mined areas, and both the CFK and Succulent Karoo are now recognized global hotspots of biological diversity. A hotspot refers to a region of 165

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very high biodiversity and endemicity with a high number of threatened species. Not only plant communities are under threat. South Africa’s highest concentrations of threatened freshwater fishes are found in the CFK,7 which as the Cape ecoregion is one of the freshwater ecoregions of the world.8 Of its twenty- one currently recognized freshwater fish species, which includes the recently discovered giant redfin Pseudobarbus skeltoni,9 eighteen are endemic, and fifteen are listed as threatened. All these fishes are essentially river dwellers with the majority being small cyprinids less than four inches in size. The most severe threat to these fishes is the predatory and competitive impacts of invasive alien fish species, especially smallmouth bass M. dolomieu, spotted bass M. punctulatus, and largemouth bass, with brown and rainbow trout also having severe impacts in some rivers.10 These severe impacts are not surprising in this region, as small native fishes have evolved in clear, nutrient-poor rivers without specialized fish predators and were “naïve” in the company of fishes such as rainbow trout or smallmouth bass when these were introduced.

Introduction and Establishment of Salmonids in South Africa South Africa was settled by white people in 1652, when the Dutch established a trading station at the present- day Cape Town to provide food and other supplies for its East India sailing fleet that regularly passed around Africa on its way to the East.11 In 1820 the British government, wrestling with a depression and the problem of absorbing soldiers after the Napoleonic wars, recognized the opportunity to settle more than 4,000 people in the frontier districts of the Cape, which resulted in bitter conflict with the Xhosa tribe.12 Much larger numbers of mainly European settlers arrived from 1860 onwards in response to the fabulous discoveries of rich diamond and gold deposits in the vicinity of Kimberley (in 1869) and Johannesburg (in 1886), respectively, with 30,000 men alone working the Kimberley mine (now referred to as the Big Hole) at the height of the diamond rush there.13 Some of these settlers were undoubtedly fly fishing enthusiasts, which at that time worldwide was an activity dedicated to catching salmonids. South Africa has no indigenous salmonids (only the Atlas Mountains of North Africa have indigenous brown trout),14 so a huge effort was made from about 1870 onwards to import and culture brown trout and rainbow trout into the country. Several Frontier Acclimatiza166

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tion Societies were established for this purpose. Early efforts were unsuccessful, owing to problems transporting ova from Europe across the Atlantic Ocean, including the equator, in slow ships and then hatching the ova in makeshift facilities in streams often too warm for this purpose. Substantial government funding, improved shipping methodologies, and the construction of dedicated hatcheries were key reasons for renewed hope, and 1890 and 1897 saw the first successful stockings of brown trout and rainbow trout, respectively. Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis were also imported and stocked but without success.15 Dedicated trout hatcheries were established in several provinces from 1891 to 1915 (figure 9.3).16 By the 1920s, most suitable waters for trout across South Africa’s then four provinces (Cape, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal) had been stocked, and thriving recreational fisheries for trout (mainly rainbow) were established in cool mountain areas,17 most of which remain today. In the Eerste River at Stellenbosch near Cape Town, a famous steelhead population of rainbows established itself, which provided outstanding fishing for fish up to four pounds.18 Due to water abstraction and pollution this strain sadly disappeared, probably in the 1970s. The first Inland Fisheries Department in South Africa was established in the then Cape Province in 1943 to cater for growing interest in angling and fish as a cheap source of food, and later these depart-

The original trout hatching house of the Jonkershoek hatchery outside Stellenbosch. It is now a national monument. Photograph by Dean Impson.

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ments implemented the first Inland Fisheries Ordinances to protect species such as trout from over-utilization and pollution.19 From 1900 to 1970, a range of fish species alien to South Africa were cultured at  dedicated provincial hatcheries and introduced into new waters. Many established invasive populations impacting negatively upon native aquatic biodiversity, including carp; largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass; bluegill sunfish Lepomis macrochirus; tench Tinca tinca; and mosquitofish Gambusia affinis. Interestingly, some Inland Fisheries Departments in the 1950s evolved into provincial departments of Nature Conservation with an Inland Fisheries division, such as the Cape Department of Nature Conservation.20 Quite amazingly, at one stage, the directors of each of the former four provincial conservation departments had their initial training as fisheries officers at the Inland Fisheries Division of the Cape Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation (CDNEC).21 These provincial Nature Conservation departments initially developed Nature Conservation Ordinances that included regulations to protect trout populations in public waters (rivers and state dams). There were closed seasons, bag and size limits, dedicated trout waters and licenses, and controls regarding what angling method could be practiced for trout in trout waters. Until the 1980s, most trout produced for recreational angling and farming were produced at government hatcheries operated by the Inland Fisheries divisions of the conservation departments. From the late 1960s, fish biologists at the CDNEC became increasingly aware of the growing plight of indigenous fishes,22 and there was an increasing realization that scarce conservation funds should rather be used to conserve indigenous fishes and not promote alien fishes, many of which were now invasive in the waters of the region and causing environmental harm. There was a dramatic shift from 1986 onwards, first in the Cape Prov ince 23 and thereafter in other provinces, when a major policy shift at conservation departments led to the termination of production of alien fishes such as trout at hatcheries operated by these departments, as well as protection for such species in their ordinances. This left a major gap in the supply of trout and protection of trout resources. In response, concerned trout enthusiasts and organizations established the Federation of South Africa Fly Fishers (FOSAF) in 1986.24 In addition, trout production was taken over very successfully by the private sector, some using disused hatcheries previously run by conservation departments. Today, there is no shortage of rainbow trout for stocking

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and fish farming in South Africa, although supplies of brown trout are more difficult to obtain because of few producers.

Impacts of Rainbow and Brown Trout Rainbow and brown trout are carnivores and prey on a wide range of animals, including small fish, crabs, aquatic invertebrates, and amphibians.25 When feeding, most animals like to optimize quality food intake and minimize energy expenditure. Hence, if given the choice, trout will preferably feed on large, easily caught food items (e.g., minnows) instead of small and difficult to catch aquatic insects. Although difficult for many trout enthusiasts to perhaps accept, both rainbow and brown trout have been listed among one hundred of the world’s worst invasive alien species by the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with noted impacts of these two species including hybridization, disease transmission, predation, and competition.26 The impact of both trout species in South Africa has been variable and until recently has not been comprehensively studied, although two good overviews have been undertaken.27 The potential for trout to have severe impacts on small indigenous fishes in South Africa was noted as early as 1926 by S. A. Hey, who stated that, “It is interesting to note that the trout have practically exterminated the little rooi-vlerkje and kurper— small fish at one time common in many South Africa rivers.”28 The impact of trout is not restricted to fishes and obviously descends down the food web to other favored prey items such as aquatic macroinvertebrates. For example, strong circumstantial evidence linking the presence of trout to range reductions of threatened damselflies such as Ecchlorolestes peringueyi was noted.29 A proposed introduction of brown trout into a stream devoid of primary freshwater fishes in the southern Cape was halted after the publication of a specialist report on the aquatic invertebrates. Part of the Environmental Impact Assessment, the report’s authors recommended that trout not be introduced due to likely predation pressure on a remarkable aquatic invertebrate community not used to fish predators.30 They further recommended that an aquatic invertebrate sanctuary on the stream be established. The first detailed study on the impact of rainbow trout in South Africa has recently been completed by zoologist J. Shelton and shows that rainbow trout have had a strong negative impact on native fish pop-

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ulations in the upper Breede River system of the southwestern Cape, with a major predatory effect on juvenile fishes, which in turn has had a significant effect on food-web structure and function in headwater tributaries.31

Economic Value and Significance of Trout in South Africa Angling would appear to be South Africa’s favorite recreational activity, far more popular than cricket and rugby combined (with soccer the dominant sport). A recent survey noted that the overall economic impact of sport and recreational angling in South Africa amounted to about $1.9 billion in US dollars in 2007 with approximately 2.5 million participants, most of which are informal.32 This is considerable for a nation of about fifty million people, the majority of whom are poor by first-world standards and do not own a car. Of these, it was estimated that about 45,000 South Africans fly fish, with an overall economic impact of $350 million.33 It is likely that more than 90 percent of trout caught here are by fly fishers, since most trout fishing venues only allow fly fishing. The vast majority of fly fishers are middle- to upper-income South Africans of European origin (with annual income greater than $20,000) due to the costs of fly fishing (equipment, transport, and accommodation), but there are steadily growing numbers of Asians mainly of Indian descent, mixed race, and blacks that are adopting the hobby. There are relatively few foreigners that catch trout in South Africa, because most waters, especially rivers, do not hold trout over twopounds. South Africa is a very popular tourist destination for many important reasons, but fly fishing for trout is not one of these. The most popular species for fly fishers is arguably rainbow trout because of its ready availability within one hundred miles of most large cities in South Africa and because of its well-known and appreciated angling qualities. The Orange-Vaal smallmouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus aeneus) is likely the second-most commonly caught species by fly fishers (figure 9.4). This large, hard-fighting, indigenous fish is abundant in South Africa’s biggest river system, the Orange-Vaal, which passes close to Johannesburg, our most populous city. Brown trout are also highly valued, but by a smaller number of purist and active fly fishers, who seek out the handful of lovely and often inaccessible streams in the southwestern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal that offer good fly fishing

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The author holding an excellent Orange-Vaal smallmouth yellowfish Labeobarbus aeneus from the Vaal River. Photograph by Peter Hill, Ripple Multimedia

F I G U R E 9. 4

for brown trout. Fly fishing for other yellowfish species, North American black-basses, and saltwater species are also popular, as noted in the recent FOSAF Guide to Fly Fishing Destinations in South Africa and the Indian Ocean.34 The preeminent economic centers for trout angling in South Africa are the Mpumalanga highlands around Dullstroom, the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal, the Limietberg Mountains of the southwestern Cape, and the highland areas of the Eastern Cape around Barkley East. Each of these centers has rivers and stillwaters that offer excellent fly fishing for trout in world class settings and at a range of accommodation venues and prices. Many waters are available at $10 to $20 per day, with angling usually free with overnight stays at hosting farms. The contribution of trout fly fishing to some of the smaller towns can be substantial. For example, in the town of Rhodes in the Eastern Cape Province, with a population of about six hundred and 75 percent unemployment, the recreational trout industry generated about $560,000 annually and sustained thirty-nine direct jobs.35 Although these are tiny figures by first-world standards, they are very substantial for a small poor third-world town in Africa. The long standing popularity of fly fishing in South Africa is con-

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firmed by the more than eighty-two books written on the subject since the first book in 1908, Trout Fishing in the Cape Colony, with most dedicated to the joys of catching trout on fly.36 Perhaps the doyen of South African trout writers has been Tom Sutcliffe, who has written at least five books on fly fishing for trout since the 1980s, with his most recent entitled Hunting Trout: Angles and Anecdotes on Trout Fishing.37 The contribution of FOSAF to popularizing fly fishing in publications has been immense, with the organization responsible for five editions of Wolhuter’s The Nedbank Guide to Fly Fishing in Southern Africa38 from 1985 to 2004 and five volumes of Favored Flies and Select Techniques of the Experts.39 Each of these publications had several sections devoted to catching trout across South Africa written by local experts. South Africa also has two dedicated fly fishing magazines, Flyfishing (published bi-monthly) and the Complete Flyfisher (published monthly), which have served the fly fisher and trout enthusiasts very well since the late 1980s. The angling organization with the greatest regional impact on trout angling within South Africa is likely the Cape Piscatorial Society (CPS), based in Cape Town and in existence since 1931. The CPS has as its credo “extending and encouraging the culture and protection of trout and other desirable freshwater fish in the Cape” and also has a very proud record of publishing its annual journal Piscator since the late 1940s. This journal wonderfully captures the development of fly fishing, mainly in the Western Cape Province, over a key seventy-year period of its history. Trout are valued by South Africans not only for their angling qualities but for their value for aquaculture. The dominant farmed freshwater fish is rainbow trout with 943 tons worth $3 million produced in 2008. The farmed trout industry employs 509 individuals, second only to the culture of abalone in numbers of personnel.40 Most trout farms are in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga provinces. Trout are farmed to be stocked in the recreational angling industry (most stockings are done in impoundments under permit) or for domestic consumption, usually as an expensive (e.g., $2.50 per three ounces) but readily available and popular thin-sliced, cold-smoked product. Due to its long period of colonization, economic value, and environmental impacts, the trout has generated serious debate concerning its place within South African society. This debate is well captured by Malcolm Draper in his thoughtful paper entitled “Going Native? Trout and Settler Identity in a Rainbow Nation”41 and by Duncan Brown in his recent book Are Trout South African?42

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Changing Appreciation of Trout 1. 1860 to 1980: The Boom Period for Trout Prior to the 1980s, rainbow and brown trout had priority status in terms of hatchery production and distribution and protection by Inland Fishery authorities as reflected earlier in this chapter. These were the prime years for trout in South Africa, with considerable resources at all levels directed to promoting angling and enjoyment of the species. 2. 1980 to 2007: A Time of Reflection and Change This was arguably the low period for trout in South Africa from a recreational angling perspective, although it was also when trout farming grew significantly, mainly in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga provinces. In the mid-1980s, CDNEC, mindful of the severe impact of alien fishes in the CFR, led the way nationally in removing protective legislation for trout and bass in its Nature Conservation Ordinance 19 of 1974 and stopped producing alien fishes at its hatchery at Jonkershoek using its own funds. The trout fraternity reacted angrily to this step and targeted CDNEC for major criticism in the media. Trout stakeholders united to form FOSAF in 1986. The then J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology (now the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity) wisely took the lead in bringing protagonists from both sides together, including freshwater fish experts, by way of a dedicated workshop and proceedings on the future of trout in South Africa.43 Most reasonable people now would support the brave step of the CDNEC in 1986, although the action taken was unpopular at the time amongst fly fishers because of its suddenness. Later and for similar reasons, Mpumalanga and KZN conservation authorities halted their production of trout. To ensure better management of trout angling in the southwestern Cape, the CDNEC entered into an agreement with the Cape Piscatorial Society in 1991, allowing this credible organization to manage trout angling in the four premier trout streams in this region. This was a positive step, as an organization dedicated to the promotion and conservation of trout waters was given the opportunity to manage such waters, not a conservation organization whose priorities should be the conservation of indigenous species. The CPS has done a sound job, as 173

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anyone who has been fortunate enough to fish these prime trout waters over the last twenty years will testify. In the 1990s, another very different threat started to emerge. In 1997, the national Yellowfish Working Group was born with the mission of promoting the wise use of the indigenous yellowfishes by anglers (especially fly fishers) and the protection of yellowfish habitat. Since then, under the auspices of FOSAF, an annual conference is held and proceedings are published. Many articles have been written about yellowfishes and how to catch them. The mission to popularize these valuable indigenous fishes was achieved and today yellowfishes have become a very important target for fly fishers across South Africa. Only time will tell if trout retain their currently undisputed place as the premier fly fishing resource in South Africa. It has been quite ironic but highly credible that an organization developed to protect trout (FOSAF) has played such a leading role in the promotion of yellowfish as a fly fishing quarry. In early 2000, a new and more serious perceived threat emerged. The Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (WCNCB) had initiated a project to determine whether invasive alien fish could be successfully eradicated using the piscicide rotenone from small sections of four highly sensitive streams that were not priorities for angling.44 Anglers became increasingly concerned that the project on four pilot river areas (three with bass, one with rainbow trout) was a stepping stone for a much wider alien fish eradication effort. Interestingly, the use of the piscicides rotenone and Antimycin A has played a major role in saving America’s wild trout strains from extinction.45 Trout anglers were especially nervous about the project because one of the streams (Krom River) had rainbow trout and because most prime trout rivers in the southwestern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are within protected areas where the trout are obviously an invasive alien species and should be removed under national environmental legislation. There was also concern about the wider environmental impact of rotenone, especially on aquatic invertebrates. A comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment was done for the WCNCB fish eradication project from 2007 to 2008.46 3. 2007 Onward: The Place of Trout Confirmed in a More Balanced Playing Field The current status and management of rainbow and brown trout is regarded as positive in South Africa. The management of both species is 174

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being finalized at present as part of the NEMBA Alien Species Regulations. The approach taken will be to encourage the use of these trout species in catchment areas where they currently occur and have value that are outside protected areas but prohibit their future use in areas where they do not occur and are of conservation value. A mapping process is being finalized with key trout stakeholder groups, including FOSAF, to identify “trout zones” (figure 9.5) across South Africa—these should include all prime areas for trout fishing and farming. Within such zones it will be easy to start a trout farm or establish a trout fishery. These zones are seen as an important step forward in managing trout use. Angler concern with the WCNCB project has eased somewhat with the recommendation from the independent EIA report that the project should proceed. In 2012 and 2013, two piscicide treatments were undertaken on the Rondegat River in the Western Cape, culminating in localized eradication of smallmouth bass and dramatic recovery of the threatened indigenous fish population.47 In 2013, a new fish spe-

F I G U R E 9 . 5 Proposed trout waters in the Western Cape province, South Africa. These include waters agreed upon by the industry and government in 2014 and additional waters proposed by the industry in 2015, for which further research is required before inclusion can be considered. Some of the proposed trout waters are in nationally designated fish sanctuaries where threatened species are present. Map by Therese Forsyth, CapeNature.

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cies, the giant redfin Pseudobarbus skeltoni, was discovered in two rivers about fifty miles from Cape Town, and due to severe impacts of alien fish species it has a very restricted range and a small population size.48 One of the two rivers has rainbow trout and is within a protected area managed by CapeNature. Already, some trout anglers are resisting proposals to control trout numbers in the river, which is of concern to conservationists, because one of the main objectives of a protected area is to preserve native biodiversity and associated ecological processes. Surely the conservation needs of a highly threatened fish species in such an area must enjoy priority over alien trout? Trout management will be further guided by the development of National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas for South Africa, which include Critical Biodiversity Areas (“Fish Sanctuaries”) for fishes.49 Obviously, stockings of trout and other alien fish species should not take place in Critical Biodiversity Areas for indigenous fishes except if legal trout waters and farms already exist in some areas.

Growth in Fly Fishing for Indigenous Species The indigenous fish species in South Africa have always been popular choices for the bait and lure angling sectors, but until twenty years ago there was little fly fishing for them because of a lack of techniques, equipment (including flies), and literature on the subject. These species were often considered difficult to catch or not worthy adversaries compared to trout. Yet since the 1990s, there has been tremendous growth in fly fishing for indigenous species as evidenced by the literature, equipment and advertising of venues provided for such species. This growth has focused on the freshwater yellowfishes and a range of saltwater species (e.g., trevally Caranx ssp. leervis Lichia amia, elf Pomatomus saltatrix, threespot pompano Trachinotus botla) that are caught mainly in coastal areas and estuaries. There are many reasons for this growth—the promotion of fly fishing for these species by FOSAF and two national fly fishing magazines, the range of species that can be targeted, the ready availability of several species, and the cheaper cost of fishing, which is often free, just requiring permission of the riparian landowner. Some provinces require freshwater angling licenses (e.g., for Western Cape) that cost less than $5 annually, but most fly fishers do not get licenses because of a lack of compliance and unhappiness about how the

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license funds are spent (anglers want them used to benefit their sport, which is not the case). Yellowfishes are the most popular indigenous quarry for fly fishers. The greatest fishing resource for yellowfishes is the Vaal River near Johannesburg. The value of general recreational angling for these fishes here was estimated at $13.3 million per annum, comprising about $1.5 million spent on equipment, $4 million on car travel, and $7.5 million spent on accommodation.50 Fly fishers in South Africa are now spoiled for choice, with most opting for a range of species to catch and a delectable range of fishing destinations to visit and waters to fish. This positive development is confirmed by the content of the latest FOSAF Southern African Fly Fishing Guide, with about fifty of its two hundred pages devoted to catching trout, forty pages allocated to yellowfish, and the remainder to other species.

A Place for Trout in the New South Africa? With the advent of South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, culminating in the historic election of Nelson Mandela as president, it has become common to refer to the country as the “new South Africa.” The country is well aware, at all relevant levels of society, that its valuable resources are not only native or indigenous to the country but include alien species such as rainbow and brown trout. Trout and fly fishing for trout in South Africa will continue to prosper, simply because there are many powerful stakeholders that will fight for these valuable and loved fishes. The country also, for the first time, has valuable tools to guide the management of trout—the draft Trout Zones and Fish Critical Biodiversity Areas—that will undoubtedly promote the environmentally sensitive use of rainbow and brown trout. This makes sense in a country that is globally recognized for its biological richness and uniqueness and high numbers of threatened fish species.

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Holy Trout: New Zealand and South Africa MALCOLM DRAPER

A biologist would use the term indicator species . . . . I speak instead of a synecdoche. We both mean that a trout represents more than itself— but that, importantly, it does also represent itself. DAVID QUA MM A N1

Settler Salmonids Salmonidae are is family of fish hailing from the northern hemisphere. Salmon are the larger specimens and trout their lesser cousins. The European colonizers of the southern hemisphere called the process of translocation, acclimatization, and the establishment of viable selfperpetuating populations an experiment in salmonizing.2 This chapter provides a comparison between efforts of acclimatization and salmonizing in South Africa and New Zealand. Both settler colonies formed acclimatization societies, which took up the responsibility of translocating species and laying the foundations for organized conservation, but that is where the neat parallel ends. The South Africa study required fine-grained biographical investigation to reveal the fly fishing pedigree of conservationists. Subsequent investigation found this to be obvious in New Zealand’s case where the acclima-

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tization movement was the strongest in the world. An investigation of salmonids, salmonizing, and acclimatization shows the limitations of Crosby’s ecological imperialism thesis, or at least adds some texture to his idea that the “success of Europeans as colonists was automatic as soon as they put their tough, fast, fertile and intelligent animals ashore.”3 South Africa does not fit as neatly into his analysis as does New Zealand where there are a wide variety of microclimates, although they are relatively well watered and temperate throughout. As Crosby shows, the temperate regions were truly the lands of demographic takeover. European people, plants, and animals swept most competitors from their path. New Zealand was free of mammals, apart from bats, so this was a pushover. They were able to put down roots once they had “broken in” the land by replacing forest with pasture. South Africa, on the other hand, has predators, has subtropical and semiarid regions where settlers struggled and where the water is too warm for the salmonids or simply dries up after the rainy season. However, in some microclimates where trout were established, mostly Scottish settlers saw themselves, and their totem species of fish, occupying a “vacant ecological niche” and took this as a sign of ecological health. As consciousness of bioinvasion has risen in recent times, a war over trout has flared up in South Africa, bringing attendant anxieties over the place of Europeans in the country. By addressing the trout wars in South Africa, and explaining why there is no conflict over the place of salmonids in New Zealand’s waters, this chapter highlights how closely nationalism is linked to ecological paradigms, which, in turn, are shifted by political sea changes. While New Zealanders stand together in their fondness of the salmonids, they have been bitterly divided over the issue of commercial harvesting or farming of trout. In both countries, organized anglers have acted as a force against other forms of agriculture negatively impacting water quality, such as dairy farming. Salmon were never established in South Africa as they were in New Zealand, where there are both wild sea-run and farmed populations. Why are trout not farmed in New Zealand, where they can be found everywhere but on the market? South Africa may have relatively small zones suitable for raising trout, but they are everywhere on the menus of the land. By wading into such contested waters, this chapter shows the subtlety of relationships between economy, polity, and society in working out ecological relationships as settler societies settle down.

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Righteous Trout My earlier published work on trout in South Africa recognized the importance of the protestant ethic in the story.4 It made much of the hierarchy of between trout and salmon, with King Salmon presiding on top of the totem pole. I now realize that I overstated the political case and underplayed the religious roots of who I called South Africa’s Sons of Trout. Sydney Hey’s autobiography The Rapture of the River (1957), the most celebrated South African fly fishing classic, has recently been reprinted. Hey tells stories of becoming a fly fisherman and conservationist, as well as how he almost single-handedly stocked the Eastern Cape rivers with trout in the early part of the last century. His son, Douglas Hey, became a trout scientist who founded CapeNature (the state conservation agency) at Jonkershoek, the trout hatchery in Stellenbosch. My misapprehension was overturned in my pursuit of John Buchan (1875–1940), a polymath who was born the son of a Calvinist Presbyterian minister in eastern Scotland and died Lord Tweedsmuir, GovernorGeneral of Canada, after whom Canada’s first national park was named. He was a classicist at Oxford, read for the bar but did not practice as a barrister, and was a government administrator in South Africa under Lord Milner following the Anglo-Boer War. Buchan had other careers; most notably he was a hugely prolific author of fiction and scholarly nonfiction. Buchan was a passionate fly fisherman and conservationist. In his book The African Colony5 he argued that sport played a pivotal role in building national identity and cohesion in South Africa. He lamented that at the time there were “no proper modes of relaxation” on the Rand (Johannesburg). He saw the sustainability of the new society in conservation and recreation: most men work till they drop, and then take their jaded holiday in Europe. Yet how many, if they had the chance, would go off from Saturday to Monday with their rods, and find by the stream-side the old healing quiet of nature? There is a future for South African sport if South Africa is alive to her opportunity. It is a country of sportsmen, and sport with the better sort of man is a sound basis of friendship. Game Preservation Societies are being started in many districts, and when we find the two races united in a common purpose, which touches not politics or dogma but the primitive instincts of humankind, something will have been done towards unity.6

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By “the two races,” Buchan meant Boer and British, but his words were prescient in that a trout fishing trip helped bond white and black, facilitating a peaceful transition from apartheid when current ANC Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa went fishing with Afrikaner Roelf Meyer during a deadlock in negotiations.7 While there has been a recent surge in fly fishing for native warm and saltwater species in South Africa, which was well underway in the 1990s, trout remain and have long been the sought-after target of the sport. The African and Afrikaner politicians’ piscatorial pursuit vindicated Buchan’s view that the native fish are good sport, but not the greatest: Central South Africa affords a magnificent field for the introduction and acclimatisation of the greatest of sporting fish. Ceylon and New Zealand have already shown what can be done with the trout in new waters, and in Cape Colony and Natal the same experiment has been made with much success. The high veld is only less good than New Zealand as a home for trout. 8

For Buchan it was not the fighting ability of trout that made them the greatest; it was their spiritual propensity for fasting during a short spell just before the dark when no fish would take  .  .  . when nature was “breathless with adoration” and trout had halted to reflect on their sins . . . . With salmon it made no difference, they being brazen creatures from the outer seas, but the humble and pious trout observe the holy season.9

This sentiment echoes that of Norman Maclean, where he explains that there “is no clear line between religion and fly fishing.” Interestingly, however, over the course of their history in South Africa, trout have evolved from protected to persecuted in a paradigm shift and political about-turn in national and conservation leadership. Historical analysis reveals that acclimatization societies lie at the heart of the trout crusades. Thomas Dunlap shows how the movement was much stronger in Australia and New Zealand than in Canada or the United States, for both biological and social reasons.10 His expansive sweep of Anglo settler relations with nature across North America and the antipodes pointed out, with the exception of Australia, the linkage between sport hunters and the rise of wildlife preservation, with direct involvement of the acclimatization societies in New Zealand.11 But the significance of fish and anglers has been overlooked in a history focused on penitent hunters. By now scientists might be

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asking for some data. And volumes like this one are evidence of an increasing trend to look at the critical role of anglers in fish and wildlife conservation. According to Christopher Lever, of the forty-two acclimatization societies in the world formed from 1863 onwards, New Zealand had twenty-four, or 57 percent, and Australia, eleven, or 26 percent.12 South Africa only had a few. For this reason, for an in- depth understanding of the movement, one must turn to McDowell’s magisterial work on New Zealand’s acclimatization societies. The European brown trout (Salmo trutta) are in his estimation the “Jewel in the Crown” and “rank as probably the most successful of all the activities of the acclimatization societies.”13 Juxtaposing New Zealand and South Africa is instructive, since a southern hemisphere contrast can be made between the countries where the acclimatization societies were the strongest in the world, and the weakest. In 1882, Arthur Nicols published the earliest account, The Acclimisation of the Salmonidae at the Antipodes. As Schullery shows in Cowboy Trout, it was largely about homesickness. From a more nuanced perspective, Nicols is reflecting on frustrations with declining fisheries in Europe and opportunities to recreate in the new country that which is being lost in the old: . . . long before the end of this century when probably the ploughshare will have invaded the haunts of the red deer, and manufacturing “interests” and a growing population shall have driven the salmon in disgust from most of our rivers . . . the sportsman will take his rifle and rod, and seek among the fern- covered ranges of the Australian Alps and the deep tarns and pools of Tasmania and New Zealand, the noble quarry which has found a congenial home at the Antipodes.14

Nicols accurately captures the most significant feature of acclimatization, especially salmonizing: it is a movement against, rather than a function of, capital accumulation. Sport or recreation in settler society was about building a fresh national culture distinct from the overdeveloped mother country, where nature was either becoming spoilt by growing populations or controlled by an elite class system. Mass trout culture was set on a collision course with economic interests and agriculture from the outset down south. The key to this in New Zealand is the “Queen’s Chain,” which entitled every man access to private water from where it crosses public thoroughfares and the refusal to allow trout to be commercially produced or consumed. New Zealand’s frontier wars were brief; the Maoris had no weapons 182

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of steel like the Zulus, who famously defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlawana in 1879. The frontier, especially the lower South Island, was one of cold, which kept the Maoris away, with the wildest dangers coming from the rivers that had to be navigated. Settlers in South Africa had to navigate frontiers of native people, wild animals, diseases, drought, and, most significantly, heat.

The Trout Frontier In 1894, a South African counterpart, the Frontier Acclimatisation Society, was born, with its prime purpose the propagation and acclimatization of trout. The genesis was a meeting at King Williamstown on June 17, 1890, when Jack Ellis, an auctioneer and chairman of the King Williamstown Naturalists Society, read a paper entitled “Fish Culture and the Introduction of Trout into the Cape Colony.” Ellis’s Naturalists Society was formed in 1884 and was a forerunner of the Kaffrarian Museum. Ellis had from 1882 been attempting to import trout ova and had twice failed to establish trout in the Cape at his own expense, losing them on both occasions to extreme heat. Support from the Government of the Cape Colony was quickly forthcoming, and in 1890 the Department of Agriculture built a hatchery at the Evelyn Forest Station at the top of the Pirie Mountain and supported the importation of ova to the Eastern Cape. The cost of ice for the duration of the journey was the greatest obstacle for transportation of ova. Importation to the antipodes faced a similar challenge, since the tropics had to be circumvented via the Cape. On June 1, 1894, the Frontier Acclimatisation Society succeeded the King Williamstown Naturalists Society. Ellis, the fi rst secretary, reported its activities to the Cape of Good Hope Department of Agriculture and was incorporated into the Report of the Marine Biologist.15 At Pirie, staffed by various British pisciculturalists imported with the ova, the first “colonial ova” were bred in 1897— so claim Eastern Cape inheritors of this legacy, who point out that this was an achievement against considerable odds: “The story of the Frontier Acclimatisation Society—at least for the first fifty years of its history—was dominated by a lack of money and a lack of water.”16 A 1937 publication Wonderful South Africa captures in a photograph titled “The Gentle Art in Natal” a white and African man, both in European clothing, not fishing but seeding a river with trout. It emphasizes exciting potential: “the standard of fishing should grow better every year.”17 The picture also assured that that civilization was taking root: 183

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this had portent since trout also played a part in racial reconciliation during the negotiations bringing about the end of apartheid and, as I have argued elsewhere, is a part of a new national identity emerging among the nonracial elite.18 In New Zealand success with trout was overwhelming, with much earlier success in the 1860s, but with a similar mixture of private initiative, acclimatization society work, and government support. They first relied on successful imports to Tasmania, which became Australia’s most successfully salmonized state. As in South Africa, the rainbow trout soon followed from North America and became widely distributed. What is interesting about the rainbow is that it fulfilled a dream of the European acclimatization societies to add to their list of useful animals domesticated from elsewhere. Large portions of the trout caught by British fly fishers in reservoirs and sold commercially for the table are hatchery-raised rainbows. The faster growth and more efficient protein conversion of the rainbow, and its reputed willingness to take the less skilled fisherman’s flies and put up an acrobatic fight, make it more widely cultivated. Yet the brown retains a certain elite value for its cunning ways and difficulty to catch. However, many prefer seeking brown trout in more uncultivated environments of clear streams, which all salmonids need to breed. The rainbow dominates some of New Zealand’s large fisheries, most famously Taupo, which partly inspired American western writer Zane Grey’s Angler’s Eldorado and attracted him in the 1920s.19 A steady stream of American anglers followed, pushing further and further into the backcountry with local guides and helicopters and contributing substantially to tourist revenue. Much like the East-West rivalry in the United States, there is a South Island-North Island jostling, and Southern men speak disparagingly of the Northern fishing techniques, which only scare the wily browns away where they predominate in the clear freestone streams of the South Island.

Imperial Pisciculture on Ice The most noted prelude to the British acclimatization movement became known as the “Eland Dinner” of January 1959, organized by Richard Owen, an eccentric palaeontologist at the British Museum. There were giant pike on the menu from the east, but it was the with the addition of African venison to the British diet and agriculture that Owen mainly wished to pique the national imagination and fantasized 184

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about “troops of eland gracefully galloping over [Britain’s] green sward and herds of koodoos . . . added to the list of foods good for the inhabitants of not only England, but Europe in general.”20 McDowell notes the context of food shortages in Britain, meat in particular, and refers to Lynn Barber’s comment that during the heyday of natural history “sheer patriotism demanded some gustatory return for the vast and rapid expansion of the British empire.” McDowell remarks in parentheses, with no reference to Crosby who referred to Europeans as swarm of locusts, “Is it any wonder that there have been allusions to the ‘ecological imperialism’ of Europe?”21 Ironically, New Zealand and South Africa went into post–World War II competition for the European venison market, with New Zealand emerging as undisputed victor, a position of global dominance it still retains, while South Africa has a large sport hunting industry.22 So the modern venison story might well support an ecological imperialism thesis, but in New Zealand, the domestication and commercialization of deer was initiated as a result of concern about deteriorating habitat, rather than capital accumulation. Trout history in the colonies from the outset provides a far stronger counternarrative to ecological imperialism, especially insofar as the acclimatization societies were concerned. Refrigerated shipping was the technology that enabled the antipodes to sell mutton as well as wool to the world, and venison followed but trout never did, in spite of the abundance in New Zealand. A name bringing South Africa and New Zealand’s trout histories together is that of Frank Buckland. He attended Owen’s famous Eland Dinner and organized another “exploratory and adventurous dinner” soon thereafter to launch the Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals in the United Kingdom. It was a gastronomic tour de force, not for the squeamish or fainthearted. Buckland, however, later made his name through his involvement in the shipment of salmon and trout to Australia and, soon thereafter, New Zealand when he cottoned onto the experiments of others in the ice trade with storing ova on ice. Aquaculture, or more specifically, pisciculture, the domestic cultivation and breeding of fish, dates back to the early Egyptian dynasties.23 Carp ponds existed in China at least 2,500 years ago, and carp farming was refined under the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE). By 1988 China had become the world’s largest producer of fish.24 Pisciculture received a European impulse in Germany during the early eighteenth century and was inaugurated in Britain in 1837 with effort initially concentrated on salmon.25 The Cape Colony records the significance of a particular event: “The International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 was the means 185

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amongst other things of directing attention to an interesting new feature of the fishing industry, namely the artificial propagation of the Salmonidae, and the Acclimatisation of fish generally.” It was pointed out that in America there was a great economic boom around this discovery with the whole of the Pacific coast being “thoroughly under the control of fish culture.” The Report of the Marine Biologist for the year 1897 goes on to say that “it was fortunate that a representative from the Cape Colony,” Lachlan MacLean of the Union- Castle Mail Steamship Company, “should have had an opportunity at this exhibition of learning something of this new departure in fisheries, and of seeing the great benefit to this country that would follow by stocking its barren rivers with valuable fish, and that he should have taken the matter up with enthusiasm.26”

Kingless Salmonization New Zealanders trace their salmonid legacy to a Scottish game keeper, John Shaw, who carried out experiments showing that the rate that ova developed was dependent on water temperatures, with lower temperatures retarding development.27 Scotland’s Howie Hatchery provided a model for the world to follow. In Scotland, salmon are held as sacred, with ancient laws prohibiting angling in salmon rivers on the Sabbath still in effect. So I discovered when I tried to get a salmon beat on a Sunday but was directed to a brown trout river. Since the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is widely acclaimed as the king of Europe’s sporting fish, and was a primary species for acclimatization in the antipodes and South Africa, it ranks as the societies’ most iconic failure. It is an “unfulfilled but lingering dream,” and as recently as 1983, the Nelson Society proposed that the species be introduced into the Buller River.28 Success with the quinnat (king or Chinook) salmon from North America was eventually achieved in New Zealand, but this was not a legacy to which the societies could lay claim. It also does not share the sporting or culinary reputation of the Atlantic salmon, nor the deep cultural affection the Europeans felt for the brown trout. However, like the KwaZulu-Natal’s brown trout, the quinnat salmon in New Zealand is a “fish that needed a committee.”29 Unlike trout in New Zealand, however, the quinnat salmon became commercially exploited and provided the basis of a fishing industry in New Zealand. It was the only salmonid the societies supported farming or harvesting wild 186

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stock. Unlike other fisheries, the government managed the resource, not the societies. The quinnat developed a recreational following too, but fishermen failed to rise to an effective defense when government confounded its own plans for the development of a salmon resource by damming the Waitaki River at Kurow in 1935. Trout in New Zealand enjoyed a more protected history as colonial fish. Through the societies, a strong lobby of anglers was always readily mobilized to defend their habitat, and a strong conservation movement emerged in civil society as a result. Most significantly, the societies successfully resisted the commercial farming or harvesting in any form of trout. The motives for the introduction of Atlantic salmon did have economic strands, and these pulled continuously at New Zealand’s trout resource but never were able to move the societies’ anchored position that this would ultimately be to the detriment of the recreational trout resource and the habitat upon which their species depended. According to the Fishing Industry General Manager, Jim Campbell: “As it stands about the only way a housewife can get hold of trout or salmon for the family table is to marry a fisherman— and who would want to do that?” That was 1972, when trout farming became a fascinatingly contested election issue on which Labour and the acclimatization societies saw eye to eye, but it remains an enduring political issue.30

Trout Hatcheries in the Postcolonial Ecology of a Settled South The acclimatization societies managed most of New Zealand’s inland natural resources as representatives of the hunting and fishing fraternity and proved to be a formidable force in civil society that both the state and capital had to reckon with. Quite early into the twentieth century their initial function had been abandoned. Since they had begun to focus their energies on conserving the habitat that their favorite fish and game depended upon, their acclimatization title became an anachronism that not many New Zealanders understood. In the case of deer, and many other species, the emphasis on habitat protection meant the recognition that the animals should be totally eliminated. All protection was removed and a perennially open season was declared. Some ecologists who are fond of hunting maintain that a low concentration of deer imitate the forest browsing of the extinct Moa. Although freshwater scientists such as McDowell now recognize that “trout populations in lakes and rivers have had a devastating effect on native fishes,”31 their place in New Zealand has never been 187

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questioned by conservation policy makers. This could be a result of the acclimatization societies, which were, as one commentator put it, “more appropriately described as the local government arm of fish and wildlife management, and act as agents for [government departments] who are primarily responsible for the two statutes” [the Wildlife and Fisheries Acts].32 The acclimatization societies’ 130-year history came to a head during the wave of changes in New Zealand brought about by the election of the Lange Labour government in 1984. The Minister for the Environment, Geoffrey Palmer, made it his mission “to reduce the number of quangos in public life” (a quango is a unique New Zealand acronym for quasiautonomous nongovernment organization). The acclimatization society system was disbanded in 1990, and a new structure was created called “Fish and Game New Zealand,” with a network of councils throughout the land responsible for managing fishing and hunting resources. MacDowell offers two readings of this transformation: “Death and resurrection— or metamorphosis.” He also offers a balanced reading of their legacy—a mixed bag of mistakes and unintended consequences, yet when they were disbanded, New Zealand still had superb angling and quality hunting that were resources of great value to its people and a lure for tourists from overseas. These resources were in large measure established and maintained by the acclimatisation societies— and a living legacy in which they could take considerable pride.33

The backbone of the societies, and their major source of income, was their license holders, who continue to enjoy access to sport far superior to that enjoyed by the nobility in Britain. Indeed, everyman’s access was the acclimatization societies’ goal, reflecting colonists’ intention to escape poverty, aristocratic oppression, overcrowding in the cities, and environmental pollution and inculcate an invigorated masculinity in a new “Man’s Country.”34 McDowell titled his study Gamekeepers for the Nation, to make the point that it was the gamekeeper and gillie model that the societies sought to avoid. Public river access through private property via the “Queen’s Chain” is still intact, although private interests continuously seek to curtail it. This pits organized anglers into a tense relationship with some farmers about access issues, with Fish and Game championing their cause. As has been the case in conservation more broadly around the world, the rights of private ownership are contested and the notion of “stewardship” was advocated by Fish & Game New Zealand’s editor Bob 188

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South, who appealed to indigenous understandings of land, claiming that “when it comes to the great outdoors today, two of the loudest words reverberating around New Zealand are ‘ownership’ and ‘stewardship.’ The mention of either polarises users of the resource.” The word is a lineal descendant of the Old Norse sti-vardr, which literally means “the keeper of the house.” He goes on to quote George Anderson from a piece of prose titled “Can Fly fishing Survive the Twenty-First Century?” in which the author asks why fly fishing should be of concern in the face of pressing global problems, where overpopulation, poverty, political destabilization and AIDS would seem to take precedence over enticing some silly little trout to bit a hook wrapped with fur and feathers. Flyfishing, however, is like the legendary canary in the mine shaft. Flyfishing is a litmus test, if you will, for our environment. If you cannot protect our rivers and fisheries, or strive to make flyfishing a quality experience, our commitment to stewardship has failed.35

In 2001, following a national conference of all its councils, Fish and Game New Zealand launched its “Dirty Dairying” campaign aimed at the booming industry as a whole, drawing attention to its growing impact on the country’s lowland rivers. It was a success, and debate soon resulted in action on the part of government agencies and organized agriculture. One result, however, was Federated Farmers, the national farmers union, publicly attacking Fish and Game and urging its members to deny access to anglers and hunters seeking permission to cross their land to fish and hunt. (The Queen’s Chain has many weak links). This standoff was soon eased, with the recognition that New Zealand’s agriculture relies in large measure, as does its tourism, on a “clean green” image to obtain global market advantage.36 2002 was election year, and a bumper sticker loudly proclaimed that “One Million Kiwis Fish, Shoot and Vote!” (There are only four million people in New Zealand). Derek Grzelewski’s recent article “Saving Trout Country” sees agriculture winning the war and farmers using trout’s invasive status as the “stoats of the rivers” as scapegoats to legitimize the deterioration of their habitat in the lowland. His metaphor of the growth of dairy farming is based on the early gold rush that mined the rivers and what he calls “our rush to convert grass to dairy gold in which we risk destroying our rivers— and the export dollars that we earn from wealthy anglers.”37 Land issues dictated that Fish and Game New Zealand not administer the Taupo District’s fishery. Instead this is managed by the Department of Conservation, Te Papa Atawhai, under the Conservation Act of 189

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1987, the Taupo Fishing Regulations 1984, the Maori Land Amendment, and Maori Land Claims Adjustment Act 1926. The ticket stipulates as regulation no. 11: “The taking of Koura and other fish indigenous to Lake Taupo is permitted only for members of the Ngati Tuwharetoa tribe.”38 The Department of Conservation operates the Tongariro National Trout Centre on the river with the same name near Turangi in the Taupo catchment. According to the publicity brochure, “Usually, the Trout Centre’s hatchery just rears trout for the children’s fishing pond, but it is also a safeguard for the Taupo fishery. If some disaster, like a major volcanic eruption, wiped out the wild fish, the hatchery could be used to restock the streams and lakes.” The Department of Conservation manages the facility association with the Tongariro National Trout Centre Society, which see its role as fostering “public interest in, and understanding of, the Taupo fishery, other freshwater fisheries and freshwater ecology through development of the Trout Centre and wider promotion and education programmes.”39 A similar motif extolling the ecological virtues of trout fishing was sign boarded outside the Kamberg trout hatchery in the Natal Drakens-

F I G U R E 1 0 .1 Jonkershoek, South Africa’s oldest trout hatchery (1893), has been primarily active in the production of trout for more than a century, and although the focus has shifted from the production of trout by the provincial authorities (Cape Nature and others previously) for the augmentation of sports fisheries, Douglas Hey’s alma mater, the University of Stellenbosch, has a lease and keeps the facilities active in the production of trout fingerlings for stocking and research. Photo credit: Malcolm Draper

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FIGURE 10.2

The author at work reflecting on trout history.

berg in South Africa, and trout fishing was regulated by conservation legislation. The then-Natal Parks Board operated trout hatcheries within the park at Royal Natal and Kamberg, from which rivers and dams in the park and outside were stocked for many years. The last trout hatchery operated by the postapartheid’s integrated conservation agency, Ezmemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife at Kamberg, was closed in 2004, “thus bringing the organization and Park in line with modern thinking that it is inappropriate for conservation agencies to breed and distribute alien invasive species.”40 Of course much debate preceded this event, and the new South African Biodiversity Act was invoked, but the move followed on the heels of the succession of a fly fisherman CEO of Scottish extraction, George Hughes, with a Zulu non-fly fishing CEO, Khulani Mkhize.41 A marine biologist who established himself with work on turtle conservation research, Hughes used his position to put a lid on the trout debate. It was widely understood in his organization that they are a sacrosanct subject. A similar about-turn on the trout issue took place in the 1980s when Cape Department of Conservation had a change of leadership to an Afrikaner non-fly fishing director who acknowledged that Cape Nature Conservation was literally built on the foundations of a trout 191

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hatchery.42 The old Jonkershoek Hatchery is a recognized monument, and Jonkershoek continues to provide stocked dams for fly fishing. Cape Nature Conservation was founded in 1952 by a trout scientist, Douglas Hey, the son of S. A. Hey, trout fisherman of Scottish and German extraction who had worked for the Frontier Acclimatisation Society at the Pirie Hatchery and stocked many of the Eastern Cape streams. The FAS Trout Club continues to provide fly fishing for its members by stocking Maden Dam near King William’s Town with hatchery raised fish. The only other two acclimatization societies I have found record of in South Africa were trout fishing societies and seem to have slunk into extinction.43 Until Douglas Hey retired in 1979, all four directors of South Africa’s nature conservation agencies were involved in inland fisheries in the early years of their careers and emerged from trout hatcheries. The true inheritor of the acclimatization movement is South Africa’s Federation of Fly Fishers (FOSAF). Its roots are at Pirie Hatchery, and it was formed in 1987 as a response to Cape Nature Conservation’s removal of protection for trout, but it went on to become the country’s most active freshwater conservation organization, continuously drawing attention to the plight of indigenous fish in the

FIGURE 10.3

Guide outfitter and scholar Jan Korrûbel. Photo credit: Malcolm Draper.

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FIGURE 10.4

Photo of memorial to John Parker. Photo credit: Malcolm Draper.

country’s warmer lower-lying watersheds.44 The anxieties of European national belonging provoked by the trout wars are best expressed in Duncan Brown’s polemic, which borrows from my more historically focused work. He admits to being hysterical about the poisoning of some trout streams in the Cape.45

Private and Public Trout Down South The old Parks Board trout posters were rescued from the Kamberg hatchery and are now to be found on the walls of the Wildfly guide 193

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outfitter’s shop in Nottingham Road. These posters testify that trout in South Africa might have been abandoned by the state and are privatized but are still worshipped in the market and conserved by the spirit of capitalism. Trout have survived reformation, much like religion has done into the secular era of televangelism. Indeed, Ilan Lax, the FOSAF chairman, quoted government correspondence assuring that the state could not afford to eradicate trout for fiscal reasons. While the old trout hatchery at Jonkershoek in the Cape is a national monument with public access, my recent pilgrimage to the monument at the Trout Bungalow near Nottingham Road was met by the elderly owner who epitomized trout snobbery. TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN CL ARKE PARKER

By Lovers of the Gentle Art of TROUT FISHING

By His Untiring Efforts TROUT

Were First Introduced Into NATAL CIRC A A . D .

1884

Thereby Giving Much Pleasure To Many Persons 1926

As I looked at the Mooi River flowing by and listened to her, I wondered if she would offer me a cast. When it was not forthcoming I longed for the rivers of New Zealand and the Queen’s Chain that makes every man have a stake in the water quality.

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A History of Angling, Fisheries Management, and Conservation in Japan MASANORI HORIUCHI (TRANSLATED BY TAKAYUKI SHIRAIWA)

Introduction Japan, while a relatively small island nation, contains a vast variety of opportunities for fly fishing for trout. Trout habitats range from inland rivers and lakes to rivers connecting to the sea, creating a diverse array of opportunities for trout fishing throughout Japan. The activities of trout fishing in Japan are as diverse as the fish and the waters in which they swim, ranging from more typical styles of fly fishing to the traditional style of tenkara fishing, which has gained popularity amongst American fly fishers in recent years. This article summarizes the geological characteristics of Japan’s rivers and lakes that hold trout. It also outlines the administration of fishing as well as a sociological background of trout fishing in Japan. This article also focuses on issues around contemporary trout fishing in Japan from the fisherman’s point of view based on the modern history of conservation of river environments by fishermen. I will provide some suggestions with analysis and observation for enjoying trout fishing in Japan sustainably, as well as introduce the latest results of fishery studies on trout fishing. 195

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Japan’s Rivers The Japanese archipelago consists of five major islands—from north to south: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa— and of nearly 6,800 small islands. The total area of Japan is 0.378 million km2, nearly one-and-a-half times larger than New Zealand. The population of the nation is 130 million while that of New Zealand is only 4.3 million. The archipelago extends from sub-boreal to tropical climates over 3,000 kilometers in length. Almost 70 percent of the national land mass is occupied by steep mountainous slopes and the climate is characterized by monsoons, thus having precipitation two times more than the world average.1 Most of Japan’s rivers are short and rapid, reflecting its steep mountainous watersheds. Natural lakes are abundant, especially in Hokkaido and East Honshu, while artificial reservoirs are widespread throughout the nation. Discharges of Japanese rivers are variable both in time and space due mainly to the mountainous drainage basins and heavy precipitation. Traditional Japanese river control favored an approach that worked with the flows of water, while modern control- oriented measures favor exerting power over natural water flows. Repeated river improvements and dam constructions in the modern era resulted in the disappearance of natural rivers in densely populated regions in Japan. In Japan, trout fishing in Japanese rivers is very difficult. A fly fisher hardly fishes up rivers without encountering any soil erosion due to barriers and dams. One fishes in a miniature garden divided by numerous artificial barriers. It is now difficult to enjoy fishing in an environment totally untouched by humans. Moreover, not many fish spawn naturally and are thus characterized by damaged appearances. In some cases, the number of fishermen exceeds that of fish in the river. The stability of river beds has been weakened by localized torrential downpours.

Salmonidae Species in Japan Salmonidae species loved by Japanese fly-fishers are said to be yamame (Oncorhynchus masou masou), amago (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae), iwana (Salvelinus), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The appearances of these fishes are similar. Both juvenile and matured fish display parr marks. Their original habits were separated geographically, 196

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A matured yamame 20 cm in length fished with #2 tackle, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Photo credit: Masanori Horiuchi.

F I G U R E 11 .1

but recent artificial propagation to nonnative rivers made their distribution chaotic. As I mentioned earlier, the volume of trout Japanese rivers can produce as a natural resource is not enough compared to the number of fishermen. Most rivers and lakes in Japan are controlled by fishery cooperative associations, which have the right to fish in the rivers and lakes they control while being obliged under the law to grow aquatic plants and animals. It is necessary to reproduce different species of trout with people’s aid to sustainably consume trout as a natural resource. Hatchery-reared trout are favored by the administrative authorities for their efficiency.2 There is a long history of transplanting hatchery reared trout into Japan’s rivers, which has resulted in the disturbance of habitats. One consequence has been the loss of specific genes to relevant rivers as nonnative fish are able to spawn.3 In addition to the artificial alteration of rivers, fishing pressure by fishermen and the effect of transplanting nonnative fish has driven the native Japanese trout into the corner. Both the yamame and the amago are regarded as excellent game fish by fly fishers. Living in water streams as cold as 20 degrees C in summer, they developed cautiousness and swimming capability. They at197

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F I G U R E 11 . 2

Fishing for yamame in Tohoku in early summer. Photo credit: Masanori

Horiuchi.

tack dry flies aggressively while wet flies charm them too. Like fly fishers around the world, Japanese fly fishers have special admiration for the larger fish, calling them the respectful name of Shakumono (those measuring more than twelve inches), though it is always difficult to catch one. In addition to trout, in Japan, there are four subspecies of iwana or char (Salvelinus)—Yamato iwana, Amemasu, Gogi, and Nikko iwana. Their native waters range from Hokkaido to Honshu Islands; however, their habitats are mixed, and even hybrids are common. This species prefers colder water than those occupied by the yamame and amago. There is a proverb in Japan that says, “You must fish for a stone in case you like iwana, but fish for riffle in case you fish for yamame.” In Japan’s mountain rivers where trout live one can see a series of shallow and rapid streams, slow streams, and deep and stagnant pools. The yamame and amago have excellent natatorial ability and like rapid open streams. They tend to stay in riffles. The iwana usually stays still behind obstacles such as rocks and appears only to feed. In contrast to the femininity of the yamame, the iwana is regarded as masculine fish. One may say that the iwana is very nervous, but that is not the case. Any Japanese angler will be overjoyed to find an iwana boldly feeding on aquatic insects in an extremely shallow riffle. In addition to aquatic 198

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insects, they eat terrestrial insects, other fishes, and smaller reptiles and amphibians. In 1877, Japan received roe from rainbow trout from America. In the following year the government imported rainbow trout roe from America and transplanted it into Lake Chuzenji and Lake Inawashiro.4 After 1877, implementation was performed at the initiative of the Fisheries Agency; many releases took place in different rivers until the 1980s, but few rainbow trout inhabited the rivers and lakes of Honshu Island. Aquafarming and stockings are still common now in a lot of rivers and lakes for the purpose of recreational fishing, as well as in aquafarms for commercial purposes and fishing ponds for recreational fishing. At present, rainbow trout are found only in limited areas, such as Hokkaido Island.5 At the beginning of the twentieth century, Japan was in a serious depression due to the panic after World War I and the effects of the great Kanto earthquake. The Japanese government utilized hatcheries and the reproduction of fishery resources with the goal of increasing food production in inland waters. Eyed eggs of rainbow trout, brook trout, and brown trout were brought from America more than twenty times before World War II.6 The Invasive Alien Species Act of 2005 identified rainbow trout as an alien species. Rainbow trout, however, are an important aquafarming resource in inland water fisheries. They have been cultivated more than any other trout of inland waters and, actually, approximately 5,147 tons of rainbow trout were cultured in inland waters.7 The main purpose of aquaculture is for food and for reproduction of fish for recreational fishing. There are a lot of recreational facilities with partitioned rivers or artificial ponds where people can fish for rainbow trout and eat them on site. After over 130 years since its first stocking, the rainbow trout has become as widespread in our lives as much as (or more than) existing trout species. In many rivers and lakes on Hokkaido Island, the rainbow trout has reproduced naturally. Quite a few people consider such rainbow trout an effective resource to be utilized because the Japanese do not have sufficient resources of native trout species. Rivers in Hokkaido have started to draw attention from foreign countries for the reason that they are good places to catch large, wild rainbow trout. There is an opinion that wild rainbow trout on Hokkaido should be considered a valuable resource for tourism, while some people who think fundamentally of biodiversity have started to claim that the rainbow trout is inappropriate in Japan’s rivers. This still remains controversial. 199

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Fishing for Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, in Hokkaido. This type of fishing is sometimes threatened by brown bears. Photo credit: Masanori Horiuchi.

F I G U R E 11 . 3

The Relationship among Rivers, Fish, and Humans in the Japanese Modern Era The archaeological record of inland Japan indicates that people already used bone hooks to catch fish about three thousand years ago. Though they were clearly fishing for food, the evidence of fishing leads us to easily imagine how our ancestors likely also enjoyed fishing in Japan. As recently as the mid-twentieth century, professional fishers used to earn a living by fishing Japan’s rivers, especially the freestone rivers, for yamame, amago, and iwana. Traditionally, Japan’s freestone rivers were commonly fished by nearby residents for food. We cannot imagine this reliance on local rivers for food in today’s Japan, but professional fishers used to earn a living by fishing for yamame, amago, and iwana. They needed fishing grounds that allowed sustainable and quality fishing and a marketplace to sell their fish. The following tells about the time when people received the blessing of natural mountains and rivers: In the seventeenth century, a group of people migrated from Akita Prefecture to Akiyamago, the upper reach of the Uono River, in Nagano and Niigata Prefectures. They were called “Matagi,” a group of people who earned their living by hunting

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and fishing for iwana. There were twenty-five professional fishermen in Akiyamago in 1950. It is also known in Zako River of Nagano Prefecture of the construction of a series of huts used by full-time professional iwana fishermen in the beginning of the twentieth century, which lasted at least until the 1970s. In 1935, the value of seven to eight iwanas were said to be equivalent to that earned by a day laborer in the Zako River region. Professional fishermen in Tsumagoi, Gunma Prefecture, caught approximately 6,000 to 7,000 yamame a year and sold them to local spa restaurants.8

In the 1970s, as people were able to buy marine fishes even in remote mountain areas because of development of the transportation system, the demand of river fishes decreased. The number of full-time professional fishermen at Japanese freestone rivers has reduced since the 1980s.

Traditional Way of Fishing and Tenkara Hideo Tomon’s book Tales of Professional Fishermen (referenced above) also provides a lot of information on fishing tools used by professional fishermen. It mentions that their two main methods were bait fishing and traditional fly fishing. Traditional Japanese-style fly fishing for the fish living in freestone rivers is referred to as “tenkara fishing.” It was popular among the professional fishermen because it yielded quick results and gave fishermen the ability to select better fish. The standard tenkara gear consists of a retractable rod about three meters long, a line, and a traditional fly, most of which is made simply of a body and a hackle. The fly size ranges from numbers six through eighteen. Japanese flies are treated in different ways, such as drifting naturally, dragging against the flow, sinking deeply, and luring the fish on the surface of the water. These days, some fishermen like to use modern fly patterns. In Japanese rivers, which are short and rapid in general, tenkara fishing would have advantages in its manipulation. A certain number of people still enjoy tenkara fishing, but the demographics of fishermen in rivers is dominated by those who like bait fishing, lure fishing, and fly fishing. The Japanese traditional technique of tenkara has just been introduced to North America and Europe. Ironically, the growth of tenkara

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F I G U R E 11 . 4

Tenkara fishing. Photo credit: Masanori Horiuchi.

in American fly fishing culture has led to a resurgence of tenkara fishing by Japanese anglers.

Who Has Rivers and Fish? Before the modern era, it was difficult for Japanese people to freely move between villages, which were often located in mountainous areas. Most of those lived along a river where they were able to get water, establishing “mura,” cooperative agriculture-focused communities. Fish from freestone rivers, then, provided a valuable protein supplement to the agricultural products for these communities. From the Meiji era to the time when the new fishing method was implemented after World War II, villages did not allow people from outside to fish in their rivers. Such people traditionally needed to pay money to the relevant village for permission to fish. Villages did not have the legal right to do so, but it was common as a custom.9 The Fishery Act was issued in 1949 for the purpose of the conservation of fish resources in the sea and in inland waters. The act, which is administered by the Fisheries Agency, has replaced the former Fishery Act (issued in 1901) due to the reformation of the fishery system. In the Fishery Act, fish are considered as fishery—not as recreation— 202

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resources. Therefore, fishermen who just want to enjoy fishing recreationally have to comply with the legal framework based on fishery, which means the fundamental law for recreational fishing in Japan is also the Fishery Act. One of the reasons different problems are occurring with respect to recreational fishing in Japan would be that fishing spots in Japan, from a legal perspective, are not recreational fishing areas but professional fishery grounds. And the law considers any nonprofessional fishers as recreational fishers. It was not until 2002 that the Fisheries Agency began to differentiate between recreational and professional fishers, thereby administering regulations to serve both groups.10 Under the “Master Plan for Fishery Industry,” the Fisheries Agency sought to administer legally established fishery cooperatives that are responsible for managing the fisheries in their region. Those who want to fish in those waters, generally, are members of the fishery cooperative. As described above, professional fishermen no longer fish inland waters in today’s Japan. Even though a cooperative member is a professional fisherman from a legal perspective, the angler is for practical purposes the same as a hobby fisherman on inland waters. Fish in public waters are common property in Japan, but a fishery cooperative administers fishing resources on a certain river. The cooperative establishes reproduction plans for the relevant river and does not have any obligation to consider the opinions of recreational fishermen. It also establishes the recreational fishing rules for the use of hobby fishing spots, while hobby fishermen have no opportunity to be involved in the process of rulemaking. Such conflicts would be associated with conventional manners that used to be common in mura. When anglers fish in a river where fishery rights are effective, they must follow both the Inland Waters Fisheries Adjustment Rules established by each prefecture and the recreational fishing rules established by the authorized fishery cooperative. They must also pay a recreational fishing fee to the cooperative as reasonable contribution to the reproduction of fish in the river. A fishery cooperative for certain inland waters can raise an objection to the construction of dams and river developments based upon its fishery right. The only lawful right that can hold back the construction of dams and weirs is the fishery right. If a fishery cooperative that has the relevant fishery rights accepts the construction of dams or weirs on a river they administer, the cooperative will be paid money as compensation from the entity responsible for the construction. Compensation for impaired rivers and fisheries are supposed to be paid to the relevant fishery cooperatives as the values of the assumed 203

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effects on fish caused by dam construction and river improvements. Fishery cooperatives are socially recognized as negotiating partners by the authorities and construction companies. As long as the existing Fisheries Act is effective, the future of recreational fishing relies on the performance of fishery cooperatives.11 The Fisheries Agency thinks that fishing at inland waters, especially at rivers, has been fully developed as a primary industry to produce food.12 Sakurai mentioned in his master’s thesis, “Social History in the Process of the Declined River Fisheries,” that voices of the cooperatives and recreational fishermen for river environments grew more powerful after the high-growth period of the Japanese economy in the 1950s.13 The policies of cooperative associations exist in the spirit of mutual aid—“One for all and all for one.” If this spirit works as it should, the administration of rivers by fishery cooperatives, which are familiar with local conditions, would be performed with proper and flexible responses. Unfortunately, the cooperatives do not always work as they should, as demonstrated by multiple causes including outdated provisions of the Fishery Act, the reduced authority of fishery cooperatives, and members’ disregard for rivers. As mentioned above, the role and importance of the fishery cooperatives is evolving in Japan today. Though the Fishery Act has been effective for over sixty years, many believe that it needs updating. And, indeed, the Fisheries Agency has recently begun that process of revision by announcing new approaches for improving fishing through regional management and cooperatives.14

The Fisherman’s Approach to Environmental Conservation From the 1950s onward following World War II, the high-growth period of the Japanese economy started when politics and society focused on economic growth as the highest priority. The cabinet of Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda proposed a plan to double the average citizen’s income in 1960. A lot of development projects sought to improve roads and railways and encourage construction in industrial districts. Civil engineering such as dam construction and river improvements were a symbol of large public investment implemented by politics and the administration of government. The cabinet of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka published an ambitious infrastructure plan for Japan that called for a new network of expressways and high-speed rail lines throughout the country. In the construction of dams, reinforcement of riverbanks, and 204

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installation of irrigation gates for agricultural use, little attention was paid to aquatic organisms living in rivers. Alteration of environments through overdevelopment resulted in the rapid decrease of fish in rivers and lakes, not to mention the overall degradation of the surrounding habitat. In response to these rapid changes and impacts, in 1993 the Basic Environment Law was issued to establish basic policies for protecting the environment. As the economy was growing, an increasing number of people focused on recreational activities such as fishing. Those anglers, who were growing in numbers, began speaking out louder against the impacts of overdevelopment on Japan’s coldwater fisheries. In Okutadami Reservoir, located in Niigata Prefecture on Honshu Island, just after the Tadami River was dammed in 1960, anglers could find large iwana easily and everywhere. As an increasing number of people went fishing, however, spawning fish finally disappeared in the middle of 1970. Aiming to address such distressful circumstances,  the  Society of Fish Reproduction in Okutadami was founded in 1975. The chairman was Takeshi Kaiko, who was a famous Japanese novelist and also widely known as an angler. He wrote: Tadami River has attracted quite a few anglers from the nation. They used to fish iwana and Rainbow Trout as large as salmon in that mythological time. But the myth was over in a few years. The number of anglers rapidly increased and they took fish away from the river. As a result, we can only fish much smaller ones like cats’ breakfast and that’s even getting very few. I could see our nation’s profile going to ruin in mountains and rivers.15

The members, who have different lifestyles and ways of thinking including fishermen living in cities, local people such as fishermen and inn’s owners, and the town office, gathered beyond interests in order to reproduce fish in Okutadami. The total number of members was seventy-five.16 The society provided Uonuma Fishery Cooperative with measures to increase the number of fish, including a longer closed fishing season, prohibited fishing areas, and young fish and stocking, which resulted in increasing number of fish as early as 1977, two years after the approach was implemented. In Ginzan-Daira, which is located near the reservoir, a monument was built in memory of Takeshi Kaiko, onto which his Japanese translation of the words “A River Never Sleeps” (the title of the classic fly fishing book by Roderick L. Haig-Brown) were carved. In 1960s, the construction project of an estuary weir emerged on Nagara River, which was the only river on Honshu Island without a 205

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weir in its mainstream. Not only local people but also recreational fishermen living in cities and canoeists worked together and led a campaign against the estuary weir in 1987, one year before construction was scheduled to begin, with the slogan “Save Satsukimasu” (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae, anadromous). The campaign against the construction of the estuary weir in Nagara River was at the center of a growing conservation movement. This movement spurred cross-regional conservation organizations in Japan, focusing on issues, educating the public, running advocacy advertising, and lobbying activities to congressional members. By 1989, this growing movement supported a large-scale demonstration upon the waters of the Nagara River involving three thousand people and one thousand canoes. Takashi Nakazawa, who was the chief author (at that time) of a quarterly journal, Furai-no-Zasshi (Fly Fishing Journal), wrote that it was rare to see such a demonstration based on voices appealing “for a beautiful river, beautiful fish, and beautiful nature.” Respect for something we cannot buy with money, yet valuable, was gathered there that day.17 Despite protests, the construction did not stop, and the weir was completed in 1994. From this movement, however, we learned the fact that an objection against destruction of nature in a river by those involved from recreational aspects, such as recreational fishermen, could have an influence on society. By the late 1980s fly fishing quickly grew in popularity. More and more urban anglers began to seek out opportunities near urban centers. One popular example was the upstream section of the Tama River, located within two-hour drive from Tokyo (which had a population of ten million people at the time). Dozens of fishermen at a time targeting yamame would gather during a good season on the limited stream, which was just six to seven kilometers long. The river did not have enough fish to satisfy the surge of fishermen. Trout cannot reproduce naturally in the Tama River, so fishing there depended on stocking. In other words, the Tama River was a put-and-take stream. When the fishery cooperative stocked the river with buckets of fish on the first day of the open season, impatient bait fishers fished for all of them, quickly depleting the river. There was no catch limit and they could catch and take away as many fish as they wanted. As the Okutama Fishery Cooperative, which administered Tama River, felt uncomfortable with increasing lure and fly fishers, it suddenly notified fishermen of its prohibition of lure and fly fishing. In the 1970s, the culture of lure and fly fishing became common in Japan. Though statistical data is not available, fishing in Japan at 206

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that time was dominated by Japanese trout fishing and other bait fishing. Members of fishery cooperatives objected to the new fishing styles spreading to their home rivers, which clearly shows their exclusivity as described above. The notification of “prohibition of lure fishing and fly fishing” by the Okutama Fishery Cooperative was determined at their discretion without consulting with anglers or the administrative agencies. As a result of furious opposition by anglers, the notice was soon withdrawn. In the end, this case contributed to a better review of fishermen’s positions and management systems of fishing spots. Some fishermen, most of whom were fly fishers, learned the laws and positively tried to approach fishery cooperatives and administrative agencies to achieve “more comfortable trout fishing.” Those fishermen formed groups to share information and work together. What should they do to make conditions on the Tama River, considered a kind of large fishing pond, more ideal? The groups provided Okutama Fishery Cooperative and authorities concerned with some ideas, including a pilot stocking program of brown trout and the introduction of a catch and release area. Fly fishing is one of the cultural traditions imported from Western countries. Some Japanese anglers tried to follow the spirit and fashion of fly fishing and considered catch and release a symbol of the advanced management approach of fishing spots in Western countries, while there were no fishing spots in freestone rivers and lakes where anglers did not take any fish away as of 1984. Originally in Japan, the main purpose of bait fishing used to be procurement of food. But many anglers increasingly appeared to enjoy fishing in limited fishing environments with less concern for catching food. It was natural that some anglers, most of whom enjoyed fly fishing, thought that catch and release should be implemented in Japan’s rivers as well.

Trout Forum, a Nationwide Network of Trout Fishers The implementation of the catch and release areas campaign on the Okutama River was not successful because the Okutama Fishery Cooperative failed to agree to it. However, an expanding relationship between fishermen in the activities on the Tama River led to the establishment of Trout Forum, Japan’s first nationwide network for trout fishers. In July 1990, the prospectus of Trout Forum was announced by forty-five founders from different social positions, such as fishermen, researchers in fisheries science, authorities, and fishing gear 207

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manufacturers. Most of the fishermen were fly fishers. Bait fishing and lure fishing were never excluded, but somehow fly fishers, who accounted for the smallest percentage of the fishing population, consequently became the majority of the forum. Fly fishers and the Trout Forum believed that a sound cycle of aquatic insects and fish (which is important in fly fishing) would be sustained only with sound river environments. Fly fishers observe and follow nature for the sake of their pleasure. They were newcomers as fishermen at inland waters in Japan, but they were innovators in the conservation of river environments. The representative committee was based in Tokyo and consisted of members with a range of expertise; each member of the committee launched a project focusing on their respective subjects and sought solutions to trout management and conservation issues. Activities of Trout Forum included an approach to revision of the unfair recreational fishing rules, trials of catch and release and monitoring of their effects, monitoring fishery cooperatives, holding open seminars, holding workshops by project, a field survey recording how many trout a fisherman catches in a day, a site visit to the National Research Institute of Aquaculture of the Fisheries Agency, and the compilation of a contact list of fishery cooperatives and concerned authorities. The forum also contributed to sales of recreational fishing tickets, which can now be purchased at convenience stores. These activities are listed on the website of the forum. In March 1992, the Trout Forum charter was published, stating: Trout Forum is a group for those enjoying fishing as a sport. We hope clear-flowing rivers where yamame and iwana live will come back and be preserved so that we can share more pleasure this sport will bring. We also hope trout fishing will become common as a sport and more fishermen’s voices will be reflected on administrative policies. For that purpose, we will have a wider fishermen’s network and perform different scientific studies required to develop ideal fishing spots. And based on the results, we will provide river fishery cooperatives and the authorities with constructive recommendations to build a new era of trout fishing. We hope this sport will have better harmony with the reproduction systems of nature and continue to be an irreplaceable pleasure and a source of energy still in our children’s generation. This is what we act for.18

The activities of Trout Forum were covered by a membership fee and contribution. In its first two years, the Trout Forum had about one thousand members and a budget over five million yen (roughly $50,000 USD). Forum secretary Isamu Kishino later mentioned an offer 208

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of contributions by Japanese fishing gear manufacturers (these contributions, in reality, had never been offered).19 Japanese companies are not accustomed to contributing to the public good. The fishing gear manufacturer might have withdrawn the offer because they could not make use of the forum for the company’s benefit. The forum published a newsletter for members titled Trout Forum Journal that had columns written by the chairman, activity reports from members, essays by researchers of fishery sciences, and articles on related legislation. Around five thousand copies were printed and distributed to members, fishery cooperatives, and fishery industry sections of prefectures for free. In a seminar titled “Seeking the New Generation of Trout Fishing in Japan” held by Trout Forum in March 1994, the following opinions were voiced: In America, fishermen can get feedback data from the Department of Fish and Game, while specific information on fishing spots hasn’t been provided by experts or the authorities in Japan. Issues on rivers involve issues regarding nature conservation, but we don’t have enough influence to deal with it within our existing activities. What we can do now is think of rivers where yamame and iwana live from the perspective of fishing. (Toru Nishiyama) An ideal river varies .  .  .  . We should create our ideal fishing spots as we want. (Kenya Mizuguchi) There are various styles in fishing and too many fishermen in Japan. They need to be regulated otherwise our fishing grounds will be devastated in ten years. (Kenshiro Shimazaki)20

The seminar was full of energy from participants who wanted to solve the major problems in front of them so that they could enjoy more comfortable and sustainable fishing. As Nishiyama mentioned above, the forum was aware of issues facing the conservation of river environments, but they did not have the power to deal with the respective issues alone. Nevertheless, common fishermen, who had difficulty finding good fishing places, would consider the forum the only solution. Fishermen had not been allowed to join discussions with the administration and fishery cooperatives to express their opinions as joint users of rivers until the forum was established. Things do change at a moment’s notice, but fishermen learned with the forum that even a big rock could be rolled little by little. 209

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Fishing is a very personal recreation. We cannot carry on constructive discussions when we start talking about preferences for fishing spots. It was the activities of Trout Forum that made comfortable fishing spots available to as many fishermen as possible through their cooperation and effort, under circumstances where they couldn’t expect fishery cooperatives and the authorities to work properly. Trout Forum announced new policies in July 1996, stating, “We aim to set catch and release areas on natural rivers and lakes for the purpose of natural reproduction of trout.” Most innovators of the forum at that time went fly fishing in North America, and they often introduced what they experienced, such as the “no-kill” zone in Yellowstone National Park. It was sometimes assumed that the places described were ideal fishing spots and caused the mistaken view that good trout fishing spots should only be catch and release. In Japan, there are many recreational facilities with partitioned rivers where people are allowed to fish by paying entrance fees. There they can bait fish for mature rainbow trout that are stocked in large quantities. The anglers can then eat them on site. Fishermen familiar with this practice, which could be referred to as the ultimate put-andtake fishing, will take it for granted that they can take all the fish they catch even in natural rivers. But it is obvious that fishing in such a manner by a lot of anglers will soon consume trout. Neither fishery cooperatives, which are administrators of fishing spots, nor the administration had limitations on removing fish from ordinary freestone rivers at that time. Initially, there were no measures to regulate bait fishers who came to rivers in large numbers as soon as the open season started, killing tens of, or sometimes hundreds of, trout. A concept of “no fish to be taken away” was consequently suggested as an antithesis of the conventional thought that they could take away as many fish as they wanted. Today, people understand catch and release as just one of the management styles for fishing spots. There are a lot of methods to reduce stress on rivers and fish from fishing, including limiting the number and size of fish to be caught, prohibiting fishing areas, and having closed fishing seasons. At that time they did not have a common idea to discuss them yet, except for catch and release. Many of Japan’s trout fishing problems stem from too many anglers in too small an area. Further distance between anglers would lead to better fishing, while catch and release fishing, which might be one of the last measures before prohibition, provides less flexible fishing, strictly controlling anglers’ activities. Anglers should have been focused on the sustainability of natural reproduction, but they were 210

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too focused on the put-and-take nature of the fishery. Their concern was focused on the angling aspect of the fish. The approach of the Trout Forum in creating catch and release areas had a significant effect throughout the nation. Setting catch and release areas in rivers became common as the number of such areas grew to over thirty in 2001. In fact most of them were a kind of “fishing pond” where a lot of matured fish were stocked and fishermen were required to release fish they caught. Fishery research in Japan had focused mostly on aquafarming, and the management of fishing spots had been studied little. A small figure provided by Kenji Kato, who is one of the key members of the Trout Forum, in his book Ecology and Fishing of Yamame and Amago: Ecology for Freestone River Anglers (Tsuribito-sha, 1990) was the only article for management on fishing spots that a researcher presented to the public.21 Deeper discussions and broader strategies were required in order to have better trout-fishing spots. The practice of stocking fish for fishing purposes does not create a sustainable fishery. A sustainable fishing spot must, in the end, be associated with the revival or conservation of the natural environments of rivers. Release of fish caught by anglers is just one of the methods to retain fish for reproduction until the spawning season. As a result, the Trout Forum gradually withdrew its focus on establishment of catch and release fishing areas and instead operated as a center providing useful information on developing fishing spots and negotiating with the authorities.

The Transition Stage of Fishing and Society In 1980s, fishing for black bass by lure grew in popularity in Japan. Enormous numbers of young fishermen appeared, and this contributed to rapid growth of the bass fishing industries. We could see dozens of fishermen with lure rods at ponds and reservoirs. After the Earth Summit (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the word “biodiversity” grew more common as a term in public discourse and in the media. In Japan, from the end of 1990s to the beginning of 2000s, biodiversity was not understood correctly but brought rejection of foreign species. By 2000 many grew increasingly concerned that the introduction of nonnative fish such as the black bass was causing the decline of Japanese indigenous fish. This reality coincided with the decline in the Japanese economy due to deflation. The Japanese public 211

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responded to a declining economy through an increase in nationalism; nationalism, in turn, drove a cultural rejection of all things foreign, including foreign species such as the black bass. Responding to these trends, the Invasive Alien Species Act of 2004 designated government funds to remove and eliminate specified nonnative, invasive species. Consequently, fishing contests aiming to get rid of black bass and bluegill were held at inland waters around the nation. While development and the destruction of habitat have immense impacts on biodiversity, this bill and its funds focused solely on managing nonnative species. The black bass was one of those species. In many regards, the concept of biodiversity fueled political goals, rather than true conservation ideas. Leadership often ignored larger-scale habitat issues caused by development or the construction of dams. Kenya Mizuguchi referred to this structure as “poor politics and science.”22 The movement of living things was vital in order for people to live in the island country; for example, the principal food, rice, is a plant originating in Eurasia. The Invasive Alien Species Act provides that living things inhabiting Japan as of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 are considered native species. However, in many lakes and rivers of Japan, because of a history of transplanting nonnative species, it is often difficult to define original biota with appropriate standards. The transplantation of Salmonidae from foreign countries and within the nation is a project the Fisheries Agency implemented, and the project was developed in lakes and rivers around the nation by spending federal tax funds. Ironically, that reality is inconsistent with the concept of biodiversity that was brought out in the twenty-first century. The Fisheries Agency has concerns about nonnative salmonids; however, it remains conflicted on the issue due to the popularity of trout fishing. Japanese geography is dominated by the altered secondary nature that passed long after human intervention. The concept of biodiversity cannot be applied in a uniform way based on the law. A policy that foreign species should be killed and indigenous species should be saved could be seen as antiforeignism or racism. Fish are not the only case. The small red swamp crawfish, which had been transplanted for dozens of years and is a good water creature for children to play with, has been cold shouldered after the issue of the act and included in the invasive species list targeted for removal. I think we should appreciate the reality that the red swamp crawfish inhabits even degraded and polluted rivers. When we think biodiversity in Japan, it would be practical to review biota appropriate to the environments through discus212

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sions between local people and users, except for in protective zones like sanctuaries. How natural resources will be utilized should be discussed based on respective local conditions as well as the conservation of good natural environments. One-sided rejection of nonnative species in Japan reminds me of the proverb “the remedy may be worse than the disease.” Mere rearrangement of appearance might result in earlier death. As I mentioned above, the “Master Plan for Fishery Industry” issued by the Fisheries Agency in 2002 covers recreational anglers with respect to the enforcement of administrative measures. Also, the agency began approaching common anglers in more targeted and specific ways including through serial study sessions for fishing in rivers and lakes planned by volunteers from the agency. The sessions started in 2003, and the participants were joined across fields, including anglers at rivers and lakes, fishery cooperatives, academic experts, and the media. The sessions were a brainstorming experience to figure out problems of fishing in inland waters and measures to sustain comfortable fishing. Eleven monthly sessions were held. The subjects of the discussions were fishing in inland waters and biodiversity, response to nonnative fish issues, the administrative measures and expenses to be paid for recreational fishing, and even setting about steps for research and comparisons to fisheries management systems in foreign countries such as the United States. In September 2004, a new position, expert officer for fishermen, was established in Japan. The published position description specified that the “expert officer for fishermen shall be engaged in planning and coordination of specific issues for people who catch fish for the purpose of recreation by fishing and other means.” The first officer was Masakazu Sakurai, who was effectively an organizer of the serial study sessions for fishing in rivers and lakes mentioned above. Sakurai often said, “Fishermen need more power.” Fishermen’s opinions were ignored in the course of drafting the Invasive Alien Species Act. Fishermen were required to have influence and a voice recognized by the society. Sakurai was asked by the local government, anglers’ groups, and fishery cooperatives and gave lectures as educational activities around the nation about the sociological positioning of anglers and the role of anglers in the new era. In 2006, the agency issued the leaflet “Recreational Fishing in Japan” to common fishermen. This was the first time that the agency used the words “recreational fishing” in public. In spring 2008, the Fisheries Agency issued the brochure “Management Manual of Fishing Grounds in Freestone Rivers.” Tomoyuki Nakamura of the National Research Institute of Fisheries Science of the 213

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Fishery Research Agency as well as a fisherman of freestone rivers were involved in the brochure’s editing. Nakamura admitted that the number of fish in freestone rivers had been increased by developing fisheries technology such as aquaculture and referred to its quality. He listed the following methods to manage fishing spots in freestone rivers: (a) fish stocking, ( b) intensive fish stocking, (c) limitation of fish size, (d) limitation of the number of fish, (e) catch and release, (f) exclusive areas for lure/fly fishing, (g) exclusive areas for lure fishing, (h) exclusive areas for fly fishing, (i) exclusive areas for tenkara fishing, (j) prohibition of fishing, (k) prohibition of fishing by turns, (l) artificial spawning grounds, (m) artificial spawning rivers, and (n) exclusive areas for children/women.23 In the fall, yamame, amago, and iwana dig spawning beds where pairs of male and female fish spawn. When they cannot dig spawning beds due to the deterioration of a riverbed, artificial spawning grounds mentioned above can be effective tools to restore and maintain appropriate spawning by arranging riverbeds, controlling river flow, and providing gravel if necessary. This is a new solution developed by Nakamura and his colleagues. Though fish do not always spawn in these newly created grounds, the process is awe inspiring when fish do spawn and hatch there. As Nakamura stated, “Creation of spawning grounds starts with creation itself and leads to an experience- oriented class for six months. The experience at the spawning grounds will enable both children and adults to feel the mystery of life and care for living creatures.24 “With ideal conditions, artificial spawning grounds shouldn’t be built. Originally, fish could freely move around a river to find natural spawning grounds and spawn where they like. In order to achieve this, pathways to spawning grounds need to be secured. We should approach the removal of dams and installation of fish ways at first.25 “In Japan today, irrational construction such as the creation of artificial spawning grounds with heavy equipment at places where natural spawning would be expected might be performed. We need to pay close attention not to do this.”26 Creation of artificial spawning grounds for freestone river fish also includes an aspect of “playing in a river,” such as carrying pebbles into a river and digging gravel. People, including members of fishery cooperatives, fishermen, local people, and children, worked together in different places to create and restore spawning grounds. Following trends elsewhere, such as the United States, as outlined in the introduction

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F I G U R E 11 . 5 Japanese anglers working on stream conservation by restoring spawning grounds in a freestone river by fishermen, Saitama Prefecture. Photo credit: Masanori Horiuchi.

to this volume, with the success of these efforts, Japan increasingly focused its policies on wild trout over hatchery fish. They promoted a policy that rivers that can support natural reproduction should not be stocked with hatchery fish.27 This support of wild fish spawning is a small step to conserve river environments by fishermen, who have no lawful right to rivers. Since 2008, the Japanese Fisheries Agency appeared to change its approach to breeding in rivers and lakes, from seed release such as juvenile fish release, matured fish release, and eyed eggs release to support of the natural spawning of wild fish. More natural breeding follows biodiversity. “Protection of spawners,” under which a certain number of spawners are left in a river after the fishing season to let them spawn naturally, and “spawners release,” which means farm-raised spawners are released in spawning season to let them spawn, have been suggested in the latest brochure.28 In March 2008, the Trout Forum was dissolved on the grounds that it had achieved the goals the organization had set at its founding. At present, some members are voluntarily continuing their activities. For

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example, members in Saitama Prefecture have created artificial spawning grounds for yamame and iwana in Arakawa River systems for about ten years.

Trout Fishing in the Future The gradual decline in young anglers continues. Fishery cooperatives are getting older and weakening. The outdated Fishery Act remains to be revised. Taking these circumstances into consideration, a new administration system will not be needed if fishery cooperatives work along with fishermen. Fishing is a recreation that occupies certain space and consumes resources. Fewer fishermen would solve more problems in terms of fishing and fishing spots. When we consider fishing as a culture, however, the decreasing number of fishermen might interrupt the continuity, diversity, and depth of fishing culture in Japan. This issue still remains controversial. Fishing gear industries are having hardships as the market grows smaller. It is disappointing that they have not taken useful measures to sustain quality fishing environments in spite of their business interests in recreational fishing. Management of fishery cooperatives in inland waters relies on the revenue from recreational fishermen. Fishery cooperatives and recreational fishermen are no longer adversaries but instead associates complementing each other so that better natural environments and better fishing spots can be sustained. It is important that fishery cooperatives and recreational fishermen work together to deal with random developments such as dam constructions and river improvements in order to conserve river environments in Japan. Hokkaido is one of the best areas suited to Salmonidae. Transplanted species such as rainbow trout, brown trout, and brook trout are familiar there as well as sufficient kinds of native species such as salmon, Amemasu (subspecies of Salvelinus), Himemasu (O. nerka), Ito (Hucho perryi), Oshorokoma (Salvelinus malma malma), and Sakuramasu (O. masou, or yamame). Hokkaido is a popular place for foreigners and tourists to fish. In Hokkaido much of the environment remains intact with little fishing pressure due to a small population. A place where fishermen can enjoy fishing with no license or cost like Hokkaido would be rare in the world. Junichi Sakata, the chief editor of a local fishing journal in Hokkaido, Tsuri-Doraku, said that development of fishing spots “should not be managed by fishermen, but should be in place without

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support by fishermen,” which means the ideal situation would not require management of fishing spots.29 Some are concerned, however, that the 2013 Hokkaido Biodiversity Conservation Regulation could lead to the removal of the rainbow trout. Rainbows, which have been valuable to the fishery for a long time, are not native to Japan. Based on the regulation, familiar and common fish which were transplanted to Hokkaido dozens of years ago such as rainbow trout, carp, gin-buna (Carassius auratus langsdorfii), oriental weather loach, sakuramasu (amago), and catfish have been listed as transplanted species within the nation. Hokkaido is an important base in fisheries policies for increasing Salmonidae. Discussion defining the economic activities of fisheries will be needed from the perspective of biodiversity. Moreover, development continues to increase on Hokkaido, especially with the construction of roads, and most concerning is the increase in dam construction projects. Most rivers and lakes in Hokkaido have no fishery cooperatives to establish fishery rights. When a dam construction is planned at a river that is not managed by a fishery cooperative, concerned people including local people, fishermen’s groups, and the media need to work together to address the issue. This would start with approaching the person in charge to have a negotiation, and it would be more difficult to continue the campaign against the project than it would be on a river with fishery rights. Habitats of aquatic organisms will be increasingly interrupted by construction of dams and weirs and bank protection, while the trend of dam removal will definitely be increased as it is elsewhere, including in America’s Pacific Northwest. On the Kuma River, for example, on Kyushu Island, a dam removal was started in 2013. Thanks to this first trial in Japan, the river is returning to what it should be. Dam construction has been associated with “the logic of money” focusing on construction budgets, but the same logic could be applied to the removal of existing dams. Fishery cooperatives for inland waters might survive even twenty years later. In my personal opinion, I hope a system for common management of rivers and lakes will be established based on consultation with people whose use them. The survival of the Invasive Alien Species Act would make fishing more rigid year by year. The wonderful trout fishing in Hokkaido will be left as it is—this is not a perspective, but a wish. The domestic fishing gear industry might die out in twenty years if it does not become active in conservation. If the industry wastes its resources without seeding or cultivating buds for the future, it cannot

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be helped. There are, however, signs of hope. The Tama River, mentioned earlier, is a model of urban rivers. Downstream of the Tama River around forty years ago was nothing more than a drainage canal for domestic and industrial wastewater where living creatures could not survive. Water quality has improved with the prevalence of sewage systems and setting up a fish ladder, enabling anadromous Ugui (Tribolodon hakonensis) and Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) to reproduce in the river. Once the fish ladder is totally maintained, allowing fish passage upstream, and once spawning grounds are secured, the return of Sakuramasu (O. masou = yamame) to the river will no longer be a dream. I imagine Sakuramasu returning to the Tama River in the near future. I hope the Tama River will be a model for other urban rivers in the future as well.

Fishermen Never Give Up Finally, I must mention the nuclear plant accident. In March 2011, the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., in Fukushima Prefecture had an accident. Although the government has announced that the accident had been controlled, the public knows this is not true, and foreign countries do not believe this either. Thousands of used nuclear fuel rods remain in the fuel pool. There is no prospective plan as to how fuel rods in the melted- down reactor will be taken out and stored. All mountains, rivers, lakes, insects, birds, fish, and humans in East Honshu were exposed to radioactivity due to the nuclear power plant accident. There are rivers into whose areas humans cannot currently venture. I never could have imagined the day when beautiful yamame and iwana in a freestone river would be contaminated by radioactivity. Fishermen, local people, fishery cooperatives, the authorities, and researchers for fisheries sciences have been working together for a long time to save beautiful rivers and create joyful fishing spots filled with beautiful fish. When I think how earnestly a lot of people have been involved, I feel as if I had suffered a nightmare. The contaminated nature of this area makes catch and release, biodiversity, and conservation of river environments all useless. The fact that cannot be taken back is so severe that we feel helpless. Is a fisherman really helpless? Even though radioactivity was showered upon the mountains and rivers we love and upon us ourselves, a

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fisherman can keep his hope. A fisherman is a persistent optimist. We are always looking for another hatch, another trout to rise. Freestone rivers in Japan show different beautiful aspects in each season. In addition to the trout I mentioned above, there are a lot of charismatic fish we can meet through fly fishing. I am willing to guide you when you come to Japan.

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For the Health of Water, Fish, and People: Women, Angling, and Conservation GRETEL VAN WIEREN

For centuries, women have been actively engaged in the art and sport of fly fishing. Based on their passion for rivers, lakes, and fish, they have become accomplished guides, casters, fly tiers, shop owners, industry leaders, and writers. Two decades ago, one may have been able to count on (only) two hands the number of women who had gained notoriety in the field.1 Yet today the number of notable women anglers has increased significantly. A recent exhibition, for example, at the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF)—“A Graceful Rise: Women in Fly Fishing, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”— spotlights fifty-two women fly fishing legends, though hundreds of additional women anglers could have also been included.2 Today, women comprise over twenty-five percent of all fly fishers, as well as the fastest-growing segment of the sport.3 Still, women’s particular contributions to the development of the sport have often been overlooked by fly fishing and conservation writers alike. This is unfortunate because an explicit consideration of women’s angling activities can expand our understanding of the history of fly fishing, as well as of the connection between the experience of fly fishing and the formation of certain conservation values.4 223

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Display from the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF) and their 2011 exhibit A Graceful Rise: Women in Fly Fishing, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Photo credit: Catherine Comar, executive director for the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

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There are at least five areas, or “streams,” where women’s particular engagement with angling related conservation work is evident. They are the streams of conservation science, conservation activism, social conservation, conservation art, and conservation mindedness.5 These are not the only ways in which women fly fishers, as well as some general anglers, and conservationists have significantly shaped the field, though they reflect common threads and emphases that emerge when women’s contributions are explicitly considered.6 As a brief background to the streams that I will describe, it is helpful to note some of the figures that are central to women fly fishing heritage. Joan Salvato Wulff, considered the grand dame of American fly casting and fishing, cites ten such figures, including fifteenth- century English abbess Dame Juliana Berners; nineteenth- century New Englanders Sara Jane McBride, Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby, and Mary Orvis Marbury; and early twentieth- century Midwesterners Carrie Frost and Carrie Stevens, New York City– based Elizabeth Greig and Helen Shaw, and Catskill specialists Winnie Ferdon Dette and Elsie Bivins Darbee. Perhaps more than any other figure Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby, however, is worth noting for her notoriety in the fly fishing world. Crosby grew up in Maine in the late 1800s, where as a young girl she learned to fish and hunt while working odd jobs at various summer camps. 224

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After graduating from Episcopal school and acquiring a position as a bank clerk, Crosby contracted tuberculosis, at which point her physician prescribed the great outdoors for her healing. Upon leaving her job at the bank, a friend gave Crosby a new model lightweight fly rod, with which Crosby was said to have “caught so many huge salmon and trout that the local sports nicknamed her ‘Fly Rod.’” Her fishing talents, combined with her innovative fly-tying skills, provided her with a state-wide reputation as one of the premier anglers in Maine. Cornelia hooked these creations (her artificial flies) around the band of her felt hat, instating a sports fashion that has lasted until today.7 Crosby went on to become a notable fly fishing writer, penning the widely distributed column “Fly Rod’s Notebook” as well as numerous articles in popular magazines such as Field and Stream and Shooting and Fishing. With this brief note on Crosby and the legacy of women fly fishers in mind, we begin by examining our first stream of women’s contributions to angling-related conservation work, that of the conservation scientist.

The Conservation Scientist The scientific study of fish and their habitats lies at the heart of anglingrelated conservation work. Such empirical study has historically taken at least two, though not necessarily distinct, tracks in the fly fishing world: that of the professional environmental scientist or practitioner and that of the self-trained or amateur naturalist. Among professional scientists, Francesca LaMonte is perhaps best known for her work directly impacting the angling world. LaMonte was an ichthyologist at the American Museum of Natural History in the 1930s and 1940s. She had no formal training in biology or zoology but, rather, a degree in music from Wellesley College. LaMonte began her work at the museum as a secretary in the ichthyology department, though she remained in the position only for one year. LaMonte soon began assisting in the translation of technical papers written in French, German, Russian, and Spanish into English for the development of an in- depth bibliography of fishes. Moving up the ranks again, she became the museum’s assistant curator of ichthyology while also serving as a delegate to the International Congress of Zoologists in Italy. Prior to being appointed to the prominent position of associate curator of the Department of Living and Extinct Fishes LaMonte published her first book, The Vanishing Wilderness (1934). 225

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In 1935, LaMonte’s work took her beyond the walls of the museum and into the field of scientific expedition. At the museum, LaMonte fortuitously crossed paths with the legendary anglers Michael and Helen Lerner, known at the time as “Bimini’s leading angling couple.” The Lerners also had scientific interests and philanthropic vision, which contributed to their financing seven international expeditions to study of the migratory patterns and diet of the ocean’s major game fish. LaMonte served as lead scientist of the research team on four of them— Nova Scotia (1936), Bimini (1937), New Zealand and Australia (1939), and Peru and Chile (1940).8 The expeditions developed groundbreaking research, for scientists had not previously had access to such a variety of fish specimens, let alone those that could be studied fresh from their marine habitats. Additionally, LaMonte was instrumental in the founding of the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) in 1939, serving on its first board of directors with Michael Lerner and Ernest Hemingway.9 She had a special interest in marlin and swordfish and was herself a devoted recreational big-game angler. Despite the fact that LaMonte was not primarily a fly fisher, her work and angling experience nevertheless paved the way for future women anglers more broadly.10 Since LaMonte’s day, women have made significant strides in contributing to advancements in the study and practice of angling related conservation science. One such example is Mollie Beattie, the first woman director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Similar to LaMonte, Beattie did not receive formal academic training in the natural sciences (her bachelor’s degree was in philosophy). Beattie went on, however, to gain a master’s degree in forestry from the University of Vermont and then later a master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. When Washington came calling in 1993, Beattie was just forty-six. She left her tiny Vermont town Grafton (population 600) to head the massive Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency that oversees approximately 100 million acres of public lands and over five hundred wildlife refuges.11 During her tenure at the agency, Beattie was known for being a fierce advocate for conserving species by protecting and managing entire ecosystems.12 Under her leadership, fifteen national wildlife refuges and 140 conservation plans were developed. Beattie consistently defended the Endangered Species Act and the protection of wetlands. She also played a positive role in promoting numerous other anglingrelated conservation policies—from the Clean Water Act to the Federal Power Act to policies that dealt with Western and tribal water law and 226

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aquifers in Texas and Idaho. Sadly, Beattie died young at age forty-nine of brain cancer, after only three years on the job. Even as LaMonte and Beattie were not well-known professional anglers themselves, their formidable contribution to the development of angling-related conservation in major scientific and governmental institutions helped pave the way for other women working professionally in the conservation field. We turn next to further explore the political aspects of women’s angling conservation work: the stream of conservation activism.

The Conservation Activist Over a decade ago, Cindy Charles was asked by the Golden West Women Fly Fishers (GWWF) in San Francisco club’s founder, pioneer Fanny Krieger, if she would be willing to head the volunteer conservation post. Charles, a new member of Golden West at the time, agreed, and the club’s conservation efforts have grown steadily from there. Charles was the first and still acting conservation chair of the GWWF. Charles’s passion for conservation activism began as a student at an all-girls’ Catholic school in California in the 1970s. While a student, Charles initiated a campaign to “save the whales,” circulating a petition and working to raise environmental consciousness in her school, which ultimately led to a sense of great reward for her. She continued to follow this passion for environmental conservation in college, gaining a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley. Once conservation chair of the Golden West club, Charles used her activist experience and science background to advance the club’s ongoing conservation related involvements and further their engagement in statewide angling conservation issues. Based on her personal experiences as an angler, Charles began to observe changes in the health of the steelhead and salmon fisheries on one of her regular fishing rivers, the Tuolumne River, whose upper portion runs through Yosemite National Park.13 The Tuolumne, which had once supported a thriving natural fishery, had experienced dwindling numbers of fish due to hydropower projects that were created in the 1960s and 1970s. For this reason, says Charles, it would fish “great” one year, and “just awful” the next.14 Since then, Charles and the GWWF have become key players in efforts to protect and restore the upper and lower Tuolumne.15 In the early 2000s, the Golden West club was also a major champion in preventing a new hydroelectric project on the 227

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South Fork of the Pit River in Modoc County. This project would have dewatered nearly three miles of migratory route for the imperiled redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp.) and seriously impacted its brown trout fishery, despite the fact that the latter are not native to America.16 For these as well as other efforts, Charles was the first woman to be awarded the Federation of Fly Fishers’ Conservation Award in 2007. Charles’s conservation achievements have roots in a long history of women angling conservation advocates. In the mid-twentieth century, for example, Julia Freeman Fairchild was well known for her commitment to conservation activism. Fairchild, along with (Ms.) Frank Hovey-Roof Connell, was the founder of the first all-women’s fishing organization in the world, the Woman Flyfishers Club. Fairchild and Connell were reportedly listening one afternoon to Mr. Tappen Fairchild tell tales of far-flung fishing adventures and companionship, which led to a conviction that women too deserved to have such experiences. Thus the Woman Flyfishers Club was born in 1932 in New York City. Dues were five dollars a year, and the club initiation fee was two. Its original mission statement included a commitment to “the protection and propagation of fish and game.”17 Over the years, Fairchild developed a consuming passion for fly fishing and the outdoor experiences it provided (she remained the club’s president for thirty-nine years). Part of this passion was directed toward angling-related conservation work. Fairchild was, for instance, well known for her outspoken public advocacy efforts on behalf of America’s natural lands, writing continuous letters on various conservation issues to prominent leaders, such as US presidents, congresspersons, and secretaries of the interior. Her commitment to conservation advocacy continued into her nineties, when she championed an effort to urge the State of New York to keep open the historic Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery, established in 1883 on Long Island.18 While Fairchild’s campaign was successful, the hatchery was nevertheless forced to close in 1982 and now serves as a nonprofit educational center dedicated to educating visitors about the freshwater ecosystems of New York. Today it holds the largest living collection of New York State freshwater reptiles, fish, and amphibians, which are housed in a building named after Julia F. Fairchild.19 Even as women have contributed significantly to the history of angling conservation science activism, they have also contributed to the development of social conservation related to fly fishing. Perhaps the strongest current in the stream of women’s angling conservation work, the social conservationist focuses on the conservation of social rela228

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tionships through a connection with water and fish and the angling arts. We turn next to explore this stream.

The Social Conservationist Aldo Leopold, father of the modern- day conservation movement, wrote frequently about the social aspect of conservation work, stating that there were two key things that interested him: “the relationship of people to each other, and the relation of people to the land.”20 In the angling context, this social element is emphasized in unique ways by women fly fishers and conservationists. For as these practitioners attest, angling can foster— actively conserve— a deep sense of connection between people and the natural world, as well as a sense of meaning and belonging among participants. Pioneering angler Fanny Krieger says that her goal all along has been “social conservation.” “I founded the Golden West Women Flyfishers (GWWF) club because women needed to find other women to find themselves, rather than only been in the shadow of a fly fisher male, husband, father.”21 Krieger founded the Golden West club in San Francisco in 1983 as a social club. Sending out invitations to twentytwo women from various backgrounds in the Bay area, Krieger says she was shocked when every one of them arrived for the first gathering at her home. Initially, they met once a month and had a fishing outing almost every weekend. Even fly caster and instructor Joan Wulff joined the club, occasionally making the cross- country trip from her home in New York to fish with the women out West. Conserving social relationships among women, as well as among children and adults, through the experience of fly fishing has remained one of Krieger’s enduring interests and goals. From the beginning, the Golden West club had a social outreach element related to the education of youth about fisheries conservation. “Aquatics in the Classroom,” one of the GWFF’s original outreach projects, continues to work to raise awareness and educate youth in local grade schools about fish ecology and the importance of the importance of clean, healthy local creeks and streams.22 The aquatics program focused initially on rearing hatchery trout in the classroom environment and releasing the alevins into local stocked lakes. Today, children also rear native Pacific chorus frogs and native rainbow trout. Trout eggs are collected in the late winter, from redds (nests) in Redwood Creek, Oakland, and then released into a sister 229

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stream, Wildcat Creek, in Alvarado Park, Richmond.23 They have also reared and released wild steelhead alevins from Alameda Creek in Fremont. Recently, the GWWF has created a scholarship program to support and encourage young women who aspire to academic excellence in environmental studies. The club also has a youth fund that pays for several children a year to attend a summer fishing camp in Northern California.24 In a similar vein, Margot Page views the type of conservation work she fosters through her work with Casting for Recovery (CFR) as “human conservation.”25 Page is granddaughter of the prominent twentieth century fly fishing writer Sparse Grey Hackle [pseud. Alfred W. Miller (1892–1983)] as well as a prominent angling writer herself. She is also one of the founding board members of CFR, an organization that helps cancer survivors heal through the experience of fly fishing with other survivors. “The natural world is a healing force,” states the Casting for Recovery literature. Cancer survivors deserve “to experience something new and challenging while enjoying beautiful surroundings within an intimate, safe, and nurturing structure.”26 Casting for Recovery retreats emphasize the personal healing and restorative qualities of the natural world and the fly fishing experience, rather than conservation activities such as stream bank restoration. Still, Page says that the respite and renewal that participants experience when they fish in beautiful places depends on the health of these watersheds and fisheries. And some women, she states, leave the retreats inspired to engage in fly fishing and conservation efforts in their home places. In addition to emphasizing fly fishing’s capacity for inner healing and renewal, women anglers have played a prominent role in the conservation of the traditional fly fishing arts. In doing so, they have transformed and transcended conventional methods and techniques, thus reinventing some of fly fishing’s central crafts. We thus turn next to examine some of these inventions.

The Conservation Artist The arts of fly fishing—fly tying, casting, and rod building— comprise a central aspect of the sport. They not only serve a necessary practical function; they also serve a communal and meaning-making role, providing a vehicle for creating a sense of shared community among

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anglers, as well as meaningful connections between the angler and her tools, which in turn connects the angler to water and fish. Among the earliest women who advanced the art of fly tying and the study of insects as it related specifically to angling was Sara Jane McBride. McBride was born in 1845 in Caledonia, New York, to a family of five children. As with LaMonte and Beattie, McBride received no formal academic training in the sciences. McBride’s father, Irish-born John McBride, however, was a well-known fly tier, and her passion for the world of insects most likely stemmed from her upbringing. Today she is known as one of the most well-respected angling entomologists and fly tiers of the late nineteenth century. McBride authored several highly praised essays on fly tying and angling entomology from 1876 to 1881, including the first acclaimed American paper on aquatic insects from an angler’s perspective.27 At the time, the fly fishing world knew very little about insect life. Standard fly patterns were modeled on what we would today call attractors, flies with bright colors or oversized wings, rather than on the naturals, flies that attempt to perfectly mimic actual insects. Further, mayfly species were emphasized to the exclusion of other types of aquatic insects, and the value of the caddis fly was yet undiscovered. One of McBride’s most significant contributions to the world of fly fishing was her systematic ordering of insects, not only from a biological perspective but from the angler’s perspective, which focuses on insect life specifically in relation to fish behavior. In her entomological essays, McBride distinctly identified and emphasized the importance of insects other than mayflies, including, most notably, that of the caddis fly, curious and novel for her day. In order to observe the life cycle of aquatic insects and note their shapes and colors in their various stages, McBride raised nymphs in aquariums in her home in Rochester, New York. Based on these astute observations, McBride crafted her unique, first- of-their-kind fly patterns. Sporting magazine and newspaper advertisements boasted that McBride’s self-tied creations replicated insects from the “natural.” Her essays were widely read and respected by the best-known tiers of the 1870s, including Mary Marbury Orvis and Theodore Gordon. In 1876 she was awarded a bronze medal for her Tomah Jo at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. McBride’s Tomah Jo pattern was popularized by one of her female contemporaries, Mary Orvis Marbury. Marbury represents one of the most important figures in the history of fly tying. The daughter of

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Charles and Laura Frederick Orvis, Mary, the Orvises’ oldest child and only daughter, was born in Manchester, Vermont, in 1856, the same year that her father started the now-famous company Orvis. In 1876, when Marbury was just twenty years old, she was put in charge of the company’s commercial fly production department. A master fly tier herself, Marbury had a staff of six young women who tied flies in a white clapboard house in Manchester (it remains under Orvis’s ownership).28 By 1890, under Marbury’s leadership, the Orvis mail- order catalog had become a leader in fly fishing tackle, listing 434 different fly patterns. In 1892 Marbury published a comprehensive volume of fly patterns, Favorite Flies and Their Histories. Favorite Flies was an instant success and bestseller, turning Marbury into an overnight superstar in the angling world. Over 500 pages long, it catalogued some 290 fly patterns, illustrated vividly in chromolithography on thirty-two color plates. Professional artists and printers copied the flies, which were mounted in small picture frames. In its first four years, it was reprinted at least six times in America and England. “It has been given credit, more than any other one event for helping standardize the tangle of fly-pattern names and dressings that had by then become the curse of American fishermen and fishing tack dealers,” writes Paul Schullery.29 When Marbury died in 1914, the headline of the British journal Fishing Gazette read: “Death of the Most Famous but one Female Angling Author.”30 Similar accolades can be attributed to contemporary fly fishing legend Joan Wulff. “She has done for casting what Stephen Hawking did for physics,” wrote Rod & Reel magazine in 1994. “She stands alone in her ability to communicate its mechanics as well as its human aspects.”31 Born in 1926 in a suburb of Paterson, New Jersey, Wulff won her first casting title at age eleven. By the age of thirty-four, Wulff had won seventeen national and one international casting titles, set a women’s record distance cast of 161 feet, and became the first woman to win the Fisherman’s Distance Event against an all-male competition. In 1952, Wulff decided to leave her job as a dance instructor in order to make angling her full-time career. She began her career as a casting demonstrator at outdoors shows around the country and eventually became Ashaway Line and Twine Company’s “goodwill ambassador,” promoting fly casting, representing tackle and line manufacturers, and competing in fishing and casting events. After setting the long distance casting record in 1960, Wulff decided to set aside competitive casting and take up fly fishing full time. As a featured guest on the ABC series The American Sportsman, Joan met Lee Wulff, the series’s producer and 232

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an internationally acclaimed outdoors filmmaker. They were married within the year. During the summers of 1972–75, the Wulffs served as guest instructors for the American Sportsman’s Club in Colorado. During these visits, Joan learned of her passion to teach others the art of fly fishing. In 1979, the Wulffs opened the Joan and Lee Wulff Fishing School, now known as the Wulff School of Fly Fishing, on the Beaverkill River in Lew Beach, New York. Since then the Wulff School has become one of the most significant educational institutions in fly fishing, instructing countless numbers of men, women, and children the arts of fly tying, casting, reading and wading water, and catching and releasing fish. Additionally, anglers are schooled in the ethics of fly fishing. This leads to our final stream, that of the conservation-minded angler.

The Conservation-Minded Angler One of the oldest examples of women cultivating the angling conservation conscience can be traced to the fifteenth- century writings of Dame Juliana Berners, a hunter and general angler.32 Berners was the abbess of a nunnery in Sopwell, England, and also an avid outdoorsperson. In her famous essay Treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle (1496), Berners admonished anglers to avoid the vice of greed in the fishing enterprise. Greedy fishing, or, in other words, keeping too many fish, would not only spoil the sport for others but for oneself as well. When the angler had a “sufficient mess,” Berners wrote, she should “covet no more at that time.”33 In a positive sense, anglers should “nourish the game” in all possible ways, according to Berners, and work to destroy all things that were “devourers of it.”34 The idea that recreational anglers should “nourish the game,” as Berners believed, was also behind the catch and release effort promoted by women saltwater anglers in the 1930s and 1940s.35 Referred to by their male counterparts as “anglerettes,” women such as Helen Lerner and Chisie Farrington stressed the importance of catch and release of big game species as a way to avoid overfishing saltwater fisheries and promote the health of the marine environment. These anglers also emphasized the importance of angling ethics more broadly. Farrington, author of Women Can Fish: Salt Water, Surf, and Fresh Water and holder of seven world records, for instance, instructed anglers to claim only the fish that they themselves had hooked, fought, and landed.36 Contemporary big-game angler Marsha Bierman continued to raise 233

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consciousness regarding the principle of catch and release. Though not a fly fisher, Bierman became increasingly convinced throughout her tournament career that the practice of killing game fish for tournament competitions was imprudent and unethical, given the way it contributed to the depletion of the world’s greatest large fish species. Bierman, the first woman to win the prestigious Bahamas Billfish Championship in 1977, was also the first angler to catch and release two “granders” on fifty-pound standup tackle: a blue marlin estimated at nearly 1,300 pounds and a black marlin estimated at approximately 1,100 pounds. Had the fish been killed for official weigh-in, both would have qualified for International Game Fish Association (IGFA) world records.37 Another key figure in the advancement of catch and release angling was Barbara “Sugar” Ferris, founder of the national organization Bass’n Gals. While Ferris was not a fly fisher, she formed the first- ever all-women’s bass fishing tournaments in 1970, which, from the beginning, emphasized conservation- oriented practices. They instituted a five-fish-per-angler per day limit, whereas other tournament series at the time allowed ten to fifteen fish per angler per day. Ferris saw the five fish limit as important for the conservation of the particular body of water where the tournament was held. She also introduced the “paper fish” rule in tournament fishing. The rule allowed competitors to measure a fish twelve to fi fteen inches and estimate its weight based on size. This way, the younger and more fragile stocks of bass could be released immediately and still counted in the total catch calculation for the day. “Conservation is something that we owe to the sport,” Ferris believed.38 For most recreational anglers, conservation mindedness has become part and parcel of what it means to be a good sportsperson. Fisherwomen in particular have emphasized this virtue, helping the sport to become more ethically oriented. This continues to be the case among new women leaders in the field, many of whom are interested not only in fishing hard but also in working to restore rivers and protect wild fish. Professional guide Kate Taylor, for example, takes clients on fly fishing trips in the Pacific Northwest for steelhead, Baja for roosterfish, and Alaska for salmon and rainbow trout (with spey rods).39 She is also, however, heavily involved with conservation efforts in Bristol Bay.40 The accomplishments and contributions of individual women in fly fishing are, in many respects, indicative of the advancement of women in the society of their respective periods. Joan Wulff grew-up as an angler in the 1950s and 1960s, for instance, a time when the women’s movement was gaining momentum and women were making strides 234

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in various professions. Further, there are aspects of fly fishing as an outdoor recreation sport that have historically made it more accessible to women than other similar types of activities, such as hunting. Fly fishing, for example, requires little equipment, and the basic use of a fly rod is relatively simple, making it an easy sport to pick up. Yet as Wulff and others point out, there has also historically been trouble on the waterfront when women have entered the angling scene, despite their positive contributions and gains in the field and in society. Angling has typically been viewed as a “man’s” sport, with all the gender entanglements that go with it. As already noted, women have had to fight for their right to fish, both on the home and water fronts. Thus, in this closing section, we examine some of angling conservation’s more ambivalent dimensions when it comes to women on the waterfront.

Gender Trouble on the Waterfront The challenges that women in particular have faced in entering the angling world have often revolved around the issue of public recognition. Women, even where they have become accomplished in the field, have simply not received the same recognition as men in terms of public prestige. Further, where women anglers have become well known, it has often been on the coattails of a male figure. There are of course exceptions to this. Francesca LaMonte rose through the ranks of the angling scientific community entirely on her own ingenuity and accomplishments, and Joan Salvato (Wulff) was already a world-famous angler when she met her husband to be, Lee Wulff. Nevertheless, women have invariably faced significant challenges upon their entrance into the public angling arena. This is especially apparent considering the angling world prior to the women’s rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Joan Wulff, for example, notes the difficulties she faced when she first began working professionally in the industry in the 1950s. For instance, she cites the time when she declined a job offer from a prominent angling manufacturer to work as a sales representative because of her gender. At the time, Wulff writes, “men had absolutely no respect for a woman traveling alone on the road.”41 Additionally, there is the issue of women working “double duty” when it comes to angling and conservation work. Volunteer conservation work, for instance, requires a significant amount of time and en235

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ergy above and beyond the act of fishing, particularly when practiced by volunteers. And as GWWF’s Charles notes, “sometimes people just want to go fishing.” Alternatively put, sometimes all people have time to do is go fishing. This is especially true for women, who, if married with children, do not tend to have full- (or part-) time stay-at-home partners to support their career, social, home, fishing— and volunteer philanthropic—lives, as has traditionally been the case for men anglers who are also involved with conservation work. Women remain infrequent, says Charles, in her world of volunteer angling conservation activism. “It takes a long time to get really involved”— extra time is often a luxury that most women in particular do not have in excess.42 There are additional gender-based angling and conservation issues that could be raised besides those just noted.43 In the interest of space, however, I close on a hopeful note: a quote from one of fly fishing’s newest women leaders, April Vokey. In 1997, Vokey founded Fly Gal Ventures, a guiding company based in British Columbia, where she is also involved with the conservation of the sacred headwaters of the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine rivers.44 Appealing to fellow anglers everywhere to join in this conservation work, she writes: Canadians, Americans, anglers from around the world, I meet you on our rivers, I see the smiles on your faces and hear the joy in your voices as you share your stories about B.C.’s wonderful fisheries and breathtaking landscape. “Unparalleled,” most of you tell me as your turn your backs to the shoreline and stare into the current. It prides me to witness fellow anglers appreciate our home, and with this I urge you, please don’t now suddenly turn your backs to face in the opposite direction. We need you.45

Women angler conservationists have a rich and distinctive heritage on which to build. This heritage should continue to be spotlighted in the angling and conservation literature and lore. The next generation of female anglers should commit themselves to conservation work not only to advance the role of women in the field but also because it is the necessary work that needs to be done—for the health of water, fish, and people.

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Crying in the Wilderness: Roderick Haig-Brown, Conservation, and Environmental Justice ARN KEELING

In the annals of twentieth- century fly fishing literature, perhaps no figure looms so large as the lanky frame and hawklike visage of Roderick Haig-Brown. Author of more than two dozen works of fiction, nonfiction, and books for children, the Englishman-turned-British Columbian gained particular fame amongst angling enthusiasts for his books and articles chronicling his pursuit of the “contemplative man’s recreation” on Canada’s West Coast, and beyond. Fly fishing historian Paul Schullery calls HaigBrown western North America’s “one truly world- class fishing writer”; Mark Browning celebrates Haig-Brown’s influential writings, which united British and American angling traditions.1 The Federation of Fly Fishers’ Roderick Haig-Brown Award honors “a fly fishing author whose work embodies the philosophy and spirit of Roderick Haig-Brown, particularly, a respect for the ethics and traditions of fly fishing and an understanding of rivers, the inhabitants and their environments.” As these and other authors note, Haig-Brown’s fame and accomplishments as a writer were combined with a lifetime of conservation advocacy. Undertaking a “pilgrimage to Haig-Brown” in the 237

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early 1970s, novelist Thomas McGuane acknowledged that, in addition to his lyrical writing about fly fishing and rivers, “before anything else Haig-Brown is a conservationist  .  .  .”2 In his combination of technical expertise, evocative prose, and deeply held conviction, Haig-Brown embodied the deep connection between the aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of fly fishing, on the one hand, and the active defense of fish and fishing places on the other.3 As I have argued elsewhere, the connection between Haig-Brown’s conservation activities and his recreational and literary interests was not casual, but integral.4 Haig-Brown’s sporting ethics, derived from the English amateur naturalist tradition and informed by modern perspectives on game management, shaped his ideas about the wise use and stewardship of natural resources. In the context of postwar British Columbia, a frontier industrial society whose rapid economic expansion was fueled by the often careless and destructive exploitation of natural resources, Haig-Brown’s conservation ideas spilled over from

Roderick Haig- Brown on fishing trip with Harry Hawthorn Foundation, Upper Campbell Lake. Photo credit: Stanley Read/UBC Archives.

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questions of fish and game management to encompass the full spectrum of conservationist concerns, from pollution to resource depletion to ecological sustainability. A “crusader in hip-boots,” Haig-Brown nevertheless transcended a narrow focus on game fish protection to become an important advocate of environmental protection generally, anticipating (and, in Canada at least, influencing) the flowering of the mass environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Haig-Brown, then, might well be regarded as the twentieth- century exemplar of the leading and largely celebrated role of sportsmen in North American movements for conservation and environmental protection. For historian John Reiger and others, sportsmen provided key ideological and material support for early efforts to stem the wanton degradation and exploitation of natural resources that characterized the emergence of industrial society in North America.5 First, sportsmen promoted an ethical stance towards animals that treated them with respect and reverence, rather than simply as commodities. This attitude was articulated in the “sportsman’s code,” which defined ethical hunting and fishing behavior,\ and favored particular sporting practices and technologies (including fly fishing). The sportsman’s code traced its historical roots to English sporting ethics, which settlers readily transplanted to North America and propagated in the latter half of the nineteenth century through sporting social circles and through the profusion of guidebooks, periodicals, and books devoted to hunting and fishing.6 Second, sportsmen sought to protect and sustain populations of game animals through the direct regulation of technologies of capture, hunting and fishing practices, and harvesting levels. The desire not only to sustain but to enhance animal populations led directly to important advances in fish and game conservation, from scientific approaches to game management to legal mechanisms of species and habitat protection. Finally, it is suggested that these first two elements in tandem—the nonmaterial valuation of animals and the impetus towards game conservation—led more or less directly to a kind of protoecological consciousness that was embodied (as the introduction of this volume notes) in the spiritual and intellectual journey of the father of game management, Aldo Leopold.7 In practical terms, sportsmen contributed to conservation and environmental protection long before the modern environmental movement, through the formation of local fish and game clubs as well as larger organizations such as the Izaak Walton League and the Federation of Fly Fishers, which provided financial and political support for conservation initiatives.8 In recent decades, however, the role played by sport hunters and 239

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fishers, including fly fishers, in advancing conservation ideas and practices has come under increasing scrutiny. Scholars concerned with the unequal effects of game conservation practices on various resource users have critically re- examined the conservation achievements of sportsmen (along with those of the North American conservation movement generally). In general terms, this diverse literature suggests (as environmental historian Tina Loo writes) that, “to the extent that wildlife conservation marginalized, dispossessed, and displaced rural people by imposing and legitimating one kind of relationship with nature over others, it was an instrument of colonization.”9 In this view, conservation, traditionally thought of as a positive realignment of human-nature relations, was implicated in social injustices that imperiled the livelihoods and cultures of rural resource users in North America, including farmers, the rural poor, and Aboriginal people.10 As the foundation for conservation ideas, the sportsman’s code favored tourism, leisure, and urbanite recreation over local subsistence harvesting practices, which were regarded as wasteful, crude, and “uncivilized.” Drawing in part from studies of the imposition of colonial game laws in Africa and other colonized countries, historians, geographers, anthropologists, and others have suggested that fish and game conservation in North America represented an ideology of nature that tended to discriminate against marginalized groups.11 In contrast with John Reiger’s view, that “sportsmen urged restrictions upon themselves” for the protection of game resources, these new perspectives suggest game laws disproportionately targeted disenfranchised “others” in order to preserve more or less exclusive access to fish and game, a process that might be thought of as “dispossession by conservation.”12 As a leading exponent of both conservation and a variant of the English sporting ethic, to what extent did Roderick Haig-Brown’s ideas and actions reproduce this process of dispossession by conservation? To what extent was he aware of these issues in his writing and activism? In exploring these questions, this essay seeks to engage readers interested in both fly fishing and conservation history in an examination of the connections between fly fishing, conservation, and environmental justice. The goal is not to lecture fly fishers on their elitism or the sins of their forebears, nor is it to impugn the ideas and actions of individual fisher- conservationists like Haig-Brown. Rather, it is to cast across this recent stream of literature for what it can tell us about the motivations and impacts of past generations of sportsmen- conservationists and to examine the extent to which these issues are reflected in the life and ideas of one of its foremost figures in North America. 240

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Conservation, Fishing, and Dispossession How (to paraphrase historical geographer Cole Harris) did conservation dispossess?13 It did so in at least three interconnected ways, all of which were intimately tied to fly fishing. First, a number of authors have illustrated how the sportsman’s code, as it developed in the nineteenth century, tended to reflect the values of social elites and the emerging urban middle class in North America. These groups valued sport, including hunting and game fishing, as an expression of Victorian- era manhood and morality through recreation. Outdoor sport came to be regarded as an antidote to the “enervating” effects of the modern, industrial world; the contest or communion with nature and wilderness afforded by sporting pursuits restored to sportsmen their vigor, masculinity, and gentlemanly self- discipline. As Bouchier and Cruikshank point out, “Angling was believed to reflect and reinforce respectability, offering a healthy alternative to the other temptations of the industrial city.”14 Central to the sportsman’s code was the moral imperative of “fair play” or “fair chase” and restraint in killing, as well as the cultivation of a scientific understanding of one’s quarry, through “nature study.” These values, promoted by the burgeoning sportsmen’s club movement, profoundly influenced sportsmen’s approaches to conservation and game protection in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.15 These sporting ideals emphasized fishing and hunting as ritualized leisure pursuits and regarded hunting or fishing for food (“pothunting”) as demeaning and wasteful. Thus, sportsmen (often urban dwellers) tended to come into conflict with rural inhabitants, workingclass people, and Aboriginal people who continued to hunt and fish for subsistence and the market as well as for pleasure. Sporting values “helped to distinguish practitioners who fished for recreation—for spiritual satisfaction—from those who fished to gratify material needs.”16 Sportsmen often targeted these latter groups as unwelcome competitors for game animals and fish and attributed the perceived declines in harvesting rates in popular recreational areas to locals. For instance, Michael Thoms recounts how, in the 1880s, professional angler and magazine author A. R. Macdonough blamed “pot-hunters” and lowerclass anglers for the declining catch rates on the popular Nipigon River trout fishery in Ontario.17 As Richard Judd notes in his history of conservation in New England, fly fishing epitomized the link genteel fishers made between harvesting technologies and class-based notions of 241

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morality.18 Aboriginal fishers, in particular, were routinely characterized as wasteful and “unsporting” resource users, particularly in their use of nets, weirs, spears, and other “unsporting” fishing technologies (although, as Ken Lokensgard points out in his chapter on Blackfoot fishers, Aboriginal people themselves had very different ontological understandings of fish and fishing and likely would not have recognized these categories and distinctions). If sporting ethics provided the ideological foundation for dispossession by conservation, the enclosure or privatization of popular sporting locations such as angling rivers put these ideas into practice. In part motivated by a desire to “protect” prized fishing grounds, wealthy sportsmen and their clubs sought exclusive leases or the outright ownership of streams. Schullery notes the establishment of several “preserves” by anglers in New York and Pennsylvania in the late nineteenth century.19 In this period—when state regulation of game resources was haphazard at best and when recreational and subsistence users came into increasing conflict—many sportsmen regarded privatization as the key to game fish conservation. “It is considered advisable that the waters containing fish should be largely under private control, rather than that the provincial government should undertake the work of protection,” wrote the commissioner of Crown Lands of Quebec in 1885, advocating a system of leaseholding of salmon streams by anglers’ associations.20 Particularly in eastern North America, these strategies provided a legal basis for the exclusion of rural and Aboriginal fishers, whose fishing practices were held responsible for declining landings. In some cases, the enforcement of access restrictions by fish and game guardians was provided by or paid for by angling associations or private owners themselves. In this sense, Parenteau argues in connection with Atlantic Canadian salmon streams, “salmon anglers engaged in a large-scale colonization of the region’s salmon rivers with the full cooperation of the provincial governments.”21 While not every sportsmen’s club, lodge, or association sought or achieved exclusive access to fish or waterways, the enclosure of formerly common resources and spaces, undertaken in the name of conservation, resulted in social conflicts between rural inhabitants and often privileged anglers and sport hunters. While privatization provided one means of restricting access in the name of conservation, the “legal capture” of fish and game through state management and regulation extended these restrictions across the continent by the early twentieth century.22 Recent studies of the rise of modern conservation increasingly emphasize the inequitable 242

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class and racial dimensions of these new governmental regimes. Although the philosophy of conservation and public resource management, as articulated by prominent Progressive- era figure Gifford Pinchot, advocated “the greatest good for the greatest number over the longest time,” in many cases fish and game conservation “secured resources for the many at the expense of the few in places where ‘public access’ and ‘state management’ were watchwords.”23 The elite membership of sportsmen’s clubs in eastern North America used their political and economic influence to promote conservation legislation, including bag limits, harvesting seasons, and technology-based restrictions. This legislation tended to institutionalize the values and priorities of sportsmen, as opposed to other resource users.24 By replacing local conservation and harvesting practices with a legal regime based on government ownership and management of wildlife, state conservationists supplanted traditional rural resource uses and instituted a system of social control and surveillance that met with often considerable resistance. Derided and prosecuted as “poachers,” immigrants, rural residents, and Aboriginal peoples fought to protect their access to fish and game, even as they engaged with the new opportunities for work created by the growing popularity of wildlife recreation, such as guiding.25 This body of work suggests, then, that the ultimate effect of fish and game conservation was to dispossess socially marginalized groups of rights to harvest wild resources in their accustomed manners and places. Critics of sportsmen can be scathing: in Making Salmon, Joseph Taylor argues that Western anglers “reorganized landscapes so raw materials and energy flowed to cities, colonized rivers to create pastoral refuges, imposed their own rules of comportment on society, and deracinated any species or people which seemed to threaten their aesthetic and material pursuits.”26 North American fish and game conservation regulations, according to Judd and Parenteau, “were introduced in an aggressive and unapologetic manner; they sought to end unfettered access to fish and game for tens of thousands of residents [ . . . ]; they imposed a generic and artificial moral order on fish and game harvesting; and they interrupted the seasonal rhythm of agriculture, labouring and foraging. . . .”27 More gently and reflectively, Paul Schullery admits that fly fishers’ enthusiasm for “acclimatization” and hatcheries favoring nonnative game fish have made them “villains” in the eyes of some modern defenders of ecological integrity.28 To some extent, this characterization of sportsmen as solely “urban elites” and as completely oblivious to the potential inequities of conservation legislation may be subject to challenge. However, this revisionist perspective 243

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has provided a stern challenge to the image of the sportsman as bulwark of a virtuous tradition of conservation ideas and activism.

Haig-Brown: Frontier Fisherman and Conservationist In many ways, the life of Haig-Brown exemplifies the heroic image of fisherman- conservationists celebrated by Reiger and others. Roderick Langmere Haig-Brown was born in 1908 in rural England and grew up surrounded by the traditions of English country life. He apprenticed as a fly fisher and amateur naturalist with his uncle on the chalk streams of Dorset and was steeped in English literary traditions inherited from his family (his grandfather was an educator, his late father an erstwhile essayist). A rather wayward youth saw Haig-Brown expelled from his grandfather’s public school and sent to find himself in the US Pacific Northwest. His work as a logger, beachcomber, and trapper introduced him to the streams of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, where he eventually settled with his American wife, Ann Elmore, in 1934. From his base in the Vancouver Island logging town of Campbell River, Haig-Brown explored the steelhead, salmon, and trout waters of the region, sustaining his family through writing: he wrote twentyeight books (four published posthumously), dozens of essays, radio dramas and broadcasts, and newspaper and magazine articles. These works included two novels and a number of popular works aimed at juvenile audiences, but Haig-Brown’s renown, of course, came as a fishing writer. Already in 1952, Haig-Brown was described in Time as Canada’s “top nature writer and conservationist,” and his prominence in the fly fishing canon only grew in the 1960s, with the publication of A Primer of Fly Fishing (1964) and completion of the Fisherman’s quartet. By his death in 1976, Haig-Brown was internationally celebrated for his contributions to the literature on fly fishing and, especially in Canada, recognized as a major conservation advocate.29 For Haig-Brown, conservation ideas flowed naturally from his sporting ethics. Waltonian, “Anglican” notions of civility and restraint, derived from his upbringing and the English amateur naturalist tradition, formed the core of his conservation philosophy.30 His fishing writing, whether guidebooks such as The Western Angler (1939) or A Primer of Fly Fishing, or his more meditative reflections on the art and practice of fly fishing, invariably contained sections dealing with questions of ethics, fisheries protection, or nature conservation more generally. For Haig-Brown, sporting ethics were as much a matter of values and at244

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titudes, rather than adherence to particular practices or technologies. In The Western Angler, he admitted his own preference for fly fishing but acknowledged that “tackle and methods and pleasure in fishing are essentially matters of opinion and prejudice” and argued that conservation was a matter of sporting values and practices, not gear type.31 These values included respect for the fish and its environment, reluctance in killing, and a sense of duty towards fellow sportsmen, all attitudes that found resonance in conservationist notions of resource husbandry, game regulation, and environmental protection. Ultimately, he wrote in Fisherman’s Summer, “sport without limits and restraints, without ethics and tradition, is not sport at all and can satisfy no thinking person for very long.”32 Any rod fisherman exercising the appropriate restraint and self- control could be considered a conservationist. Haig-Brown also emphasized the obligation of fishermen not only to themselves and their sport but to the conservation of fish and game as common resources. In a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio talk on wildlife, Haig-Brown identified sportsmen as the foremost protectors of wildlife and asserted that “only an informed public with a lively conscience can prevent [habitat loss].”33 In writing and speeches, HaigBrown linked the ethics of sport with the duties of fishers and their organizations to expand their conservation interests beyond game laws and bag limits, and to fight environmental degradation. He supported the activities of fish and game clubs ranging from the local Campbell River Rod and Gun Club, to the provincial BC Wildlife Federation, to major American organizations such as Trout Unlimited (which presented the author with a Trout Conservation Award in 1965). “Conservation must stake its claims aggressively and authoritatively,” he wrote in 1966, and he frequently worked with sporting organizations to intervene in environmental disputes, such as the conflicts over hydroelectric development and mining in Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island.34 Sportsmen in his home province, at least, heard his exhortations: the BC Wildlife Federation, by the late 1960s, had become a vocal, politically active lobby, frequently challenging provincial government policies on parks, pollution, and resource development. Even as Haig-Brown’s own environmental statements became more strident, even radical, in the late 1960s, he retained a strong sense of the particular role of sportsmen and sporting ethics as a foundation for ecological protection and conservation ideas.35 Many writers have identified Haig-Brown as a “conservation pioneer,” an advocate for game protection and environmental issues long before they became mainstream values. Given Haig-Brown’s impor245

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tance as a fly fisher and conservation figure, is his legacy, too, subject to the revisionism outlined above, which links conservation with social and environmental injustice? Certainly, the processes of displacement and dispossession some historians have tied to sport and conservation were evident in the British Columbia milieu into which Roderick HaigBrown moved in the 1930s. Indeed, on the western edge of North America, territorial resettlement and the extension of Euro-American society remained very much an unfolding process during this period. On this frontier, conservation, whether advocated by local fish and game clubs or enforced by provincial or state authorities, became an instrument of control over people and territories as yet incompletely incorporated into Euro-American systems of property and society.36 In British Columbia, as authors Douglas Harris and Michael Thoms show, recreational anglers played their part in dispossession— although not always a straightforward one. In his account of disputes amongst commercial fisheries, anglers, and Aboriginal people on the Cowichan River, Harris traces how sport fishers strategically supported the Cowichan Indian Band’s subsistence weir fishery against commercial salmon fishing interests. “Sport fishers, however, were unpredictable allies, inclined to turn against the Native fisheries when the cannery threat subsided,” he argues.37 However, as occupants of a riverside Indian Reserve, the Cowichan Band, in turn, could and did block access to sport fishers when disputes flared over the regulation of the native fishery, resisting the imposition of game laws that favored recreational fishers. Michael Thoms’s exploration of “A Place Called Pennask” more directly links the practices of dispossession with the sporting ideals of BC fly fishermen— and with Haig-Brown. Thoms examines the case of Pennask Lake, a large, highly productive trout lake in south-central British Columbia and the site of a long-standing Aboriginal fishery.38 The land around Pennask Lake, most of which was unowned “Crown” land,39 was purchased in the late 1920s by the American pineapple magnate James Drummond Dole and turned into an exclusive, private fishing preserve for an elite fly fishing club. As Thoms shows, Dole and his fellow fishers superimposed a grid of property ownership and exclusive access rights over the traditional seasonal resource use and occupancy of the lakeshore. The Lake Pennask Fish and Game Club enforced these access restrictions through the local agents of colonial control, the federal Department of Indian Affairs and provincial lands officials. The effect was to displace the Aboriginal fishery through the “legal capture” of these spaces in systems of property and game regulation. Sporting ideals and practices both justified and reinforced this re246

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configuration of the lake’s spaces. As Thoms writes, “club members turned the spaces possessed by private property into ‘a place called Pennask’ as their culture and technology intersected with the lake’s ecology.”40 Club membership consisted of wealthy American industrialists and high-ranking British Columbia government officials, and later came to include members of the “Harry Hawthorn Foundation for the Inculcation and Propagation of the Principles and Ethics of FlyFishing,” a group of fly fishing enthusiasts formed in the 1950s that included the president and several professors at the University of British Columbia, as well as Haig-Brown— by then an honorary graduate of the university (Figure 13.2). The Pennask club, eager to impose its vision of appropriate fishing practices, literally rewrote the landscape of the lake, (re)naming its shoreline, bays, and fishing spots after club members and events and chronicling the lake’s virtues as a fly fishing paradise. Decades later, these efforts would be memorialized in a history of the lake, which celebrated the “honest anglers who richly enjoyed— or still enjoy—the pleasures of angling with rod and delicate fly, and who were also dedicated to the maintenance of the untouched beauty of a truly beautiful lake.”41 The Waltonian sentiments of this history literally erase the history of Aboriginal use (and subsequent dispossession) at Pennask Lake. This cultural transformation of the lake, Thoms suggests, intersected with government and scientific initiatives for the “transformation of the inland fishery from one controlled by people who used non-sporting methods (i.e., those of the lower classes, pseudo sportsmen, and Aboriginals) to a fishery dominated by the ideals and methods of the sportsman.”42 The Pennask case, overall, illustrates how the key tenets of sportsmen’s conservation—the regulation of technologies and practices, systems of law and property, and the privileging of leisure over livelihood—intersected to produce dispossession by conservation. Haig-Brown was intimately connected with these elite fly fishing fraternities, both through his status as the West Coast’s iconic fishing writer and through personal connections. Haig-Brown was a founding member of the Harry Hawthorn Foundation and, from 1953 to 57, the group convened annually at Upper Campbell Lake near his home (thereafter its annual gathering moved to Pennask Lake).43 As Yasmeen Qureshi points out, members of the Foundation embraced identities both as Waltonian “piscators” and as conservationists, adopting in the 1960s the objective “to assist in the conservation of wild life, including fish, and of parks and wilderness areas.”44 Biographer Ben Metcalfe has suggested that Haig-Brown enjoyed the company of these powerful and 247

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Harry Hawthorn Fly Fishing Club at Pennask Lake. Photo credit: UBC Archives.

influential men and that his association with them may have blunted, to some extent, his effectiveness as an advocate of conservation and ecological ideas.45 Nevertheless, it is unclear whether Haig-Brown himself was aware of these colonial legacies at Pennask Lake in particular, or the question of the unequal effects of fish and game laws more generally. Throughout his books, letters, and speeches, he trained his critique on government mismanagement of natural resources and celebrated the role of sportsmen in promoting the protection and improvement of outdoor recreation. Where he discussed problems of resource depletion, he tended to focus on the problems of pollution, habitat degradation, or conflicts with commercial harvesters, rather than on “poachers” or Aboriginal uses of natural resources.46 While he favored game laws and their application, he regarded them mainly as a necessary codification of the sporting values of civility and restraint, rather than as a reaction to the perceived excesses of “pot hunters” or meat fishermen (although he maintained a life-long ambivalence towards the killing of his quarry). Indeed, Haig-Brown was often at pains to emphasize the importance of maintaining democratic access to the outdoors and the experiences it 248

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offered. Even as he met at the private lodge of Pennask Lake, he argued vigorously for the maintenance of fish and game as public resources, open to all, and for “the people’s right to good fishing.” “There are very few ‘private’ waters” in North America, he noted in Fisherman’s Spring. “This is as it should be, a pleasant and not too common recognition of the fact that everyone in a democratic state has a claim on the yield of its natural resources.”47 Although fly fishing has been regarded by many commentators as an elitist, exclusive activity, Haig-Brown did not regard it as such and promoted fishing as a pastime accessible to all. Perhaps more puzzling is Haig-Brown’s overlooking of Aboriginal conflicts over recreational resources in British Columbia. For his time, Haig-Brown was a relatively progressive and liberal voice in a province still deeply tinged with racist and paternalist attitudes towards Aboriginal people. As a magistrate, he was known for his sympathetic treatment of Aboriginal people appearing before his bench, and he decried paternalist laws such as the prohibition (lifted in 1959) against Native purchases of alcohol. Perhaps some measure of his tolerant attitudes could be detected in his children: son Alan, who married an Aboriginal woman, and daughter Celia, who went on to become a foremost thinker on Aboriginal education and rights in Canada.48 HaigBrown was certainly well aware of the history and ongoing presence of Native people in British Columbia; he wrote a children’s book about North Coast tribes (The Whale People [1962]) and included Aboriginal characters and stories in many of his fictional books set in the Pacific Northwest. Yet for the most part, one strains to find discussions, or even mentions, of Native people themselves as contemporary fishers and resource users, in British Columbia or beyond. Discussions of his “fellow British Columbians”—in Measure of the Year (1950), for instance, or the closing chapter of The Western Angler—tend to omit the province’s significant Aboriginal minority. Of the entire Haig-Brown corpus, the only notable discussion of Aboriginal fisheries is found in the 1974 Environment Canada commissioned volume, The Salmon, a kind of glossy travelogue celebrating Canadian fisheries. This book—which can barely be considered a distinctive Haig-Brown work—includes photographs of “the descendents of those same [Aboriginal] peoples in Canada, [who] to- day bear an important and prosperous part in the salmon fishery and in the processing of the fish.”49 In spite of what must have been semiregular interactions with Aboriginal people in places like Pennask Lake and Campbell River, and an understanding of the deep ties of Aboriginal cultures to land and natural resources, in his writing and 249

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speeches, Haig-Brown almost never addressed the question of their role in contemporary discussions of conservation, recreation, and sporting regulation. One episode that did bring these connections to light came near the end of Haig-Brown’s life. In 1974, a controversial legal decision in United States vs. Washington upheld American Indian treaty rights to Pacific salmon fisheries, throwing the international legal arrangements surrounding salmon fisheries into a drawn- out dispute. Haig-Brown, as a commissioner of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, was appalled by the threats to the commission’s regulatory authority, regarding it as a threat to conservation of the commercial and recreation salmon resource. Haig-Brown’s main objection seems to have been that this was an Aboriginal commercial fishery; he had previously written approvingly of an Aboriginal food fishery for salmon “as long as there is no bootlegging.”50 In spite of “his long-standing support for Aboriginal claims in Canada,” Metcalfe contends, Haig-Brown became embittered by US efforts to accommodate Aboriginal treaty fisheries within the Pacific salmon treaty.51 Throughout his career, concerned as he was about the impacts of industrialization and increasing harvesting pressure on recreational resources, the potential inequities of conservation itself remained HaigBrown’s “blind spot.” A combination of Haig-Brown’s English roots (which remained strong throughout his life) and his attachment to his adopted home, which he regarded as still a kind of young society in the “New World,”52 perhaps obscured his ability to perceive the ongoing effects of colonial relations in western North America. Given his (somewhat reluctant) embrace of state management of game resources as a necessary expedient to achieve conservation and environmental protection, he failed to recognize how some groups, and especially Aboriginal people, might have regarded those laws as an imposition on their historic or local resource use practices. In forging a vision of fishery conservation based on a modified English sporting ethic, HaigBrown promoted an ethos of personal responsibility for the protection of public resources. But for all he identified the power imbalances within government bureaucracies that consigned recreational interests to secondary consideration behind industrial resource development, he failed to understand how those same biologists, game officers, and sportsmen themselves exercised power over people and places in the name of conservation, often with inequitable effects. It would be anachronistic and not a little uncharitable simply to condemn Haig-Brown for these apparent failures. There is a strong case 250

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to be made that, were he able to answer the charge, he would readily acknowledge the problem of dispossession by conservation and perhaps even the role of sport fishers and clubs like the Harry Hawthorn Foundation in it. Rather, in exploring this history and these ideas, this essay has sought to examine the complex legacies of conservation and the fly fishing tradition. In doing so, I hope to highlight, for contemporary conservation advocates, the importance of considering the broader context and problematic history of what are often considered the unalloyed virtues of parks, conservation, and environmental protection. These issues remain salient today, as rural communities and Aboriginal peoples across North America and worldwide struggle to maintain or reacquire control of their local resources. Conservation advocates, including fly fishers, must make themselves aware of the often fractious histories of resource regulation and the real or perceived injustices associated with the protection of nature. As an advocate of a conservation philosophy based on ethics and moral responsibility, Haig-Brown, I like to think, would agree.

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The Origin, Decline, and Resurgence of Conservation as a Guiding Principle in the Federation of Fly Fishers RICK WILLIAMS

Fly fishermen, by virtue of their very being, are probably closer in their ability to know nature and enjoy it and contribute to it more than any other people. But they have got to become men of action. If we are going to survive as fly fishermen in the kind of environment we see necessary, further if we are going to survive as a society, we are going to have to develop a conservation conscience.1 DAV I D H U R N , FFF CO N CL AV E , 19 65

The Federation of Fly Fishers was founded in 1965 with a dual mission of educating fly fishers and promoting conservation through advocacy. The strong conservation roots of the organization weakened during the 1980s; however, efforts since the mid-1990s have focused on rebuilding and refining its conservation programs. Since 2000, FFF’s conservation efforts and advocacy stances have become increasingly science based and more sharply focused on conservation of native fishes and their aquatic habitats. Further strengthening FFF’s commitment to conservation could serve as the fulcrum for increasing membership and defining FFF’s conservation legacy. 252

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Origin of the Federation of Fly Fishers The Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) arose out of a confluence of factors in the mid-1960s that included an emerging and bountiful postwar economy, population growth in the United States (e.g., the baby boom), advances in materials technology applied to fishing equipment (highquality fiberglass rods, followed a decade later by graphite rods), and a concern by many fly fishers that the quality and availability of longcherished fisheries were declining. Rivers were becoming crowded, particularly in areas adjacent to larger population centers along the western and eastern coasts. Fish abundance on many well-known rivers was declining, and the quality fly fishing experience that so many anglers sought (often a solitary one) was becoming harder to find. These factors helped sow the seeds for a national organization dedicated to fly fishing and conservation composed of clubs as far-flung as Oregon and Washington to New York City’s newly formed Theodore Gordon Flyfishers. Bill Nelson planted the concept of a national organization in the newly formed McKenzie Fly Fishers of Eugene, Oregon. Having recently moved from Washington State, where he had been an active member of the Evergreen Fly Fishers, Bill was instrumental in starting the McKenzie Fly Fishers. In May 1964, only two months after the club formed, Bill shared his vision of a national organization and challenged McKenzie club members to host a national meeting the following summer.2 Skip Hosfield, another founding member, described how Nelson’s challenge caused divisions and considerable havoc within the club: He (Bill) was a combination of carnival pitchman and revival preacher, alternately enticing us with visions of benefits to be gained, or appealing to whatever sense of selfless moral obligation lay dormant in us. . . . the brand of snake oil he was selling was strong stuff. It either killed you outright— about half the club members rejected the idea and quit the club over the next few months; or it made you a believer— an apostle of the faith.3

Many members thought the concept too big and ambitious for a newly formed club of twenty-five or so members.4 Some members quit the club over this issue; nevertheless, the club formed a committee and started planning for the national meeting. As the club made progress toward the national meetings, some members returned and became some of FFF’s greatest advocates.5 253

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F I G U R E 1 4 .1 FFF founding father Bill Nelson. Photo credit: Bill Nelson. Photo courtesy of author’s personal collection.

Nelson immediately started recruiting support for the national meeting. In July 1964, Nelson, along with Stan Walters and Bill Hilton from the McKenzie Flyfishers, flew to Aspen, Colorado, to a conference of outdoors writers, hoping to meet and recruit celebrities such as Lee Wulff. Wulff was not at the Aspen meeting; however, Nelson met Gene Anderegg of the newly formed Theodore Gordon Flyfishers (TGF) in New York City. Again, Skip Hosfield describes this frenetic time period: Somehow over the next 12 months it all came together. Gene Anderegg came on board in September (1964) and became deeply involved in the planning and promotion. Between Nelson’s wide contacts throughout the Northwest and Anderegg’s in the East, they were able to line up an attractive slate of program speakers. The format established in the 1965 Conclave set the pattern, which has been followed, expanded but is essentially the same, in all subsequent Conclaves.6 254

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Gene quickly grasped the power of Nelson’s vision and agreed to help. Gene recruited Lee Wulff (also a TGF founding member) to attend the proposed 1965 Conclave of Fly Fishermen, as the meeting was to be called. Anderegg also gained support from Ted Rogowski, who was president of the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers and later played a central role in developing FFF’s strong conservation voice. The 1965 Conclave was attended by about 200 people representing fourteen fly fishing clubs from across the country coming together to discuss fly fishing, conservation, and the formation of a national federation of fly fishing clubs. In short order, the Federation of Fly Fishers was founded and officially chartered one year later in 1966. Gene Anderegg served as FFF president for the first four years and started FFF’s Flyfisher magazine. FFF was originally conceived as a hybrid organization: part fly fishing club, part social club, a forum and gathering place for fly tiers, a

FFF founding father Gene Anderegg. Photo credit: Skip Hosfield. Photo courtesy of author’s personal collection.

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place to learn fly casting and fly fishing techniques, and a grassroots conservation organization focused on local as well as regional and national issues. This hybrid nature continues today and constitutes FFF’s greatest strength and greatest weakness.

Conservation as a Founding Principle in FFF Looking back at the first few annual conclaves, it is evident that conservation was the primary reason for creating FFF as a national organization.7 Materials related to the founding of the federation made clear that, in the minds of the founders, FFF members were to respect the traditions and heritage of fly fishing and work on local, regional, and national fisheries conservation issues, particularly where regulations and decision making could be influenced through activism. Bill Nelson saw the power of linking conservation with political activism through a national organization of fly fishing clubs as key to preserving fly fishing and its traditions. This insight was central in his proposal to the McKenzie Fly Fishers to host a national meeting investigating the possibility of starting a national federation of fly fishing clubs: We have been slow to realize the role of political pressures in conservation and are of the opinion now that a united desire for the things that are necessary to perpetuate our sport of fly fishing is the only way to keep from losing many of the things we hold so dear.8

David Hurn’s quote at the start of this chapter (in language typical of the day) further supports Nelson’s vision—he called for FFF members to be “men of action” and to act with a “conservation conscience.” 9 In support of this strong sense of purpose concerning conservation and the potential to influence policy and regulations as conservation advocates, FFF’s annual conclaves for the first decade of its existence were replete with conservation and natural resource policy luminaries of the day. Speakers at the first conclaves in Eugene (1965), Jackson Lake Lodge (1966–1968), and Sun Valley, Idaho (1969, 1970, 1972) included internationally known conservationists and writers (Lee Wulff and Roderick Haig-Brown), key Western US politicians (Idaho Senator Frank Church and Wyoming Governor Clifford Hansen), federal natural resource agency administrators (Assistant Secretary of the Interior Clarence Pautzke and US Fish and Wildlife personnel), and leading

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nongovernmental conservationists (Thomas Kimball of the National Wildlife Federation and A. Starker Leopold, UC Berkeley). At the same time, because it was established as a “federation” of clubs, FFF has always emphasized the importance of grassroots work on local issues through individual clubs. Local clubs were organized into geographic groupings (councils) and loosely tied to a national office. Presently, the FFF has about 11,200 members in thirty-seven countries with members in North America organized into 230 clubs and sixteen councils. In late 2013, the Federation changed its name to the International Federation of Fly Fishers in order to recognize increasing participation from members and fly casting instructors outside of North America. Federation clubs and councils conduct conservation projects and organize social events, outings, and fly-tying gatherings and fishing outings, as well as organizing local conclaves that raise funds to support club and council activities. This has led to considerable autonomy for individual clubs and councils to direct and support their own conservation initiatives. Consequently, most conservation efforts in the federation’s early days (and continuing today) focused on local (club-level) or regional (council-level) concerns. While conservation has been an FFF priority at the member level, and was an early focus at an institutional level, club and council attitudes toward conservation are less straightforward. Some clubs, such as the Anglers of the AuSable or the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, are strongly conservation oriented, while other clubs’ primary functions revolve around fly fishing education or fishing-related outings.

Early FFF Conservation Efforts In spite of the focus on grassroots activism, FFF members played key advocacy and advisory roles on nationally important conservation and environmental legislation in FFF’s early years (1965 to ca.1980). This period saw the greatest US environmental and conservation legislation since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. Significant legislation included the Clean Water Act (1972), the Endangered Species Act (1973), formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970), and passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968) and the Central Idaho Wilderness Act (1980). US Senator Frank Church of Idaho sponsored the latter two bills and relied extensively on advice from prominent FFF member Ted Trueblood, the well-known writer, outdoorsman, and conservation

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Ted Trueblood (far left) and Senator Frank Church (far right), at the 1996 annual FFF Conclave at Jackson Lake Lodge, Moran, Wyoming, where Senator Church was a keynote speaker. Photo courtesy of the Boise State University Library Special Collections, Ted Trueblood Collection.

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spokesman (figure 14.3). The Central Idaho Wilderness Act created the River of No Return Wilderness, the largest wilderness area in the lower forty- eight states, which Congress subsequently renamed the Frank Church— River of No Return Wilderness to honor the senator. No one personifies FFF’s early conservation efforts and vision more than Ted Trueblood. Trueblood’s life gives proof to David Hurn’s thesis at the start of the chapter—that fly fishermen are predisposed for a deep connection to nature and the environment but that only the development of a “conservation conscience” coupled with action would be sufficient to preserve quality fisheries and sustain fly fishing opportunities. Trueblood’s personal odyssey from sportsman, to outdoor writer, to conservationist, and finally to activist and preservationist illustrates how his personal connection to the environment, fostered by fishing and hunting, turned him into one of Hurn’s “men of action” acting with a “conservation conscience.” Trueblood grew up hunting and fishing on a family farm in southwestern Idaho. He worked as a reporter and outdoor writer, eventually 258

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becoming an associate editor of and contributor to Field and Stream magazine, a position he held for the remainder of his life. During this time, he also wrote numerous acclaimed books on fishing, hunting, and the outdoor life. Trueblood’s writings reflect a deep appreciation of wild and scenic places, as well as a passion for the outdoor life (figure  14.4). By the 1960s, however, his writing had expanded beyond typical outdoor essays on hunting, fishing, and Dutch oven cooking to include reflections on his increasing awareness of changes in fish and wildlife populations in the western United States. For example, his pre1960 files on steelhead and sturgeon in the Snake River give evidence of the abundant fisheries Idaho supported, while his writings during the 1960s document the significant reduction in the numbers of fish and wildlife in Idaho at this time.10 Trueblood had been an active conservation leader starting in the late 1930s when he helped organize the Idaho Wildlife Federation (IWF). In the 1950s, one of Trueblood and IWF’s most significant conservation battles was to protect Idaho salmon and steelhead by successfully stop-

F I G U R E 1 4 . 4 . Ted Trueblood at work while camping in west central Idaho. Photo courtesy of the Boise State University Library Special Collections, Ted Trueblood Collection.

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ping the construction of the proposed Nez Perce Dam in Hells Canyon on the Lower Snake River. Trueblood’s observations of declining fish and wildlife resources in Idaho and his experience of participating successfully in influencing natural resource policy and regulations were responsible for his conversion from outdoorsman to conservationist. This shift in Trueblood’s perspective and writings toward conservation advocacy occurred just before the Federation of Fly Fishers was formed and set the stage for him to become one of FFF’s most prominent early conservation voices. By the early 1970s, Trueblood’s perspective toward the outdoors had been further influenced by the continued deterioration of the natural environment, specifically with the uses, misuses, and abuses of public lands, and as a result, his ideology shifted from conservation to preservation. It was during this time that he worked closely with Idaho Senator Frank Church as an FFF conservation representative on river and land protections acts, including the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Act, and the Central Idaho Wilderness Act. In the late 1970s, Trueblood served as president of Save Our Public Lands and fought against transferring federal lands to the control of the states in the battle known in the West as the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” where his leadership for a balanced public land policy was tested. Trueblood’s involvement in FFF diminished through the 1970s as he focused his conservation efforts more toward landscape-scale wilderness preservation and advocacy groups like the Idaho Wildlife Federation. From 1965 to 1980, while FFF was involved with national land-use policy actions, FFF members also developed and promoted several national-level conservation and education programs, including catch and release, an ethical conservation paradigm new to North America, and the Whitlock-Vibert box, an instream egg-incubation system for trout and salmon. If Ted Trueblood represented the archetypal FFF member exploring and defining what it meant to be a conservation “man of action” during FFF’s early years, no one better represented all of FFF’s diverse angling interests than the extraordinary Lee Wulff, writer, conservationist, fly tier, angling innovator, and angling adventurer. Wulff’s innovations include the Royal Wulff dry fly, which he often tied by hand without a vise and using only a spool of thread, fly line design (triangle taper lines), and big game angling (salmon, steelhead, and saltwater species) with short powerful fly rods. However, Wulff’s greatest contribution may have been his championing of catch and release as a conservation tool for all fisheries, and particularly for his beloved Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. 260

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The Federation of Fly Fishers, through Lee Wulff’s leadership, played a central role in promoting the concept of catch and release in North America. Catch and release angling is now widely practiced as a means of reducing angling induced mortality to help sustain healthy fish populations and to maintain trophy or blue-ribbon fisheries.11 While the benefits of catch and release fishing may seem intuitive to most fly anglers, efforts are underway in the fisheries community to quantify and evaluate the conservation benefits of catch and release practices on fish populations ranging from trout to bass to bonefish.12 Catch and release derived from Lee Wulff’s famous statement in his Handbook of Freshwater Fishing that “gamefish are too valuable to be caught only once.”13 Wulff was led to this perspective by his passionate pursuit of Atlantic salmon in eastern North America, a species which he watched decline during the course of his lifetime (figure 14.5). Wulff and Roderick Haig-Brown were leading FFF advocates for using catch and release to relieve harvest pressure on highly prized, but threatened, species such as steelhead and Atlantic salmon. The federation promoted the practice of catch and release through advertising, logos and patches, educational messages, and “how-to” brochures. Catch and release regulations are often used for native fish in frag-

F I G U R E 1 4 . 5 . Lee Wulff releasing an Atlantic salmon on the Grisma River, Iceland. Photo undated; used with permission from Joan Wulff.

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ile or limited habitats or where population abundance has declined to the point of concern. One of the first places catch and release regulations were implemented (1970) was on Kelly Creek (a tributary of the Clearwater River) and the St. Joe River (1971) in north central Idaho. By 1974, Idaho Fish and Game studies showed westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi abundance in Kelly Creek had increased fivefold, while average size increased by 16 percent. Cutthroat trout in the St. Joe River showed similar results (sixfold increase in abundance, 18  percent increase in average length).14 Since these seminal studies, catch and release regulations have been applied to many native cutthroat trout populations and to populations of Pacific steelhead trout O. mykiss where anglers are allowed to keep adipose fin- clipped hatchery-produced steelhead but must release wild steelhead. Another long-standing FFF program came about in the 1970s, when Dave Whitlock and the Green Country Flyfishers (an FFF club in Oklahoma) developed a trout, salmon, and char egg-stocking device, the Whitlock-Vibert box (WVB), based on an earlier design by French scientist Richard Vibert that mimics/enhances the salmonid incubation period. Adults that matured from those egg plants were expected to return to the same stream reach to spawn naturally. The patented WVB is only available through the Federation of Fly Fishers. Whitlock-Vibert boxes are also used as a tool to enhance fish stocks in the wild through egg planting and for research purposes, including sediment studies, and for educational purposes like classroom presentations. While the Whitlock-Vibert box program is one of FFF’s longstanding conservation programs, use of WVBs needs to be considered carefully on a case-by- case basis. It is imperative that projects using WVB technology do not create additional risks for native fish. Consequently, the best use for WVB may be for native fish restoration, such as reintroductions into extirpated habitats or, at the other extreme, introductions of nonnative salmonids into tailwater fisheries that create coldwater salmonid habitat within the context of a larger warmwater system, such as Arkansas’s White River, where potential distribution of the nonnative salmonid is limited by system constraints. Finally, Whitlock-Vibert box technology needs to undergo a rigorous technical evaluation to determine its benefits and risks and identify appropriate uses for it. It was surprising that a search of the scientific literature found no overall review of WVB technology as a

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fisheries conservation tool. This seems a glaring omission for a tool that has been used and promoted by FFF clubs and others for nearly forty years.

Decline of Science-Based Conservation in FFF During the 1970s, conservation leadership in FFF remained strong, and conservation activities were supported administratively and financially. Club dues coming into the National Office were split evenly between the general fund and the resource conservation fund, which was used primarily to support conservation projects at the club level. Between 1976 and 1986, the federation allocated more than $300,000 to its conservation programs, dedicating 5–10 percent of its overall budget to conservation, an amount that ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per year. Unfortunately, FFF experienced lean times starting in the mid1980s. Consequently, all dues went directly into the general fund, the resource conservation fund was eliminated, and conservation program and project support was greatly reduced. New conservation programs were created, such as the Adopt-a-Stream (AaS) program and the Endangered Fisheries Initiative (EFI); however, these programs were either quite local and low- cost (AaS) or primarily symbolic in nature and without cost or particular consequence (EFI), as for example when the Mississippi River or the Lower Snake River (Idaho and Washington) were identified as EFI rivers. The problems associated with these systems are so large and complex that the EFI designation could not be translated into meaningful local actions. The weakening of the federation’s commitment to and support of conservation during this time period had two major consequences. First was a weakening of the relationship between individual clubs and the national FFF office. As long as club dues were being redirected into conservation, each club had a personal investment and stake in being a member of the federation. Once that linkage was broken, clubs saw little direct benefit from national to their club activities. This further encouraged clubs and councils to act autonomously. Many have developed their own annual events (regional conclaves or fly-tying fairs) that include educational and fundraising programs, which in turn support local or council-level conservation projects, but without funds moving up into FFF’s national level conservation programs.

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The second factor occurring during this period was rapid growth by Trout Unlimited and other conservation- oriented nonprofit groups, such as the Nature Conservancy, Oregon Trout, American Rivers, and the Trust for Public Lands, which were perceived as having more focused and dedicated conservation missions. Trout Unlimited, which started in 1959 along Michigan’s Au Sable River, today boasts approximately 150,000 members in 400 chapters and a conservation science staff of more than thirty individuals.

Resurgence of Science-Based Conservation in FFF Starting in the mid-1990s, FFF conservation programs were revitalized under the leadership of several volunteer members, Marty Seldon, Verne Lehmberg, Bob Tabbert, and me.15 FFF programs started to rebuild and to strengthen their focus on native fish, habitat, water quality, and the impacts of invasive species.16 In each of these areas, an effort was also made to rely more heavily on scientific literature and integrate recognized best scientific practices into FFF’s policies and conservation work projects. Two major factors contributed to the resurgence of conservation activities for the federation from 1996 to the present. First, the federation’s national volunteer conservation leaders were biologically trained scientists with a passion for volunteer work and conservation. Secondly, from 2002 to 2010, FFF employed a full-time conservation coordinator.17 The conservation coordinators worked with the volunteer conservation directors to define, direct, and implement FFF’s conservation program. Conservation coordinators were able to provide a consistent link from national conservation leadership down to clubs and volunteer members that had previously been lacking. Coordinators tracked programs, nudged them along as needed, and served as FFF’s visible conservation face with our many valuable conservation partners. In 2008, FFF developed a Conservation Strategic Plan that consolidated the organization’s many small conservation programs into a single focused initiative.18 The strategic plan emphasized five major areas for FFF conservation activities: (1) native fish; (2) habitat and water quality; (3) invasive species; (4) conservation education; and (5) conservation partnerships (figure 14.6).

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F I GU R E 14 . 6

Mission of the Federation of Fly Fishers

FFF Native Fish Program Activities The federation has long been focused on native fish conservation as its primary conservation mission. This is the richest and most diverse part of FFF’s conservation program. FFF’s shift to a focus on native fish conservation occurred in the late 1990s when the Native Fish Committee was charged to develop a policy for FFF that addressed native fish conservation, something long needed but lacking in FFF’s conservation policy portfolio. The Native Fish Policy evolved from 1997 to 2001 out of discussions within the Native Fish Committee members (Verne Lehmberg, Dick Brown, and Richard Izmirian, and I) and relied heavily on current literature and best practices for native trout, Pacific salmon, and steelhead recovery.19 The FFF Native Fish Policy (2001, updated in 2010) established a priority for FFF’s conservation activities on native fish.20 Like the earlier FFF catch and release policy, it was visionary, directed toward sustainable conservation actions, and set priorities of restoring self-sustaining native fish populations to their historic habitat and ranges and provided guidance to avoid further declines in diversity and abundance. It also called for establishment of native fish refuges as a conservation approach.

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F I G U R E 1 4 . 7 Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River is well known as a wilderness river and native fish stronghold and would have potential as a Native Fish Conservation Area. Photo credit: Rick Williams.

Building on the fish refuge concept, FFF developed a Native Fish Conservation Area Policy in 2008 (revised in 2010) that called for establishment of a system of native fish conservation areas throughout the country where clusters of native fish species occur.21 A system of refuges would act as an insurance policy for fisheries managers by creating a network of native fish populations that would be protected and could be used for transplants, reintroductions, or other recovery efforts. A few de facto refuges already exist, such as Glacier National Park, Kelly Creek, the St. Joe River, and the Middle Fork Salmon (figure 14.7) for westslope cutthroat trout, Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone cutthroat trout O. c. bouvieri), Rocky Mountain National Park 266

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(greenback cutthroat trout O. c. stomias), and the Red Brook watershed in Cape Cod, where a relict salter (e.g., sea-run) brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis population is experiencing a comeback due to watershed level restoration and a coalition of local conservation activists. Seeking to expand the reach of the fish refuge concept, FFF partnered with Trout Unlimited and the Fisheries Conservation Foundation in 2010 to further develop the concept of native fish conservation areas for fisheries scientists and managers through a two- day symposium in Boise, Idaho (the Native Fish Refuge Symposium) that resulted in publication of a journal article.22 Several fisheries agencies are presently exploring how best to identify and establish native fish conservation areas. In spite of the explicit shift in FFF policies in the late 1990s toward native fish conservation, FFF has long been a leader in wild trout conservation. Initiated in 1974 by FFF Conservation Director Marty Seldon, the Wild Trout Symposia series provides an international forum for biologists and conservation advocates to share the latest wild trout status, technology, and philosophy. Conferences equip participants to better preserve and restore wild trout populations. There have been ten Wild Trout Conferences, each with published Proceedings, with the most recent occurring in September 2014. Marty Seldon remained actively involved in the Wild Trout Symposia as an indefatigable source of energy and inspiration until his passing in late 2011. Primary symposia sponsors include the Federation of Fly Fishers, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the USDA Forest Service, the Trout and Salmon Foundation, and Trout Unlimited. Conservation education and advocacy for Pacific salmon and steelhead is presently an important and vital part of FFF’s conservation work on native species through its Steelhead Committee and the Osprey, a continuing journal publication that advocates and educates on behalf of persistence of wild steelhead and salmon (see www.ospreysteelhead .org). The federation’s Steelhead Committee started in 1986 in response to declines in West Coast wild steelhead stocks; many populations were at high risk of extinction. The Steelhead Committee published the fi rst issue of the Osprey in 1987. The Steelhead Committee’s goals are to preserve wild steelhead genetic diversity and variability and restore wild West Coast steelhead stocks to levels approximating historical abundance. Accomplishing this will require habitat restoration, sharp restrictions of sports harvest until wild populations recover, phased elimination of mixed-stock commercial fisheries, 267

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modification of hatchery practices, and removal of passage barriers, including obsolete and outdated dams. The Steelhead Committee is also an active partner in litigation efforts on behalf of Pacific salmon and steelhead stocks, such as the recent judicially mandated moratorium on using hatchery steelhead to rebuild steelhead stocks in the Elwha River (Washington) where two century- old dams, the Elwha River Dam and the Glines Canyon Dam, were removed in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Another conservation focus for FFF since the late 1990s, which showed both the power and fragility of volunteer conservation efforts, has been native trout of the desert Southwest. Trout in these environs have declined severely and currently occupy a fraction of their historic range. In Arizona and New Mexico, federation members worked as partners on Trout Unlimited-initiated restoration projects focused on Apache trout O. gilae apache and Rio Grande cutthroat trout O. c. virginalis. In Arizona, FFF’s Southwest Council initiated a project on the West Fork of Oak Creek to reintroduce Gila trout O. g. gilae and funded feasibility studies required by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Reclamation, totaling $17,000. This was the largest native fish recovery project in Arizona and New Mexico and met a unique requirement of the Gila Recovery Plan. The project ran about twelve years, involving many collaborative partners, but difficulties working in wilderness areas (due to permitting, motorized restrictions, and difficult access), escalating costs, frequent turnover of federal personnel and FFF volunteers, and cuts to federal and state budgets all took their toll, and the project finally collapsed in 2009 without resolution. In an effort to help FFF members and the public appreciate the diversity of native species in general and, in particular to value the many subspecies of cutthroat trout (western United States) or black bass Micropterus salmoides (southeastern United States), the federation created two awards in the early 2000s that members could obtain. Members who successfully catch, document, and release four subspecies of cutthroat trout or black bass receive a CuttCatch or BassCatch patch, pin, and certificate in recognition of their accomplishment. Learning to value native species in their native range is a critical first step for their recovery. Invasive species are the flip side of the native fish and habitat coin because they compete directly (behaviorally, ecologically, or genetically) with native species. The federation has recognized the impact of invasive species for more than two decades and from 1999 to 2009 268

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was deeply involved in education work on invasive species. Aquatic invasive species (AIS) are plants, animals, or microbes that create negative impacts on the environment and can have detrimental impacts on streams, rivers, and native fish. Key FFF staff (Bob Wiltshire, Kasja Stromberg, and Leah Elwell) established FFF as a dynamic and responsible partner working with agencies and other NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to educate anglers and slow the spread of invasive species. One of FFF’s first big education efforts focused on didymo Didymosphenia geminata, a diatomaceous single- celled alga that can form mats that completely cover a stream bottom and decrease aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish abundance as occurred in South Dakota’s beloved brown trout fishery in Rapid Creek starting in 2002.23 In 2009, the Invasive Species Action Network (ISAN) became the national leader in invasive species education and how clean angling practices can help slow the spread of aquatic invasive species. The Federation of Fly Fishers continues to work closely with ISAN on issues related to invasive species education and is a partner in the Clean Angling Coalition. In 2012, FFF joined conservation partners (US Geological Survey, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Trout Unlimited, and the National Parks Conservation Association) in a large-scale research initiative to investigate movement patterns and life history of lake trout S. namaycush, an invasive species in Yellowstone Lake, where it has severely reduced abundance of native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. This information will allow managers to target suppression activities (traps, gill netting, spawning bed disruption) to reduce lake trout numbers in the Yellowstone Lake ecosystem and set the stage for rebuilding Yellowstone cutthroat trout abundance in Yellowstone National Park.24

Grassroots Conservation: FFF’s Conservation Small Grants Program For the first twenty years of its existence, FFF maintained a commitment to support conservation small grants to local clubs for local projects; however, that commitment waned in the mid-1980s as FFF’s financial situation declined and monies devoted to conservation were significantly reduced.25 While the Conservation Small Grants Program continued, financial support was very limited for the next twenty years or so, averaging about $10,000 per year and allowing support for only five to six conservation projects annually. 269

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In 2010, the federation recommitted itself to many of its founding principles, including a significant rebuilding of conservation projects and funding from the national office filtering down through the councils to local clubs. Annual contributions to the Conservation Small Grants Program increased from approximately $10,000 to $22,500, thereby making available $1,500 to each of FFF’s fifteen councils. Frequently, councils provided matching funds to clubs gaining national conservation grants, effectively further increasing FFF’s investment in conservation. In 2011, the first year of the revitalized program, we awarded twenty- one conservation grants to clubs in twelve different councils. Projects ranged from trout habitat improvement to invasive species mitigation and spanned across the United States, from the Sierras and Yellowstone National Park to New York’s Catskill Mountains. An important part of FFF’s approach to conservation work is to partner with other like-minded organizations on important conservation issues and is critical to making a difference. Because the Federation of Fly Fishers is a modest organization with respect to membership and financial resources, partnering is a critical strategy to leverage our resources into successful and meaningful conservation projects. Our frequent and valued conservation partners include Trout Unlimited, the Native Fish Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Invasive Species Action Network, Save Our Wild Salmon, Pacific Rivers Council, and Earth Justice, among others.

Looking Back The Federation of Fly Fishers was founded nearly fifty years ago with a grand vision for the role that conservation would play in its activities and legacy. Conservation remains a critical role and motivating factor for FFF members. Unfortunately, FFF has never been able to translate that vision into reality at a grand and consistent scale. In spite of this, federation members and clubs continue to do many worthwhile localscale conservation projects, particularly as supported by our growing Conservation Small Grants Program. At the national level, FFF strategically partners successfully with many other conservation organizations on issues of regional and national concern as the “voice of fly fishermen”. As the Federation of Fly Fishers just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2015, it is hard to look back and not feel that FFF missed an unparal270

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leled opportunity to become one of the leading conservation voices in the United States, if not the world, representing as it does all fly fishers and their interest in preserving native fish, fisheries, and aquatic habitats, as well as the traditions and heritage of fly fishing as a sport. The failure of FFF to become a significant national conservation presence may be linked in large part to the way that FFF was initially structured, as an aggregation (i.e., a federation) of local fly fishing clubs, rather than as a more sharply focused national conservation organization. The federation’s conservation and education dual mission may have diluted members’ and the public’s perception of what FFF represents. In the founders’ minds, education was an all- encompassing term, embracing both fly fishing instruction and conservation, which was FFF’s primary and most important mission. Over time, however, most FFF members have come to think of conservation separately from education, with many members giving primacy to all aspects of fly fishing instruction. Today, most FFF members think of FFF more as a fly fishing club-based organization that specializes in fly- casting and fly-tying instruction than as a conservation organization. Consequently, FFF’s focus since the early 1990s has centered on fly- casting instruction, flytying exhibitions, and fly fishing workshops. For example, the Casting Instructor Certification Program, which started in 1992, has developed into a respected international-level program offering three levels of instructor certification and boasts more than 1,500 certified instructors in twenty-nine countries.

Stepping into the Future What does the future hold for the Federation of Fly Fishers? There are two possible courses of action FFF can take into the future: one focusing on its educational programs and prowess, the other refocusing energies and mission on its conservation roots. One course solidifies the status quo, while the other reaches back to the vision of FFF’s founders, embraces risk, and reinvents FFF as a conservation-based organization. There are significant consequences to each approach. Focusing primarily on fly fishing education as FFF’s main mission can be a productive but ultimately limited future course. Exciting reform and advancement is occurring within the FFF’s fly casting instructor and fly tying programs that will create stronger and more attractive programs. These programs will be (and are) an important part of FFF’s portfolio and build upon a rich and cherished fly fishing heri271

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tage. The federation’s fly casting and fly tying programs are respected and can gain FFF additional prestige and members; however, they are unlikely to attract and retain a new and significantly larger membership into the organization. An approach that focuses on conservation as the federation’s primary mission is supported by a 2009 electronic poll of FFF members that showed conservation as the primary reason members joined FFF and stayed involved. A forty- question survey was sent to FFF members (via SurveyMonkey) asking a wide range of questions, including ranking factors that were important to their being FFF members. Factors included local meetings, fishing outings, fly tying, fly casting instructions, conservation, and so on. Member response was 12 percent on the survey (about 1100 responses) and conservation ranked as the primary reason (86 percent) for people to join and retain their FFF membership. The survey results suggest a path for future FFF growth and action. If FFF is to grow significantly in membership, influence, and prestige, it needs to change. Its current operational model (focusing primarily on fly tying and fly casting instruction) has resulted in stagnant, if not slowly declining (and aging), membership since the mid-1980s. I would argue that FFF should look to its conservation past for a blueprint into the future. The Federation of Fly Fishers will never be able to generate funds for conservation if it does not increase membership. The lesson for FFF from the growth of habitat-based conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, and the Wild Turkey Federation is that conservation matters to members and they are willing to support conservation work with their volunteer time and money. Consequently, the federation should focus on conservation as its primary mission and strengthen educational components (and programs) supporting the primary conservation mission. At the same time, the beloved and valuable fly fishing components (fly casting, fly tying, instructor education, fly fishing technique workshops) could all come together under an umbrella educational entity, such as Mel Krieger’s vision for an FFF Fly Fishing Academy that capitalizes on the teaching skills of federation’s extraordinarily talented membership. Finally, focusing FFF’s future conservation efforts more strongly on conservation of native fish and their habitats as FFF’s central conservation principle would further strengthen members’ commitment to and support of FFF as an institution. Management of many native fish species is shifting to a watershed-level approach that protects habitats critical to the species for survival. For example, in Red Brook, a spring-fed 272

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creek near Plymouth, Massachusetts, watershed-level protection and the removal of four small dams has restored the natural stream character of Red Brook and is fostering rebuilding of the anadromous “salter” form of the eastern brook trout.26 FFF’s recent partnership in the Yellowstone Lake study on the nonnative lake trout is another example where the project focuses on rebuilding native species (Yellowstone cutthroat trout) in their native habitat (Yellowstone National Park). FFF anticipated the emerging management focus on native fish in the development of its Native Fish Policy (2001; updated in 2010) and Native Fish Conservation Area Policy (2008; updated in 2010). Marshaling FFF’s future conservation efforts around native fish and their habitats and working alongside our conservation partners to establish a series of native fish watersheds would leave a compelling statement about and legacy for FFF, its members, and its values. When others in the conservation community realize how important conservation is to FFF members and volunteers, greater cooperation and combined effort in projects and funding from granting agencies may develop. Realizing the establishment of a series of native fish conservation areas (or their equivalent) would rise to the level of expectation that FFF’s founders had for the conservation action and influence that was possible from the formation of an international federation of fly fishers.

Acknowledgments This chapter is dedicated to Marty Seldon (1928–2011), long-time FFF conservation crusader, who passed away just as I finalized the chapter. Marty, Skip Hosfield, and Ted Rogoswski were always gracious and informative in my many calls and emails—their assistance was essential to understanding and accurately describing the role of conservation in FFF’s early days. Verne and Judy Lehmberg and Tom Jindra reviewed the chapter and provided valuable editorial and content suggestions.

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It Takes a River: Trout Unlimited and Coldwater Conservation JOHN ROSS

The Philosophy of Trout Unlimited Trout Unlimited believes that trout fishing isn’t just fishing for trout. It’s fishing for sport rather than food where the true enjoyment of the sport lies in the challenge, the love and the battle of wits, not necessarily the full creel. It’s the feeling of satisfaction that comes from limiting your kill instead of killing your limit. It’s communing with nature where the chief reward is a refreshed body and a contented soul, where a license is a permit to use— not abuse, to enjoy— not destroy our trout waters. It’s subscribing to the proposition that what’s good for trout is good for trout fishermen and that managing trout for the trout rather than for the fisherman is fundamental to the solution of our trout problems. It’s appreciating our trout, respecting fellow anglers, and giving serious thought to tomorrow. A R T N EU M A N N1

Introduction In May 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency announced revisions to the Clean Water Act strengthening safeguards for America’s wetlands and headwater streams.2 Trout Unlimited, the world’s leading nonprofit organization committed to protecting, reconnecting, restoring, 274

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and sustaining the origins of rivers on which we all depend for safe water, worked diligently to achieve the EPA ruling. Since its founding in 1959 at the “Barbless Hook,” a cabin on Michigan’s Au Sable River, Trout Unlimited has championed coldwater conservation and in the process recovered hundreds of miles of habitat for wild trout and salmon. The country’s trout and salmon thrive only in the cleanest and coolest of waters. Like canaries in coal mines, their presence indicates the lowest levels of chemical and thermal pollution. With more than 150,000 members, 350 chapters from Maine to Alaska, and a staff of 200 professionals, Trout Unlimited is a force that informs public water quality policy and management of native and wild salmonid fisheries based on the best science available. The founders of Trout Unlimited (TU) were fly fishermen. They wielded bamboo and fiberglass rods and cast feathered imitations of aquatic insects in search of trout in the gentle spring-fed streams of Michigan. Appalled at the state’s policy of stocking flaccid hatchery trout rather than cleaning up habitat so wild trout could flourish, they organized themselves into a grassroots battalion that grew into a nationwide movement of coldwater conservationists. This chapter presents their heritage, milestones achieved over more than half a century, and prospects for the future. This is their story, without which no look at the history of fly fishing and conservation would be complete.

Hatched on Michigan’s Au Sable Rising in springs northwest of the town of Grayling, Michigan, the Au Sable River flows south for a few miles, then bends east southeast headed in a near beeline, but not quite, for Lake Huron. No rock outcrops cross its narrow channel. Instead it flows for 129 miles across gravels and cobbles left by downwasting glaciers 15,000 years ago. “The river of sand,” early explorers called it. Though it draws waters from a number of tributaries, it is cooled during summer by groundwater seeping from beneath the pine forests that still today line much of its bank. As detailed earlier in this volume by Bryon Borgelt, in the days before unchecked industry and predatory angling, the river ran rich with grayling. In the 1870s, brook trout were introduced and they thrived. Would that H. G. Wells’s Time Machine could carry us back to the late 1800s before lumbering began to threaten the Au Sable’s ruin, what fishing we would have had. 275

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F I G U R E 1 5 .1 A plaque of Trout Unlimited’s philosophy, on the side of the Au Sable River, the birthplace of TU. Photo credit: John Ross.

The fame of Michigan’s Au Sable spread as lumber barons retuned east and reported the size and numbers of brook trout and grayling. “If you want the best trout fishing, go to Grayling, Michigan, on the Au Sable River,” read an article in the Wall Street Journal from 1896. “Look up the Stephans located near Stephans Bridge. Should you have trouble wading a trout stream, they will take you in a boat ideal for trout fishing. Their knowledge of where and how to fish is also valuable.”3 Almost four decades later the man who would lead the founding of Trout Unlimited first set eyes on the river. Though still robust trout water, the Au Sable George Griffith first fished in 1934 was in serious trouble. 4 The grayling that once “lay like cordwood in the Au Sable River,” as Rube Babbitt, game warden and river guide, put it in a 1929 interview, were but a memory.5 Brook trout fishing reached its heyday in the years leading up to World War I and slowly declined as more timber was harvested and run- off silted spawning redds. In addition to brook trout, rainbows and steelhead from California had been stocked.6 Later came brown trout. On his initial float, Griffith caught and released many browns and a few brookies. “I never thought fishing like this existed,” he told his wife.7 That trip whetted Griffith’s passion for the river, and he fished it as often as his trips as a traveling salesman of ladies hosiery permitted. 276

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His travel came to a virtual halt with the outbreak of World War II. Silk and nylon, essentials for parachutes and other military supplies, were in short supply. Unable to make more than two or three annual sales trips during the war, he was forced to sit it out with his wife in a cabin on the Au Sable. Poor George! With only limited stock with which to fill orders but demand still high, he collected his commissions and spent his days drifting the river in that unique flat-bottomed, bluff-bowed, and square-sterned version of a canoe or pirogue called an Au Sable riverboat. Fly fishers in particular achieve an intimacy with the rivers they wade. They sense its health through what they see and feel. So it was for Griffith. To say he came to know the river well is an understatement. He could see that fishing pressure and pollution were depressing its trout populations. In 1945, during the early weeks of Michigan’s trout season, Griffith hosted Detroit Free Press outdoor writer Jack Van Coervering on a float down the Au Sable. The river had just been stocked. He wanted Jack to “see the dumb hatchery fish at their worst—hungry but barely able to catch enough food to stay alive in the wild environment of a river.” Trout would rise to a well- cast fly but be unable to catch it

F I G U R E 1 5 . 2 George Griffith and his friend Bob Summers floating the Au Sable River in a canoe designed for this particular river. Photo credit: Bob Summers (http://www.rwsummers .com).

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as it drifted past in the rapid current. Griffith explained the trout’s sad behavior: “Until yesterday [when the river had been stocked] the fish’s greatest challenge was to catch pellets sprinkled over the raceway in the Paris Hatchery.8” In the fall of 1949, Griffith was appointed by Governor G. William “Soapy” Williams to Michigan’s Conservation Commission. Since the late 1940s, he’d been an active member of the Au Sable River System Property Owner’s Association and had collaborated with the Institute of Fisheries Research to assess the health of the river. The issue was simply this: Michigan was so intent on stocking tons of hatchery trout, an extremely expensive proposition, that it had no funds for habitat restoration. Griffith and his allies wanted another approach: set aside a section of the Au Sable for fly fishing only, encourage catch and release, reduce stocking, and concentrate on improving habitat.9 In hindsight this holistic strategy seems common sense. But in the early 1950s, Griffith’s vision was ahead of the curve. Whether he realized it or not, he was sowing the seeds for some of the guiding principles of Trout Unlimited and its success as the leader in coldwater conservation. Thus were planted the kernels for what would become the guiding principles of Trout Unlimited. First was stream management based on sound science and not political pressure to stock more trout for the skillet, with an emphasis on wild trout—trout that reproduced naturally in the stream even though they might not be native. This focus would evolve in the 1990s to a preference for native trout, species indigenous to a stream before the arrival of European immigrants. Finally, a commitment to securing funding to restore trout habitat and mitigate the destruction caused by economic development— agriculture, mining, logging, industry, and community growth.

“My First Love is Trout Fishing”: George Mason and the Birth of Trout Unlimited The name Trout Unlimited sprang not from Griffith’s fertile mind but from the lips of George Mason, president of American Motors, which made the Nash Rambler and Willy’s Jeepster. Mason owned a large tract on the South Branch of the Au Sable. One morning in 1950, Griffith and Mason met at the boat launch at Burton’s Landing on the Au Sable. “As you know, George,” Mason said, “I have been national treasurer of Ducks Unlimited since it was organized. But my first love is trout fishing. I have been thinking about a similar organization. Trout Unlimited.”10 278

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Over the next nine years, Griffith and fellow conservation anglers thought about Mason’s idea. Griffith was up to his ears on the Game Commission, and potential for charges of conflict of interest might have inhibited his activity in pushing for the development of Trout Unlimited. In 1959 the ball really started to roll. On July 15, fifteen anglers met at Griffith’s home on the Au Sable, dubbed the “Barbless Hook” by legendary angler Joe Brooks, and agreed to found Trout Unlimited as a

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Art Neumann. Photo courtesy of author’s collection.

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nonprofit Michigan corporation. Among those present was Fred Bear of archery equipment fame, whose plant was just up the road in Grayling.11 From the founding meeting, development of Trout Unlimited progressed swiftly. In August Griffith and cofounder Art Neumann, president of the Wanigas Rod Company (Saginaw spelled in reverse), hit the road explaining the new organization and recruiting new members. In early September 250 interested trout anglers attended an organizational meeting in Grayling, adopted by-laws, and elected officers. Outdoor writer Vic Beresford was hired as part-time executive director. By the end of the month, Trout Unlimited listed 175 members as incorporators of Trout Unlimited in papers filed with the Michigan Corporation and Securities Commission. In those founding days, as much as today, members provided the backbone of success for Trout Unlimited’s work. At the October meeting, TU’s Board of Directors called on the state’s Conservation Department to “make a complete and thorough survey of all Michigan trout waters to determine their productive and retentive capacity and how it can be sustained at maximum capacity.” Further they voiced support for the National Park Service’s finding that effective measures to protect wild trout included “lower creel limits, higher size limits, fishing-for-fun only, and fly fishing only.” In November the board of directors clearly and quickly situated Trout Unlimited as an organization whose work was centered on science-based decision making. In so doing, they heartily endorsed TU president Casey E. Westell’s proposal to create a “board of review composed of the nation’s top trout experts” to review TU’s policies and programs on trout management.12 Westell, himself a game biologist, proposed the experts panel “to develop programs and recommendations based on the very best information and thinking available.” “As a scientist,” he continued, “I must admit that I have, on occasion, been critical of seemingly ‘half-baked’ programs and policies of various conservation organizations. Now, suddenly, I find myself in a position of helping to establish the programs and policies of such a group and I want T ROU T, Unlimited to have the best counsel available.”13 The first three appointees to the board were Karl F. Lagler, professor of fishery management at the University of Michigan; Paul R. Needham, professor of zoology-fisheries at the University of California-Berkeley; and Albert S. Hazzar, assistant director of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission and a former fisheries biologist in Michigan’s Conservation Department.14 Reliance on the best science available continues to define Trout Unlimited’s approach to the protection, reconnection, restoration, and sustainability of America’s coldwater fisheries. Politically well280

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connected and a super salesman, Griffith is often acknowledged as the founder of Trout Unlimited. If it was Griffith’s charisma that coalesced influential anglers like Mason and established the organization, it was Art Neumann who grew it from a state-based group of fly fishing, wild trout aficionados into what would become the most powerful force in the United States for the conservation of trout and salmon.

From a River to a Nationwide Watershed In his 1991 presentation to the men’s club of Saint Lorenz Lutheran Church in Frankenmuth, Michigan, Neumann traced Trout Unlimited’s evolution over its first six years: Once the organizational details were completed, we immediately launched a campaign to tell the world who we were, what we stood for, and what we wanted to accomplish: 1. We favored wild trout management over put-and-take, wherever possible. 2. Demanded an inventory and classification of all our trout waters. 3. Launched the organization’s first official publication—“Trout Unlimited Quarterly.” 4. Formed the National Board of Scientific Advisors (later known as the National Board of Review). 5. Took a real hard-nosed position against the alteration, pollution, and destruction of trout habitat by industry, mining, road construction, agriculture, impoundments, and the like. 6. Promoted intensive management through special fly-fishing- only, fish-for-fun, and any artificial lure regulations. 7. Supported urgently needed research into trout management techniques, and the application of the fruits of this research. And above all— 8. We violently condemned Michigan’s put-and-take hatchery program, which research has shown harmed our trout resources instead of helped them. This was labeled the Trout Unlimited Program and was officially presented to the Department of Natural Resource (DNR) brass at the special membership meeting on December 5, 1959, in Saginaw. The scientific community supported us— unofficially and off-the-record— but management, and especially the hatchery people, violently opposed us. After all, they controlled the Fish Division and there was no way they were going to give up that control, right– or wrong, good– or bad. It was a setback, but it didn’t stop us.15 281

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Neumann and other TU leaders were determined to work within the system and devised a strategy to accomplish our objectives. Less than a year after being founded, TU convened its second membership meeting, held in March 1960 at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University. Highlighting the meeting was a panel of top-tier fisheries biologists who agreed that DNR’s tunnel-vision focus on stocking at the exclusion of stream protection and restoration was rapidly eroding quality trout fishing in Michigan. Five months later in August at TU’s first annual convention in Traverse City, other biologists voiced similar conclusions, which attracted lots of attention and generated a great deal of support from influential anglers in the state. Little did Michigan’s DNR’s managers care. During the organization’s first year, membership grew from fewer than 200 members to 850. Dues were $10 a year (roughly $62 in 2011 dollars).16 Owing $2,500 in November 1960 and with no prospects to increase revenue, TU ceased its quarterly, closed its office, and laid off its executive director, Vic Beresford. Under the federal Revenue Act of 1954, which created the suite of 501 (c) tax exempt organizations,17 TU found a path to solvency. It registered as a nonprofit in December 1960, making it eligible for a loan from the National Bank of Detroit that paid off TU’s debts. Nonprofit status allowed donors a tax deduction, which accelerated fundraising. Undaunted by financial pressure, volunteers continued to push TU’s conservation program. Support from coldwater fisheries biologists from across the country continued to expand. Most of the well-known fishing writers were members and covered the fledgling organization in their magazines and newspapers. Publicity laid the foundation for increased donations and began to attract members from out of state. TU had weathered its birthing pains. Over that winter, a new organizational structure began to evolve. Up to this point TU had only a local focus. But some members wanted to work on streams near where they lived, and other Michigan chapters were added, the first being the William B. Mershon Chapter in Saginaw. In March 1961, Lee Wulff keynoted TUs first out- of-state convention held in Chicago. Former presidents Hoover and Eisenhower became members. Neumann and the corps of volunteers produced TU’s first full- color brochure and turned the black and white tabloid quarterly into a full- color magazine. TU was going national. “We seemed to be picking up steam. But we all knew that running as large and active an organization as TU had become, with voluntary help on a part-time basis, couldn’t last much longer,” Neumann wrote 282

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in the Mershon Muddler. “We were planning our second out- of-state convention at Rockwell Springs, Ohio, for September 1961 when I acceded to the board’s request to become Temporary Executive Director— without pay— and implemented the convention plans. It was really more than I should have taken on, but a leader was really needed, and the results were most rewarding. The trout panel was made up of top outdoor writers in the country— Charles Fox, Ernest Schwiebert, and Lee Wulff— and we got more ink out of that convention than any previous one. The breaks were coming our way.” During his fi rst gubernatorial campaign, George Romney made a campaign stop in Grayling. There George Griffith briefed him on of the problem that TU was having with the DNR. Romney sympathized with Griffith and promised that if he was elected, he’d do something about it. Well, Romney got elected and one of the fi rst things he did was establish a citizen’s committee to investigate the DNR. Both George Griffith and TU president Casey Westell were appointed. The DNR fought it tooth and nail. They not only refused to cooperate, they made several efforts to sabotage it. Besides, the committee was fully aware that, like any citizen’s committee, they could investigate and recommend, but they had no power whatsoever to order change. It was Westell who struck on the solution: Why not have some highly respected independent outside organization evaluate the DNR and provide recommendations? The governor bought the idea, and the Wildlife Management Institute of Washington, DC was hired to do the job. The investigation showed that the department was essentially sound but that significant improvements were needed in the Fish Division. As a result, the division chief was forced to retire, the put-and-take hatchery program was, in Neumann’s words, “closed down,” support for fisheries research and stream improvement was expanded, and Jim McFadden, a biometrician from the University of Michigan, was hired as the new Fish Division chief. The victory in Michigan triggered pleas for help from across the country. Groups in New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, DC, and Ohio all requested certification as TU chapters. “But we had no money and no staff to support the cause,” Neumann said. “I was serving as temporary executive director without pay, as well as being active vice-president, working 7 days a week at Eaton and running Wanigas Rod Company, too. Some nights I never even went to bed. I slept a few hours in the lazyboy. I ultimately became so overextended, I was forced to tell the board, ‘Hey, Fellas, look. I’m a married man with a family. 283

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I love what I’m doing, but if I continue this pace it will kill me. We’ve got to hire an executive director to run this show, or let’s forget it.’”18 The board raised enough money to match Neumann’s earnings from Wanigas, and he convinced the company to give him a year’s leave of absence. In October 1962 he became executive director for TU full time. A former board member provided a rent-free office in Saginaw; all TU had to pay for was the phone. Lydia Schmidt was hired as secretary and office manager. Shortly thereafter Diane Stroebel, a co- op student, came to work part time. TU national had a staff. Neumann reported to TU’s board, which more or less gave him his head. With the board’s concurrence, he created a master plan. “One personal policy I adopted early on was to spend as much time on the road as was possible—up to 75% of my time if I could— building chapters, selling memberships, badgering the various state DNRs , as well as the federal government. The first such trip was up and down the east coast,” he wrote. “I started in Georgia and ended up in Maine, meeting with key groups in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and especially the feds in Washington D.C. .”19 He was accepted with enthusiasm by all except federal agency staff in Washington. But by the summer of 1964, TU’s momentum, fueled by his boundless persistence, turned the feds around 180 degrees. As a result, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall would become the keynote speaker at TU’s national convention at Aspen, Colorado, in 1964. During that first trip east, Neumann stayed with TU members and ate in cheap diners. “When I turned in my expense account, that fiveweek trip— everything included— cost TU $540!! I was proud of that. So was the board. And I didn’t get to fish even once!” A Midwest trip through Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota followed. Membership doubled and thirty new chapters were being formed. Finances had stabilized, and when TU closed its books in June 1963, it had a $1,000 surplus. TU turned its eyes westward during the spring of 1964. There the problem did not lie with state and federal natural resource managers. The problem was the same that vexed conservationists from the days of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency and the founding of the United States Forest Service in 1905 with Gifford Pinchot as its chief: timber and cattle barons. The issue revolved around water use and water rights. At times it seemed to Neumann that the forest service was too closely tied to timber interests. Preceding the 1964 convention, TU held a week-long symposium 284

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Scan of the first issue of Trout magazine. Cover shows founder George Griffith. Photo courtesy of Sam Snyder. F I GU R E 15 .4

entitled “America’s Diminishing Trout Resources and the Population Explosion.” It was attended by representatives from lumber, mining, insecticide, agriculture, and industry; leading scientists; and members of TU. Also highlighting the symposium was a panel discussion on “Trout Administration for Sport Fishing,” which featured the country’s best fisheries administrators, for discussions about the management nation’s trout resources. This convention launched TU’s reputation as the preeminent coldwater conservation organization in the country. Though he retired as executive director in June of 1965, Art Neumann’s leg work forged the steel that continues to frame Trout Unlimited to this day. Over the decades the organization has racked up a number of milestones that broadened and deepened its force as the country’s premier protector of America’s trout and salmon. 285

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TU Milestones 1959–1968: TU Defeats Reichle Dam and Protects Native Trout Neumann’s cross- country travels fostered rapid growth of chapters and state councils. TU members organized opposition to federal irrigation projects. Dams are the enemy of free-flowing trout waters, and TU’s first successful campaign to halt an impoundment was led by George Grant of Montana’s West Slope Chapter. In 1965, the Bureau of Reclamation planned to build a dam on the Big Hole River at Reichle, Montana, seventeen miles upstream from Twin Bridges. Though Big Hole was then as now renowned for wild brown and rainbow trout, ranchers and farmers championed the project, which would divert water from the river to irrigate 64,000 acres using a network of two hundred miles of canals and siphons including tunnels under the Missouri and Jefferson Rivers.20 Grant, TU, the board of the Montana Fish and Game Commission, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service vigorously opposed the project, which was defeated in 1967. Also in the West, TU supported the listing of Apache and Gila trout and greenback and Paiute cutthroats as endangered species. Those efforts led to the reestablishment of viable populations of these native trout. 1969–1979: Wins Supreme Court Victory for Trout, Funds Chapter Conservation Projects The Little Tennessee River, which skirts the southwestern flank of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and flows west to join the Tennessee River south of Knoxville, was the premier tailwater trout fishery in the East. Brown trout grew to gargantuan size. Though the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) proposed to dam the river in 1936, construction of Tellico Dam did not begin until 1967. Four years later, the Environmental Defense Fund was joined by TU and Tom Moser, whose farm was to be flooded, in suing TVA for failing to file the required environmental impact statement. The suit successfully delayed the project until 1973 when the statement was filed. Enter the three-inch snail darter, a tiny species of perch that appeared to exist only at the mouth of the Little Tennessee. TU volunteers and supporters from Tennessee and Georgia descended on Washington, DC and were successful in lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to list the darter as “endangered” under the Endangered 286

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Species Act (1973). TVA prevailed in overturning the EPA ruling, but TU and other opponents appealed and won, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 1978. Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) then pushed legislation through Congress allowing economic benefit to outweigh value of a species in EPA decisions. To another piece of pending legislation, Baker attached a rider containing funding to complete Tellico Dam. Though a fly fisherman himself, President Jimmy Carter needed Senator Baker’s vote for the Panama Canal Treaty and did not oppose his amendment. The dam was closed in 1979 and anglers lost a marvelous tailwater. However, TU’s efforts had not been in vain. Recognizing the economic benefits of trout fishing, TVA, collaborating with TU and others, installed reoxygenation weirs to mitigate dead zones below the Norris, South Holston, and Cherokee Dams. Thus were created three of the finest trout tailwaters in the Southeast.21 In this decade, TU would also spearhead efforts to thwart the Allenspur Dam, which would have flooded thirty- one miles of the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley, Montana. While the wars to save the Little Tennessee and the Yellowstone were raging, TU launched Operation Restore, predecessor to EmbraceA-Stream, which helped to foster conservation projects driven by local TU chapters. This program was initially funded through a $50,000 grant from the Richard K. Mellon Foundation. As of the end of 2014, Embrace-A-Stream has funded more than a thousand projects and devoted more than $17 million in cash and in-kind contributions to habitat restoration.22 1979–1988: “Only God Can Create a Beautiful River . . .” Colorado’s Gold Medal trout waters draw anglers from around the world. In Colorado alone, TU would spearhead many programs protecting these waters from a burgeoning state population, which nearly doubled in size between 1960 and 1990 to over 3.3 million people. Growing pressure from real estate developers in Denver sired a proposal to build Two Forks Dam on the South Platte River just downstream of where its North Fork comes in. Among other depredations, the impoundment would have flooded all thirteen miles of what was then Colorado’s most prolific wild trout fishery—the Gold Medal stretch. In 1986, David Taylor, then assistant director of the Colorado Council of Trout Unlimited, organized a campaign to save the river. Curt Gowdy, a TU trustee and host of The American Sportsman televi287

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sion series, stated the case clearly: “Only God can create a beautiful river and resource like this. No amount of money can replace this. Once you dam this, forget it—it’s gone forever.” In the end, it was not just Trout Unlimited that derailed the project, but a little yellow butterfly, the Pawnee Mountain Skipper, which was found to exist nowhere else but the valley to be flooded by the dam. This time, thanks to the courageous stance of William K. Reilly, newly appointed to head the EPA by President George H. W. Bush, good science trumped politics, and the Twin Forks project was shelved in 1990.23 TU’s success in supporting chapter-based habitat restoration projects and its highly visible battles to preserve major trout fisheries drove membership past the 50,000 mark. With greater visibility and support came the responsibility to effectively represent the views of its members to Congress, the executive branch, and leadership of agencies of national government. With that in mind, to be closer to the seats of political power, the national office moved from Colorado to Washington, DC. 1989–2000: Gauvin Expands TU’s Bootprint, Begins Home Rivers Initiatives There are times in history when leaders of vision and ability emerge as  the course of events provides unparalleled opportunity. So it was with the 1991 arrival of Charles F. Gauvin as TU’s executive director. Before coming to TU, Gauvin was an attorney with Beveridge & Diamond and specialized in environmental issues. Not long after his appointment, Norman Maclean’s novella A River Runs Through It formed the basis for Robert Redford’s Academy Award-winning movie of the same title. The movie, and a ten-year stint of national economic prosperity, fostered tremendous interest in fly fishing. Despite the sport’s apparent popularity, the number of adults who fish with flies remained, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, at around 4.3 million. However, between 1991 and 2011, the number of days anglers spent fly fishing increased about 36 percent from 28 million to 38 million.24 This is the decade that TU emerged into a nationally recognized force to protect, reconnect, restore, and sustain trout habitat. Collaborating with the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, TU played a key role in the creation of Bring Back the Natives, a campaign to restore native fish. From 1991 through 1999, Bring Back the Natives generated $15 million to fund more than 170 projects related to trout and salmon restoration.25 In 288

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1994 TU fielded the first of its signature place-based conservation campaigns, the Home Rivers Initiative, on the Beaverkill and Willowemoc watershed in the Catskills. The number of watershed projects has grown impressively since then, and some Home Rivers Initiatives have morphed into multiple river system efforts such as the Western Water Project. Begun in 1998, it operates in seven states— California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming— and its staff of scientists, lawyers, and policy experts have won major victories for fish in courts and state capitals. At the same time, they have partnered with ranchers and farmers on pragmatic on-the-ground restoration projects such as the one on Norman Maclean’s favorite river, the Blackfoot, that show that agriculture, logging, and fishing can coexist.26 In the East, many rivers like Maine’s Kennebec were historic sources of water power for nineteenth- century textile mills. Edwards Dam at Augusta had long outlived its utility when TU’s Kennebec Chapter marshaled state and federal agencies and other conservation groups to convince the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to have the dam removed in 1999 with the concurrence of its owner, Florida Power and Light. With the barrier gone, Atlantic salmon have returned to the river. Where dams could not be taken out, such as Great Falls Dam on the Housatonic in Connecticut, TU has led efforts to reestablish cool flows that support habitat for trout. 2001–2015: Protecting Habitat and Fisheries throughout the United States Chris Wood joined the staff of TU as vice president for conservation in 2001 and launched a broad vision to protect, reconnect, restore, and sustain the country’s coldwater fisheries. As a senior policy advisor for the US Forest Service, he was the primary author of the 2001 Roadless Rule, designed to protect more than 58.5 million acres of untracked, untarnished fish and wildlife habitat on national forests. Since becoming TU’s CEO, Wood has been largely responsible for establishing the organization’s Public Lands Initiative, which engaged anglers and hunters in the fight for responsible energy development. The initiative has evolved into the Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, which has worked to protect millions of acres of public lands habitat vital to trout and salmon, including 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range, nearly nine million acres in Idaho, and more than four million acres in Colorado. In order to restore fish habitat, to reestablish thriving populations of 289

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wild trout and salmon, and to create economically beneficial fisheries, removal of dams that are dangerous and have outlived their purpose is truly in TU’s vanguard. TU continues to be a critical player in discussions about the impacts of dams on trout and salmon waters across the United States. The removal of the Glines Canyon Dam on Washington State’s Elwha River is a good example.27 The restoration of Maine’s Penobscot River is the largest dam removal project that TU has been involved in. According to TU, “It is the last best chance for the recovery of wild Atlantic salmon in the United States.” The removal of the dams will open improve access to more than 1,000 miles of river to spawning run of Atlantic salmon and ten other species of anadromous fish. Trout Unlimited is a member of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, the nonprofit organization implementing the Penobscot restoration project. Other members include the Penobscot Indian Nation, American Rivers, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Audubon, Natural Resources Council of Maine, and the Nature Conservancy.28 This effort gained traction in 2013, with the removal of the Veazie Dam on the Penobscot.29 Whether for massive scale projects on the Kennebec, Penobscot, or the Deschutes or for local efforts like the Mountain Empire Chapter’s campaign to build a trail through the South Holston River Gorge in Virginia, TU has learned that collaboration with all stakeholders is the key to success. Twenty-First- Century Benchmarks Eastern Conservation: Brook Trout

As detailed earlier in this book by Matthew Bruen, many anglers perceive the East, particularly New York and Pennsylvania, as the birth place of American fly fishing. One primary effort included a groundbreaking effort to work across multiple states, taking a watershed-wide view to the restoration of the only “trout” native to the East.30 Introduced during periods of glacial advance, brook trout became an indicator species for streams degraded by acid precipitation, acid mine drainage, historical agricultural practices, and ill- considered residential and commercial development. Conceived as a campaign to engage citizens of North Carolina and Tennessee to restore the native southern Appalachian brook trout and to fight for stronger clean air and water laws, Back the Brookie evolved into the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, a core component of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. In it TU

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is united with seventeen states, six federal agencies, a number of universities, and members of hundreds of TU in the restoration of native brook trout to its home waters from Maine to Georgia.31 Recognizing the impacts that fossil-fuel-related emissions have on human health as well as on high mountain waters for brook trout, TU joined the University of Virginia in the Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (VTSSS). Now approaching its fortieth anniversary, VTSSS has produced data that encouraged the EPA to tighten air quality standards. As a result, acid deposition is declining, and brook trout waters are recovering in Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Drainage from shafts and galleries mines for coal or metallic minerals combined with other elements such as aluminum cause growths on the gills of fish and suffocate them. Addressing acid mine drainage (AMD) has become an imperative for TU. For instance, with funding from the Tiffany Foundation, which had made jewelry from gold and silver from the Pacific Mine in Utah’s American Fork Canyon, Trout Unlimited, Snowbird Resorts, and the Forest Service, TU facilitated the effort to clean up the site. The collaboration created a model for the mitigation of drainage and tailings from more than 500,000 abandoned hard-rock mines in the West. For its efforts, TU was awarded the Environmental Achievement Award from the EPA in 2007.32 For nearly two decades, TU has worked in Pennsylvania to restore and protect brook trout habitat through its Pennsylvania Eastern Brook Trout Habitat Initiative. This campaign has two main components: mitigating AMD and removing barriers such as poorly designed culverts in the Kettle Creek and other drainages feeding the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Beginning in Pennsylvania, then spreading into other mid-Atlantic states and the Southeast, TU has facilitated the Sportsman’s Alliance for Marcellus Conservation, a coalition of more than 280,000 sportsmen and -women who are working together to identify and mitigate the impacts of shale gas fracking on water quality and outdoor sports. TU is a leading advocate for strong federal, state, and local fracking regulation. Concerned about Chesapeake Bay pollution, TU, again working with local partners, has helped landowners fence cattle out of streams, install alternate watering systems, and restore riparian habitat along scores of tributaries to the upper Potomac, Shenandoah, and James Rivers. The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers roughly 64,000 square miles and includes more than fifty rivers and major streams in six states from New York to Virginia. The most populous region of the country, it also

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has the greatest concentration of TU members whose chapters have undertaken scores of small-scale habitat improvement projects, each adding a bit to cleaning up the bay. The Midwest DARE: Driftless Area Restoration Effort

About 2.6 million years ago, sheets of glacial ice began to flow and ebb across much of North America. At times most of the upper Midwest was completely covered except a topographic rise for 24,000 square miles where the corners of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa touch, known today as the Driftless Area because glaciers did not fill its valleys with cobbles and sand. The valleys, called coulees in local parlance, down cut through 500 feet of limestone that overlies a formation of sandstone. Water percolates down through the limestone, runs out on the sandstone, and produces 4,500 miles of spring creeks, the greatest concentration in the country. They were initially inhabited by brook trout. In 2006, TU, state and federal natural resource agencies, and a number of conservation organizations collaborated in the establishment of the Driftless Area Restoration Effort. Over the past decade the campaign has raised more than $60 million, restored more than 125 miles of degraded streams, and added more than 250 miles of public access to some of the best wild trout fishing in the country. For projects in Minnesota, DARE and other environmental initiatives receive funding from a three- eighth of one percent state sales tax increase passed in 2008. TU in the West: Wilderness Areas, National Monuments, and Roadless Rules

No region of the country boasts a greater diversity of salmonid species and their habitat than states in the West. But no region is more severely threatened by oil and gas extraction, logging, mining, and residential development. TU has been the catalyst for collaboratives of stakeholders who have achieved such successes as establishing the Valles Caldera National Preserve, protecting the Valle Vidal, and creating the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, all in New Mexico. TU and its partners have helped preserve 1.2 million acres of public land in the Wyoming Range from new oil and gas leasing. Similarly, they helped launch other wilderness areas and national monuments, including the Columbine-Hondo along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and the

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Pine Forest Range in Nevada and Hermosa Creek and Browns Canyon National Monument along the Arkansas River in Colorado. It also played a key role to ensure the protection of Roadless Rules in Idaho and Colorado that protect nearly thirteen million acres. In the Pacific Northwest, TU helped spearhead the coalition known as the Sportsmen for the Copper-Salmon Wilderness to conserve a portion of the Rogue River– Siskiyou National Forest located in the Southern Oregon Coast Range. The tract was designated a wilderness area by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. In the Klamath River basin in northern California and Oregon, TU has been instrumental in developing agreements to remove four dams, which will recover 400 miles of wild salmon and steelhead habitat. The agreements will improve flows and water quality in the Klamath and major tributaries including the Williamson, Wood, Sprague, and Sycan Rivers. They are endorsed by the Klamath tribes; ranching and farming interests; hunting and fishing groups; the regional electric utility PacificCorp; and elected local, state, and federal officials. Legislation to implement the agreements is pending before Congress. Fighting for Bristol Bay: The Pebble Mine in Alaska

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or so the saying goes. In 2005 a multinational company proposed to create one of the world’s largest open-pit gold and copper mines—the Pebble Mine—in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. If approved, Pebble will access one of the largest copper–gold– molybdenum deposits in the world.33 Mining this ore would by necessity produce an open pit up to six square miles and more than half a mile deep.34 The waste ore would need to be contained in tailings (waste storage) ponds. At full build- out, Pebble would require three tailings ponds totaling nearly seventeen square miles, the largest of which is would be potentially placed at the headwaters to the Koktuli River.35 The project includes a three-mile-long, 740-foot high earth-fill dam to corral toxic slurry that, if released, would poison spawning waters for 46 percent of the world’s sockeye salmon. Located in one of the most active earthquake zones surrounding the Pacific, should the dam fail, more than 14,000 jobs and an economy valued at over $1.5 billion could be lost. Worse yet, Pebble is the first of as many as fi fteen similar mines proposed for the region where ground water is very close to the surface. Waste waters from the mine will need containment and man-

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agement in perpetuity, and any leakage of noxious wastes and other mine operations pose a deadly threat to commercial and recreational salmon fishing industries. In 2006, shortly after the mine was proposed, TU joined the fray to protect salmon and related jobs. It helped to recruit Orvis, along with many other sport fishing and hunting companies and organizations, to join the coalition of Alaska Natives, commercial fishermen, and anglers to save Bristol Bay. In 2010, with TU’s leadership, this coalition took the fight to Washington, DC, requesting that the United States Environmental Protection Agency use its authority under the Clean Water Act to help stop the Pebble Mine. Since 2011, when the EPA initiated a process to review and possibly place restrictions on mining in Bristol Bay, TU has helped leverage well over one million American voices and over 1,500 businesses in hunting and angling and coordinate this diverse coalition from Alaska to Washington, DC. In June 2014, the EPA proposed restrictions on the mining of the Pebble deposit. Finalization of the proposed restrictions has now been held up in court, due to a lawsuit filed against the EPA by Northern Dynasty Minerals. As of the writing of this chapter, the court case is expected to proceed until at least September 2016. Since 2005, TU has also been a critical partner and leader in other collaborative campaigns to protect critical Alaska trout and salmon habitats, including the Tongass National Forest, or helping the community of Talkeetna, Alaska, prevent the construction of the proposed Susitna Dam, which would dam the fourth-largest king salmon producer in the state. In much of this work, Trout Unlimited works to build coalitions that place local communities and interests at the forefront of conservation efforts. In doing so, it is not uncommon to see Trout Unlimited working alongside commercial fishermen and Alaska Natives, forging broad coalitions that bridge social and political interests. Those coalitions are central to their success and carry on the legacy of TU’s founding members. Spawning Future Generations of Angler- Conservationists

Recognizing that the future of Trout Unlimited needed to be sustained by the next generation of anglers, the Cumberland Valley Chapter founded TU’s first conservation and fishing camp for youth in 1995. Held at the Allenberry Inn on the banks of Pennsylvania’s Yellow Breeches Creek, this week-long camp immerses high school–aged students in stream ecology, fisheries science, and techniques for successful fly and spin fish294

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ing. Faculty come from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, other federal and state natural resource agencies, and TU volunteers. Today, more than twenty state councils operate summer coldwater conservation camps for kids, collectively known as “Summer on the Fly.” Trout in the Classroom (TIC), raising trout or salmon in fifty-fivegallon aquariums, allows school children to learn hands- on lessons in the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering, and math as well as in the humanities. In TIC, school children hatch trout eggs in the aquarium, raise them from alevins to fingerlings, and then release them in a nearby coldwater stream. TU volunteers help teachers manage the trout tanks and develop creative curricula that interface with state standards of learning. TIC is an important first step in providing students with lessons about conserving mountain streams and spring creeks and native fauna and flora. Initiated in New York City through a partnership between the Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited in 1997, the past decade has seen phenomenal nationwide growth of the program from four classrooms to more than 500 by 2015. In Virginia alone, since David Jones of TU’s Smith River Chapter established twenty tanks in the Martinsville area in 2006, more than 200 schools now participate in TIC. Many students in TIC are also TU Stream Explorers, a special membership program for youths of twelve or younger, and some participate in First Cast, which teaches them the rudiments of fly casting and stream ecology in partnership with the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation. Teens can join TU at a deeply discounted rate and receive full benefits. An annual summit is held for TU teen leaders. For college students TU supports Five Rivers fishing clubs on scores of campuses throughout the nation. Stepping Stones for Rehabilitation and Hope for Our Veterans

It is well recognized in the medical community that many veterans benefit from physical and occupational therapies found in fly tying, fly casting, and fishing. Initiated in 2011, TU’s Veterans Service Partnership collaborates with Project Healing Waters, which was started in 2005 to assist wounded military service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, Project Healing Waters has expanded nationwide, establishing its highly successful program in Department of Defense hospitals, Warrior Transition Units, and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and clinics.

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Conclusion: The Clean Water Act and the Future of America’s Coldwater Fisheries As of publication of this book, Trout Unlimited’s members number more than 157,000 and represent 375 chapters and thirty-six councils. The organization has an annual budget approaching $50 million and employs about 200 full-time professional staff.36 In fiscal year 2014, for example, TU members logged more than 650,000 hours of volunteering worth roughly $13,884,000.37 The conservation clout of this dedicated group of anglers, conservationists, professionals, and others is tremendous. The future of fisheries conservation depends upon state and federal policies that ensure protections for health waters, rivers, fisheries, and communities. One of the largest achievements for Trout Unlimited occurred in the summer of 2015, when the EPA issued a ruling that ensured that an additional 60 percent of America’s headwaters and wetland were covered by the Clean Water Act. Looking ahead, as it enters its second half century, TU knows that the environment faces massive challenges from climate change; competition for water, so eloquently stated in Jack Williams and Austin Williams’s chapter “Conservation Challenges and the Future of Fly Fishing” in this volume; and the quest for supplies of energy. Jack and Austin hit the nail on the head: water is a natural resource for which no substitute exists. According to Joe Hankins of the Conservation Fund, water needs should be a more significant concern than climate change and global warming. To meet these challenges, TU is committed to developing strategies based on the best science and with a broad understanding of social and economic impacts. To guide it into the future, TU has defined goals in four broad themes: Protect watersheds to ensure the highest quality habitat for native and wild fish; reconnect fragmented streams to sustain healthy populations of native and wild fish; restore degraded coldwater habitat thorough collaboration with landowners and other stakeholders; and sustain conservation efforts by building capacity within all levels of TU with a particular emphasis on enabling young people to successfully engage in long-term conservation efforts so that TU’s legacy as well as that of George Griffith, Art Neumann, and other founders will endure beyond the current generation.

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What the Future Holds: Conservation Challenges and the Future of Fly Fishing JACK WILLIAMS AND AUSTIN WILLIAMS

Introduction Sometimes, fly fishing can be like magic. We have all been there: the flows are perfect, the hatch is just getting underway, an epiphany the night before led you to tie a perfect match, and the fish are just picky enough to justify your sense of accomplishment when they take your fly. It could not be any better if you wrote the script. Then, the next day comes and things have changed. Rains up the valley have raised the water level and have given it a little color, the hatch has died, and fish are off the bite. You are  left with memories of what was— and such is the nature of fishing. Despite our best wishes, we understand that streams change from one day to the next. We know that those bright summer days will soon give way to shortened daylight and a nip in the air. We know that today’s great fishing may yield to tomorrow’s bust. Yet we can deal with this change because we have seen it before and know that tomorrow’s skunking may give way to the day of our life. But not all changes are this apparent. 297

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Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis). Photo credit: Frank D. Weissbarth.

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There are new changes and challenges underway that are unfamiliar—that we have not seen before and therefore may struggle to address. Nonnative species invade and displace our more familiar ones. Diatoms bloom in profusion, creating a blanket of algae that smothers aquatic insects and causes what appropriately is known in the fishing world by the moniker “rock snot.” On top of these invasives, the climate is changing in an accelerated and more unpredictable manner, resulting in more frequent and bigger storms, floods, and droughts. As they say, the only constant is change, and the natural world is changing at a faster pace each decade. Our lakes and streams are particularly susceptible to a suite of new forces poised to fundamentally alter their ecology: from a growing number of invasive species and an increasing demand by our growing cities for fresh water to escalating climate change and the alarming synergy that is likely to result from the combination of these forces. We are faced with increasing storms, warmer and drier summers, drought, wildfires, and the proliferation of strange algae, foreign snails, and exotic fishes. It seems fair to ask whether native trout and salmon as we know them can survive and, if so, where and in what condition. 298

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Native populations of trout and salmon are in retreat worldwide. Some are on the endangered species list while others have been supplemented or replaced entirely by hatchery fish. Some populations are still healthy, but primarily in more remote northern zones. Lahontan cutthroat trout, Gila trout, and Apache trout have been listed as endangered or threatened since the Endangered Species Act was first passed in 1973. Little Kern golden trout were listed as threatened in 1978. Bull trout were listed as threatened in 1998. Greenback cutthroat trout were listed as endangered, then as threatened, and now, new genetic studies reveal that the legitimate greenback subspecies is found only in a single creek. Across the range of all native trout and char in the lower fortyeight states, about 51 percent of their historical habitat is no longer suitable These declines reflect broader problems in our aquatic systems. A recent survey by the American Fisheries Society found that 39 percent of the native freshwater and anadromous fishes in North America are at risk of extinction to one degree or another.1 More than two of every three species of native freshwater mollusks are at risk of extinction.2 In the conterminous United States, a group of US Geological Survey sci-

FIGU RE 16. 2

Map of native trout distribution in the United States

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entists estimate that 86 percent of rivers and streams have substantial alterations in their flow regimes compared to historical conditions.3 Freshwater systems are in trouble and native trout are reliable indicators of these changes. Perhaps surprising to many, the conservation challenges in aquatic systems appear to greatly exceed those of terrestrial habitats. While a third or more of aquatic species are in peril, a comparatively small 14  percent of birds and 16 percent of mammals are at risk. Furthermore, it has proven more difficult to recover aquatic species once they have declined than their terrestrial counterparts.4 Until the Oregon chub was declared “recovered” in 2015, the only fish removed from the Endangered Species Act have been so due to their extinction or taxonomic reclassification. Clearly, the conservation of fish in riverine environments presents a formidable challenge. Fishery managers have responded by changing regulations, translocating at-risk populations, and installing small dams in efforts to isolate desired fish from invading species. Ironically, isolating small populations above in-stream barriers may help protect them from downstream invading species, but also appears to make them increasingly vulnerable to wildfire, droughts, and floods—precisely the sorts of disturbances we know are increasingly common as our climate warms.5

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Proportion of species at risk by plant or animal group

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Traditional management approaches may not be sufficient to recover endangered species or even to slow their population declines. Conservation biologists are urging protection of remaining strongholds and restoration of entire watersheds and their native fish communities as ways to increase resilience in natural systems and improve the ability of our rivers and their native fauna to recover following drought, floods, or wildfire.6 To be successful in our conservation efforts, we must think and act across larger areas and over longer periods of times than we have in the past. The challenges facing the future of fly fishing as we know it are many. Our growing human population demands more water and land each year to meet basic needs. Global warming and climate chaos are disrupting streams and their flow regimes. Invasive aquatic species, ranging from algae and snails to warmwater fish predators, are spreading rapidly in our lakes and streams. To make matters worse, there is increasing evidence for a synergy among these factors where, for example, climate change is enabling new invasion pathways for nonnative species.7 In this chapter, we argue that meeting the challenge of rapid environmental change will be difficult, but far from hopeless. The first step is becoming more informed about the nature of the major factors driving change in our fish populations and their habitats. Solutions can be found in how we live our lives each day, how we manage our homewaters, how we practice our recreational pursuits, and how we act to influence state and national priorities. Change may be inevitable, but there is much we can do to increase the resistance and resilience of our natural systems to disturbances. As anglers, we have a responsibility to be part of the solution, for the sake of the resource, our sport, and those who follow in our footsteps.

Drivers of Rapid Environmental Change No single factor is responsible for our current pace of environmental change. Several interrelated factors are combining to cause what is probably the most rapid environmental change that the Earth has seen for many thousands of years. Human population continues to grow and, with it, increasing demands for land and water. Expanding urban areas are demanding new sources of freshwater and, with this come interbasin water transfers, massive groundwater withdrawals, and increasing infrastructure to capture and deliver municipal water supplies. 301

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There are many indications that our population already is exceeding our available supply of freshwater.8 The Colorado River and Rio Grande are so overappropriated that they are barely more than a trickle upon reaching the ocean. The Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from South Dakota to Texas and supplies nearly a third of the groundwater, water used for irrigation, is being depleted at an enormous rate. A water volume equivalent to two-thirds the size of Lake Erie has been pumped away. The US per capita water consumption rate— 655,939 gallons/ year—is greater than in any other country.9 The United Kingdom, for comparison, has a per capita consumption rate of 328,894 gallons/year, which is roughly half of that in the United States. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is attempting a massive water grab from groundwater aquifers across the Great Basin to feed the unrelenting growth of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Their planned diversions, coupled with existing withdrawals, would equal about 263 percent of the perennial annual yield available from these aquifers and would threaten the flow of interconnected springs and wetlands stretching from Death Valley, California, to the Bonneville Basin along the Nevada-Utah border.10 If developed, the proposal likely will impact twenty federally listed species, not to mention literally dozens of other rare species, including populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout. As more land is developed for farms and cities, and more infrastructure is required to store and deliver water, new opportunities arise for aquatic invasive species to take hold and expand to new waters. After habitat alteration, invasive species are the primary cause of native fish declines. For native trout, hybridization with nonnative salmonids is a huge concern and has resulted in the loss or contamination of many natural populations. Invasive species take many forms, including aquatic weeds, algal mats, tiny mussels, and massive silver carp. Not even our “protected areas” are secure from invasive species. Yellowstone National Park, which historically provided some of the best habitat anywhere for Yellowstone and Westslope cutthroat trout, has seen invasions by New Zealand mudsnails, nonnative brook trout, and lake trout. The nonnative lake trout population has depressed Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake to the point that adult spawning runs of the native cutthroat declined in one principal lake tributary from 54,928 in 1988 to just 538 in 2007.11 Only after decades of gillnetting that removed hundreds of thousands of lake trout from Yellowstone Lake has the tide started to turn back in favor of the native cutthroat. In their book Yellowstone Fishes: Ecology, History, and Angling in the Park, John Varley and Paul Schullery describe how the onslaught of in302

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vasive species is testing not only the capabilities but also the philosophy of the National Park Service. While discussing the problems of invasive species with Michael Soule, one of the pioneers of conservation biology, they conclude that the introduction of nonnative species is probably the biggest threat to large wilderness parks like Yellowstone: “aquatic systems are the most susceptible to invasion, and they are also the ecosystems where invadersE are likely to be the most popular”12 As we move fish around to new waters or to supplement declining populations, we often move parasites and diseases with them. Dense fish populations associated with hatcheries and other aquaculture facilities are prime breeding grounds for parasites and diseases, many of which may be undetectable to the naked eye but can have dire consequences. Climate change is the wild card that will increase the potency of these problems while complicating once-likely solutions. River flows, for instance, will become much more variable due to floods and increasingly prolonged drought. Already we are seeing the effects of reduced baseflows in much of the West while eastern streams are reeling from increased storms and flooding. Since 1948, most weather stations in the Northeast have reported an increasing frequency of storm events producing two inches or more of rain, and some areas have had “hundred-year storm events” for three years running (2005, 2006, and 2007).13 In recent decades, baseflows in many western streams have been diminished as a result of less snowpack and winter precipitation regimes where rain is becoming more dominant than snow.14 Massive drought grips large parts of the West. Water supplies become less dependable as snowpacks decrease and river flows become more unpredictable. Erosion and runoff increases as many western forests experience more frequent warming, wildfire, and forest pest outbreaks. During periods of such rapid environmental change and increasing water scarcity, knee-jerk reactions often replace common-sense planning. Streams are channelized and levees are pushed up in wetlands without normal regulatory safeguards to gain temporary flood relief while proposals for new reservoirs, which up until recently seemed to fall on deaf ears, are gaining traction.

Upshot for the Fly Fisher There is a strong scientific consensus that the impacts of climate change will have serious consequences for coldwater fishes such as 303

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trout and salmon. Increases in air and stream temperature, changes in flow regimes, and increasing disturbances (floods, drought, and wildfire) will cause the loss of populations as suitable habitat contracts and remaining populations become increasingly isolated and vulnerable. These factors also will complicate interactions between native coldwater fishes and nonnative fishes and may facilitate distinct advantages for the invading species. Because of this complexity involving so many different potential factors, published studies may actually underestimate eventual declines. In one recent study involving top salmonid scientists from federal agencies, universities, and nongovernment organizations, the authors estimate that by the year 2080, native and nonnative trout in the western United States will decline by about half from their current ranges.15 Native cutthroat trout are predicted to lose 58 percent of their current habitat, nonnative brook trout 77 percent, and nonnative brown trout 48 percent. Wenger and colleagues conclude that rainbow trout are the comparative winners, with losses predicted at 35 percent because increasing temperature regimes are somewhat offset by stream flow shifts that are more detrimental to other species.16 The larger predicted de-

Rio Costilla, Valle Vidal, New Mexico, one of the strongholds of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis). Photo credit: Ben Casarez.

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cline for brook trout in the West is caused primarily by shifting flow regimes as winter precipitation falls increasingly as rain instead of snow, which will tend to scour eggs from gravel nests of fall-spawning fish. Native bull trout were not included in the above study, but as they also spawn in the fall, populations of this already rare native char likely will decrease substantially. Depending on which climate change model most closely approximates the future, Rieman and colleagues suggested that bull trout could decline by as much as 92 percent in the next fifteen years or perhaps as little as 18 percent.17 But a recent analysis of stream temperatures in Idaho’s Boise River Basin showed that we have already lost between 11 and 20 percent of bull trout habitat due to warming conditions.18 Of course, many of our trout and salmon populations already have experienced significant declines from historical abundance, and these predictions are on top of past losses. Most subspecies of cutthroat trout, for instance, already have declined by 80 percent or more compared to historic conditions, with some subspecies listed as endangered or threatened pursuant to the Endangered Species Act or identified as a candidate species for future listing. Bull trout, also listed as threatened, have already been eliminated from much of the southern portions of their range in California, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. The future for trout in the eastern United States is no less dire. In the southern Appalachians, wild trout populations (both native brook trout and nonnative brown trout) are expected to decline from 53 percent to 97 percent.19 In general, trout are likely to retreat upstream and uphill to the coldest remaining waters. This means that trout, including the larger individual trout that migrate throughout river systems or rely on main-stem habitat, will be eliminated from the larger rivers. Small headwater stream populations will become increasingly vulnerable to floods, drought, and wildfire because of reduced habitat availability and the loss of habitat connectivity that historically allowed fish populations to recolonize streams after major disturbance.20 In the Southwest, impacts of climate change already have eliminated populations of native trout. Most remaining populations of Gila and Apache trout are small and isolated in headwater streams above artificial barriers where they are particularly vulnerable to changes in habitat condition. Many populations are comprised of only a few hundred fish. In New Mexico, wildfires and subsequent debris flows following rain storms have been particularly detrimental. Brown and colleagues documented the loss of six populations of Gila trout following high-intensity wildfires during the 1990s.21 Similarly, small popula305

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tions of Apache trout are threatened by drought and at least one population already has been eliminated.22 Invasion of streams by nonnative rainbow trout has been a recurring problem and has resulted in the loss of populations of Gila and Apache trout through hybridization. Fisheries managers in the Southwest and elsewhere face an increasing dilemma. On the one hand, they need to construct in-stream barriers to protect native trout in headwaters from invading populations of nonnative species downstream. On the other hand, isolating native trout populations in small headwater streams makes them increasingly vulnerable to drought and wildfire. It is a quandary for management agencies, with no easy answers in sight.23 In 2012, the problem was brought to a head when the Whitewater-Baldy Fire Complex became the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history and blazed through the core of remaining Gila trout populations. Consequences of climate change on anadromous fish populations, including salmon and steelhead, are likely to be severe, but their declines are harder to predict with precision because of their large migrations and uncertainty in ocean conditions. A group of University of Washington scientists modeled stream flows and stream temperatures under various climate change scenarios.24 Their simulations found that summertime temperatures will stress salmon throughout Washington State. By the 2080s, simulations predicted a complete loss of snowmelt dominated basins as precipitation regimes shift from snow to rain dominated with associated drops in late season stream flows and increased flooding. Increased flooding is predicted to reduce spawning success of all anadromous fishes, while increased water temperatures and lower base flows are likely to be particularly stressful for salmon, such as coho and Chinook, and steelhead that spend more time as juvenile fishes rearing in freshwater streams before migrating out to the ocean.25 In the southern portions of the salmon range, many populations are in steep decline from a variety of factors, including climate change. If present trends continue, 65 percent of native trout and salmon in California are likely to be extinct within 100 years.26 According to Peter Moyle, who has literally written the book on California fishes, and his colleagues at the University of California-Davis, chum, pink, and coho salmon are likely to become extinct within California along with summer steelhead and spring Chinook salmon. Climate change will be a major contributor to these losses.27 Increasing ocean temperatures may inhibit or alter normal migratory patterns of anadromous fishes. Evidence shows that the Pacific Ocean is warming, especially in areas farther from the poles, with sig306

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nificant increases in the past two decades.28 While our understanding of changing environmental conditions in the ocean is relatively poor compared to our understanding of freshwater conditions, if the populations of anadromous fishes along the coasts of California and Oregon cannot access cooler waters in the North Pacific, their declines may be catastrophic. A further problem is increasing ocean acidity as more atmospheric CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by seawater to produce carbonic acid. Along the West Coast, scientists recently documented dissolving shells of pteropods— small zooplankton—that are used as food for salmon.29 Warming of freshwater streams and lakes will increase the likelihood that warmwater fishes, such as smallmouth bass, chubs, and pikeminnows, may establish and eventually replace trout and other coldwater species. In a 2008 paper published in Conservation Biology, scientists from the Universities of Wyoming and Washington examined how climate change might change the pathways and ultimate success of invasive aquatic species.30 They found that increased demand for water storage and conveyance structures could provide new pathways for nonnative aquatic species to spread. They also noted that fish diseases are likely to become more problematic as coldwater fish populations are stressed by low flows and warming conditions. Aquatic plants, including algae, may increase in density as waters warm and storm events wash pollutants into lakes and streams. Didymosphenia geminata, more commonly known as didymo or rock snot, is a native diatom that can grow prolifically in warm waters. In recent years, the abundance of this alga appears to be increasing in many streams that support trout, salmon, and steelhead. Didymo forms dense mats of brown algae that grow along the bottom of streams and smother aquatic insects such as mayfly and stonefly larvae. Outbreaks of these dense algae mats have been reported from Vancouver Island to New England. It was believed that didymo was introduced by anglers on the felt soles of their wading shoes, but recent evidence indicates that this diatom is native to many areas but formerly occurred in very small numbers. Climate change is likely to contribute to the increasing abundance of didymo, at least in some areas.31 Notwithstanding the origins of didymo, it is easy to see how algae, other aquatic plants, and small invertebrates could be moved from one habitat to another by unsuspecting anglers. Tiny New Zealand mudsnails, which have invaded many rivers and streams across North America, can easily move about on felt soles or on any fishing gear with plants or mud attached. 307

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Regardless of the precision of existing trends and various future estimates, it is safe and prudent, if not somewhat depressing, to conclude that the future of coldwater fishes such as trout and salmon is in jeopardy. Some of this decline is a foregone conclusion. Other portions will be a product of future greenhouse gas emissions and how we respond to growing challenges. Reducing emissions now can mean less change in the future. Also, our efforts to increase the resistance and resilience of habitats and populations to climate impacts can pay big dividends in the future. The data and trends are clear. The challenge is before us. So, what to do?

Call to Action The magnitude of the problem suggests that the appropriate solution lies beyond small, incremental actions. Part of the solution clearly lies within the purview of the angler and includes things such as improving stream management and preventing the introduction and spread of exotic species. Other parts of the solution are the responsibility of society at large and include such things as energy conservation and supporting companies that help sustain natural resources and minimize their environmental impact. Quite a few years back, Bob Lackey, a long-time salmon biologist working at Oregon State University, asked a number of his colleagues an interesting and somewhat loaded question: “What would it take to keep wild salmon around in the year 2100?” In part, he was prompted to ask this because he and many of his colleagues were becoming convinced that fisheries science was not holding salmon recovery back; rather, other broader societal factors were. Additionally, he saw the growing human population across the Pacific Rim and the many factors associated with this growth, such as the need for more food and water, making salmon recovery even more difficult in the future. Lackey compiled many of these questions in a book that makes for some pretty fascinating reading.32 Answers ranged from engineering better streams and hatcheries to increasing environmental education efforts to recovering and protecting a network of salmon strongholds. Some of the chapter authors held that the declines of wild salmon were indicating broader problems in our relationship to the natural world. These scientists believed that in order to have wild salmon around in the year 2100 we needed nothing short of a new land ethic

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that would reframe our relationship with nature, reduce our ecological footprint, and drive our lifestyles towards a more sustainable future.33 As the authors describe, the per capita ecological footprint of those in the United States is higher than in any other nation on Earth.34 If everyone on the planet consumed resources at the rate of US citizens, we would need a resource base equivalent to four more planet Earths just to feed us, meet our energy demands, and absorb our wastes. Wendell Berry once said that we have an environmental crisis “because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling, and enjoying ourselves we are destroying the natural, God-given, world.”35 With this kind of lifestyle, it is no wonder that our greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb, our watersheds continue to degrade, and our fisheries are following right behind. Our response to these challenges must be sufficiently broad to encompass needs ranging from those of our local stream and its watershed to our communities and our larger society. In the following section, we describe the responsibilities we all share to fish ethically (responsibilities to our local waters), live ethically (personal responsibilities in our daily lives), and build an ethical society (broader societal responsibilities). The section includes twelve actions that anglers can do to insure the future of fly fishing. Fly fishing, and the waters and fishes we rely on, is somewhat like the canary in the coal mine. It is an indicator of the broader health of the environment. If fly fishing prospers, then our local streams, rivers, and their watersheds must be in pretty good shape.

Ethical Responsibilities for Anglers: Twelve Things Anglers Can Do to Insure the Future of Fly Fishing. Responsibilities to Your Local Waters: Fish Ethically 1. Inspect, clean, and dry your angling gear, boats, and trailers between each use to prevent invasive hitchhikers 2. Reduce stress on fish caught during hot summer periods by fishing during cooler times of the day and/or improving catch and release practices 3. Participate in local stream restoration projects and cleanups 4. Monitor and advocate for the health of nearby streams and watersheds 5. Restore the resistance and resilience of streams to climate change by improving riparian habitats, reducing pollutants, and restoring instream flows

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F I G U R E 1 6 . 5 Book editor Sam Snyder and restoration specialist Craig Sponholtz planting willows in a restoration project on Comanche Creek in New Mexico’s Valle Vidal, one of the strongholds of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis). Photo credit: Sam Snyder.

Personal Responsibilities in Our Daily Lives: Live Ethically 6. Make lifestyle choices that reduce your family’s ecological footprint 7. Practice water and energy conservation in and around the home 8. Support companies and products that help sustain natural resources and minimize their environmental impact

Broader Societal Responsibilities: Build an Ethical Society 9.

Stay informed about the causes and consequences of environmental degradation

10. Advocate for government policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate change adaptation strategies 11. Support local, regional, and national organizations that sustain native species, stream health, and water quality 12. Share your concerns and encourage your fellow anglers to adopt these practices

Fishing ethically demands that we be aware of the conditions of local streams, participate in local restoration and monitoring projects, 310

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and act to promote the health of our local watersheds. Trout Unlimited, the Federation of Fly Fishers, and other conservation groups support local chapters that are active in stream monitoring and restoration activities. If no such local group exists, you should consider starting one with some fishing buddies. Each angler also has the responsibility to insure that we do not inadvertently contribute to the transportation or introduction of invasive species that become attached to our wading shoes or other fishing gear. Living ethically is about reducing you and your family’s ecological footprint. Primarily, this means reducing energy consumption and water use. Some of these choices can be rather easy and obvious, such as installing energy- efficient lighting and high- efficiency kitchen appliances and replacing grass lawns with native shrubs and rock gardens, but other everyday choices are less obvious but equally important. For example, eating less meat will reduce energy use and using locally produced foods will reduce energy costs for transportation and food storage. Living in smaller houses and driving fuel- efficient vehicles make a real difference as well. Think trout bum. When enough of us live ethically, make sustainable choices, and share our concerns with our fellow anglers, we are on the way to building an ethical society. One of the keys to success is to stay well informed. Society will not make good decisions if the populace is ignorant to or in denial of the causes and consequences of some of the biggest problems we face. Staying well informed is not an easy task these days because much of our news media is itself polarized and many in politics believe the key to success is in keeping the voters fearful about one thing or another. It is no surprise that science and facts sometimes are ignored in favor of political rhetoric. Society ignores science at considerable peril to its future.36 Fortunately, the responsibility for building an ethical society does not fall solely upon the shoulders of the angling community. Many others are dedicated to the cause and are actively working towards sustainable cities and lifestyles. The list of organizations and individuals working for clean water, river conservation, renewable energy, and sustainability is surprisingly long and includes many whose missions align well with anglers. Strength comes with numbers, and this is one time when fly fishers should welcome the crowd.

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Epilogue CHRIS WOOD, CEO, TROUT UNLIMITED

This book is largely about three topics: history, fly fishing, and conservation. As you can see, fly fishing is a sport, pastime, and passion rich in history. It seems by nature that every angler shares a passion for storytelling. If we’re serious about it, we also believe in taking care of the places that fish are found, if for no other reason than doing so makes fishing better. The story of my path to fly fishing was not direct, and my exposure to the world of conservation was even more circuitous. My earliest memories of fishing are with bait and tackle from Ernie’s dock in Strathmere, New Jersey. My father and grandfather would pack me and my three brothers up on a small rowboat and we’d catch flounder, sea-robin, and snapper blues. Salami sandwiches cut with a bait knife never tasted better. I caught the fishing bug while at Middlebury College in Vermont. On occasion a buddy and I would steal away from classes and spin fish for twenty-four hours straight. I tell my parents that only happened on weekends, but. I got into fly fishing for two reasons. First, my parents bought me an Orvis Green Mountain series rod and reel package (that I still own) for my nineteenth birthday. Second, because my “little brother” from the Big BrotherLittle Brother program in Addison County, Vermont was a special needs kid whose parents thought fly fishing would be therapeutic. I do not remember us catching many fish,

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but together we created more complicated casting knots than any two other anglers in history. In fact, I caught my first trout on a fly rod on the New Haven River in Vermont while untangling a particularly vicious knot in my fly line. When the line pulled tight, lo and behold I pulled a wild trout out by hand on a zug-bug that I had left dangling in the water. My introduction to conservation was equally auspicious. After graduation, I was coaching high school football in Jersey City and running an ice cream factory. My friend Mick Kelly was bartending in Homer, Alaska, and invited me to come up and visit. We camped in tents on the Homer Spit, a small beach in Homer, and he allowed me to borrow his old VW Rabbit to fish the Anchor River on the Kenai Peninsula for silver salmon— a species I had heard about but knew nothing about. I arrived at the mouth of the Anchor at nightfall and set up camp, only to wake several hours later to find the tide lapping inside my tent. Who knew Alaska had such big tides? I was wet but the real problem was that the Rabbit was parked in front of the tent. Several cans of WD- 40 later and with the help of a pickup with a rope, I extracted the Rabbit and set out to finally fish for these elusive salmon. I walked up the river and started to see giant dead and dying salmon in the shallows. The fish had hooked snouts and large humps on their backs. I touched my Green Mountain series rod to one of these zombie fish and watched it slouch off into the stream more dead than alive. I could not believe it; here I was for the first time west of western New Jersey, and clearly a train bearing some toxic chemical had derailed killing all of the fish. I never once stepped foot in the Anchor that day for fear that whatever was killing these fish would contaminate my waders. Instead, I used the now-shiny engine of the Rabbit to drive to the Anchorage public library and took out several books about salmon. By campfire that night, I learned of the remarkable life history of salmon, and how they travel hundreds of miles from the ocean, never feeding, living off their fat reserves, to return to their natal freshwater streams. There they would spawn one-time before dying, and their decomposing bodies would provide the nutrients to support their progeny and the entire ecosystem. How cool is that? When the trip ended, I returned to my parents’ home, and the Monday morning I arrived, my Dad found me at the kitchen table and asked what every parent of a recent college graduate should ask on a work day when they find their child at their home. 314

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“What are you doing here?” “Dad, I quit my job at the ice cream factory.” “Well, what the hell are you going to do?” That morning above the fold in the New York Times there was a picture of a man who worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service named Keith Edwards. He was kneeling next to a lake. The caption in the photo read: “It saddens me that I work at a lake named for a fish that doesn’t return anymore.” That was 1991, the year that a single male sockeye salmon that the wags named Lonesome Larry survived the gauntlet of eight major dams, travelling over 800 miles and climbing 8,000 feet to return to Redfish Lake only to find no other fish to spawn with. I looked down at the paper and said, “Dad, I’m going to save the salmon.” I won’t share with you what my Dad, the finest man I’ve ever met and a true Newark tough guy, said. But trust me, it was colorful. Every one of us who shares a passion for fly fishing and conservation has similar stories. We all have stories where, through a singular event like mine, or through a lifetime of experiences, we realize the need to give back to the rivers, fish, and experiences that add color, texture, or meaning to our lives. I go to work every single day knowing that I, with the help of my colleagues at Trout Unlimited and thousands of partner nonprofits, state and federal agencies, and industry and private partners, will in fact “save the salmon” and trout and the river systems that they, and we, depend on. Our challenge at Trout Unlimited is to grow the number of people who care about the rivers and streams that fish depend on. Fishing is not the only way to become a conservationist, but it sure helps. History shows a long and lasting legacy of habitat degradation imposed on our rivers, streams, and fisheries. Consider the trout. Of the twenty- eight species that historically occurred in the United States alone, three are already extinct. And more than half of the species that persist occupy less than a quarter of their historic habitat. But trout and salmon are remarkably resilient, and if we give them half a chance they will respond. That’s why we need more angler- conservationists. Some politicians will say that conservation is a choice to be acted upon when the economy is strong. Every angler knows this is a lie. Conservation is not a choice. It is imperative to sustaining the lands and waters that sustain us. If you never step foot in a trout stream trying to outfox a trout or salmon with a combination of metal, fur, feather, or bait, you should 315

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care about trout and salmon, and all fish for that matter. For, as the fish go, so do we. If you care about clean drinking water, you should care about fishing and conservation. If you want your children to be able to fish and swim in their home waters, you should care about clean water and robust populations of trout and salmon. If you are concerned about the effects of a changing climate, you should support the work of Trout Unlimited and our conservation partners to help protect, reconnect, and restore trout, salmon, and all fisheries because by doing so, we make human communities more resilient to the vagaries of flood, fire, and drought. How so? When a headwater stream is protected as wilderness or through a conservation easement, water filtration costs for downstream communities are reduced. When a stream is reconnected to its floodplain, the effects of flooding on towns and communities downriver are diminished. And watershed scale restoration creates thousands of family-wage jobs for people in countless communities. Fly fishing and conservation are inextricably linked, and we need more anglers to help protect and restore these rivers and streams that give so much to us and ask for nothing in return. Chris Wood is President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. Before coming to Trout Unlimited in September 2001, Chris Wood served as the senior policy and communications advisor to the Chief of the US Forest Service, where he helped protect fifty- eight million acres of publicly owned land. Chris began his career as a temporary employee with the Forest Service in Idaho and also worked for the Bureau of Land Management. He is the author and coauthor of three books, including Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices (AFS 1997), From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Land Legacy (Island Press, 1997), and My Healthy Stream: A Handbook for Streamside Owners (TU and ALF, 2013).

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Appendix: Research Resources: A List of Libraries, Museums, and Collections Covering Sporting History, Especially Fly Fishing The following museums and libraries in the United States and Canada hold collections significant to the history of fly fishing or freshwater fish conservation. These institutions are listed alphabetically below with their address and contact information as well as a brief description of collections that relate to fly fishing or freshwater fish conservation. For institutions that have research libraries, the titles of fly fishing–related archival or rare book collections are provided with brief synopses of each.

Adirondack Museum PO Box 99 Blue Mountain Lake, NY 12812 Physical address: 9907 State Road 30, Blue Mountain Lake, NY 12812 Phone: 518–352–7311 http://www.adkmuseum.org/

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Founded in 1957. Open mid-May through mid- October. Museum has permanent collections and special exhibitions. The research library is the largest repository of books and archival materials related to the Adirondacks and houses 11,000 books; 1,200 manuscript collections; vertical files with 15,000 pieces of ephemera; 500 serials; maps; and audio recordings. Collections: 2,800 artifacts related to hunting and fishing, including flies and fly books, lures, sinkers, spinners, spoons, bobbers, hooks, hook removers, rods and rod bags, reels, line, nets, bait cans, fish measuring board, a pair of waders, an eel pot, tackle boxes, and creels. Paintings by Samuel Colman, Winslow Homer, and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait. Photographs and decorative art.

American Museum of Fly Fishing PO Box 42 Manchester, VT 05254 Gallery/library physical address: 4070 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05254 Phone: 802–362–3300 http://www.amff.com/

Founded in 1968. Permanent collections as well as temporary, traveling, and online exhibitions. Gardner L. Grant Library (open by appointment) offers world’s largest reference collection of 7,000 volumes. Publishes the American Fly Fisher quarterly journal. Collections: 1,400 rods, including those belonging to President Dwight Eisenhower, Winslow Homer, Ernest Hemingway, and Ted Williams. 1,200 reels. 22,000 flies tied by Theodore Gordon, George LaBranche, and Lee Wulff. Earliest documented flies from 1789. Art and artifacts include 700 prints and paintings, ninety linear feet of photographs and archives, and 1,700 pieces of ephemera.

Cascapedia River Museum/Musée de la Rivière Cascapedia 275 Route 299 Cascapedia-St-Jules, Quebec G0C 1T0, Canada Phone: 418–392–5079 http://www.cascapedia.org/

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Founded in 2000. Emphasizes the history of Atlantic salmon fishing on the Grand Cascapedia River and includes artifacts related to salmon fishing. Today the museum has a permanent exhibition, documentation center with a giant screen for viewing films, and a walkthrough veranda designed to reflect the cozy sitting areas found in the private fishing camps along the river. There is also a temporary exhibition room, a gift shop, and the Lady Amherst Tea Room. The Atlantic Salmon Interpretation Centre educates visitors about the life cycle of the Atlantic salmon, its habitat, and conservation efforts.

Catskill Fly Fishing Museum and Center PO Box 1295 Livingston Manor, NY 12758 Physical address: 1031 Old Route 17 Phone: 845– 439– 4810 http://www.catskillflyfishing.org/

Founded in 1978. Permanent and temporary exhibits. Education center offers workshops on fly fishing, fly tying, stream life, healthy conservation and environmental practices, casting, history, and crafts. Annual Cane Rod Makers School. Collections: Permanent exhibits on display are the Darbees, Dettes, Poul Jorgensen, Lee Wulff, Art Flick, and the “Charmed Circle of the Catskills” containing vignettes on Gordon, Hewitt, LaBranche, Steenrod, Christian, Cross, and Flick. Has first and only bamboo rod exhibit and workshop.

College of Charleston Library Special Collections 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 Phone: 843–953– 8016 http://speccoll.cofc.edu/explore- our- collections/rare -books-and-pamphlets/

Collections: Derrydale Press Collections (publisher of fishing/hunting books); Greville Haslam Sporting Book Collection, 1638–2006 (2,250 items, including angling and hunting books published in 17th–

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19th centuries, 400 editions of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, and journals of Haslam’s fishing trips).

Cornell University Kroch Library, Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections, Level 2B Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Phone: 607–255–3530 https://www.library.cornell.edu/libraries/rmc

Collections: Dean Sage Papers 1877–1977 (biographical sketch of Dean Sage by his daughter, Elizabeth; letters from Dean Sage to David Douglas, an Edinburgh, Scotland publisher; additional correspondence).

D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture 423 Hatchery Circle Spearfish, SD 57783 Phone: 605– 642–7730 http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/fisheries/dcBooth.php

Founded in 1896. Formerly Spearfish National Fish Hatchery, the Booth Hatchery is one of the oldest operating hatcheries in the country and has been operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service since 1989. Dedicated to fish culture and resource management, the hatchery was constructed to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. The Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture was created to preserve the vibrant history and rich heritage of the American fisheries workers. The museum facility is made up of the historic 1899 Hatchery Building housing the museum and the 10,000-square-foot Collection Management Facility (CMF).  Fish Culture Hall of Fame established in 1985. Hatchery grounds open year round. Collections: The museum collection includes fish management and culture items and equipment, periodicals, publications, and personal artifacts. Research facilities are open by appointment. 320

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Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum PO Box 690  Hayward, WI 54843 Physical address: 10360 Hall of Fame Dr. Phone: 715– 634– 4440 http://www.freshwater-fishing.org/

Founded in 1976. Not an exclusively fly fishing museum— dedicated to all freshwater sport fishing. “Shrine to Anglers” housed within giant fiberglass muskellunge. Four-building museum complex with permanent exhibits. Publishes the Splash quarterly magazine. Collections: 50,000 vintage and historical lures, rods, reels and angling accessories.  Additionally there are 300 mounted fresh water fish and 1,000 vintage outboard motors. Harvard University Library Archives and Special Collections Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617– 495–3650 http://library.harvard.edu/archives-and-special- collections-harvard

Collections: Louis Agassiz correspondence and other papers (collection of professor of zoology and geology at Harvard); John Bartlett Collection (books on angling, ichthyology, and pisciculture given to Harvard Library in 1892); H. Cholmondeley-Pennell papers on fishing, 1877–1907 (British naturalist and editor who published many volumes on coarse-fly and deep-sea fishing including Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes:  Fishing); Daniel Fearing (1859–1918) Collection (11,000 rare books and manuscripts related to fly fishing acquired by Harvard in 1915); Daniel B. Fearing collection of autograph letters, ca. 1829– 1915 (includes letters to G. E. M. Skues). International Game Fish Association 300 Gulf Stream Way Dania Beach, FL 33004 Library phone: 954–927–2628 https://www.igfa.org/ 321

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Founded in 1939. IGFA headquarters houses E. K. Harry Library of Fishes, one of the most extensive and comprehensive sport fishing collections in the world. Publishes quarterly  International Angler magazine. Collections: 15,000 books, from first editions of angling classics to the latest books in print. 150 outdoor and fishing magazine titles. 2,100 videos, including classic films from 1930s to 1950s. Technical journals, papers, and bulletins from scientific institutions, government agencies, and individual researchers. Slides and photographs. Fish mounts and trophies.

Montana State University Library Trout and Salmonid Collections PO Box 173320 Bozeman, MT 59717 Phone: 406–994– 4242 http://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/trout.php

Collections: Louis Agassiz (letters, 1854–1858) (letters about collection of fish specimens and eggs in New England); Robert J. Behnke (papers, 1957–2000) (ichthyologist, conservationist, and trout and salmonid expert); Charles E. Brooks (papers, 1921–2002) (fly fishing writer and fly tier who lived in West Yellowstone, Montana, in retirement, author of six books including The Trout and the Stream and Fishing Yellowstone Waters); George F. Grant (papers, 1973–1985) (Montana native, fly fisher, fly tier, and author who worked tirelessly for the conservation and cleanup of the Clark Fork and Big Hole Rivers); Bob Jacklin (papers, 1997–2014) (fly fishing author, fly tier, certified casting instructor, and conservationist who founded Jacklin’s Fly Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana, in 1974);  Bud Lilly (papers, 1926–2008; 1946–2003) (fly fishing author, guide, and fly tier, and operated tackle store in West Yellowstone, Montana; active in Trout Unlimited, the Federation of Fly Fishers, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition); Nick Lyons Ephemera Collection (corporate records and personal papers, 1932–2005) (prolific fly fishing writer and publisher; corporate records of the Lyons Press, prominent publisher of sporting and fly fishing books); Harry B. Mitchell (papers, 1953–1965) (promoted the protection of the natural waterways of Montana from damage by road construction and hydraulic activities); Sylvester Nemes (papers, 1973–2010) (champion of wet fly fishing and author of The Soft-Hackled Fly and other books); Alfred T. 322

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Pellicane (papers, 1962–2000) (research materials for an unpublished book on fly fishing writing, A Fly Fisher’s Biography, later changed to Profiles in Angling Literature; includes biographical questionnaires returned to Pellicane by fly fishing writers); Datus C. Proper (papers, 1864– 2003) (fly fisher and writer from Gallatin Valley in Bozeman, Montana; wrote four books and articles for publications such as Field and Stream); Salmon Poisoning Research Collection (papers, 1923–1999) (research papers of parasitologist Stuart A. Knapp concerning “salmon poisoning” of canids from eating salmon infected with the microorganism Ricksettia); Norman Strung (literary manuscripts and correspondence, 1966–1982) (literary manuscripts and letters of Norman Strung, MSU alumnus, instructor of English, and outdoor writer and licensed hunting and fishing guide).

National Sporting Library and Museum PO Box 1335 Middleburg, VA 20118–1335 Physical address: 102 The Plains Rd.; Middleburg, VA 20117 Phone: 540– 687– 6542 http://www.nationalsporting.org/

Founded in 1954. Art museum and library holds permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Publishes quarterly newsletter. Offers John H. Daniels Fellowship for visiting researchers. Collections: Research library holds 20,000 volumes on equestrian and field sports, including fly fishing, dating from sixteenth century to present. John H. Daniels Collection (includes rare fly fishing books including ninety editions of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler); George and Mary Chapman Fly Fishing Collection (1,500 books, periodicals, framed flies, and other ephemera); very rare 1898 edition of F. M. Halford’s Dry Fly Entomology with tied flies.

Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Association PO Box 205 Boiling Springs, PA 17007 Physical address: 1559 Boiling Springs Rd. http://www.paflyfishing.org/ 323

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Main exhibit is at Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs, PA. Satellite exhibit at Poconos Visitor Center on fly tying and feeding habits of trout. Collections: Artifacts and papers (rods, flies, photographs, etc.) related to Vince Marinaro, Chauncy Lively, George Harvey, Sam Slaymaker, Jim Bashline, and others.

Princeton University Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections Firestone Library One Washington Road Princeton, New Jersey 08544 Phone: 609–258–3184 http://rbsc.princeton.edu/

Collections: Kienbusch Angling Collection (1651–1974) (collected by Princeton alumnus Carl Otto Kretzschmar Von Kienbusch, includes fly fishing books, manuscripts, and correspondence. Highlights include seventeenth- century manuscript “The Art of Angling” by Thomas Barker, letters from Theodore Gordon to G. E. M. Skues, Charles E. Goodspeed collection, records of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, fishing diaries, and flies); Angling Papers of George M. L. La Branche (1911–1950) (correspondence with G. E. M. Skues and book manuscripts such as The Salmon and the Dry Fly [1921]).

Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum PO Box 521 Rangeley, ME 04970 Physical address: Corner of Routes 4 and 7 in the village of Oquossoc in Rangeley, Maine Phone: 207– 864–3091 http://www.rangeleyoutdoormuseum.org/

Rangeley, Maine, has been famous for 150 years as a brook trout fishery. 3,500 sq. ft. museum building administered by the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society. Open seasonally from May to October.

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Collections: Largest collection of Carrie Stevens flies in the world. Trophy trout mounted by taxidermists Herb Welch and J. Waldo Nash. Exhibits explore such local history as the early role of the Oquossoc Angling Association in protecting area fisheries and the Kennebago Tribe of gentleman anglers. Photographs of Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby, one of the first female fishing guides in America. 1920s- era double- ended Rangeley boat. Working silk line braiding machine added to collections in 2011.

Rochester Museum and Science Center Schuyler C. Townson Research Library 657 East Avenue Rochester, NY 14607 Library/Archives Phone: 585–271– 4552 x 315 http://collections.rmsc.org/LibCat/libraries.html

Collections: Seth Green Family Papers, 1844–1878 (Seth Green was the pioneer fish culturist in the United States and first superintendent of the New York State Fish Commission).

University of British Columbia Rare Books and Special Collections Rare Books and Special Collections Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 1961 East Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Phone: 604– 822–2521 http://rbsc.library.ubc.ca/

Collections: Thomas Brayshaw Fonds, 1907–1967 (well-known sport fisherman and artist; illustrated several of Roderick Haig-Brown’s  books);  Valerie Haig-Brown Fonds, 1946–2000 (Valerie Haig-Brown is the eldest daughter of BC conservationist and author Roderick HaigBrown; collections consists of several of Roderick Haig-Brown’s manuscripts as well as correspondence); Lee Richardson Fonds, 1946–1964 (typescripts of hunting and fishing expeditions by Richardson including fishing in the Kispiox and Babine Rivers).

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University of Chicago Library Special Collections Research Center 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 Phone: 773–702– 8705 http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/

Collections: Norman Maclean Papers 1880–1990 (Maclean, a professor of English at the University of Chicago, wrote A River Runs Through It; includes correspondence as well as manuscript drafts of the novel and papers related to the 1992 film adaptation).

University of New Hampshire Library Angling Collections Special Collections, Archives, and Museum Dimond Library 101 University of New Hampshire Durham, NH 03842 Phone: 603– 862–2714 http://www.library.unh.edu/find/special/subject/angling

Collections: Approximately 4,000 collections items related to fly fishing. Douglas M. and Helena McElwain Milne Angling Collection (3,500 volumes, one of the largest collections of angling literature, artwork, and ephmera in the United States; rich in materials relating to fly fishing for trout and Atlantic salmon, with special emphasis on fishing in New England and eastern Canada); James and Sylvia Bashline Collection (1958–1997) (angling writers who held editorial positions at Field and Stream; collection includes published newspaper and magazine articles, manuscripts of Jim’s Atlantic Salmon Fishing, color slides and photographs, and CDs with sixty-minute interviews between Jim Bashline and other prominent outdoor writers and activists); Emlyn Metcalf Gill Letters, 1917–1918 (letters from Gill, a sports writer, to Eugene Connett and Alfred Stoddart in support of dry fly fishing); Daniel  J. Hopkinson, Jr. Diary, 1818–1865 (diary entries, fishing records, and accounts mentioning fishing for salmon, shad, and alewives on the Merrimac River); Henry Van Dyke Letters, 1919–1920 (letters from Van

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Dyke, a Princeton University English professor and sports writer, to Eugene Connett, founder of Derrydale Press). Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts Archives and Special Collections PO Box 645610 Pullman, WA 99164–5610 Physical address: Terrell Library, ground floor Phone: 509–335– 6691 http://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/rare-books

Collections: The  Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation Collection  includes the donations of three fishing and angling collections including that of Roy Hansberry, a WSU graduate (class of 1931), which contains some of the significant editions in the history of angling including Frederic Halford’s Dry Fly Entomology (1897) and Alfred Ronalds’ The Fly Fisher’s Entomology (1913). James Quick gave his collection of 1,200 volumes devoted to fly fishing for trout and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, and in 2008, Joan and Vernon Gallup donated a magnificent collection of 506 editions of Izaak Walton’s The Complete Angler, including all seventeenth- century editions. Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections 516 High Street  Bellingham, WA 98225–9103 Phone: 360– 650–3193 http://library.wwu.edu/specialcollections/flyfishing

Collections: Fly Fishing Collection includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, artworks, audio and video personal interviews and histories, and fly fishing artifacts such as rods, reels, flies, and fly tying materials. At the heart of The Fly Fishing Collection is the Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection of books, periodicals, art, and artifacts. The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies at Western Washington University houses this large collection of photographs and other materials by and about Ralph E. Wahl, eminent Bellingham fly fisher, photographer, and author. WWU also has a Fly Fishing Oral History Collection.

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Yale Center for British Art PO Box 208280 New Haven, CT 06520– 8280 Physical address: 1080 Chapel St.; New Haven, CT 06510 Phone: 1– 877- BRIT- ART (274– 8278) http://britishart.yale.edu/

Founded in 1966 by philanthropist, art collector, and Yale alumnus Paul Mellon (1907–1999). Largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. Reference library with 30,000 volumes. Contains “Record book of Trout Fishing” (1936–1942) by Leonard Enig Phillips (Wales). Publishes British Art Studies online journal, Studies in British Art book series, History of British Art textbook, and special exhibition catalogues. Collections: 2,000 paintings, 200 sculptures, 20,000 works on paper, and 35,000 rare books focusing on British artists. Paintings and works on paper with fly fishing subject matter (mainly from eighteenth through twentieth century) by artists including Henry Thomas Alken, Edmund Bristow, Canaletto, George Chinnery, Alfred Cooper, William Henry Hunt, William Jones, John Linnell, George Morland, Robert Pollard, Thomas Rowlandson, William Shiels, Benjamin West, Francis Wheatley, Dean Wolstenholme, and John Wootton.

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library 121 Wall Street New Haven, CT 06511 Phone: 203– 432–2977 http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/

Collections: 302 titles under “fly fishing” in Orbis, Yale Library’s catalog. Fly fishing manuscript collections include Eugene Connett Papers (1916–1947) (editor of Derrydale Press); Fishing Manuscripts Collection (1610–1951) (compiled by David Wagstaff [1882–1951], sportsman and Curator of Sports Books at YUL from 1943 to 1951]; Roswell G. Ham, Jr. Collection (1919–1967) (drafts and proofs of novel Fly Fishing Through Air); George M. L. La Branche Collection (1875–1961) (correspondence with British anglers/authors including Arthur H. E. Wood and “Sparse 328

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Grey Hackle”); John McDonald Papers (1890–1999) (research materials for three books on fly fishing history); “Memoire sur la pesche à la ligne” (late 1700s) (manuscript treatise in French on fishing with artificial flies); Fred E. Pond Papers related to fishing (1750–1947) (correspondence, photographs, drawings, writings, and ephemera primarily related to fishing, publications on fishing, and the history of fishing; much of the correspondence is in regard to the life and work of the author Henry William Herbert [“Frank Forester”]); John B. Reubens Papers (1902–2000) (writer on fly fishing and environmental issues in Montana and Wyoming); Wulff (Lee) Papers (1914–2005) (collection of noted fly fishing writer and conservationist including drafts of writings, correspondence, bibliographic clippings, photographs, and flies and fly lines designed by Wulff).

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Contributors Samuel Snyder Alaska Engagement Director, Trout Unlimited Alaska Program Adjunct Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK 99504 USA Bryon Borgelt Principal St. John’s Jesuit Academy Toledo, OH 43615 USA Elizabeth Tobey Independent Scholar, Researcher Greenbelt, MD 20770 USA Jack Berryman Professor of Medical History Department of Bioethics and Humanities University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 USA Jen Corrinne Brown Assistant Professor Department of History Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, TX 78412 USA Matthew Steven Bruen Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Department of English New York University New York, NY 10003 USA

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Malcolm Draper Sociology University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Scottsville 3209 South Africa Richard C. Hoffmann Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar Department of History York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3  Canada Masanori Horiuchi Furai-No-Zasshi Inc. Nishi-Hirayama Hino city, Tokyo 191– 0055 Japan Dean Impson Freshwater Fish Scientist CapeNature Private Bag X5014, Stellenbosch 7600 South Africa Arn Keeling Assistant Professor Department of Geography Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John’s, NL Canada Brent Lane Independent Scholar, Researcher Anchorage, AK 99504 USA Ken Lokensgard University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Religious Studies Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA Greg O’Brien Associate Professor Department of History University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC 27402– 6170 USA Mikko Saikku McDonnell Douglas Professor of American Studies Department of World Cultures University of Helsinki Finland

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CONTRIBUTORS

Gretel Van Wieren Assistant Professor Department of Religious Studies Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48864 USA Austin Williams Alaska Forest Program Manager Trout Unlimited Anchorage, AK 99504 USA Jack E. Williams Senior Scientist Trout Unlimited Medford, OR 97504 USA Richard N. Williams Senior Conservation Advisor International Federation of Fly Fishers Livingston, MT 59047 USA Chris Wood President and CEO Trout Unlimited Arlington, VA 22209 USA

333

Notes INTRODUCTION

1. 2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

7. 8.

Aldo Leopold, Game Management (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1933), 420–23. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches from Here and There (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949), 224. In A Sand County Almanac, 1949, Leopold used the metaphor of “thinking like a mountain” to exemplify the “land ethic,” in which he articulated the importance of thinking systemically about the chains of connection between species and components of the ecological system. The first text in America written explicitly about fishing was Joseph Seccombe’s Business and Diversions Inoffensive to God Necessary for the Comfort and Support of Human Society (1739), in which he touted fishing as an essential for the re- creation of the human spirit, necessary for contemplating God through nature and the support of a moral society. However, just because this is the first text published on fishing does not mean that early Americans were not out enjoying streams from the very earliest moments of colonialism. As I show in chapter 1, fly fishing is often used as a method for coping and healing, for example, for cancer victims through the work of Casting for Recovery, or soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan through Project Healing Waters. Tony Pitcher and Charles Hollingworth, eds., Recreational Fisheries: Ecological, Economic, and Social Evaluation (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2002). Pitcher and Hollingworth, Recreational Fisheries, 3. Richard Hoffmann, “Trout and Fly, Work and Play, in Medieval Europe,” chapter 1 of this volume.

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9.

10. 11.

12.

13. 14. 15.

16. 17.

18.

336

Many fly fishing authors argue that one of the first examples of fly fishing is found in the writings of Claudius Aelianus (220 BCE), who described fishing with a red hackle on a hook. There is debate over the nature of fishing, its preferences, and who fished. Some speculate that elites never fished but that it was an activity used by the working class for consumption or sale (Pitcher and Hollingworth, Recreational Fisheries, 4). Richard Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft and the Lettered Art (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), 73–110. Robert Arlinghaus, Steven Cooke, Jon Lyman, David Policansky, Alexander Schawb, Cory Suski, Stephen Sutton, and Eva B. Thorstad, “Understanding the Complexity of Catch and Release in Recreational Fishing: An Integrative Synthesis of Global Knowledge from Historical, Ethical, Social, and Biological Perspectives,” Reviews in Fisheries Science 15, no. 1(2007): 75–167, this quote from 81. Paul Schullery, Cowboy Trout: Western Fly Fishing as if it Matters (Helena: Montana Historical Press, 2006); Jennifer Corrine Brown, “Why are Mountain Whitefish Ugly? A Native Fish in Western Trout Waters,” white paper (Corvallis: Oregon State University, 2009). Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975), 1. James Prosek, The Complete Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton (New York: Harper Collins, 2001). One of the first to advocate fishing with a barbless hook was Seth Green, who is also hailed as the “father of fish culture in the United States.” Interestingly, in the letter to Forest and Stream (November 25, 1875), he touted barbless hooks for their effectiveness in catching fish, not their ability to ease the release of fish. In an article to Forest and Stream (April 3, 1909), Seth’s son Chester spoke in favor of the barbless hook, leading to what historian Todd Larson deemed “one of the great early proclamations of conservation in America.” Todd Larson, The History of the Fish Hook in America (Cincinnati: Whitefish Press, 2007), 71. See also Seth Green, “Seth Green on Needle Points,” Forest and Stream (November 25, 1875): 245; and Chester Green, “Barbless Hooks,” Forest and Stream (April 10, 1909): 580. Lee Wulff, Lee Wullf’s Handbook of Freshwater Fishing (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1939), xv. Dame Juliana Berners, A Treatise on Fishing with an Angle [ca. 1421], in Uncommon Waters: Women Write about Fishing, ed. Holly Morris (Seattle: Seal Press, 1991). See also Arlinghaus, et al., “Understanding the Complexity of Catch and Release Fishing”; Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft and the Lettered Art; Pitcher and Hollingworth, Recreational Fisheries; and David Policansky, “Catch and Release Recreational Fishing: A Historical Perspective,” in Recreational Fisheries, ed. Pitcher and Hollingworth, 74–93. Arlinghaus, et al., “Understanding the Complexity of Catch and Release Fishing”; Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft and the Lettered Art; Pitcher and Hollingworth, Recreational Fisheries.

N O T E S T O PA G E S 8 –14

19. Humphrey Davy, Salmonia (1828; New York, 1970). 20. Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler; Or, the Contemplating Man’s Recreation, 5th ed. (London: Ingram, Cooke, and Co., 1853), 288. 21. Frederic M. Halford, The Dry Fly Man’s Handbook (1913; Lyons, MS: Derrydale Press, 2000). 22. Randall Kauffman, Tying Dry Flies (Moose, WY: Western Fisherman’s Press, 2001). 23. Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: A History (New York: Lyons Press, 1988); John Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation (New York: Winchester Press, 1975). 24. Anders Halverson, An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010). 25. Malcom Draper, “Going Native? Trout and Settling Identity in Rainbow Nation,” Historia 48, no. 1(2003): 55–94. 26. Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986). 27. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins, 52. 28. Robert M. Poole, “Fish Story,” Smithsonian Magazine( 2007), http://www .smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/trout _main.html. 29. Marshall Cutchin to Samuel Snyder, personal correspondence, April 18, 2009. 30. Halverson, An Entirely Synthetic Fish. 31. Herbert Hoover, “A Remedy for Disappearing Game Fishes,” excerpted in American Fly Fisher, 6, no. 4 (Fall 1979): 24–29; 25. 32. Herbert Hoover, Fishing for Fun— and to Wash Your Soul (New York: Random House, 1963). 33. Livingston Stone, Domesticated Trout: How to Breed and Grow Them (Boston: J. R. Osgood and Company, 1873), 200. 34. Schullery, Cowboy Trout, 189. 35. Aldo Leopold, “Mixing Trout in Western Waters,” Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 47, no. 3 (1918): 101–2; Julianne Warren, “Weaving a Wider Net for Conservation: Aldo Leopold’s Water Ethic,” unpublished white paper, 2010. 36. Brown, “Why are Mountain White Fish Ugly?,” 3. 37. S. J. Lowe, M. Browne, and S. Boudjelas, “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” (Auckland, NZ: IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group, 2000), accessed November 14, 2009, http://www.issg.org/ booklet.pdf. 38. Schullery, Cowboy Trout, 207. 39. Rick Williams, Federation of Fly Fishers Native Fish Policy, 2001. http:// nativefishsociety.org/conservation/history_and _solutions/general _information/historical/FFFNative.htm 40. New Mexico Trout, www.newmexicotrout.org/values.htm, accessed 20 July 2006. 41. Ted Williams, “Court Rules That Elwha Hatchery Releases Violate NEPA,” Fly Rod and Reel (blog), March 28, 2014, accessed April 3, 2014, http://www 337

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42. 43.

44.

45.

.flyrodreel.com/ blogs/tedwilliams/2014/march/hatchery-releases -violate. John Ross, Rivers of Restoration: Trout Unlimited’s First 50 Years of Conservation (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2008). E. F. Granek, E. M. P Madin, M. A. Brown, W. Cameron Figueira , Z. Hogan, G. Kristainson, P. De Villiers, J. E. Williams, J. Post, S. Zahn, and R. Arlinghaus, “Engaging Recreational Fishers in Management and Conservation: Global Case Studies,” Conservation Biology, 22, no. 5 (2008): 1125– 34. Dylan Tomine, “State of Steelhead: The Canary Ain’t Singing Anymore, But the Fat Lady’s Just Warming Up” (Kirkland: Wild Steelhead Coalition, 2009). Paul Schullery, If Fish Could Scream: An Angler’s Search for the Future of Fly Fishing (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008), 55.

CHAPTER ONE

1.

2.

3.

4.

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6.

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An earlier version of this essay was delivered as the annual Bud Lilly Trout and Salmonid Lecture at the Montana State University Library in February 2011. Thanks to Tamara Miller, Dean of Libraries at MSU, and Paul Schullery for providing an occasion to revisit puzzles left unresolved in my previous work on the history of angling. Titurel, str. 154: II nos. 1–2 and str. 159: II nos.1–3, in Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willehalm. Titurel, ed. Walter J. Schrder and Gisela Hollandt (Darmstadt: WB, 1971), 616–17. Aelianus, On the Characteristics of Animals, trans. A. F. Schofield, 3 vols. (Cambridge, MA.: Loeb Classical Library, 1958–1959), 15.1. For a basic and up-to- date overview of the early fly fishing texts now known, see Andrew Herd, The History of Fly Fishing, Vol. I: The History (Ellesmere, UK: Medlar Press, 2011), 17–72. “Ihr vederangl! Ihr Natterzahn!” Parzival, 6.316, 20, ed. Gottfried Weber (Darmstadt: WB, 1967), 266; trans. Arthur T. Hatto (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980), 165. A like literary analogy appears in Ulrich von Türheim, Rennewart, line 21519, ed. Alfred Hübner, 2nd ed., Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters 3 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1964). Wolfram called himself a Bavarian, but his known associations place him in upper Franconia and Thuringia; Ulrich, a generation younger, hailed from Augsburg. Hermann Heimpel, “Die Federschnur. Wasserrecht und Fischrecht in der Reformation Kaiser Sigismunds,” Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 19 (1963): 451– 88. Conrad Gessner [Gesnerus], Conradi Gesneri medici Tigurini Historiae animalium liber IIII, qui est de piscium & aquatilium animantium natura. Cvm iconibvs singvlorvm ad vivvm expressis fere omnib DCCVI. Continentur in hoc volumine Gvlielmi Rondeletii quoq’ et Petri Bellonii de Aquatilium singulis

N OT E S TO PAG E S 3 0 –31

7.

8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13.

14.

scripta (Zurich: Chr. Froschovervm, 1558), 1175, 1208. For more general discussion and documentation see Richard C. Hoffmann, “The Evidence for Early European Angling, III: Conrad Gessner’s Artificial Flies, 1558,” American Fly Fisher 21, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 2–11, with an addendum, ibid., 21, no.2 (Summer 1995): 24; and Richard C. Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft and the Lettered Art: Tracts on Fishing from the End of the Middle Ages (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997). “Medicina piscium,” MS Rawlinson C 506, Oxford Bodleian Library, fols. 298– 300. Edited in Willy L. Braekman, “The Treatise on Angling in the Boke of St. Albans (1496): Background, Context and Text of The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle,” Scripta: Mediaevalia and Renaissance Texts and Studies 1 (Brussels: Scripta, 1980), 54– 56. Ibid., 39– 43. The handiest and best modern facsimiles and transcripts of the Treatyse text in both its fragmentary manuscript and printed forms remain John D. McDonald, The Origins of Angling (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963), 67– 102, who also did a good job of clarifying the entirely later association of this text with a mythic figure called “Dame Juliana Berners,” whose very existence, much less authorship, lacks contemporary or credible evidence. For thorough scholarly discussion see Rachel Hands, “Juliana Berners and The Boke of St. Albans,” Review of English Studies 18 (1967): 373– 86; idem, English Hawking and Hunting in The Boke of St. Albans: A Facsimile Edition of Sigs. a2–f8 of “The Boke of St. Albans” (1486) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975), xiv–xv and lv–lx; and Julia Boffey, “Women Authors and Women’s Literacy in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth- Century England,” in Women and Literature in Britain, 1150–1500, ed. Carol M. Meale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 166– 67. Medievalists are entirely comfortable with anonymous texts, so this one will hereafter simply be referred to as “the Treatyse.” Alvaro Masseini, “Fly Fishing in Early Renaissance Italy? A Few Revealing Documents,” American Fly Fisher 25, no. 4 (Fall 1999): 10–11. Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 191–214. “. . . porque de a quella manera se cevan las truchas a las moscas verdaderas; que por esso las enganan con las artificiales.” Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 293–97. Much that follows I treated at length in Richard C. Hoffmann, “Fishing for Sport in Medieval Europe: New Evidence,” Speculum 60 (1985): 877– 902, although my understanding of some behavior is now more nuanced. Astronomus, Vita Hludovici Imperatoris, in Die Taten Kaiser Ludwigs / Thegan. Das Leben Kaiser Ludwigs / Astronomus, ed. and trans Ernst Tremp,. Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH) 64 (Hannover: Hannsche Buchh., 1995), 466 and 492. A recent overview and interpretation of Louis’s enthusiasm for field sports is Eric J. Goldberg, “Louis the Pious and the Hunt,” Speculum 88, no. 3 (July 2013): 613– 43.

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15. “Hic meus est status, hec mea sunt solatia, duco / Hiis alternatim tempora leta iocis / Post pelagus studii mens portum nacta quietis / Si positis uelis se Recreare uelit.” See Hoffmann, Fishing for Sport, 886– 87. 16. Ibid., 887–91. 17. Perez de Guzman, “Cronica de Juan II,” in Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia R. Constable (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997), 319. 18. Maguelonne Toussaint– Samat, “Gastronomie et fastes culinaires a la cour Sforzesque et chez les bourgeois de Milan au milieu du XVe siècle,” in Manger et boire au Moyen Age 2 : Colloque de Nice, 1982, Publications de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Nice 27–28, ed. Denis Menjot, 1ére serie (Paris: Belles lettres, 1984), 108–9. 19. When Maximilian’s father, Frederick III, travelled from Bonn to Aachen in 1442 for his coronation, he stopped overnight to fish with his host, the archbishop of Köln, in the castle moat and Rotbach at Lechenich in the Eifel. Joseph Seemüller, ed., “Friedrichs III. Aachener Krönungsreise,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 17 (1896): 634. 20. Das Fischereibuch Kaiser Maximilians I, ed. Michael Mayr and Ludwig von Lazarini (Innsbruck: Wagner, 1901). 21. Maximilian I von Habsburg, Weisskunig. In Lichtdruck– Faksimiles nach Fruhdrücken mit Hilfe der Max– Kode– Foundation, Inc. New York, ed. H. T. Musper et al. (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1956), vol. 2, plate 43. 22. See for example: Inge Bødker Enghoff, “Fishing in the Baltic Region from the 5th Century BC to the 16th Century AD: Evidence from Fish Bones,” Archaeofauna 8 (1999): 41– 85; idem, “Fishing in the Southern North Sea Region from the 1st to the 16th Century AD: Evidence from Fish Bones,” Archaeofauna 9 (2000): 59–132; Jennie Coy, “Fish Bones,” pp. 118–120 & microfiche M1/ 68–74 in G. G. Astill and S. J. Lobb’s “Roman and Saxon Deposits at Wraysbury,” Archaeological Journal 146 (1989): 68–134; Jacqueline Huntley and Sue Stallibrass, eds., Plant and Vertebrate Remains from Archaeological Sites in Northern England: Data Reviews and Future Directions, Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland Research Report 4 (Durham: The Society, 1995); Heide Hüster– Plogmann, “Fische und Fasten,”in Gesellschaft und Ernährung um 1000. Eine Archäologie des Essens, ed. Dorothee Rippmann and Brigitta Neumeister–Taroni, Nestle Fondation Alimentarium, Musée de l’alimentation (Vevey: Alimentarium, 2000), 219– 56; Frèdèrique Audoin– Rouzeau, Ossements animaux du Moyen–Age au monastère de La Charité– sur– Loire (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1986), 215–17; Daniel Makowiecki, Historia ryb i rybołówstwa w holocenie na Niz˙u Polskim ws´wietle badan´ archeoichtiologicznych (Poznan: ´ Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2003), 168–90; Benoît Clavel, L’Animal dans l’alimentation médiévale et moderne en France du nord (XIIe–XVIIe siècles), Revue Archéologique de Picardie, No. Spécial 19 (Amiens: CRAVO, 2001), 131– 87; A. M. Donaldson, A. K. G. Jones, and

340

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23. 24.

25.

26.

27.

D. J. Rackham, “A Dinner in the Great Hall: Report on the Contents of a Fifteenth- Century drain,” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 133 (1980): 86–96; Alfred Galik, “Historical and Ichthyological Evidence of Fish Consumption in Medieval Austria,” paper delivered at the 10th meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group, ICAZ, New York, September 24– October 2, 1999; Marie– Christine Marinval–Vigne, “Consommation d’animaux sauvages en milieu ecclésial à Orléans au XVIe siècle: données archéozoologiques et livres de cuisine,” in Exploitation des animaux sauvages a travers le temps, ed. Jean Desse and Frédérique Audoin– Rouzeau, XIII e Recontres Internationales d’Archéologie de d’Histoire d’Antibes, IV e Colloque International de l’Homme et l’Animal (Juan– les– Pins, 1993), 474–90; and Andrew Jones, “The Fish Remains,” in D. Michaelides and D. Wilkinson, Excavations at Otranto, Supplementary volume to Papers of the British School at Rome (Rome: The School, 1989), 132–33. Georgine E. Brereton and Janet M. Ferrier, eds., Le Menagier de Paris, Dist. II:5, §179 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), 233. For example, Thomas Austin, Two Fifteenth- Century Cookery-Books, Early English Texts Society (original series) 91 (1888; London: The Society, 1964), 102; Constance B. Hieatt, ed., An Ordinance of Pottage. An Edition of the Fifteenth- Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University’s MS Beinecke 163 (London: Prospect Books, 1988), no. 169; Anne F. Sutton and P. W. Hammond, eds., The Coronation of Richard III: The Extant Documents (New York: St. Martin’s, 1983), 291– 302. Andrea Castagnetti et al., eds, Inventari altomedievali di terre, coloni e redditi, Fonti per la storia d’Italia 104 (Roma: Nella sede dell’Istituto Palazzo Borromini, 1979), 121– 44. On Garda’s trout see also Mattia Butturini, “La pesca sul lago di Garda,” Archivio Storico Lombarda 6 (1879): 147– 49; 7 (1880): 73–91, and 8 (1881): 157–95; Raoudha Guemara, “A Santa Maria della Scala à Vérona: Les dépenses du Chapitre Général de mai 1491,” in Milieux Naturels, Espaces Sociaux. Études offertes à Robert Delort , ed. Élisabeth Mornet and Franco Morenzoni (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1997), 503–16; Ludo M. Hartmann, Zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte Italiens im frühen Mittelalter. Analekten (Gotha: F. A.Perthes, 1904), 132; and Otto Stolz, Geschichtskunde der Gewässer Tirols, Schlern– Schriften 32 (Innsbruck: Universitäts–Verlag Wagner, 1936), 259– 67. P. Martinez Sopena and J. Carbajo Serrano, “L’alimentation des paysans castillans du XIe au XIIIe siecle d’apres les ‘fueros,” in Manger et boire au Moyen Age, Colloque de Nice, 1982, Publications de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Nice 27–28, ed. Denis Menjot, 1ére serie (Paris: Belles lettres, 1984), I: 336– 47; compare Heath Dillard, Daughters of the Reconquest: Women in Castilian Town Society, 1100–1300 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 159– 60. “. . . quod in fluminibus et aquis ibi existentibus procreantur et fiunt pisces qui dicuntur trote, et sunt valde nobiles pisces. ” Richard Trexler,

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28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

342

“Measures Against Water Pollution in Fifteenth- Century Florence,” Viator 5 (1974): 463. See even the wise twelfth- century abbess Hildegard of Bingen, Physica, 5.15, as “Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem” in Sanctae Hildegardis abbatissae opera omnia, Patrologiae cursus completes, ed. J. P. Migne, Series Latina 197 (Paris: Migne, 1882), columns 1278–79. Albertus Magnus, De animalibus libri XXVI, 24.129, as De Animalibus libri XXVI nach der Cölner Handschrift, ed. Hermann Stadler, 2 vols., Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters 15–16 (Münster, 1916 and 1920), II: 1548, trans. Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr., and Irven M. Resnick as Albertus Magnus “On Animals:” A Medieval “Summa Zoologica,” 2 vols., Foundations of Natural History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), II: 1704. See for example Clavel, L’Animal, 140– 87; James H. Barrett, Alison M. Locker, and C. M. Roberts, “‘Dark Age Economics’ Revisited: The English Fish Bone Evidence AD 600–1600,” Antiquity 78 (2004):618– 36; and Petra J. E. M. van Dam, “Fish for Feast and Fast: Fish Consumption in the Netherlands in the Late Middle Ages,” in Beyond the Catch. Fisheries of the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic, 900–1850, ed. Louis Sicking and Darlene Abreu– Ferreira (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 309– 36. Michel Colardelle and Eric Verdel, eds., Les habitants du Lac de Paladru (Isère) dans leur environnement: La formation d’un terroir au XIe siècle, Documents d’Archéologie Français 40 (Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1993), 57– 60, 116–20, 208–10, 318–20, and 327– 31; idem, eds., Chevaliers– Paysans de l’an mil au lac de Paladru (Paris: Musee Dauphinois, 1993), 31– 40. Note that the Julian calendar followed in the late 1400s, when clerks assembled this information, was running about ten days ahead of the present Gregorian calendar, so spawning dates in current terms were more like early September to early December. Richard C. Hoffmann, “Fishers in Late Medieval Rural Society Around Tegernsee, Bavaria—A Preliminary Sketch,” in The Salt of Common Life: Individuality and Choice in the Medieval Town, Countryside and Church. Essays Presented to J. Ambrose Raftis, ed. Edwin B. DeWindt (Kalamazoo: The Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, 1995), 371– 408; Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 118– 30, and works there cited; Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München, Klosterliteralien Tegernsee 185 1/2. Giuseppi Mira, La pesca nel medioevo nelle acque interne italiane (Milano: Dott. A. Giuffré, 1937), 29–31 (and compare Paolo Squatriti¸ “Marshes and Mentalities in Early Medieval Ravenna,” Viator 23 [1992]: 12, and idem, Water and Society in Early Medieval Italy, AD 400–1000 [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998], 119–25); Heinrich Boos, ed., Urkundenbuch der Stadt Worms, 3 vols. (Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Worms, vols. 1– 2)

N OT E S TO PAG E S 37– 4 0

35. 36.

37. 38.

39.

40.

41.

42. 43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

(Berlin: Weidmann,1886–1893), no. 58, translated in Medieval Culture and Society, ed. David Herlihy (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 185. Silvia Petrin, “Das Archiv der Tullner Fischerzeche,” Mitteilungen aus den Niederösterreichischen Landesarchiv 3 (1979): 29– 34. Artur M. Scheiber, Zur Geschichte der Fischerei in Oberösterreich, insbesondere der Traunfischerei, Sonderabdruck aus den “Heimatgauen,” Zeitschrift für oberösterreichische Geschichte, Landes– und Volkskunde (Linz: Verlag R. Pirngruber, 1930), 30– 35. Bonvesin de la Riva, De magnalibus Mediolani, 3.30– 31, ed. and trans. [into Italian] Paolo Chiesa (Milan: Scheiwiller, 1998), 92–93. Paulus Jovius [Paolo Giovio], De romanis piscibus libellus (Roma: 1524), chaps. 35 and 42, in Pauli Iovii Opera 9, Dialogi et descriptiones, ed. Ernesto Travi and Mariagrazia Penio (Roma: Sociètà storica Comense and Instituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1984), 51– 53 and 59– 60. For extended discussion and source references see Richard C. Hoffmann, “Economic Development and Aquatic Ecosystems in Medieval Europe,” American Historical Review 101 (1996): 638– 46. H. Duplés–Agier, “Ordonnances inédites de Philippe–le– Bel et de Philippe–le– Long sur la police de la péche fluviale,” Bibliotheque de l’École des Chartes 14 (1852): 48– 52. Richard C. Hoffmann, “Medieval Europeans and their Aquatic Ecosystems,” in Bernd Herrmann, ed., Beiträge zum Göttinger Umwelthistorischen Kolloquium 2007–2008 (Göttingen: Universitätsverlag, 2008), 50– 52, http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/univerlag/2008/umweltkolloquium _2.pdf. Hans Freudlsperger, “Kurze Fischereigeschichte des Erzstiftes Salzburg,” Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Salzburger Landeskunde 76 (1936): 100. Robert Fossier, La terre et les hommes en Picardie jusqu’à la fin du XIIIe siècle, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humanes de Paris— Sorbonne, Série “Recherches” 48– 49 (Paris, 1968), 397; Heimpel, “Federschnur,” 462– 64. Hermann Heimpel, “Fischerei und Bauernkrieg,” in Festschrift Percy Ernst Schramm zu seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag, ed. P. Classen, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1964), I: 353–72. R. de Lespinasse and F. Bonnardot. eds., Les métiers et corporations de la ville de Paris: Le Livre des métiers d’Étienne Boileau (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1879), 212–18; and Duplés-Agier, “Ordonnances inédite,” 48– 54. Pietro Pavesi, ed., Ordini e statuti del paratico dei pescatori di Pavia (Pavia: Fusi, 1894), 56; Butturini, “La pesca sul lago di Garda,” 147– 49; Trexler, “Water Pollution,” 463. Vienna, Wiener Stadt–und Landesarchiv, Sammlungen, Hauptarchiv– Urkunde Nr. 5825: now see new facsimile and diplomatic editions with an extended analysis in Richard C. Hoffmann and Christoph Sonnlechner, “Maximilians Patent von 1506: Vom Archivobjekt zum Umweltschutz,”

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48.

49.

50.

51.

52. 53.

54.

344

Studien zur Wiener Geschichte. Jahrbuch des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Wien 62/63 (2006/2007) [2011]: 79–133. Antonio Scialoja,“Statuta et ordinamento artis piscium civitatis Perusii (1296–1376),” Bollettino della Regia Deputazione di Storia patria per l’Umbria (1910): 814 et passim; Tiziana Biganti, “La pesca nel lago Trasimeno: Sfruttamento et tutela delle risorse ittiche del lago di Perugia (seccoli XIII–XV),” in Gli archivi per la storia dell’alimentazione, Atti del convegno, Potenza– Matera, 5– 8 settembre 1988, ed. Paolo Carucci and Massimo Buttazzo, Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato, Saggi 34 (Roma: Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, Ufficio Centrale per i Beni Archivistici, 1995), 772–99; Valentina Vincenti, “La tutela ambientale del Lago Trasimeno in eta medioevale. Environmental Protection of Lake Trasimene in the Middle Ages,” in Thinking about the Environment: Our Debt to the Classical and Medieval Past, ed. Thomas M. Robinson and Laura Westra (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books: 2002), 130– 40. Baron de Montgaudry, “Observations sur la pisciculture,” Bulletin de la Société Nationale D’Acclimation et de Protection de la Nature 1 (1854): 80– 87; Jules Haime, “La pisciculture; son histoire et ses progrès dans les pays étrangers et en France,” Revue des deux mondes 6 (1854): 1012–13. All subsequent references to the reputed artificial spawning of trout by a monk named Pinchon go back to these two articles. Both draw on a manuscript then said to be in the possession of the Baron de Montgaudry but no longer known to exist. Jan Dubravius, De Piscinis ad Antonium Fuggerum (Vratislaviae: Andreas Vinglerus excudebat, 1547), lib. 5 cap. 10 (ed. Anežka Schmidtová in ˇ SAV 1, supplement 1 [Prague: Nakladatelství C ˇ eskosloSbornik filologický C venské Akademie Ve ˇ d, 1953]: 67– 68). Urs Amacher, Zürcher Fischerei im Spätmittelalter, Mitteilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zürich 63 (Zürich: Verlag Hans Rohr, 1996), 153–155; Hoffmann, “Fishers . . . Around Tegernsee.” William FitzStephen, Vita S. Thomae, in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, ed. J. C. Robertson (London: Longman, 1877), 3: 11–12. David Herlihy, “Attitudes toward the Environment in Medieval Society,” in Historical Ecology. Essays on Environment and Social Change, ed. Lester J. Bilsky (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1980), 100–16. Hugh of St. Victor, Didascalicon, 2.20–27, in The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor: A Medieval Guide to the Arts, tr. Jerome Taylor, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 74– 80; Michel Lemoine, “Le sport chez Hugues de Saint–Victor,” in Jeux, Sports et Divertissements au Moyen Âge et a l’Âge Classique, Actes du 116e Congrès Nationale des Sociétés Savantes, Chambéry, 1991 (Paris: Editions de CTHS, 1993), 131– 41. Linne R. Mooney, “A Middle English Text on the Seven Liberal Arts,” Speculum 68 (1993): 1027– 52, is a mid-fifteenth- century English version of Hugh’s work.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 42– 47

55. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, Latin text and English translation, 61 vols. (New York and London: Blackfriars / McGraw– Hill and Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1964), 2a2ae. 168 (vol. 44, pp. 211–28). Compare Alessandra Rizzi, “Regulated Play at the End of the Middle Ages: The Work of Mendicant Preachers in Communal Italy,” in Sport and Culture in Early Modern Europe. Le Sport dans la Civilisation de l’Europe Pré– Moderne, ed. John McClelland and Brian Merrilees (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2009), 45– 46. 56. Daniela Boccassini, “Chasse et fauconnerie du Moyen Age à la Renaissance: Les recueils cynégétiques français,” in Sport and Culture, ed. McClelland and Merrilees, 201–27. 57. Herlihy, “Attitudes toward the Environment,” 114–15. 58. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 2a2ae, 32, §7 (Blackfriars ed., vol. 34, 259– 63). 59. Rizzi, “Regulated Play,” 49– 51; Giovanni Ceccarelli, Gioca e peccato: Economia e rischio nel Tardo Medioevo (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2003), 341– 42. 60. Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 43– 46 and 120–23. 61. McDonald, Origins of Angling, 214–15. 62. Gerald E. Bentley, ed., The Arte of Angling, 1577 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956), 64. 63. Basurto, Dialogo, fol. 105v (Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 284– 85); Gesner, Historia animalium IIII, 1175 and 1208. 64. McDonald, Origins of Angling, 134– 45 and 184–91. 65. Ibid., 226–229. 66. Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 228– 43. 67. Angler and hunter alike call it recreación, exercicio, deleyte, and plazer. 68. Hoffmann, Fishers’ Craft, 286– 87. CHAPTER T WO

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, 3rd ed. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001). Stan L. Ulanski, The Science of Fly Fishing (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003), 8. William A. Gleason, The Leisure Ethic: Work and Play in American Literature, 1840–1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 1. Bruce C. Daniels, Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 169. Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: A History (New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1987), 26–27. Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (London: John Murray, 1820), 324. Schullery, American Fly Fishing, 127. Schullery insists that not until 1880 “was it easy enough to be a sportsman and a leading citizen,” but accord-

345

N OT E S TO PAG E S 47– 52

8. 9.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

346

ing to this author, Protestants in the 1840s and 1850s laid the foundations of respectability. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or, Life in the Woods, ed. Francis A. Allen (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1910), 232– 33. Joseph Seccombe, “Business and Diversion Inoffensive to God and Necessary for the Comfort and Support of Human Society: A Discourse Utter’d in Part as Ammauskeeg-Falls, in the Fishing Season, 1739,” in Manchester Historic Association Collections vol. 4, part 1 (Manchester, NH: Manchester Historic Association, 1908), 97. Charles Goodspeed, Angling in America: Its Early History and Literature (New York: Houghton Miffl in, 1939), 65. John Keese, “Concluding Remarks,” in An American Angler’s Guide, 2nd ed., ed. John J. Brown (New York: Burgess, Stringer, and Company, 1846), 223. “Notices of Books,” Christian Inquirer, July 3, 1847, I: 38. Izaak Walton, The Complete Angler, or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation, ed. American Editor (New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1847), 106. Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck, and Some Other Uncertain Things (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905), 208. B. D. Greenslade, “The Compleat Angler and the Sequestered Clergy,” Review of English Studies 5, no. 20 (October 1954): 364 (361– 366). George W. Bethune, Orations and Occasional Discourses (New York: George P. Putnam, 1850), 375. Reverend Samuel Osgood, “Tribute to Dr. Bethune,” Christian Advocate and Journal 37, no. 30 (July 24, 1862): 235. Schullery, American Fly Fishing, 84. Charles Lanman, Haphazard Personalities; Chiefly of Noted Americans (Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1886), 252. Bethune, Orations, 375. Ibid., 59. George W. Bethune, “Piseco,” in The Knickerbocker Gallery: A Testimonial to the Editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine from its Contributors (New York: Samuel Hueston, 1854), 119. Bethune, Orations, 376. Ibid., 59. Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers; or Experiences of Art and Nature (New York: J. C. Derby, 1855), 151. Henry Ward Beecher, “First Fishing,” in Beecher as a Humorist, ed. Eleanor Kirk (New York: Fords, Howard, and Hulbert, 1887), 191. Beecher, Star Papers, 235. Beecher, Eyes and Ears, 68. Henry Ward Beecher, Sermons (Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1870), 312. Beecher, Star Papers, 167. Ibid., 150.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 52– 58

32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43.

44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62.

Beecher, Eyes and Ears, 169. Beecher, Star Papers, 234. Ibid., 280. Ibid., 309–10. Henry Van Dyke, Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903), 5. Tertius van Dyke, Henry van Dyke: A Biography (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1935), 299. Henry Van Dyke, Camp-fires and Guide-posts: A Book of Essays and Excursions (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921), 141. Van Dyke, Camp-fires, 8. Van Dyke, Little Rivers, 24. Ibid., 23. Robert Louis Stevenson, “Prince Otto,” in Little Rivers, 8. Henry van Dyke, “The Scout Merit Badge of Angling: A Famous Fisherman Writes Some Things All Boys Should Know about this Fascinating Sport,” Boys Life 4, no. 6 (August 1914): 12. Henry Van Dyke, The Gospel for an Age of Doubt (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1896), 256. Van Dyke, Little Rivers, 42. Henry Van Dyke, Music and Other Poems by Henry Van Dyke (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904), 35. Henry Van Dyke, Counsels by the Way (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Company, 1908), 23. Van Dyke, Little Rivers, 23. Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck, 227. Henry Van Dyke, Out of Doors in the Holy Land (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), 146–148. Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck, 92. Henry Van Dyke, The Ruling Passion: Tales of Nature and Human Nature (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904), 129. Henry Van Dyke, Companionable Books (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922), 296. Van Dyke, Little Rivers, 334. Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck, 5– 6, 9. Ibid., 36. Van Dyke, Henry van Dyke, 308. Ibid., 308– 310. Van Dyke, The Ruling Passion, 137. Roderick Frazier Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, 4th ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 44. George W. Bethune, Sermons (Philadelphia: Mentz and Rovoudt, 1846), 141. Amanda Porterfield, The Protestant Experience in America (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), 135.

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63. Walton, The Complete Angler, 106. 64. Bethune, Orations, 375– 376. 65. Beecher, Star Papers, 236. CHAPTER THREE

1. 2.

348

Spirit of the Times (New York City), April 6, 1844. Piscator [George T. Dunbar, Jr.], “The Black Perch,” Spirit of the Times, December 11, 1841. The five-foot eleven-inch, dark-brown-haired Dunbar was born the fourth child of eleven to a prosperous Presbyterian family in Baltimore on February 11, 1812. The Dunbars had deep roots in southeastern Maryland, having called Maryland home for at least five generations since arriving from Scotland in the mid-seventeenth century. George’s father served as a bank cashier and teller until he died in 1843, fi rst hired in 1804 with the Union Bank of Maryland and then, in 1810, with the Commercial and Farmer’s Bank of Baltimore, providing his family an uppermiddle- class lifestyle, including a rare “stationary bathtub” in their home. With his father’s financial resources, young George received an education at boarding schools and colleges, as well as among his family. He early demonstrated the aptitude necessary for learning engineering skills by excelling in math. When he was but eight years old in 1820, George and his eleven-year- old brother William attended the Catholic Mount St. Mary’s boarding school in Emmitsburg, Maryland. George took courses in Latin, English, geography, writing, and arithmetic, with the math courses being by far his most accomplished. Tellingly, the Mount St. Mary’s teachers found George more capable than his older brother in school, though they also noted his frequent illnesses and that he “would rather play than apply” himself at times. Probably homesick, George Jr. never attended the grammar school again. George returned to formal education for one more year in 1824–25 at St. Mary’s University in Baltimore. Run by the Sulpician Catholic Order, St. Mary’s University provided a curriculum in languages, poetry, rhetoric, natural and moral philosophy, geography, writing, music, drawing, and dancing. Most pertinent to George Jr. was St. Mary’s devotion to a “complete course of Mathematics” that included measurement, surveying, and map and plan drawing “for which the College is furnished with all necessary instruments.” Although his formal schooling was, by today’s standards, limited in time but broad, it was rather typical of the era and does not reflect the full extent of his learning. The Dunbars sat down for family dinners daily, reciting Bible verses and discussing other matters of the day. Music fi lled the house, though dancing was forbidden by a strict Presbyterian mother, and the Dunbar parents valued a well-rounded education that enabled their children to pursue their interests. See William Henry Corbusier, “Ancestry of William Henry Corbusier, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, Retired, and

N OT E S TO PAG E S 61– 63

Fanny Dunbar Corbusier, his wife,” (unpublished manuscript; copy held by the New York Public Library). 3. “State Legislature,” Daily Picayune (New Orleans), April 7, 1843; “Evening Session [of the Legislature],” New Orleans Bee, April 8, 1843; “Geo. T. Dunbar, Esq.,” New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, April 8, 1843; William Henry Corbusier, “A Sketch of the Life of George Towers Dunbar,” Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology Special Collections, Kansas City, MO; Nancy Knox, “George Towers Dunbar, 1812–1850,” Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD; Corbusier, “Ancestry of William Henry Corbusier”; and Fanny Dunbar Corbusier, Recollections of Her Army Life, 1869–1908, ed. Patricia Y. Stallard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003), 4. One scholarly article makes mention of some of Dunbar’s writings in the Spirit of the Times, which the authors presumed to be fiction: Richard Boyd Hauck and Dean Margaret Hauck, “Panning for Gold: Researching Humor in the Spirit of the Times,” Studies in American Humor 3, no. 3 (1977): 150– 51. 4. Jacob L. Wortman, “Ichthyological Papers By George Powers [sic] Dunbar, With a Sketch of His Life,” American Naturalist 16 (1882): 381– 83. 5. Gideon B. Smith, “Maryland Horticultural Society,” The Farmer & Gardener, and Live-Stock Breeder and Manager (Maryland), August 25, 1835. See also the inventory of his estate in “Succession of George T. Dunbar,” Third District Court of New Orleans, docket no. 3417, New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division: City Archives and Special Collections. The camellia bushes were the single most valuable item in his possession at the time of his death, valued at $400 by the appraisers of his estate. On camellia japonicas and their history, see William C. Welch and Greg Grant, Heirloom Gardening in the South: Yesterday’s Plants for Today’s Gardens (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011), 170–79. 6. “The Trebla Gazette, Number Six,” Spirit of the Times, January 6, 1844. 7. “The Balize and Its People, No. 5,” Spirit of the Times, March 26, 1842; and “Black Perch Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, June 4, 1842. Dunbar also preserved bird specimens; see “The Spatule of Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, October 15, 1842. 8. Corbusier, Recollections of Her Army Life, 4. 9. “More Curiosities,” Spirit of the Times, April 18, 1846; and “Another Curiosity,” Spirit of the Times, July 25, 1846. 10. For the loss of Dunbar’s ichthyological papers, see Wortman, “Ichthyological Papers By George Powers [sic] Dunbar,” 382– 83. A surviving notebook of text and twenty fish drawings survived until the early twentieth century, only to be lost by his heirs in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906; Corbusier, “Ancestry of William Henry Corbusier,” 8. One notebook of Dunbar essay drafts, many of which were published in the Spirit of the Times, exists in the Maryland Historical Society Archives: “George Towers Dunbar Field Book” (“Scraps from the Fieldbook of an

349

N OT E S TO PAG E S 63 – 6 8

11. 12.

13.

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

350

Engineer”), MS 2407, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. This field book was passed down to Dunbar’s daughter Fanny Dunbar Corbusier, then to her son William Tremaine Corbusier, then to his niece (and greatgranddaughter of George Dunbar, Jr.) Nancy Dunbar Corbusier Knox, who donated it to the Maryland Historical Society. For Dunbar’s subscription to Audubon’s work (one of seven subscribers from New Orleans to volume 3), see John James Audubon, The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories: Volume III (New York and Philadelphia, 1841), 235; and “The Indian Mound,” Spirit of the Times, February 19, 1842. Eugene Current- Garcia, “‘York’s Tall Son’ and his Southern Correspondents,” American Quarterly 7, no. 4 (Winter 1955): 380. “Scene in the Picayune Sanctum,” Spirit of the Times, April 6, 1844; Francis Brinley, The Life of William T. Porter (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1860); Norris Wilson Yates, William T. Porter and the Spirit of the Times (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1957); Derek Colville, “History and Humor: The Tall Tale in New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly 39, no. 2 (1956): 161; M. Thomas Inge, ed., The Frontier Humorists: Critical Views (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1975), 3; and James H. Justus, Fetching the Old Southwest: Humorous Writing from Longstreet to Twain (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2004), 242– 43, 260– 61. Kendall wrote under the pseudonym “Ex- Santa Fe” for the Spirit of the Times, and his and Dunbar’s friendship is exhibited in several essays; for example, “Sporting Epistle From Louisiana: All Sorts of Sayings and Doings,” Spirit of the Times, September 6, 1845. “Extract from a private letter from Piscator,” Spirit of the Times, April 18, 1846. On Thorpe see Current- Garcia, “’York’s Tall Son’ and his Southern Correspondents,” 378–79. “The Balize and Its People, No. 5,” Spirit of the Times, March 26, 1842; and “Black Perch Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, June 4, 1842. “The Black Perch,” Spirit of the Times, December 11, 1841. “Black Perch Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, June 4, 1842. “The Spatule of Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, October 15, 1842. “Sporting Epistle from Louisiana: All Sorts of Sayings and Doings,” Spirit of the Times, September 6, 1845. “Fishing in Louisiana: The ‘Grand Ecaille.’— No. VIII,” Spirit of the Times, July 2, 1842. “A Rhapsody on Trout and Punch,” Spirit of the Times, November 9, 1844. Ibid. Dunbar, Jr., “George Towers Dunbar Field Book,” MS 2407, Maryland Historical Society. “Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, April 6, 1844. See also “Sporting Epistle from Louisiana: All Sorts of Sayings and Doings,” Spirit of the Times, September 6, 1845; “To Correspondents: Acorn,” Spirit of the Times,

N O T E S T O PA G E S 6 9 – 74

24.

25.

26.

27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34.

35.

April 25, 1846; and “Capt. Scott’s Coon Story Outdone,” Spirit of the Times, May 23, 1846. “Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, April 6, 1844; and Dunbar, Jr., “George Towers Dunbar Field Book,” MS 2407, Maryland Historical Society. “Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, April 6, 1844; and Dunbar, Jr., “George Towers Dunbar Field Book,” MS 2407, Maryland Historical Society. On Conroy’s rods and relationship with Porter see Brinley, The Life of William T. Porter, 221–24; and Mary Kefover Kelly, The Origins of American Angling: Essays on the History of American Fishing and Tackle (Cincinnati, OH: Whitefish Press, 2007). “Fishing in Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, April 6, 1844; and Wortman, “Ichthyological Papers By George Powers [sic] Dunbar,” 381– 83. For Humboldt’s ideas and influence see Aaron Sachs, The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth- Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), 12, 27, 30– 31, 75–77. “A Day’s Fishing at the Rock Ground in North Carolina,” Spirit of the Times, August 2, 1845. “The Spatule of Louisiana,” Spirit of the Times, October 15, 1842. Ibid. Washington Irving, “The Angler,” The Complete Works of Washington Irving in One Volume (Paris, 1843), 329. John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation,3rd ed., (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001), 5– 44. Merton M. Sealts, Jr. and Alfred R. Ferguson, eds., Emerson’s Nature: Origin, Growth, Meaning (2nd ed., Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969), 8. See also William Rossi, “Emerson, Nature, and Natural Science,” in A Historical Guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Joel Myerson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), esp. 101–19. “The Indian Mound,” Spirit of the Times, February 19, 1842. “Scraps From the Field Book of an Engineer: Creole Hunter— No. 1,” Spirit of the Times, November 12, 1842; “A Day’s Fishing at the Rock Ground in North Carolina,” Spirit of the Times, August 2, 1845; James Fenimore Cooper, Leather-Stocking Tales: Vol. IV: The Pioneers (New York: George P. Putnam, 1853 [1823]), 114; and “The Indian Mound,” Spirit of the Times, February 19, 1842. Forshey, “The Baron Humboldt’s Cosmos: The Physical History of the Universe Examined and Displayed,” De Bow’s Review 9 (1850):150– 58. On Humboldt, see Sachs, The Humboldt Current. On Forshey see Michael Thomas Meier, “Caleb Goldsmith Forshey: Engineer of the Old Southwest, 1813–1881” (PhD diss., Memphis State University, 1982); and James H. Justus, “The Underheard Reader in the Writing of the Old Southwest,” in Discovering Difference: Contemporary Essays in American Culture, ed. Christoph K. Lohmann (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), 60– 63.

351

N O T E S T O PA G E S 74 – 8 2

36. 37.

38.

39.

For Dunbar’s friendship with Forshey see Piscator, “Sporting Epistle from Louisiana: All Sorts of Sayings and Doings,” Spirit of the Times, September 6, 1845. “The Indian Mound,” Spirit of the Times, February 19, 1842. “Died,” Daily Picayune, February 18, 1846; “Extract from a private letter from Piscator,” Spirit of the Times, April 18, 1846; “On Dits in Sporting Circles,” Spirit of the Times, April 18, 1846; “Second Municipality Council,” Weekly Delta (New Orleans), December 16, 1850. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River on the gulf coast of Mexico. “On Dits in Sporting Circles,” Spirit of the Times, December 21, 1844. For Whig connections to fishing and conservation, see “Waltoniana,” American Review: A Whig Journal of Politics, Literature, Art and Science 1, no. 4 (1845): 384–93; “Angling,” American Review: A Whig Journal of Politics, Literature, Art and Science 5, no. 1 (1850): 32– 46; Sachs, The Humboldt Current, 90–95; and Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, 22. “Death of Geo. T. Dunbar,” Daily Delta (New Orleans), January 12, 1851.

CHAPTER FOUR

1.

2.

3.

4.

352

Chapters on each of the six are available in Jack W. Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers and Legends of the Northwest (Seattle: Northwest Fly Fishing, LLC, 2006). “Zane Grey (1872–1939): Legendary Author, Angler, Northwest Fly Fisherman, and Devout Conservationist,” chap.16 in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers, 124–133; “Maurice ‘Mooch’ Abraham (1867–1936): Portland Fly Tier, Fly-Fishing Mentor, and Originator of the Double-Haul Technique,” chap. 14 in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers, 110–115; and Roderick L. HaigBrown, The Western Angler: An Account of Pacific Salmon and Western Trout in British Columbia (New York: Derrydale Press, 1939). See chapters on Brayshaw, Abraham, Grey, McLeod, Haig-Brown, and Pray in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers; Jack W. Berryman, “Lloyd D. Silvius (1902–1973): Eureka Fly Tier, Fly Shop Owner, and Originator of Several Popular Steelhead Patterns,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Fall 2006, 28– 33; Berryman, “Ben Hur Lampman (1886–1954): Newspaper Editor, Author, Poet, and Avid Oregon Angler Who Shared His Love of Nature with His Readers,” Northwest Fly Fishing, September/October 2008, 54– 59. Jack W. Berryman, “Alfred S. Knudson (1901–1980): Commercial Fly Tier, Popularizer of the ‘Wet Spider’ Fly Style, and Pioneer Steelheader in Oregon, California, and Washington,” Northwest Fly Fishing, September/ October 2007, 62– 67 and “Peter J. Schwab (1887–1956): Klamath River Steelheader and Designer of Fly Rods, Lines, and Flies,” chap. 5 in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers, 30– 45. Schwab also got to know many of the Northwest steelhead fly fishermen and listed them in his “Steelheading Directory” in 1929.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 82– 87

5. 6. 7. 8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13. 14.

“Jordan Lawrence Mott III (1881–1931): Novelist and Pioneer on the North Umpqua River,” chap.15 in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers, 120. “Zane Grey,” in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers, 132. Peter J. Schwab, “Challenge of the Steelhead,” Sports Afield, September 1936, 16–17, 82– 83. Chapters on Abraham, Hedge, Pray, Bradner, McLeod, and Wahl in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers; Jack W. Berryman, “Walter C. Johnson (1915–2002): Pioneer Washington Steelheader, Light-Tackle and Dry-Fly Enthusiast, and Creator of Unique and Artistic Flies,” Northwest Fly Fishing, January/February 2007, 28– 33. See chapters on McLeod, Grey, and Bradner in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers. For more on McLeod and the Washington initiatives see Daniel Jack Chasan, The Water Link: A History of Puget Sound as a Resource (Seattle: Washington Sea Grant Program, 1981), 73– 83. See chapters on Money, Haig-Brown, Trueblood, Bradner, Brayshaw, and McLeod in Berryman, Fly-Fishing Pioneers; Berryman, “Ben Hur Lampman,” 58; Haig-Brown said, “the steelhead, with the brightness of the sea still on him, is livest of all the river’s life.” He also described the thrill of catching a steelhead on a fly: “As you mend the cast and work your fly well down to him through the cold water, your whole mind is with it, picturing its drift, guiding its swing, holding it where you know he will be. And when the shock of his take jars through to your forearms and you lift the rod to its bend, you know that in a moment the strength of his leaping body will shatter the water to brilliance, however dark the day.” Haig-Brown, A River Never Sleeps (Piscataway, NJ: New Century Publishers, 1946), 9–10. See chapters on Pray, Schwab, Wahl, Olson, Brayshaw, and Schaadt in Berry man, Fly-Fishing Pioneers; Jack W. Berryman, “John H. N. ‘Jack’ Hemingway (1923–2000): Idaho Outdoorsman, Environmentalist, and Passionate Fly Fisher,” Northwest Fly Fishing, January/February 2008, 64– 69; Jack W. Berryman, “Robert Milton ‘Bob’ Nauheim (1934–2005): Pioneer California Fly Fisher, Innovative Fly Tier, Writer, and Businessman,” Northwest Fly Fishing, January/February 2010, 50– 52, 61; Jack W. Berryman, “Milton James ‘Jimmy’ Green (1920–2004): Champion Fly Caster and Innovative Line and Rod Designer,” Northwest Fly Fishing, September/ October 2009, 48– 53; Claude M. Krieder, Steelhead (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1948); Clark C. Van Fleet, Steelhead to a Fly (New York: Little, Brown, and Co., 1951). Roderick Haig-Brown, The Seasons of a Fisherman: A Fly Fisher’s Classic Evocations of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Fishing (New York: Lyons Press, 2000), 34. Valerie Haig-Brown, ed., From the World of Roderick Haig-Brown: The Master and His Fish (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981), 180– 81. Haig-Brown, ed., From the World, 200.

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15. Roderick Haig-Brown, A Primer of Fly-Fishing (New York: Morrow, 1964), 181– 82. Haig-Brown, ed., From the World, 186. 16. Jack W. Berryman, “Robert E. ‘Bob’ Wethern (1921–): Reporter, Editor, Historian, and Mainstay of The Flyfisher’s Club of Oregon,” Northwest Fly Fishing, January/February 2009, 48– 51. 17. Letter from Dale Greenley to the author, July 27, 2011. Colonel Jim Hayden was chosen as president, Stan Knouse vice president, Dan Callaghan secretary/treasurer, and Don Haines assistant secretary. Others involved initially were Ken Anderson and Bud Pate. 18. Wild Steelhead Coalition, “2007 Conservation Award– Frank Amato,” http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org, accessed March 14, 2014. 19. Editorial, Northwest Salmon Trout Steelheader (hereafter STS), August/ September 1967, 1; Editorial, STS, January 1968, 1; and Editorial, STS, October/November 1970, 1. Amato’s magazine also included numerous articles on steelhead fly fishing and provided the earliest publishing outlet for many of those who would play key roles in wild steelhead conservation such as Bill McMillian, Bill Bakke, Les Johnson, Trey Combs, and Steve Raymond. The Portland-based Association of Northwest Steelheaders was the Oregon affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (http:// www.nwsteelheaders.org). 20. Don Roberts, “Frank Alvin Moore, 1923–: Emissary of the North Umpqua, Sentinel for Wild Steelhead Everywhere, Part 2,” Northwest Fly Fishing, January/February 2012, 61; letter from Dale Greenley to the author, August 1, 2011; and Jim Van Loan, e-mail message to the author, July 7, 2011. 21. See the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 1.20.045, State Fish; Barry M. Thornton, “An Idea for the Times,” in The Ardent Angler, ed. Neil Cameron and comp. Rob Bell-Irving (Vancouver: Ardent Angler Group, 1994), 74– 81; Ron Cordes, “Welcoming R. P. ‘Van’ Gytenbeek,” Flyfisher, Summer 2004, 5– 6; and Chasan, The Water Link, 127– 37. 22. Mausser and others had caught larger steelhead but this fish seemed to generate more attention. His largest was a thirty-three pounder from the Kispiox in 1962. Several anglers from the Northwest had been fly fishing for British Columbia steelhead since the 1950s and included McLeod, Wahl, Bradner, Knutson, and a few others, including Californian Mausser. For more information on this amazing fishery, see John F. Fennelly, Steelhead Paradise (Vancouver: Mitchell Press, 1963). Fennelly was a fly fisherman who often flew into the remote stretches of the Morice, Babine, Kispiox, and Sustut with Seattle fly fisherman and pilot Buzz Fiorini. Also see Field & Stream annual fishing contest results. 23. Bill Luch and Frank W. Amato, Steelhead: Drift Fishing and Fly Fishing (Seattle: Craftsman and Met Press, 1970); “McLeod” in Berryman, FlyFishing Pioneers, 182. McLeod told his readers: “Determination to stay with a fly and an unwavering confidence that the feathered counterfeits, when fished properly, can be just as deadly as any metal or plastic lure go

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24.

25.

26.

27.

28. 29. 30.

hand in hand in making a successful steelhead fly fisherman.” Berryman, “Milton James ‘Jimmy’ Green,” 52 and Trey Combs, The Steelhead Trout (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1971). Haig-Brown, ed., From the World, 91–97. He described “steelheads fresh from the sea” as “thirty-inch bars of solid muscle, with steel-grey backs, and pale, clean bellies. On their sides, just above the lateral line, the blue-grey of the back breaks sharply to gleaming silver, sparsely spotted with black” (91–92). Haig-Brown concluded with his belief that knowing steelhead better will lead fly fishers to appreciate and respect them: “It is in developing and refi ning knowledge of the fish themselves and, with this understanding, fi nding ways of taking them that show them at their best” (97). Brooks, Outdoor Life, September 1971. He explained that “From the steelheads southernmost range in California to the far inlets of Alaska, when this unique fish comes home to his river to spawn he stirs anglers to a frenzy.” Quoted in Anthony Netboy, The Salmon: Their Fight for Survival (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1973), 516, 573. Ralph Wahl, Come Wade the River: The Photography of Ralph Wahl with Excerpts from “A River Never Sleeps” by Roderick Haig-Brown (Seattle: Superior Publishing Co., 1971); and Enos Bradner, Fish on! (Everything You Should Know About Steelhead Including How to Catch ‘Em) (Seattle: Superior Publishing Co., 1971). Haig-Brown, ed., From the World, 75– 81. Raymond was president of the Washington Fly Fishing Club, an editor at the Seattle Times, close friends with Lew Bell, president of the FFF, and a recognized fly fishing book author. Trey Combs, Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1976). This book was in its seventh printing by 1989 and is still a reliable guide and reference. It should also be noted that many sections of the book had been originally published in Amato’s Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine, where Combs got his start as a writer. Thornton, “An Idea for the Times,” in The Ardent Angler, ed. Cameron and comp. Bell-Irving, 74– 81. Haig-Brown, ed., From the World, 74. Editorial, STS, August/September 1970, 1; Editorial, “The Destruction of the Deschutes,” STS, June/July 1971, 1, 9; Field & Stream, November 1970, 46– 47, 118–19. Johnson reported that “Washington State, like the rest of America, is experiencing an awakening of people to the environmental issues that are upon us” and warned his readers that “if we blow our chances to save this great game fish at a time when it can indeed be saved, what excuse will we give to ourselves and future generations?” The efforts of Amato and Johnson at STS were helped immensely by the Anglers Club of Portland and other fish advocates like Larry Cassidy, Chuck Voss, and the Steelheader’s Council of Trout Unlimited. Bill Luch, Amato’s steelhead book coauthor, had become president of the Association of Northwest

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31.

32. 33.

34. 35. 36.

37.

38. 39.

356

Steelheaders and helped stop a dam on the Snake River as well as make steelhead a game fish in Oregon to prohibit commercial harvest. Berryman, “John H. N. ‘Jack’ Hemingway,” 67; Hemingway was preceded by the early conservation work in the 1960s by fly fishers Duke and Betty Parkening and was assisted greatly in the 1970s by fly fishermen Keith Stonebraker and Steve Pettit. Pettit was a fisheries biologist with Idaho Fish and Game and Stonebraker was a fly fishing pioneer on the Clearwater in the 1960s. Dan Landeen, Steelhead Fly Fishing Nez Perce Country: Snake River Tributaries (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 2006), 46– 47, 63– 65, 71–76; Keith Stonebraker, interview with the author, July 19, 2011; Steve Pettit, e-mail to the author, July 16, 2011 and interview with the author, July 18, 2011. California Trout, http://www.wikipedia.org; http://www.caltrout.org. Berryman, “John H. N. ‘Jack’ Hemingway,” 64, 66– 68. Two years earlier, in 1969, Oregon governor Tom McCall appointed Frank Moore to his state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission. Soon thereafter, Dan Callaghan was also appointed an Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commissioner. Hemingway, Moore, and Callaghan shared ideas and strategies to protect wild steelhead whenever possible. In Idaho, with the help of two other fly fishing commissioners, Keith Stonebraker and Will Godfrey, Hemingway was able to introduce catch and release laws and stop the practice of stocking hatchery fish in waters where they would negatively impact wild fish. Remembering these times, Callaghan said it was “when the wild trout programs got started in earnest in each state.” Mary Kay Callaghan, editor, with Jim Van Loan, [Dan Callaghan’s] North Umpqua (Portland, OR: privately printed, 2008), 88–90, 150. Frank W. Amato, “Why Wild Trout Streams Continue to Deteriorate,” STS, December/January 1972, 11; and STS, June/July 1972, 1. Haig-Brown, foreword to A River Never Sleeps (Piscataway, NY: Winchester Press, 1974), ix. Chasan, The Water Link, 127– 37; Betty Winn, “Chronology of Events for the NWSSC,” Newsletter (Elliott Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited), January 1, 1985; and Greg Johnston, “Sportsmen groups in steelhead ‘war,’” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 10, 1983, C5 Bill McMillan, “Steelhead Fly Fishing,” STS, June/July 1974, 14–17. In this early article, he reported: “Many rivers have substantial runs of hatchery fish and such waters often provide fast fishing of an enjoyable nature. However, the numerical success of such fisheries should not blind one of their inherent dangers with indiscriminate expansion . . .” (17). Bill McMillan, e-mail letter to author, July 6, 2011. California Trout, http://www.wikipedia.org; http://www.caltrout.org. Andrus and Hemingway had been good friends since his days as governor of Idaho from 1971 to 1977. President Jimmy Carter made Andrus his

N OT E S TO PAG E S 92– 96

40. 41. 42.

43. 44. 45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

secretary of the interior in 1977, and he served until 1981. Jim Van Loan, e-mail to author July 7, 2011. Bill Bakke, e-mail to author, July 31, 2011. Interview with Frank Amato, July 17, 2011. During the summer of 1981, McMillan wrote a two-part article, “The Wind River Controversy,” for STS, sent flyers to fly fishing clubs in Washington and Oregon, encouraged letters to be sent, and urged attendance at the newly instituted Washington Department of Game Commission to testify at the public hearings. Bill McMillan, e-mail letter to author, July 6, 2011. Thomas R. Pero, “Reeling In,” Trout, Winter 1993, 8–9. Bill Bakke, e-mail to author, July 18, 2011. A Eugene attorney was retained by the Steamboaters and other attorneys, including a few who were fly fishers like Dan Callaghan, also got involved in litigation. Finally, in 1985, the project was stripped of its permit and in 1989, it was announced that the Winchester Hydroelectric Project had been terminated. The North Umpqua Foundation is still very active standing behind the wild steelhead and a “river worth preserving.” Dick Bower, “A Hydro Story,” Flyfisher, Winter 1990; “Help Preserve a National Treasure,” brochure; and http://www.northumpqua.org. Also see Johnston, “Sportsmen groups in steelhead ‘war.’” “FFF Steelhead Committee,” Osprey, January 1987, 1 and “Washington 1987 Regulations,” 4. Bob Arnold served for two years and then was replaced by Peter Soverel, who was the president from 1989 to 1999. When the Washington Department of Game established their Sports Fishing Advisory Group in 1989, Soverel and committee member John Sager represented the FFF. Peter W. Soverel, letter to the author, June 26, 2011. Wild Steelhead Coalition Trustees, John McGlenn, http://www .wildsteelheadcoalition.org. “John C. McGlenn: The Osprey’s First Steelhead Hero,” Osprey, 20, February 1994, 11; Mary Hoy, “A History of Steamboat Inn and the Fly-Fishing Tradition on the North Umpqua River,” http://www.thesteamboatinn.com. This was significant because of past experiences in Idaho and Oregon where steelhead fly fishers as commissioners were able to initiate important changes to benefit wild fish. This data was collected by steelhead fly fishermen who were directly assisted by the regional fisheries department steelhead manager and avid steelhead fly fisherman, Bob Hooton, who worked in Smithers. Bob Hooton, e-mail to author, July 20, 2011 and interview with the author, July 25, 2011. Robert G. Thibault, letter to the author, September 19, 2002. Beardslee, from Duvall, Washington, had contacted McMillan about learning to do snorkeling surveys so he could apply the techniques to his home river, the Tolt. McMillan became one of the first members of the Board of Washington Trout, and one of their first projects was to identify

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50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

358

stream culverts that did not allow fish passage. Since 2007, Washington Trout has become the Wild Fish Conservancy. Their leading aquatic ecologist, Nick Gayeski, used to run his own fly fishing shop, was a fly fishing guide, and is an avid steelhead fly fisherman. Bill McMillan, e-mail letter to the author, July 6, 2011; http://www.wildfishconservancy.org. See also Dick Van Demark, Steelhead Fly Fishing in Low Water (Bellingham, WA, 1996). Tony Evans, “Give Praise to Idaho’s Migratory Masters,” Idaho Mountain Express, August 17, 2011; R. S. Hooton, Skeena Steelhead: Unknown Past, Uncertain Future (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 2011), 98. In 1993, BC’s Wild Steelhead Campaign released their video “Steelhead Symbol of Survival,” and Hooton noted that “The video contained powerful messages from one the most distinguished and respected fisheries scientists of the past half century, Dr. Peter Larkin, about the consequences of mixed stock fisheries and the problems with artificial enhancement” (98). Trey Combs, Steelhead Fly Fishing (New York: Lyons Press, 1991); and Steve Raymond, Steelhead Country (New York: Lyons and Burford, 1991), 197–98, 206. Deke Meyer, Advanced Fly Fishing For Steelhead (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1992), 149. In his chapter on “Conservation & Steelheading in the 21st Century,” Meyer is very clear about the role fly fishers must play in the survival of wild steelhead: “You and I are at once the biggest threat to steelhead and their greatest chance for their survival. . . . We unite with like minded fishermen to form a social consciousness that wields a mightier political sword than the outcry of an isolated voice. We do it for ourselves because of our intimate affection and compassion for the fish we treasure. . . . Bitching and moaning is great for relieving stress, but eventually it falls to each of us to decide how much time, energy, and money we are willing to give back to the sport” (149). Peter Soverel, letter to the author, June 26, 2011; also see http://www .wildsalmoncenter.org and www.steelhead.org. In 1994, they started the Kamchatka Steelhead Project to collect scientific data on wild steelhead. It was a cooperative effort between the Wild Salmon Center, Moscow State University, and the University of Montana. Today, this project is run by Soverel and the Conservation Angler, based in Edmonds, Washington (http://www.steelhead.org). Ted Leeson, The Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing (New York: Lyons and Burford, 1994), 22. Leeson said, “I had sought out wild steelhead as an embodiment of some native idea, some spirit that made the place itself” (22). A steelheader, Leeson said, “is preeminently a believer, an inflexible enthusiast trusting to the long haul.” He went on to explain that “They know the one big thing, whatever you wish to call it— an unyielding devotion to purpose, the righteousness of a calling, a preternatural faith in their own spiritual invulnerability” (22, 26–27).

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55. Wild Steelhead & Atlantic Salmon 1, no. 1 (Spring 1994). 56. This publication actually began in 1993 as River Journal, edited by Jeff Findley. John Holt, Madison 1, no. 1 (1993). For example, John Shewey, North Umpqua 2, no. 3 (1995). 57. Bill Bakke, e-mail to author, July 18, 2011. Bill Redman, interview with the author, June 26, 2011. Also see Bill Redman, “Snake River Salmon and Steelhead,” Osprey 24, June 1995, 1– 6. Redman became chair of the FFF Steelhead Committee in 2000 and served in that capacity until 2010. 58. Michael Baughman, with photographs by J. Daniel Callaghan, A River Seen Right: A Fly Fisherman’s North Umpqua (New York: Lyons & Burford, 1995), see chap.13, “In Fifty Years”; Bob Arnold, Steelhead & the Floating Line: A Meditation (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications, 1995); Barry M. Thornton, Steelhead (Surrey, BC: Hancock House, 1995), see chap.5, “Steelhead Management,” where Thornton said: “The highest priority for steelhead management must always be for wild stocks” (155); Doug Rose, Fly Fishing the Olympic Peninsula (Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publications,1996), see chap. 20, “Wild Fish,” where Rose admitted that “Like many fly fishermen, I had become increasingly worried about the decline of migratory fish” and suggested “this is the time for anglers that love the Olympic Peninsula’s wild fish to make their voices heard” (91 and 95). 59. Grant McClintock and Mike Crockett, Watermark (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998) and Thomas McGuane, The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999). 60. Van Gytenbeek moved to the Seattle area in the early 1990s, cohosted Fly Fishing Northwest, a television show with Les Johnson on the Fox Sports Network, and began to publish his own magazine, Fly Fishing in Salt Waters, in 1994. He was an active member of the Washington Fly Fishing Club and served as a commissioner until 2004. During Van Gytenbeek’s tenure, as Lisa Pelly, the chair of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission, said, “The sport-fishing community could not have asked for a better advocate on their issues, especially those who support the long-term sustainability of wild steelhead in this state.” Cordes, “Welcoming R. P. ‘Van’ Gytenbeek,” 5– 6. 61. The WSC leadership argued very convincingly that “Without changes in attitudes and policies, wild steelhead populations will continue to decline.” The fi rst three presidents of the WSC have been steelhead fly fishermen, as was the case for the majority of board members over the past ten years. As trustees, the WSC enlisted some of the most important steelhead conservationists, such as Frank Amato, John McGlenn, Bill Bakke, and Jim Lichatowich, a well-known fisheries scientist and author of the highly acclaimed book Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis (1999). http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org; Jack W. Berryman, “Wild Steelhead Coalition Growing,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Spring 2002, 22.

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62. This report, written by a team of three fisheries scientists, an economist, and an attorney, consisted of eight chapters with extensive references. All of the authors, except one, were fly fishermen. 63. The report’s summary concluded by saying: “WC-TU expresses its interest in working with co-managers and the State Legislature to obtain the funding needed to improve wild steelhead management and the enforcement needed to recover and properly manage these treasured native fish.” “The Washington Council of Trout Unlimited Wild Steelhead Conservation Policy, 2001,” policy summary, 1. By the following year, both Burge and Doyle became directly involved with the Wild Steelhead Coalition and Burge gained significant scientific help when Nathan Mantua, an avid steelhead fly fisherman and University of Washington research scientist with expertise in climate, oceans, and fisheries, became a WSC board member. 64. Steelhead fly fishermen played significant and central roles in all three groups. Press release, South Coast Steelhead Coalition, November 7, 2002; “Commercial Nets Threaten Skeena Steelhead,” Fly Fisherman, September 2002; Lani Waller, “The Impossible Contradiction: Selective Gill Nets,” Fly Fisherman, September 2002; and http://www.steelheadrecoveryplan.ca. The goal of the latter group was to “stabilize and restore wild steelhead stocks and habitats to healthy, self-sustaining levels.” They also used a great Haig-Brown quotation from his “Fishing and the Common Man” in Fisherman’s Spring (1951): “. . . I know that neither hatcheries, nor biologists, nor all the thought and ingenuity of man can put them back when once they’ve gone.” 65. The WSC continues to sponsor “steelhead summits,” currently under the leadership of Richard Burge and Marianne Mitchell. Dee Norton and Dave Bailey, “Conservation Groups United for Steelhead,” TU Leader, January/ March 2003, 1 and Jack W. Berryman, “Fishing and Conservation Groups Agree to Unite to Work to Save Steelhead,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Spring 2003, 21–22. It is also significant that avid steelhead fly fisherman and author Steve Probasco was editor of Northwest Fly Fishing magazine and provided substantial personal and editorial support for wild steelhead. His assistant editor was Oregon’s John Shewey, another well-known book author and devoted steelhead fly fisherman. Shewey is the current editor of the magazine and is a great spokesperson for wild fish. 66. Central to this decision were the WSC and Commissioner Van Gytenbeek, who was supported by five of his colleagues. Initially, about a dozen rivers, all on the Olympic Peninsula, were involved. Currently, the list includes eight rivers. Jack W. Berryman, “The Plight of Washington’s Wild Steelhead,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Summer 2004, 26–27, 85. Also at this time, in response to an article in STS titled “Wild Fish vs. Hatchery Stock: Any Difference,” the WCS president at the time, Jack Berryman, wrote a rebuttal titled “Why Wild Steelhead Are Important,” STS, October/November

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67.

68.

69.

70. 71.

72. 73.

2002, 4, 6. Jack W. Berryman, “Update on Washington’s Wild Steelhead,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Winter 2005, 17–19. These decisions were bolstered by another WSC report, “The Status of Wild Steelhead in Western Washington.” Andrew Williams, e-mail to the author, June 22, 2011, and Andrew Williams, “Friends of Wild Salmon, Banning Salmon Farming from Northern B.C. Waters,” Osprey 61, September 2008, 16–19. Richard T. Burge, Nathan J. Mantua, and Jack W. Berryman, “Wild Steelhead Coalition Unveils Plan for Washington’s Wild Steelhead,” Northwest Fly Fishing, Fall 2006, 22–23. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys from Earthjustice on behalf of the plaintiffs. American Rivers, whose Northwest regional director was Rob Masonis, a very serious steelhead fly fisherman, became another key player to save wild steelhead at this time. Also see the editorial in the Seattle Times by the WSC president, Rich Simms, another steelhead fly angler (“Bush Proposal Not Good for Wild Fish,” November 18, 2004). Masonis was quoted as saying that there is a “greater understanding among anglers of the importance of wild fish and the desire to catch wild fish. They get it; and it’s those voices that need to rise up in the policy debate.” Ted Williams, Something’s Fishy: An Angler’s Look at Our Distressed Gamefish and Their Waters— and How We Can Preserve Both (New York: Skyhorse Publishers, 2007), 195–203. “History of the Wild Steelhead Coalition, 2000–2011,” http://www .wildsteelheadcoalition.org; Yvon Chouinard, founder and president of Patagonia, is a steelhead fly fisherman and was made an honorary member of the WSC. His company has provided grants, Patagonia’s director of fly fishing, Brian Bennett, resides in the Seattle area and is on the WSC board, and proceeds from the sale of steelhead T-shirts, part of Patagonia’s wild trout series, were donated to the WSC. Dylan Tomine, Wild On The Fly: Journal of Fly Fishing Travel 12 (Winter 2007/2008): 48– 55 and Tomine, Flyfishjournal 2, no. 2 (2008), 94–95; Jack W. Berryman, “Video Review— Rivers of a Lost Coast,” Northwest Fly Fishing, July/August 2009, 18–19 and http://www.riversofalostcoast.com; other videos include the Fly Boys and “Raising the Ghost” in 2008 and “Metalheads” in 2010, a Creekside Media Production. Jack W. Berryman, “Robert Milton ‘Bob’ Nauheim,” 61 and http://www .northumpquawildsteelhead.org. Robert Masonis, e-mail to the author and others, February 14, 2009 and Lynda A. Mapes, “Famed Fishmonger Plans a Sea Change,” Seattle Times, May 30, 2010, A1. Also of interest is the website begun by a Seattle-based steelhead fly fisherman: http://www.stopeatingwildsteelhead.com. Jack W. Berryman, Northwest Fly Fishing, September/October 2010, 20 and Bob Margulis, Pool32, 2012. “State Shuts Down Snider Creek Hatchery Program,” Tacoma News Tribune, February 12, 2012. The hatchery will be closed “to establish a wild

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steelhead management zone,” the first formally established in Washington State under the WDFW’s new steelhead management plan. 74. This was prefaced by an editorial in the Seattle Times coauthored by Atlas, Beardslee, and Simms, “Restore the Elwah without hatchery fish,” July 13, 2011, A11. Also see Ted Williams, “How to Kill a Reborn River,” Fly Rod & Reel, January 2012; June Williams, “Enviros Raise Alarm on Dam Removals,” Courthouse News, February 16, 2012; “Interim Agreement Protects Wild Elwha Steelhead From Hatchery Release,” February 24, 2012, http:// www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org. 75. This is being borne out by the three most recent books on steelhead fly fishing. In Dec Hogan’s A Passion for Steelhead (Mill Creek, WA: Wild River Press, 2006), Pete Soverel wrote a stunning afterword titled “The Future of Our Sport.” Hogan was a longtime Washington fly fishing guide who focused on the Skagit and Sauk. Similarly, Oregon fly fisher John Larison’s The Complete Steelheader: Successful Fly-Fishing Tactics (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008) has an entire section on conservation and argues that “Fly fishing, as practiced by modern anglers, is a conservation movement” (217). Lastly, the legendary steelhead fly fisherman Lani Waller’s A Steelheader’s Way: Principles, Tactics & Techniques (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009) includes a chapter titled “On Conservation” and in it, Waller states: “It is thus our job to fi nd a way to let wild steelhead live and survive as they have for thousands of years . . .” (193). CHAPTER FIVE

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2. 3. 4. 5.

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Other fly fishing museums include the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont, the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia, and the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum in Rangeley, Maine. In addition, the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Association maintains several exhibits, including one in the town of Boiling Springs. Karl Blankenship, “Habitat and the Brook Trout,” Pennsylvania Angler and Boater, March/April 2000. Carl S. Oplinger and Robert Halma, The Poconos: An Illustrated Natural History Guide (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006), 157. The area had many large groves of hemlock pine, a chief source of tanbark needed by the region’s numerous tanneries. Throughout the 1990s and the fi rst decade of the twenty-first century, the Pennsylvanian counties of Monroe and Pike were two of the fastest growing in the state. In New York, the Catskills also saw population increases, as people began to commute to New York City from further and further away. The contentious issue of fracking continues to loom over the area, with several large sources of natural gas sitting beneath Catskill and

N OT E S TO PAG E S 102–10 8

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

Pocono soil. Residents fear that the activity will pollute the water table, rendering drinking water unsafe and trout streams unfishable. Lawrence Louis Squeri, Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania’s Vacationland (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002), 2. Ibid. Ibid. “Where One May Go to Fish: Trout Streams in Near Neighborhoods,” New York Times, April 27, 1878, 2. Ibid. “Anglers Now are Happy: Bright Prospects of Good Sport for the Fly Caster,” New York Times, May 3, 1890, 8. “Many New Yorkers at Mount Pocono: Trout Being Sought by Scores of Fishermen— Dr. Henry Van Dyke Among the Visitors,” New York Times, June 15, 1902, 22. Ibid. Squeri, Better in the Poconos, 2. The Henryville House ceased operation in 1978 and was torn down in 2004. The Henryville Special was invented by Hiram Brobst, a taxidermist from Palmerton, PA. “Fishing,” New York Times, April 23, 1933, S2. “Henryville House,” New York Times, May 19, 1946, X7. Ziegler also reconstructed much of the Brodhead’s streambed following the deadly and disastrous 1955 flood. In August of 1955, two hurricanes struck northeast Pennsylvania (Connie and Diane), dropping over twenty inches of rain in a week. The Brodhead swelled, and it swept away a number of children from an Analomink-based Baptist camp. As the deluge reached East Stroudsburg, homes were destroyed in the low-lying downtown area, and several people drowned. Recalling images of the deadly Johnstown Flood, the 1955 disaster claimed over 100 Pocono lives. As a result of the flood, the local, state, and federal governments looked for ways to avoid similar disasters. One of the solutions was an elaborate levee system that shielded the downtowns of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg from any further flood damage. John W. Randolph, “Wood, Field and Stream: Pennsylvania Lodge Provides the Fish and Rods—You Provide the Cash,” New York Times, May 8, 1960, S13. Ibid. For more, see John Macdonald, The Complete Fly Fisherman: The Notes and Letters of Theodore Gordon (1989). Roscoe, New York, for instance, still calls itself “Trout Town USA.” Theodore Gordon, “Fly-fishing near New York,” Forest and Stream, March 19, 1904, 232. Ibid.

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26. “Jottings of a Fly-Fisher,” Forest and Stream, March 28, 1903, 247. 27. Ibid. 28. “To be Sold at Public Venue, on Thursday the 25th of April, Inst., an Excellent Grazing Farm,” Catskill Packet, April 15, 1793, 4. 29. “John Dodge, Watch-maker,” Catskill Recorder, December 15, 1819, 3. 30. “A Hint to Anglers,” Poughkeepsie Independence, September 26, 1832, 3. 31. “Voyage on the Lakes,” Orange County Patriot, August 7, 1820, 3. 32. Gordon, “Fly-fishing near New York,” 232. 33. Ernest Schwiebert, “We Began” (speech, Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers Annual Day, 2002). 34. “TGF Mission Statement,” Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers, accessed February 20, 2012, http://www.theodoregordonflyfishers.org/tgf-mission. 35. There are significant archival holdings related to the history of American sporting at several colleges and universities. The Milne Angling Collection at the University of New Hampshire and Western Washington University’s collection of commercial and leisure fishing archives are but two examples. 36. “History,” Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum, accessed February 20, 2012, http://www.cffcm.net/history.html. 37. “Our Mission,” Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited, accessed February 20, 2012, http://www.brodheadstu.org/html/our_mission.html. CHAPTER SIX

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5.

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There are no agreed-upon conventions for spelling Blackfoot words with the Latin alphabet. Thus, the authors of many English language publications on Blackfoot culture spell the same Blackfoot words differently. In this chapter, I try to rely, for consistency, upon the conventions promoted by linguists Donald Frantz and Norma Jean Russell. See Donald Frantz and Norma Jean Russell, Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989). Allan Pard, interview by author, October 10, 2007, Johnny’s Restaurant, written notes, Fort Macleod, Alberta. Allan Pard, interview by author, July 18, 2001; Head- Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, written notes, Alberta. Naato’si is the Blackfoot word or name for “Sun.” Allan Pard, interview by author, November 27, 2000; Head- Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, written notes, Alberta; Gerald Conaty, “Relationships, Power, and Sacred Objects,” paper presented at Organizing the Past, 12th International Conference on Organizational Symbolism, Calgary, Alberta, July 10–12, 1994; Kenneth Lokensgard, Blackfoot Religion and the Consequences of Cultural Commoditization (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2010). John Murray, interview by author, September 26, 2000, interviewee’s residence, written notes, Blackfeet Reservation; Carol Murray, interview by

N O T E S T O P A G E S 11 5 – 11 6

6.

7.

8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

15.

16. 17. 18.

author, September 26, 2000, interviewee’s residence, written notes, Blackfeet Reservation; Allan Pard, interview by author, November 27, 2000; George Bird Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892; repr., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1962), 167 (page references are to reprint edition); Walter McClintock, The Old North Trail or Life, Legends and Religion of the Blackfoot Indians (London: MacMillan and Company, 1910; repr., Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1992), 170 (page references are to reprint edition). Robert J. Behnke, Trout and Salmon of North America (New York: Free Press, 2002); Barry Mitchell, Alberta’s Trout Highway: Fishing the Forestry Trunk Road (Red Deer, AB: Nomad Creek Books), 23, 29, 33, 35. There are some rainbow trout native to the East Slope of the Rockies, but these are north of Blackfoot Country, in the Athabaska River drainage of Alberta. Behnke, Trout, 72; Mitchell, Trout Highway, 25. Allan Pard, interview by author, July 22, 2011, Rahn’s Bakery, written notes, Fort Macleod, Alberta; Allan Pard, interview by author, June 20, 2003, interviewee’s residence, Piikani Reserve; Ryan Heavyhead, e-mail correspondence (on behalf of Allan Pard), September 6, 2011. Pard, interview by author, 2011; Pard, interview by author, 2003; Clark Wissler and D. C. Duvall, Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 2, part 1 (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1912; repr., Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), 129 (page references are to reprint edition). Pard, interview by author, 2011; Heavy Head, e-mail correspondence, 2011. Pard, interview by author, 2003; Pard, interview by author, 2011. Pard, interview by author, 2003; Pard, interview by author, 2011; Wissler and Duvall, Mythology, 129. Clark Wissler, Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians, Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Natural History, vol. 7, part 2 (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1912), 238. Grinnell, Lodge Tales, 192. Clark Wissler, Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians, Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Natural History, vol. 5, part 1 (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1910), 20, 43– 44; Grinnell, Lodge Tales, 207. James Willard Schultz, My Life as an Indian: The Story of a Red Woman and a White Man in the Lodges of the Blackfeet (London: John Murray, 1907); Wissler, Material Culture, 20–21. Schultz, My Life, 395. Ibid. Lokensgard, Blackfoot Religion. Bundles consist of skin or cloth wrapping, containing animal skins and parts, rocks, plants, earth pains, pipes, and other items. These items are considered alive, embodying the beings that normally inhabit their forms (e.g., an ermine skin embodies an ermine

365

N O T E S T O P A G E S 11 6 – 1 2 0

19. 20. 21. 22.

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30.

31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

366

being). This description of bundles derives from personal observation, as well as the following representative sources: John C. Ewers, The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwest Plains (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), 164; Grinnell, Lodge Tales, 276; McClintock, Old North Trail, 80–102, 262– 66. Wissler, Ceremonial Bundles, 248. Ibid. This description of general ceremonial features also derives from personal observation. Pard, interview by author, 2011. Wissler and Duvall, Mythology, 128–29; Adolf Hungry-Wolf, Pikunni Ceremonial Life, The Blackfoot Papers—Volume Two (Skookumchuck, BC: Good Medicine Cultural Foundation, 2006), 365– 68. Grinnell, Lodge Tales, 191–92. Joe Kipp, interview by author, July 26, 2011, interviewee’s residence, written notes, Blackfeet Reservation. Wissler, Material Culture, 39. Lokensgard, Blackfoot Religion, 116–17. Ibid., 118–20; Ewers, The Blackfeet, 309–11. Ewers, The Blackfeet, 278–96. The bulk of the overhunting was done by whites, who were meeting the European and Euro-American demand for hides. Eventually, however, Blackfeet and other native peoples participated in the hide trade as well. Also, some Lakotas and Nez Perce spent several years living and hunting on the Northwestern Plains, where Canadian Blackfeet traditionally hunted, to avoid confrontations with the US Army across the border. This increased pressure upon the local herds. John C. Jackson, The Piikuni Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege (Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing, 2000), 184– 87, 194–96. Ewers, The Blackfeet, 29, 65, 252, 257– 58. Lokensgard, Blackfoot Religion, 116–17; James Willard Schultz, Blackfeet and Buffalo: Memories of Life among the Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962), 302– 5. Ewers, The Blackfeet, 303. Ibid., 313. Ibid., 313, 318. Ibid., 291–96. Schultz, My Life, 77. Ibid., 81. Lokensgard , Blackfoot Religion, 122–24. Schultz, Blackfeet and Buffalo, 114–15. Schultz, My Life, 329– 330. Ibid., 330. Kipp, interview by author, 2011. Please note, I henceforth refer to the historic, white scout and trader as “Joseph” and to the living Piikani fishing guide as “Joe.”

N O T E S T O PA G E S 12 0 – 12 3

42. Kipp, interview by author, 2011. 43. Ibid. 44. Numerous North Piikani and Kainaa friends have told me about the popularity of fishing among their grandparents and other relatives. 45. In his chapter in this book, Arn Keeling discusses the introduction of nonnative fish and attendant fishing regulations, in the interests of “sportsmen,” as a form of colonialism. Drawing from other writers, he suggests that these introductions represent a process of “dispossession.” In their case, traditional Blackfeet might say that it is not so much they, but rather the underwater people, who have been dispossessed of their favored fish. 46. Bill Alvord, A History of Montana’s Fisheries Division from 1890–1958 (Helena: Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, 1991), 4. 47. Ibid., 5, 6, 7. 48. Ibid., 6. 49. Ibid., 2. 50. Ibid. 51. Ibid., 8. 52. Lois Randall, Fishery Management Plan for the Blackfeet Reservation (Kalispell: Northwest Montana Fish and Wildlife Center, 1982), 17; Toby Tabor, e-mail correspondence, August 31, 2011. 53. Randall, Fishery Management, 17, 38. 54. Jim Wagner, interview by author via phone, September 2, 2011, written notes. 55. Ibid. 56. Ibid. 57. Ibid. 58. Ibid. 59. Ibid.; Daryl Wig, interview by author via phone, July 25, 2011, written notes. 60. Irvine Scalplock, interview by author, September 30, 2008, Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, written notes, Siksika Reserve. 61. Pard, interview by author, 2003. 62. Wig, interview by author, 2011. 63. This again raises the issues of environmental colonialism and dispossession that Keeling addresses in his chapter. Traditionalists like Pard bemoan the loss of any beings in the Blackfoot world, since all beings are interconnected, directly or indirectly, through the web of relationships existing between them. Still, the loss of the bison impacted the Blackfeet much more profoundly than the decrease of native fish populations did, as most Blackfeet did not relate directly to the fish or other underwater people. Regardless, further research should be done with living Blackfoot traditionalists on these matters. 64. Kipp, interview by author, 2011.

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65. 66. 67. 68. 69.

Ibid. Ibid. Toby Tabor, interview by author via phone, August 29, 2011, written notes. Ibid. John Holt, Flyfishing Adventures: Montana (Belgrade, MT: Wilderness Adventures Press, Inc., 2010), 166– 69. 70. Tabor, interview by author, 2011. 71. Kipp, interview by author, 2011; Tabor, interview by author, 2011. 72. Kipp, interview by author, 2011. CHAPTER SEVEN

1.

2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15.

368

Bob Seager, Jerry Kunnath, and Todd Fuller, A Century of Fly Fishing History, The North Branch of the Au Sable River: A Historical Documentary (Vermillion Productions Inc., 2005), DVD. Robert J. Behnke, “Grayling,” in About Trout: The Best of Robert J. Behnke From Trout Magazine (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2007), 161. B. W. Sperry, “Early Grayling Days,” Forest and Stream, October 2, 1887, 272. L. D. Norris, “The Michigan Grayling. What Must Be Done to Prevent the Annihilation of this Excellent Food and Game Fish,” address to the Michigan Sportsmen’s Association, February 5, 1878, box 1, folder William B. Mershon Early Family Paper of Augustus H. Mershon, The Mershon Collection in the Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (hereafter Mershon Collection). Charles Hallock, The Fishing Tourist: Angler’s Guide and Reference Book (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1873), 208. L. Agassiz to J. Sutherland, February 1, 1873, in Charles Hallock, The Fishing Tourist: Angler’s Guide and Reference Book (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1873), 208. Thaddeus Norris, “Down the Au Sable,” Forest and Stream 3, no. 3 (1874): 33. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. L. D. Norris, “The Michigan Grayling,” Mershon Collection. Ibid. F. H. Thurston, “The American Grayling,” in American Game Fishes: Their Habits, Habitat, and Peculiarities; How, When and Where to Angle for Them (Chicago: Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers, 1892), 351. Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 162 (December 13, 1968): 1244.

N O T E S T O P A G E S 13 4 – 1 4 5

16. L. D. Norris, “The Michigan Grayling,” Mershon Collection. 17. William B. Mershon, Recollections of My Fifty Years of Hunting and Fishing (Boston: Stratford Co., 1923), 170. 18. Thaddeus Norris, “Grayling and Bass,” Forest and Stream, September 9, 1875, 65. 19. Mershon, Recollections, 170. 20. William B. Mershon to George Miller, April 15, 1912, box 32, folder Dec. 24, 1912– Apr. 30, 1913, Mershon Collection. 21. Mershon, Recollections, 159. 22. Fred Mather, “Raising the Grayling,” Forest and Stream 3, no. 18 (1874): 276. 23. Ibid. 24. William B. Mershon to George Miller, April 15, 1912, box 32, folder Dec. 24, 1912– Apr. 30, 1913, Mershon Collection. 25. L. D. Norris, “The Michigan Grayling,” Mershon Collection. 26. William B. Mershon to Charles Stewart, May 12, 1905, box 2, folder William Butts Mershon Correspondence Papers April/May 1905, Mershon Collection. 27. William B. Mershon to C. H. Davis, June 5, 1906, box 29, folder Feb. 26, 1906– July 26, 1907, Mershon Collection. 28. Eugene T. Peterson, “The History of Wildlife Conservation in Michigan, 1859–1921” (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1952), 185. 29. Ibid., 186. 30. Thurston, “The American Grayling,” 348. 31. Mather, “Raising the Grayling,” 276. 32. L. D. Norris, “The Michigan Grayling,” Mershon Collection. 33. Mershon, Recollections, 172. 34. Fred Mather quoted in American Game Fishes (Chicago: Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers, 1892), 349. CHAPTER EIGHT

1.

I wish to thank Aki Janatuinen and Markus Penttinen of the Finnish Society for Stream Conservation (Virtavesien hoitoyhdistys), Anssi Uitti of the Finnish Federation of Anglers (SUKL), and the editors for their insightful comments on the manuscript. Anders Johan Malmgren, “Kritisk öfversigt af Finlands Fisk-fauna” (PhD diss., Imperial Alexander University in Finland, 1863), 58– 60; Oscar Nordqvist, “Laxens uppstigande i Finlands och Norra Sveriges elfvar,” Fennia 22, no. 2 (1904–1905): 1– 58; Heikki Pitkänen, ed., Suuri kalakirja (Helsinki: Otava, 1961), 73; Seppo Hurme, Suomen Itämeren puoleiset vaelluskalajoet, Monistettuja julkaisuja 24 (Helsinki: Maataloushallituksen Kalataloudellinen Tutkimustoimisto, 1962); idem, “Lounais- Suomen lohi- ja taimenjoet,” Suomen Kalatalous 29 (1967): 5–18; idem, Lohi ja taimen Suomenlahden alueella, Monistettuja julkaisuja 37 (Helsinki:

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N O T E S T O PA G E S 14 5 –147

2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

370

Maataloushallituksen Kalataloudellinen Tutkimustoimisto, 1970); Anthony Netboy, The Atlantic Salmon: A Vanishing Species (London: Faber and Faber, 1968), 116; World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Status of Wild Atlantic Salmon: A River by River Assessment, WWF Report (May 2001), 76; Lauri Koli, Suomen kalat (Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 2002), 79– 80. Malmgren, “Finlands Fisk-fauna,” 61– 64; Curt Segerstråle, “Studier rörande havsforellen (Salmo trutta L.) i Södra Finland, speciellt på Karelska näset och i Nyland,” Acta Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica 60 (1937): 696–750; Seppo Hurme, “Vantaanjoki taimenvetenä,” Metsästys ja Kalastus (May 1952): 149– 51; idem, Suomen Itämeren puoleiset vaelluskalajoet; idem, “Lounais- Suomen lohi- ja taimenjoet”; idem, Lohi ja taimen Suomenlahden alueella; Koli, Suomen kalat, 84– 87; Jukka Halonen, ed., Taimen: Elintavat, kalastus ja suojelu (Helsinki: Edita, 2002), 85–99. Malmgren, “Finlands Fisk-fauna,” 49– 58, 64– 65; Koli, Suomen kalat, 124– 25, 113–14, 104–7. U. T. Sirelius, Suomalaisten kalastus I– III, 3 vols., 1906–1908, Toimituksia 1252, reprint (Helsinki: Finnish Literary Society, 2009); T. H. Järvi, Suomen merikalastus ja jokipyynti (Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 1932), 111– 45; Kustaa Vilkuna, Lohi: Kemijoen ja sen lähialueen lohenkalastuksen historia (Helsinki: Otava, 1975), 14–114; Päivö Suomela, Päijänteen siirtolaiskalastajat, Research Report 5 (Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, Institute of Ethnology, 1975), 13–14; Ossi Seppovaara, Vuoksi: Luonto ja ihminen vesistön muovaajina, Toimituksia 406 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1984), 35–72; Anssi Eloranta, Virtavesien kunnostus, Julkaisu 165 (Helsinki: Kalatalouden Keskusliitto, 2010), 8–10. Matti J. Säromaa, “. . . Ei sen väliä, saanko vai olen saamatta”: SUKL 75 vuotta 1919–1994 (Helsinki: Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto, 1994), 271; Järvi, Suomen merikalastus ja jokipyynti, 145– 52. During the nineteenth century, a sense of national unity and common cultural identity developed in the country. The Finnish language, the non-Indo-European mother tongue of a great majority of Finns, was given an official status in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 10–14. For example, English employees of the Tampere textile mills fly fished the Tammerkoski Rapids already during the 1860s. By the 1870s, however, the local trout stocks plummeted because of the continuous development along the rapids and growing industrial pollution. On the Tammerkoski, see Teuvo Koskinen, “Tammerkoski-kappale suomalaista lohikoskihistoriaa” (master’s thesis, University of Tampere, 1981). Seppovaara, Vuoksi, 76–96; idem, Kymijoki: Virran kohtaloita vuosisatojen saatossa ([Kouvola: Kymijoen vesiensuojeluyhdistys], 1988), 249– 57; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 14–16. On the imperial fishing lodge, see http://www .langinkoskimuseo.com/en/museum/history, accessed May 26, 2015. Cf. John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, 3rd ed. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001), 3.

N O T E S T O PA G E S 147– 151

9.

10. 11.

12. 13.

14. 15.

16.

17.

18.

Salmo Salar [Hintze, Alexander], Krokfiske som sport och yrke samt kräftfångst (Helsinki, 1883); Särömaa, Kalkkisten kalastusklubi 1886—1986 (Helsinki: Kirjayhtymä, 1987), 11–12; idem, Ei sen väliä, 19–21, 249. During his travels, Hintze had also developed a deep interest in artificial propagation of fish and made unsuccessful attempts at introducing rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, and even lake sturgeon to the Finnish fauna. Särömaa, Kalkkisten kalastusklubi; idem, Ei sen väliä, 37– 38; Seppovaara, Kymijoki, 163. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 21–22, 258. For a fictional account of Maria Renfors’s life, see Eeva-Kaarina Aronen, Maria Renforsin totuus (Helsinki: Teos, 2005). In 1870, Herman Renfors introduced his famous Kajaani (Kajana) Spinner, which was one of the fi rst lures of this type, and went on to win several prizes for his inventions, many of them connected to fishing. In addition to his lures, fishing reels manufactured by Renfors became especially popular. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 26, 271–72. Ibid., 26– 31, 282; A. E. Salmelainen, Urheilukalastus (Helsinki: Otava, 1914). For example, the rapids near Varkaus, Heinävesi, and Joensuu in eastern Finland were rented by anglers after the turn of the century. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 26– 31. The following discussion on Aho is based on Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 28–29, 31– 37, 46; Vesa Haapala, “Aika Huopanalla: Kalastuksen estetiikasta ja etiikasta Juhani Ahon Lohilastuissa ja kalakaskuissa,” in Äänekäs kevät: Ekokriittinen kirjallisuudentutkimus, ed. Toni Lahtinen and Markku Lehtimäki, Tietolipas 222 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2008), 95–135; Jarmo Kovanen, Erkki Markkanen, and Osmo Rintala, Huopana: Juhani Ahon koski (Atena: Jyväskylä, 1994), 26– 39, 121– 36. Juhani Aho, Lastuja VIII: Lohilastuja ja kalakaskuja (1921), reprint Kootut teokset VI (Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 1949). His catch was not restricted to the traditional trout; landing a big, savory ide (Leuciscus idus) with the fly could prove as rewarding. The ide is a cyprinid closely related to the European chub (Leuciscus cephalus) of Izaak Walton fame. Aho, “Lohensukuisten kalojen suojaamisesta,” Helsingin Sanomat, September 22, 1909; “Lohikoskien hoidosta,” Suomen Kalastuslehti 23, no. 9 (1916): 129– 34; “Lohenonginnasta kutuaikana,” Suomen Kalastuslehti 24, no. 11 (1917): 163– 65; and “Tietoja järvilohen istutuksesta Huopanassa.” Suomen Kalastuslehti 27, no. 1 (1920): 23–26. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 249– 51. Of course, for much of the twentieth century there existed a scientific hubris about the possibilities of artificial propagation and stocking for maintaining harvestable populations. The problems inherent to the stocking of spawning rivers with fry or smolts coming from nonnative breeding stock have only been recognized during the last decades, and as a result of yet another breakthrough in the natural sciences, this time in genetic research.

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19. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 41– 45, 125; Seppovaara, Vuoksi, 105–25. 20. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 49– 50, 141– 43, 149–70, 173–78; Seppovaara, Kymijoki, 167–71. 21. Eloranta, “Kahden kuution kunnostus eli Hilmonjoen kunnianpalautus,” Urheilukalastus 4 (1996): 24–27; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 170–73; idem, “Hilmo–hyvä esimerkki,” Urheilukalastus 7 (1994): 2. SUKL also rented a chain of rapids in the Konnevesi region of Central Finland between 1936 and 1960. See Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 178– 80. A private club, Keitele-Koliman Urheilukalastajat, has rented rapids in the Viitasaari region since 1923. See Raimo Olkkonen, Keitele-Kolima Urheilukalastajain kerho ry., 1923–1998 ([Helsinki: Keitele-Kolima urheilukalastajainkerho], 1998). 22. Eloranta, “Virkistyskalastus Laukaan Simunankoskessa v. 1910–1990,” Rautalammin reitin taimen-symposio Jyväskylässä 4.– 5.4.1991, Suomen Kalatalous 59 (1993): 111–13; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 252– 53. The first anglers to rent the rapids included Juhani Aho in the early 1910s. Aho, however, concentrated on his efforts at the Huopana and never got to wet a line at the Simuna. It has been estimated that close to 900,000 trout were released to the rapids between 1920 and 1965, the majority of these being fry. 23. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 46– 55, 93–94; William Wallenius, Urheilukalastajan käsikirja: Lohen, harrin ja siian kalastus, Tieto ja taito 29 (Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 1923); Aho, Lastuja, 609; Kovanen, Markkanen, and Rintala, Huopana, 136– 52. 24. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 258– 62, 273; Baron Charlie Palmén, “Fishing in Finland,” in Hardy’s Anglers’ Guide (Alnwick: Hardy Brothers, 1937), 36–37. By the 1920s, the catalogs of high- end sporting-good stores in Finland, such as Stockmann and Schröder, routinely carried information on fl ies and fly fishing. Finnish sporting magazines in both Swedish and Finnish regularly published articles on fly fishing, and even the magazine aimed at the professional fisherman, Suomen Kalastuslehti, would publish articles on angling. On the development of fishing tourism in Finland, see Jorma Tiitinen, Lohirengeistä kalastusmatkailuyrittäjiksi: Kalastusmatkailu Suomessa 1850– luvulta 2000-luvun vaihteeseen, Bidrag till kännedom av Finlands natur och folk 173 (Helsinki: Suomen Tiedeseura, 2007), 52– 80. 25. Eero Lampio and Lauri Hannikainen, Petsamon opas: Kuvaus Petsamon luonnosta, asutuksesta, elinkeinoista ja historiallisista vaiheista sekö selostus matkareiteistä (Helsinki: Otava, 1921); Lampio, Eräretkiä Pohjolan lohivesillä ja riistamailla (Helsinki: Otava, 1930); Ludwig Munsterhjelm, Kadotetut paratiisit, ed. Matti J. Särömaa (Helsinki: Ajatus, 2000), 22– 55. Eero Lampio practically became a professional fly fisherman on the Paatsjoki: he reportedly caught some one hundred salmon, weighing over a ton, with fly rod from the river during one summer in the 1920s. 26. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 181–94. See also V. H. Vainio, Hopeavälkky: Kalamiehen kokemuksia ja koettelemuksia (Helsinki: Tammi, 1947), 17– 34.

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N O T E S T O PA G E S 15 4 – 15 6

27. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 194–95. The only fishing book by the famous hunting writer A. E. Järvinen, Viimeinen kesä: Arvitin kanssa Tuntsan lohijoella (Helsinki: Ajatus, 2001), beautifully describes salmon and trout fishing on the wild and remote Tuntsa during the summer of 1939. 28. Vainio, Karnjargan väylällä ja vähän muuallakin (Helsinki: Tammi, 1950), 158. 29. Vainio, Hopeavälkky, 147– 64; Karnjargan väylällä, 145– 58; Enkeli selvitti verkon (Hämeenlinna: Arvi A. Karisto, 1961), 103–113. According to Vainio, angling provided the last refuge from hectic modernity and enabled the admiration of God’s creation to the fullest. See for example Enkeli selvitti verkon, 200–207. 30. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 197–211. 31. On the destruction of Finnish salmon and trout rivers in the midtwentieth century, see Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 143– 44; Netboy, The Salmon: Their Fight for Survival (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974), 162– 63; idem, Salmon: The World’s Most Harassed Fish (London: Andre Deutsch, 1980), 154; Vainio, Hopeavälkky, 147– 58 (Oulu River); idem, Karnjargan väylällä, 145– 58 (Mankala Rapids); idem, Enkeli selvitti verkon, 103–13 (Vuolenkoski Rapids); Vilkuna, Lohi, 385– 404 (Kemi River). 32. On the Hietamankoski, see Erkki Norell, “‘Tuo aika nuoruuden,’” Urheilukalastus 7 (1994): 10–16; idem, Kalapäiväkirjani kertomaa (Helsinki: Werner Söderström, 2001), 34– 87. 33. Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto ry (SUKL), “Historia,” http://www.sukl .net/?page _id=39, accessed January 26, 2014; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 59, 276–77. 34. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 131– 32, 173, 180– 81; Norell, Kalmulta Korholaan: Perhokalastajat ry., 1938–2011 ([Helsinki]: Perhokalastajat ry., 2012), 12–27, 46– 51. Despite the growing popularity of fly fishing in Finland, the national fly tying tradition remained modest for much of the twentieth century. The nineteenth- century trailblazers Herman and Maria Renfors had, however, transferred their skills to a few pupils. William Wallenius strongly advocated fly tying in his 1923 handbook but attracted relatively few followers. Most fly fishing in Finland from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century was therefore practiced with traditional British salmon and wet flies. Typically swift and often tea- colored, Finnish streams were for a long time conceived as not very suitable for the dry fly despite the writings of Juhani Aho and other advocates of the technique. Most fly fishers up to the 1970s would still rely on classic flies such as Dusty Miller, Jock Scott, Durham Ranger, Silver and Black Doctors, Sweep, Bridge, March Brown, Zulu, Red Tag, Mallard & Claret, and so on. However, some native salmon and wet flies evolved, most famously the two Kalkkinen flies, Huopana, Morottaja (a variation of Thunder and Lightning), Juutuan yö, and Kummeli. During the 1960s, interest in fly tying

373

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35. 36.

37.

38.

39.

40. 41. 42.

374

began to rise steadily. Also, the first successful dry fl ies of Finnish design appeared during that decade, most notably Simo Lumme’s Nalle Puh (Winnie the Pooh). Lumme also created another popular caddis imitation, the SL-Pupa. While Finnish fly fishermen until the 1960s often used various Scandinavian and even domestic-made cane rods, fly fishing equipment manufactured in Great Britain— especially that by Hardy—remained the most valued. See Wallenius, Urheilukalastajan käsikirja, 1– 57; Seppo Hämäläinen, Heittokalastus (Helsinki: Otava, 1956); Lauri Syrjänen and Pertti Kanerva, Wanhat suomalaiset lohiperhot (Porvoo: Werner Söderström, 1994); Norell, Elämäni perhot (Helsinki: Werner Söderström, 1995); Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 236– 46. On the famous fly tier Matti Tiitola, see Vainio, Enkeli selvitti verkon, 40– 46. That year the average weight of fish caught on the fly exceeded 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms). Eloranta, “Hilmonjoen kunnianpalautus,” 25–26; Norell, Kalmulta Korholaan, 56– 62; Särömaa, “Hilmo,” 2; interview of Ahti Kauppinen and Toivo Leppänen at the Hilmo by the author, August 16, 2011. Eloranta, “Hilmonjoen kunnianpalautus,” 26; Norell, Kalmulta Korholaan, 55; interview of Ahti Kauppinen and Toivo Leppänen at the Hilmo by the author, August 16, 2011. After the demise of the Hilmo, the Perhokalastajat acquired the rental rights for the Heijostenkoski Rapids on the Saarijärvi route in the late 1950s and the 1960s, and for the Hannula section of the Korholankoski Rapids (Konnevesi) in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the club rented the Läsäkoski near Mikkeli and today fishes the Yläistenkoski section of the Korholankoski Rapids. See Norell, Kalmulta Korholaan, 66–192. Eloranta, “Virkistyskalastus Laukaan Simunankoskessa,” 112. Much to the disappointment of fly fishers, Kekkonen and his fishing companions in 1960 managed to acquire the rental rights for the Siikakoski Rapids in the Konnevesi region of central Finland, formerly rented by SUKL. See Mauri Soikkanen, Kekkosen kanssa metsällä ja kalalla (Jyväskylä: Gummerus, 2006) 11–12, 40; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 180. Eloranta, “Virkistyskalastus Laukaan Simunankoskessa,” 114, 118–19. The catch records from the Simuna over 65 years reveal that the tackle used included natural bait, devons, plugs, and spoons in addition to fl ies. In 1963, strong incentives were introduced to encourage the use of the fly (including tube fl ies) after midsummer. Accordingly, over two-thirds of the trout catch after that year was amassed with the fly. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 146, 286. Ibid., 96–98, 102– 3, 109–11, 133, 290, 298– 301. Eloranta, “River Restoration,” in Inland and Coastal Waters of Finland, ed. P. Eloranta (Helsinki: Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, University of Helsinki, 2004), 106–12; idem, Virtavesien kunnostus, 21–25; Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 137– 40. See also Halonen, Taimen, 100– 41; Virtavesien hoitoyhdistys (Finnish Society for Stream Conservation), “Vantaanjoen

N O T E S T O PA G E S 16 0 –16 5

43.

44.

45. 46.

vesistö,” http://virtavesi.com/index.php?upperCatId= 4&catid= 4, accessed January 26, 2014. Särömaa, Ei sen väliä, 212; Eloranta, “Hilmonjoen kunnianpalautus,” 26– 27; interview of Ahti Kauppinen and Toivo Leppänen at the Hilmo by the author, August 16, 2011; Kalapaikka.net (Finnish fishing location website), “Hilmonjoki Rapids,” http://www.fishing.fi/1id _3336 _ _iid _11554 _ _l _e .asp, accessed March 26, 2012. It is common practice to mark stocked fish with a cut on the adipose fi n. Wild fish should be released after capture in order to maintain the wild potamodromous populations. Jukka Syrjänen and Pentti Valkeajärvi, “Taimenkantojen tila Keski-Suomessa 2008” (paper presented at the Seminar on Lacustrine Brown Trout, October 29, 2008, Kapeenkoski Rapids, Äänekoski, Finland, 2008), http://www.konnevedenkalatutkimus.fi/ Kapee2008/Taimenkantojen tila Keski-Suomessa 2008 Pak.pdf, accessed on March 1, 2012; Jukka Syrjänen, Ecology, Fisheries and Management of Wild Brown Trout Populations in Boreal Inland Waters, Jyväskylä Studies in Biological and Environmental Science 217 (Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2010). See, for example, Kalapaikka.net, “Rapids and Rivers,” http://www.fishing .fi/fsivu.asp?ikat=kalko& paikka=vir, accessed March 26, 2012. Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto r.y. (SUKL), “SUKL:n jäsenseurat,” https://sites.google.com/site/sukltukisivut/jaesenseurat, accessed March 26, 2012.

CHAPTER NINE

1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

Irene J. De Moor and M. N. Bruton, Atlas of Alien and Translocated Indigenous Aquatic Animals in Southern Africa, South Africa National Scientific Programmes Report 144 (Pretoria: Foundation for Research Development, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1988), 78, 87. S. A. Hey, Preliminary Report on the Inland Waters of South Africa with Regard to the Suitability for the Introduction of Edible Fish (Cape Town: Department of Mines and Industries, 1926), 3–27. D. Hey, A Nature Conservationist Looks Back (Cape Town: Cape Nature Conservatory, 1995), 54– 57. D. Dudgeon, D. Paugy, C. Lévêque, L. M. Rebelo, and M. P. McCartney, “Background,” in The Diversity of Life in African Freshwaters: Underwater, Under Threat, ed. William Darwall et al. (Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2011), 14. R. M. Cowling and S. M. Pierce, “Cape Floristic Province,” in Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions, ed. Russell A. Mittermeier et al. (Mexico City: CEMEX, Conservation International, 2000), 219. Idem, “Succulent Karoo,” in Hotspots, 229.

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8. 9.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

22. 23.

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D. Tweddle, R. Bills, E. Swartz, W. Coetzer, L. Da Costa, J. Engelbrecht, J. Cambray, B. Marshall, D. Impson, P. Skelton, W. Darwall, and K. Smith, “The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Fishes,” in The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in Southern Africa, ed. W. Darwall, K. Smith, D. Tweddle, and P. Skelton, IUCN Red List of Endangered Species (Gland, Switzerland: IUCN; Grahamstown, South Africa: SAIAB [South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity], 2009), 23–24. Dudgeon et al., “Background,” 16. A. Chakona and E. R. Swartz, “A New Redfi n Species, Pseudobarbus skeltoni (Teleostei, Cyprinidae), from the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa,” Zootaxa 3686 (2013): 565–77. Tweddle et al., “The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Fishes,” 28–29. Illustrated Guide to South Africa: 4th Edition (Cape Town: Readers Digest Association, 1985), 17. Ibid., 142. Ibid., 174–75, 190. P. Skelton, A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa (Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2001), 262. Hey, A Nature Conservationist Looks Back, 180 and Skelton, A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa, 265. De Moor and Bruton, Atlas of Alien and Translocated Indigenous Aquatic Animals in Southern Africa, 78. S. A. Hey, Fisheries Survey 1926–1927 Inland Waters (Cape Town: Department of Mines and Industries, 1928), 32– 33. A. C. Harrison, “Sea-run Rainbow Trout of the Eerste River,” Piscator 43 (1958): 44– 53. Hey, A Nature Conservationist Looks Back, 71. Ibid., 93. K. Hamman, And It All Started at Jonkershoek: Proceedings of the 6th Yellowfish Working Group Conference, ed. P. Arderne (Johannesburg: Federation of South African Flyfishers, 2002), 9. C. M. Gaigher, “The Clanwilliam River: It is Not Yet Too Late,” Piscator 88 (1973): 75. K. Hamman, “Alien Fish Species and Conservation with Special Reference to the Cape Province,” in Trout in South Africa, ed. P. H. Skelton and M. T. T. Davies, Ichthos Special Edition no.1 (Grahamstown, South Africa: South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity, 1986), 10. F. Croney, “Federation of South African Flyfishers,” in Trout in South Africa, ed. Skelton and Davies, 13–14. Skelton, A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa, 261–263. Invasive Species Specialist Group, accessed January 20, 2014, http://www .issg.org.

N O T E S T O P A G E S 1 6 9 – 17 2

27. J. A. Cambray, “The Global Impact of Alien Trout Species— a Review, with Reference to Their Impact in South Africa,” African Journal of Aquatic Sciences 28, no. 1 (2003): 61– 67. DeMoor and Bruton, Atlas of Alien and Translocated Indigenous Aquatic Animals in Southern Africa, 78–93. 28. Hey, Preliminary Report, 5. 29. M. Samways, “Damsels in Distress,” Africa Environment and Wildlife 2, no. 5 (1994): 86– 87. 30. F. C. De Moor and H. M. Barber-James, Report on the Second Survey of Macroinvertebrates to Assess the Potential Impact of Trout Stockings in the Upper Salt River, the Crags: Environmental Impact Assessment (Grahamstown, South Africa: Albany Museum, 2001). 31. J. Shelton, “Impacts of Non-native Rainbow Trout on Stream Food Webs in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa: Integrating Evidence from Surveys and Experiments (PhD diss., Zoology Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2013). 32. M. Leipoldt and C. J. van Zyl, The Economic Impact of Sport and Recreational Angling in the Republic of South Africa 2007 (Report by Development Strategies International, 2008), 15. All monetary figures within this article have been converted to United States dollars. 33. Ibid., 16. 34. L. Wolhuter, ed., FOSAF Guide to Fly Fishing Destinations in South Africa and the Indian Ocean (Johannesburg: Federation of South African Flyfishers, 2010). 35. M. Du Preez and D. E. Lee, “The Contribution of Trout Flyfishing to the Economy of Rhodes, North Eastern Cape, South Africa,” Development South Africa 27, no. 2 (2010): 241, 245. 36. Paul Curtis, Fishing the Margins: A History and Complete Bibliography of Flyfishing in South Africa (Johannesburg: Platanna Press, 2005), 15. 37. Tom Sutcliffe, Hunting Trout: Angles and Anecdotes on Trout Fishing, 2nd ed. (Cape Town: Freestone Press, 2011). 38. L. Wolhuter, The Nedbank Guide to Flyfishing in Southern Africa. Fifth Edition (Johannesburg: Federation of South African Flyfishers, 2004). 39. M. Meintjies and M. Pedder, eds., Favoured Flies and Select Techniques of the Experts, Volume 2: Rainbow Trout, Stillwater Yellowfish, Largescale and Smallscale Yellowfish, Catfish, Skipjack, Spotted Grunter (Johannesburg: Federation of South African Flyfishers, 2006). 40. P. J. Britz, B. Lee, and L. Botes, AISA 2009 Aquaculture Benchmarking Survey: Primary Production and Markets: A Report for the Aquaculture Institute of South Africa and Swisscontact (Enviro Fish Africa, 2009), 7– 8. 41. Malcolm Draper, “Going Native? Trout and Settler Identity in a Rainbow Nation,” Historia 48, no. 1 (2003): 55–94. 42. Duncan Brown, Are Trout South African? Stories of Fish, People, and Places (Johannesburg: Picador Africa, 2013).

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43. P. Skelton and M. T. T. Davies, eds., Trout in South Africa, Ichthos Special Edition no.1. (Grahamstown: South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity, 1986). 44. S. M. Marr, N. D. Impson, and D. Tweddle, “An Assessment of a Proposal to Eradicate Non-native Fish from Priority Rivers in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa,” African Journal of Aquatic Sciences 37, no .2 (2012): 136–38. 45. B. Finlayson, W. Somer, D. Duffield, D. Propst, C. Mellison, T. Pettingill, H. Sexauer, T. Nesler, S. Gurtin, J. Elliot, F. Patridge,. and D. Skaar, “Native Inland Trout Restoration on National Forests in the Western United States: Time for Improvement?,” Fisheries 30, no. 5 (2005): 10. 46. Enviro-Fish Africa, Ltd., An Environmental Impact Assessment of the Proposed Eradication of Alien Invasive Fish from Four River Sections in the Cape Floristic Region (Grahamstown: Enviro-Fish Africa (Pty), Ltd., 2009). 47. N. Dean Impson, Brian W. van Wilgen, and Olaf L. F. Weyl, “Co- ordinated Approaches to Rehabilitating a River System Invaded by Alien Plants and Fish,” South African Journal of Science 109, nos. 11–12 (2013). 48. Chakona and Swartz, “A New Redfin Species,” 11–12. 49. J. L. Nel, A. Driver, W. F. Strydom, A. Maherry, C. Petersen, L. Hill, D. J. Roux, S. Nienaber, H. van Deventer, E. Swartz, and L. B. Smith-Adao, Atlas of Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas in South Africa: Maps to Support Sustainable Development of Water Resources, Water Research Commission Report TT 500, no. 11 (Pretoria, 2011). 50. M. Brand, J. Maina, M. Mander, and G. O’Brien, Characterization of the Social and Economic Value of the Use and Associated Conservation of the Yellowfishes in the Vaal River, Water Research Commission Report K707 (Pretoria, 2009). CHAPTER TEN

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D. Quamman, Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (New York: Scribner, 1998), 20. The first draft of this paper was titled “Salmonising the South.” The first mention of the word I have found was in 1873. Special Telegrams, Taranaki Herald, Ro ˉ rahi XXI, Putanga 2117, 19 Hoˉngongoi 1873, 2, National Library of New Zealand. A. Crosby, “Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon,” in The Ends of the Earth: Perspectives on Modern Environmental History, ed. Donald Worster (Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 109. M. Draper, “Going Native? Trout and Settling Identity in a Rainbow Nation,” Historia 48, no. 1 (2003): 55–94. J. Buchan, The African Colony: Studies in the Reconstruction (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1903). Buchan, The African Colony, 72.

N OT E S TO PA G E S 181–18 6

7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12. 13.

14. 15.

16.

17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

23.

24. 25. 26.

Draper, “Going Native?”. Buchan, The African Colony, 72. J. Buchan, Memory-Hold-The-Door (London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., [1948]), 306. T. R Dunlap, “Remaking the Land: The Acclimatization Movement and Anglo Ideas of Nature,” Journal of World History, 8, no. 2 (1997): 303–19 T. R. Dunlap, Nature and the English Diaspora: Environment and History in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 47. C. Lever, They Dined on Eland: The Story of the Acclimatization Societies (London: Quiller, 1992). R. M. McDowell, Gamekeepers for the Nation: The Story of New Zealand’s Acclimatization Societies, (Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 1994), 19, 247. A. Nicols, The Acclimisation of the Salmonidae at the Antipodes, Its History and Results (London: Sampson et.al. , 1882), 12. J. D. Ellis, “Annual Report of the Frontier Acclimatisation Society for 1896–97,” in Report of the Marine Biologist for the Year 1896 (Cape Town : Cape of Good Hope Department of Agriculture, 1897), 30–32. F. Croney, “The Story of the Frontier Acclimatisation Society,” Ichthos— Newsletter of the Society of Friends of the J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 43 (September 1994): 8, 9. Wonderful South Africa (Johannesburg: Associated Newspapers Ltd, 1937), 144. Draper, “Going Native?”. Z. Grey, Angler’s Eldorado: Zane Grey in New Zealand (Wellington: Reed, 1982). McDowell, Gamekeepers, 12; G. C. Bompas, Life of Frank Buckland (London: Smith Elder, 1885). McDowell, Gamekeepers, 12; L. Barber, The Heyday of Natural History, 1820– 1870 (London: Jonathon Cape, 1980). M. Draper, “Taking Stock of Domestication and Medical Matters: Wild, Tame and Feral Life in New Zealand and South Africa,” unpublished paper presented at Livestock, Diseases, and Veterinary Medicine Conference, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, UK, November 2005. F. Shaw, The Complete Science of Fly Fishing and Spinning (London: Fred Shaw, 1920), 97. Domestic cultivation has proved to be part of the salvation of the wild salmon in Scotland, but has not been without negative environmental impact. J. R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 251. F. Shaw, The Complete Science, 97. McDowell, Gamekeepers, 230. “The Early History of Trout Acclimatisation in South Africa,” appendix VI to Report of the Marine Biologist for the Year 1897 (Cape Town: Cape of Good Hope Department of Agriculture, 1897), 138.

379

N O T E S T O PA G E S 18 6 –193

27. W. Arthur, “History of Fish Culture in New Zealand,” Transactions & Proceedings of the N. Z. Institute 14 (1882): 182. Cited in McDowell, Gamekeepers, 230. 28. McDowell, “Atlantic Salmon: A Lingering but Unfulfilled Dream,” chap. 15 in Gamekeepers, 229– 46. Ironically the Buller River catchment of the South Island enjoys conservation status and is a site of struggle between angling and agriculture. 29. McDowell, “Quinnat Salmon: The Fish That Needed a Committee,” chap. 15 in Gamekeepers, 260– 87. 30. Cited in McDowell, Gamekeepers, 148. See his chap. 10 on “Commercialisation: Society Attitudes towards Trout Farming,” 136– 51. McDowall also notes that fly fishing rather than hunting became increasingly popular with women over the years, but the societies remained male dominated. 31. McDowell, Gamekeepers, 466. 32. Cited in ibid., 453– 54. 33. Ibid., 468. 34. J. Phillips, A Man’s Country: The Image of the Pakeha Male (Auckland: Penguin, 1996). 35. B. South, “Stewardship versus Ownership,” Fish and Game New Zealand 42 (2003): 13, 14. 36. B. Johnson, “A Big Win,” Fish and Game New Zealand 14 (2002): 9. 37. Derek Grzelewski, “Saving Trout Country,” North and South, March 2014, 3–12. 38. Text quoted from “Taupo District License to Fish for Trout 2003–2004 Season,” purchased December 14, 2003, on another tough day of fieldwork. 39. Tongariro National Trout Centre brochure collected December 2003. 40. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Integrated Management Plan: uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, 2005), 15. 41. See Science in Africa (May 2002) and KZN Wildlife’s own journal Wildside and the ecotourism magazine Getaway, over this period. 42. Draper, “Going Native?”. 43. The Transvaal Trout Acclimatisation Society was formed in 1903 with President Lord Milner and committee members Julius Jeppe and Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. From 1916, Lionel Day was contributing to the Fisheries Department’s annual report in his capacity as chairman of the Estcourt Flyfishers’ and Trout Acclimatisation Society in Natal. B. Crass, Trout in South Africa, 159, 164. 44. Draper, “Going Native?”. The fi rst president was journalist Fred Croney, who penned “The Story of the Frontier Acclimatisation Society,” Ichthos— Newsletter of the Society of Friends of the J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 43 (September 1994): 8, 9. 45. Duncan Brown, Are Trout South African? Stories of Fish, People, and Places (Johannesburg: Picador Africa, 2013).

380

N O T E S T O PA G E S 19 6 – 2 14 CHAPTER ELEVEN

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

22. 23. 24.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism, Water Resources in Japan in 2004 (MLIT, 2004). Fisheries Agency, Manual for Fish Release in Freestone Rivers (Fisheries Agency, 2008), http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/enoki/pdf/hatugannran.pdf. Fisheries Agency, Manual for Zone Management at Fishing spots in Freestone Rivers (Fisheries Agency, 2008), http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/enoki/pdf/ zouning.pdf. Furai-no-Zasshi 47 (1999): 15. Ministry of Environment, Office for Alien Species Management of Wildlife Division of Nature Conservation Bureau, http://www.env.go.jp/nature/ intro/1outline/caution/detail _gyo.html#2. Fisheries Agency, Manual for Fish Release in Freestone Rivers and Manual for Zone Management at Fishing Spots in Freestone Rivers (material) (Fisheries Agency, 2008), http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/enoki/pdf/houryuu.pdf. MAFF, The 2008 Census of Fisheries: Inland Water Fisheries (MAFF, 2008); Furai-no-Zasshi 28 (1994). Hideo Tomon, Tales of Professional Fishermen: Last Masters in Japanese Rivers (Nosangyoson-Bunka-Kyokai, 2013), 14, 116. Yukio Hamamoto, Furai-no-Zasshi 11 (1989). Fisheries Agency, Master Plan for Fishery Industry (Fisheries Agency, 2002). Masayuki Yanagisana, Furai-no-Zasshi 12 (1990). Fisheries Policies Planning Department of Fisheries Agency, Research for Fisheries Economy No. 54, Research for Environmental Changes around Inland Water Fishery and its Development 58 (Fisheries Agency, October 1995). Masakazu Sakurai, “Social History of the Process of Declined River Fisheries” (master’s thesis, Graduate School of Tokyo Fishery University), 82. Fisheries Agency, Research Report of the (Recreational) Fishing Development System in USA (Fisheries Agency, 2014), 1. T. Kaiko, “Greeting,”1975. The Society of Fish Reproduction in Okutadami website, http://www .okutadami-iwana.jp. Takashi Nakazawa, Furai-no-Zasshi 71 (1990): 146. Trout Forum website, http://www.trout-forum.jp/. Furai-no-Zasshi 64 (2004): 56. Furai-no-Zasshi 28 (1994): 50. Kenji Kato, Ecology and Fishing of Yamame and Amago: Ecology for Freestone River Anglers, 174; Management Examples of Fishing Spots by Categorizing Natural Fish and Released Fish (Tsuribito-sha, 1990). Kenya Mizuguchi, Devil Fish Hunting: Why the Black Bass Are Killed (2005): 192. Tomoyuki Nakamura, Furai-no-Zasshi 77 (2007). Tomoyuki Nakamura, “Iwana o Motto Fuyashitai,” Furai-no-Zasshi (2007): 169.

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25. Ibid., 170. 26. Ibid., 172. 27. Fisheries Agency, How to Create Artificial Spawning Grounds for Freestone River Fish, http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/enoki/pdf/jinko6.pdf. 28. Fisheries Agency, How to Breed Freestone River Fish, http://www.jfa.maff.go .jp/j/enoki/pdf/keiryuu1.pdf. 29. Junichi Sakata, Furai-no-Zasshi 71(2005): 105. C H A P T E R T W E LV E

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3. 4.

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On this point, see Joan Wulff’s Fly Fishing: Expert Advice from a Woman’s Perspective (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1991), 9. Personal communication with Cathi Comar, executive director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF), May 6, 2011. For more information on the exhibit, see the AMFF website at http://www.amff.com/ exhibits/. See the 2010 report by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, http://www.rbff.org/page.cfm?pageID =26. For example, Paul Schullery’s American Fly Fishing: A History (New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1987) notes several prominent women anglers. Nevertheless it does not include a consideration of their broader impact with regard to conservation related efforts. Lyla Foggia’s formidable history of women anglers, Reel Women: The World of Women Who Fish (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1995) touches on women anglers’ involvement with conservation work, though not as a distinctive theme or topic. And the recent AMFF exhibit on women and fly fishing did not consider conservation work as a theme in its history of women’s participation in fly fishing. I am indebted to several sources for the historical account given here, especially Lyla Foggia’s Reel Women and Paul Schullery’s American Fly Fishing. I am also indebted to the women anglers (cited below) who conversed with me on the topic, based on a series of semistructured interview questions. It is important to note that I highlight several women angler conservationists that are not fly fishers. These “general anglers,” as I will refer to them, are important to note, for their achievements influenced the broader angling and conservation fields in ways that directly impacted the fly fishing world. Kenneth Smith, Discover Maine, cited in Foggia, Reel Women, 15–16. In addition to her groundbreaking research, LaMonte authored over eighty articles and numerous authoritative books. She was the coeditor of the Field Book of Fresh Water Fishes of North America (1938), author of North American Game Fishes (1946), coeditor of Game Fishes of the World (1949) and The Fisherman’s Encyclopedia (1950), and author of Marine Game Fishes of the World (1952) and Giant Fishes of the Ocean (1966).

N OT E S TO PAG E S 226 –229

9.

10.

11. 12.

13.

14. 15.

16.

17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22.

The mission of the IGFA is to conserve game fish and promote “responsible, ethical angling practices through science, education, rule making and record keeping.” It was originally founded in 1939 to promote a universal code of sporting ethics for ocean anglers. For a further history, see “IGFA History,” http://www.igfa.org/Museum/HISTORY.aspx, accessed June 12, 2012. On a history of women ichthyologists, including LaMonte, see Patricia Brown Stocking’s “Early Women Ichthyologists,” Environmental Biology of Fishes 41(1994): 9– 30. See Madelyn Holmes, American Women Conservationists: Twelve Profiles (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2004), 160– 64. See “Mollie Beattie, 49; Headed Wildlife Service,” June 26, 1996, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/29/us/mollie-beattie-49-headed -wildlife-service.html, accessed July 1, 2011. Flowing through Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne powers much of the San Francisco Bay area’s water supply. It also houses significant populations of Central Valley steelhead and fall-run salmon, which are significantly impacted by water diversions for human consumption, along with the river’s overall ecological health. For more information see the GWWF conservation webpage, http://gwwf.org/conservation.html. Personal communication, April 2011. The GWWF has gone on record, for example, protesting city commission proposals to increase water diversions on the upper Tuolumne River. They have also been active in urging the Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts (along the lower Tuolumne) to gain their required, though overdue, Fisheries Study Plan approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). For several years, the club has also worked with the Steelhead Committee of the Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers on a barrier removal project on Alameda Creek that would help restore the river’s once robust steelhead run. Foggia, Reel Women, 49. The hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor is historically significant for having received the first shipment of brown trout eggs from the German fishing society Deutscher Fischerei Verein in 1883. For more information, see Glenn Law’s A Concise History of Fly Fishing (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2003), 115. See Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium, http://www.cshfha .org/index.html, accessed June 12, 2012. Quoted in Stephanie Mills, In Service of the Wild: Restoring and Reinhabiting Damaged Land (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998), 110. Ibid. For a description of the program see Annette Thompson, “A Brief History of Rearing Aquatics in the Classroom,” unpublished paper of the Golden West Women Fly Fishers.

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23. “Wildcat Creek is open from the bay to its headwaters, with only a few small barriers to slow returning steelhead. It was in the headwaters of Redwood Creek that Rainbow trout were first identified in the 1850s. The resident trout are genetically pure descendants of those fi rst fish.” Ibid. 24. Following her lifelong passion, Krieger recently created the awardwinning educational fi lm Tomorrow’s Fly Fishers to introduce children to the world of fly fishing. For more about the video see the website, The Essence of Fly Fishing: The Krieger Legacy of Excellence and Community, http:// www.melkrieger.com/dvdKids.html, accessed May 2, 2011. 25. Personal communication, April 2011. 26. Casting for Recovery, http://castingforrecovery.org/home, accessed July 13, 2011. 27. Her essays appeared in various newspapers and popular sporting journals, including Rod and Gun and the American Fly Fisher. One of her most interestingly titled articles, “The Metaphysics of Fly Fishing,” appeared as a three-part series in 1876 in Forest and Stream. 28. Little is known about the young women whom Marbury employed in terms of their marital or socioeconomic status. Historically, however, as Elizabeth Tobey pointed out to me, their work relates to other instances from this period of groups or collectives of female artists and craftswomen who made a living through creating handmade objects (e.g., Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio). 29. Schullery, American Fly Fishing, 75. 30. Ibid. 31. Foggia, Reel Women, 51. 32. As Samuel Snyder suggests, while most believe that Berners was a real person, there is doubt as to whether she really wrote the Treatyse. For a discussion on this controversy, see Snyder, “New Streams of Religion: Fly Fishing as a Lived, Religion of Nature,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 75 (2007): 903– 4. 33. “Treatise of Fishing with an Angle,” quoted in Wulff, Fly Fishing, 179. 34. Ibid. 35. Catch and release harbors an additional set of conservation related issues with regard to animal ethics and fisheries health that I do not have space to address in this essay. Nevertheless, it signifies a clear case of the way in which women anglers have helped to inspire ethical reflection, critical evaluation, and significant behavior change with regard to conservation practice. 36. Farrington also specified appropriate dress for style- conscious (and assumingly well-to- do) women anglers in the 1940s in her Women Can Fish: From Nova Scotia to Chile, New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, and Montauk, Long Island. The woman angler, wrote Farrington, should be well prepared for all circumstances— on and off the water. Replete with sketches, Farrington suggests some of her Masland favorites: Lee Wulff vest, long fishing shorts

384

N OT E S TO PAG E S 233 –238

37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43.

44. 45.

with a loose-sleeve blouse, wrap-around army duck shirt, lace evening blouse and evening cardigan, navy-blue top-siders, Block Island peaked cap, side-tied halter worn with long shorts, and a good leather belt. Chisie Farrington, Women Can Fish: Salt Water, Surf, and Fresh Water (New York: Coward-McCann, 1951), 210–17. Ibid., 166. Ibid., 210. See Rogue Angels, http://www.rogueangels.net/p/guided-trips.html, accessed June 24, 2012. Ibid. Ibid., 59. Personal communication, April 2011. It must be noted that several of the women that I interviewed for this essay were not especially interested in discussing gender issues related to angling. It is not that they were opposed or even reticent to such questions, rather, somewhat indifferent. On the one hand, this could be the result of generational differences with regard to gender issues (most of these women came of age in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s). On the other hand, however, it seemed more plausible to me that these women had become so immersed and accomplished in the field that the issues that excited them most were those intrinsic to the sport. They easily recognized the challenges they had overcome in order to achieve status in the field. Yet they did so in a way that was more descriptive than critical, matter- of-fact than indicting. “Let’s talk fishing,” many of them seemed to be saying, “not feminist theory!” Has the struggle for equality between women and men in the fishing world ended? “Absolutely not!” I believe these women would say. But have milestones been reached and ways been paved for women anglers of the future to continue to open doors as leaders in the field? “Absolutely yes!” they would say more loudly. See Fly Gal Ventures, http://www.flygal.ca/home, accessed June 24, 2012. See EWF App website, http://my.ewfapp.com/tsi/app/f6030204 -f202–42de -9b5e 056d002bdb92 .html?v=7&la= en&rc=webapp01, accessed June 24, 2012.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

1.

2.

Paul Schullery, American Fly-Fishing: A History (New York: N. Lyons, 1987), 174; Mark Browning, Haunted by Waters: Fly Fishing in North American Literature (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1998), chap. 4. See also Glen A. Love, “Roderick Haig-Brown: Angling and the Craft of Nature Writing in North America,” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment 5, no. 1 (1998): 1–12. Thomas McGuane, “A Visit to Roderick Haig-Brown,” in An Outside Chance: Classic and New Essays on Sport (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990), 104.

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N OT E S TO PAG E S 238 –24 0

3.

The link between fly fishing’s spiritual dimensions and its conservation impulse is explored in Samuel Snyder, “New Streams of Religion: FlyFishing as a Lived, Religion of Nature,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 75, no.4 (December 2007): 896–922. 4. Arn Keeling, “‘A Dynamic, Not a Static Conception’: The Conservation Thought of Roderick Haig-Brown,” Pacific Historical Review 71, no. 2 (May 2002), 239–268. Indeed, Haig-Brown’s conservation legacy lives on in the work of the Haig-Brown Institute in Campbell River, British Columbia, whose mandate is “to promote the links between ecology and economy through watershed management, and to inspire a conservation ethic through education and literature.” See “Haig-Brown Institute,” http:// www.haigbrowninstitute.org/, accessed December 2011. 5. The most important exponent of this view is John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, 3rd rev. ed. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001), but see also the discussions in Thomas L. Altherr and John F. Reiger, “Academic Historians and Hunting: A Call for More and Better Scholarship,” Environmental History Review 19, no. 3 (Fall 1995): 39– 56; Thomas Dunlap, “Sport Hunting and Conservation, 1880– 1920,” Environmental Review 12 (Spring 1988): 51– 60; Jean L. Manore and Dale G. Miner, eds., The Culture of Hunting in Canada (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007). On the cross-border dimensions of this movement, see Thomas R. Dunlap, Nature and the English Diaspora: Environment and History in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Kurkpatrick Dorsey, The Dawn of Conservation Diplomacy: U.S.- Canadian Wildlife Protection Treaties in the Progressive Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998); Robert Wilson, Seeking Refuge: Birds and Landscapes of the Pacific Flyway (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010); and John Sandlos, “Borderline Conservation: The Shared History of Game, Fish, and Forest Protection between Canada and the United States,” unpublished manuscript, 2011, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland. 6. Dunlap, Nature and the English Diaspora, 59– 69. 7. On Leopold, see Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, with Essays on Conservation from Round River (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966); and Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988). 8. Nicholas Casner, “Angler Activist: Kenneth Reid, the Izaak Walton League, and the Crusade for Federal Water Pollution Control,” Pennsylvania History 66, no. 4 (1999): 535– 53; Schullery, chap. 12 in American Fly-Fishing. 9. Tina Loo, States of Nature: Conserving Canada’s Wildlife in the Twentieth Century (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006), 49. 10. A terminological note: in Canada especially, the use of the term “Indian” and/or “American Indian” is now considered unacceptable, except when referencing historic names, agencies, and documents. Rather, the term

386

N OT E S TO PAG E S 24 0 – 241

11.

12.

13.

14.

15. 16.

17.

“First Nations” is increasingly widely used— especially by these groups themselves. The term “Aboriginal” as used here encompasses First Nations (or Native people), Métis (mixed-ancestry), and Inuit people, and is preferred here as a general designation for those groups that occupied North America before European colonization, and their descendants. This literature is large and growing, and relevant titles are also discussed below, but representative examples include, for North America: Greg Gillespie, Hunting for Empire: Narratives of Sport in Rupert’s Land, 1840– 70 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007); Karl Jacoby, Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001); James A. Tober, Who Owns Wildlife? The Political Economy of Conservation in Nineteenth-Century America (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981); and Louis Warren, The Hunter’s Game: Poachers and Conservationists in TwentiethCentury America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999). For works on Africa, see John Mackenzie, The Empire of Nature: Hunting, Conservation, and British Imperialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997); and Roderick Neumann, Imposing Wilderness: Struggles over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002). This term is an adaptation of David Harvey’s notion of “accumulation by dispossession,” from The New Imperialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). See also Mark Spence, Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). Cole Harris, “How Did Colonialism Dispossess? Comments from an Edge of Empire,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94, no. 1 (2004): 165– 82. Nancy B. Bouchier and Ken Cruikshank, “‘Sportsmen and Pothunters’: Environment, Conservation and Class in the Fishery of Hamilton Harbour, 1858–1914,” Sport History Review 28 (1997): 8; see also George Altmeyer, “Three Ideas of Nature in Canada, 1893–1914,” Journal of Canadian Studies 11, no. 3 (1976): 21– 36. Reiger, American Sportsmen and Conservation, 38– 42 Lynda Jessup, “Landscapes of Sport, Landscapes of Exclusion: The ‘Sportsman’s Paradise’ in Late-Nineteenth Century Canadian Painting,” Journal of Canadian Studies 40, no.1 (2006), 71–124. See also Jean L. Manore, “Contested Terrains of Space and Place: Hunting and the Landscape Known as Algonquin Park, 1890–1950,” in The Culture of Hunting in Canada, ed. Jean L. Manore and Dale G. Miner (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), 121–147; and David Demeritt, “Knowledge, Nature and Representation: Clearings for Conservation in the Maine Woods” (PhD diss, University of British Columbia, 1996). J. Michael Thoms, “An Ojibwa Community, American Sportsmen, and the Ontario Government in the Early Management of the Nipigon River Fishery,” in Fishing Places, Fishing People: Traditions and Issues in Canadian

387

N OT E S TO PAG E S 241– 24 4

18.

19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25.

26. 27. 28. 29.

388

Small-Scale Fisheries, ed. Dianne Newell (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 180. Richard Judd, Common Lands, Common People: The Origins of Conservation in New England (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 178–94. For a west- coast discussion of these connections, see Timothy Mark Rawson, “‘In Common With All Citizens’: Sportsmen, Indians, Fish, and Conservation in Oregon and Washington,” (PhD diss, University of Oregon, 2002). Schullery, American Fly-Fishing, 125–26. Bill Parenteau, “A ‘Very Determined Opposition to the Law’: Conservation, Angling Leases, and Social Conflict in the Canadian Atlantic Salmon Fishery, 1867–1914, Environmental History 9, no. 3 (July 2004): 444. Ibid. Douglas Harris, Fish, Law, and Colonialism: The Legal Capture of Salmon in British Columbia (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2001). Warren, The Hunter’s Game, 181. William Knight, “Samuel Wilmot, Fish Culture, and Recreational Fisheries in Late 19th Century Ontario,” Scientia Canadensis 30, no. 1 (2007): 75– 90; Neil S. Forkey, “Anglers, Fishers, and the St. Croix River: Conflict in a Canadian-American Borderland, 1867–1900,” Forest & Conservation History 37, no. 4 (October 1993): 179– 87. Loo, chap. 2 in States of Nature; George Colpitts, chap. 5 in Game in the Garden: A Human History of Wildlife in Western Canada to 1940 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002); Bill Parenteau, “‘Care, Control and Supervision’: Native People in the Atlantic Canadian Salmon Fishery, 1867–1900,” Canadian Historical Review 79, no. 1 (March 1998): 1– 35; and Bill Parenteau and Richard W. Judd, “More Buck for the Bang: Sporting and the Ideology of Fish and Game Management in Northern New England and the Maritime Provinces, 1870–1900,” in New England and the Maritime Provinces: Connections and Comparisons, ed. Stephen J. Hornsby and John G. Reid (Montreal: McGill- Queen’s University Press, 2005). Joseph E. Taylor III, Making Salmon: An Environmental History of the Northwest Fisheries Crisis (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), 202. Parenteau and Judd, “More Buck for the Bang,” 244. Paul Schullery, Cowboy Trout: Western Fly Fishing as If It Matters (Helena: Montana Historical Press, 2006). “Canada’s Best-known Author and Conservationist,” reprinted from Time in Victoria Sunday Times Magazine 12 (July 1952): 4; posthumous tributes to Haig-Brown’s literary influence include Ernest Schwiebert, “The Orchard and the River,” Fly Fisherman 9 (1978): 61–73; W. J. Keith, “Roderick Haig-Brown,” in Canadian Literature 71 (Winter 1976): 7–20; and George Woodcock, “Remembering Roderick Haig-Brown,” in The World of Canadian Writing: Critiques and Recollections (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1980), 174– 81.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 24 4 –246

30. Arn Keeling and Robert A. J. McDonald, “The Profl igate Province: Roderick Haig-Brown and the Modernizing of British Columbia,” Journal of Canadian Studies 36, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 7–23; Alan Pritchard, “West of the Great Divide: Man and Nature in the Literature of British Columbia,” Canadian Literature 102 (August 1984), 36– 53; and Anthony Robertson, chap. 8 in Above Tide: Reflections on Roderick Haig-Brown (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour House, 1984). 31. Roderick Haig-Brown, The Western Angler: An Account of Pacific Salmon and Western Trout in British Columbia (New York, 1961 [1939]), 9. 32. Cited in Roderick Haig-Brown, To Know a River: A Haig-Brown Reader, ed. Valerie Haig-Brown (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1996), 353. 33. Roderick Haig-Brown, “Crying in the Wilderness,” script for CBC radio program, July 1953, box 51, fi le 1, Roderick Haig-Brown Papers, University of British Columbia Library Archives (hereafter RHB Papers). 34. Roderick Haig-Brown, “Some Thoughts on Conservation,” draft article, 16 November 1966, file 5, box 55, RHB Papers (eventually published in Valerie Haig-Brown, ed., Writings and Reflections from the World of Roderick Haig-Brown [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982]). See also Roderick Haig-Brown, “The Sportsman’s Place in a Developing World,” text of speech to Alberta Fish and Game Association, August 1970, http:// www.haigbrowninstitute.org/hbi/articles/120 -the-sportsmans-place-in-a -developing-world-roderick-haig-brown-1970.html, accessed December 2011. On the Strathcona Park controversies, see Arn Keeling and Graeme Wynn, “‘The Park . . . Is a Mess’: Development and Degradation in British Columbia’s First Provincial Park,” BC Studies 170 (Summer 2011): 119–50. 35. Arn Keeling, chap. 4 in “The Effluent Society: Water Pollution and Environmental Politics in British Columbia, 1889–1980” (PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 2004). See also Keeling, “A Dynamic, Not a Static Conception,” and Yasmeen Qureshi, “Environmental Issues in British Columbia: An Historical- Geographical Perspective” (master’s thesis, University of British Columbia, 1991). 36. Loo, chap. 2 in States of Nature; Taylor, chap. 5 in Making Salmon; Christopher Armstrong, Matthew Evenden, and H. V. Nelles, chap. 8 in The River Returns: An Environmental History of the Bow River (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2009); Dianne Newell, Tangled Webs of History: Indians and the Law in Canada’s Pacific Coast Fisheries (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993). 37. Harris, Fish, Law, and Colonialism, 168. 38. J. Michael Thoms, “A Place Called Pennask: Fly-fishing and Colonialism at a British Columbia Lake,” BC Studies 133 (Spring 2002): 69–98. 39. This land was also unceded by Aboriginal peoples. Rather than conclude treaties, the government of British Columbia preferred to create small reserves on Crown Lands and to affirm Aboriginal fishing rights at usual

389

N OT E S TO PAG E S 246 –2 52

40. 41. 42. 43.

44. 45. 46.

47. 48.

49. 50. 51.

52.

390

locations. At Pennask Lake, no reserve was ever created, in spite of the important Aboriginal fishery that took place there. Thoms, “A Place Called Pennask,” 74–75. On the legal and historical dimensions of treaties and Aboriginal land rights in British Columbia, see R. Cole Harris, Making Native Space: Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002). Thoms, “A Place Called Pennask,” 86. Ibid., 70. Ibid., 91. For details on the club’s history, see Stanley E. Read, “A Brief History of the Harry Hawthorn Foundation for the Inculcation an Propagation of the Principles and Ethics of Fly-Fishing,” reprinted from Susan B. Starkman and Stanley E. Read, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation, 1970, http:// www.library.ubc.ca/hawthorn/history.html, accessed December 2011; and Qureshi, “Environmental Issues in British Columbia,” 90–92. Qureshi, “Environmental Issues in British Columbia,” 92. E. Bennett Metcalfe, A Man of Some Importance: The Life of Roderick Langmere Haig-Brown (Seattle and Vancouver: James W. Wood, 1985), 180– 83. Keeling, “A Dynamic, Not a Static Conception.” Haig-Brown’s statements on these problems are many and varied, but see for instance his various contributions to the BC Natural Resources Conference, including: “Recreation and Wildlife for Tomorrow,” in British Columbia Natural Resources Conference, Transactions of the Sixth Resources Conference (Victoria, BC: BCNRC, 1953); “Legislation in Recreation,” British Columbia Natural Resources Conference, Transactions of the Eighth Resources Conference (Victoria, BC: BCNRC, 1955); and the volume on natural resources written by HaigBrown and commissioned by the BCNRC, The Living Land: An Account of the Natural Resources of British Columbia (Toronto: MacMillan, 1961). Haig-Brown, To Know a River, 355. Metcalfe, A Man of Some Importance, 170. See also Celia Haig-Brown, Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2006 [1988]); and Celia Haig-Brown and David Nock, ed., With Good Intentions: Euro- Canadian and Aboriginal Relations in Colonial Canada (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006). Roderick Haig-Brown, The Salmon (Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1974), 44. Roderick Haig-Brown, “The Salmon Resource,” Environment Tomorrow [University of Victoria] 2 (1971), unpaginated. Metcalfe, A Man of Some Importance, 221. For an extended discussion of the IPSFC’s reaction to the Boldt decision, see John F. Roos, Restoring Fraser River Salmon: A History of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, 1935–1985 (Vancouver: Pacific Salmon Commission, 1991), 240– 60. See, for instance, Robertson, Above Tide, and Keeling and McDonald, The Profligate Province.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 2 53 –26 4 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10.

11.

12.

13. 14.

15.

David Hurn, “Keynote Address to FFF Members” (speech to FFF attendees at FFF Founding Conclave, Eugene, Oregon, 1965). Doug Kokkeler, “History of the McKenzie Fly Fishers Club, Eugene, Oregon,” McKenzie Fly Fishers, 2011, http://www.mckenzieflyfishers.org/, accessed October 1, 2011. Skip Hosfield, “Beginnings in Eugene, 1965,” Flyfisher, 1990. Skip Hosfield, telephone interview by author, October 3, 2011. Kokkeler, “History of the McKenzie Fly Fishers Club, Eugene, Oregon.” Hosfield, “Beginnings in Eugene.” Martin Seldon, FFF Conservation History and Philosophies: Issue Paper for the Federation of Fly Fishers. (Livingston: FFF, 2006); Skip Hosfield, telephone interview by author, October 3, 2011; Ted Rogowski, telephone interview by author, October 27, 2011. William Nelson, address to McKenzie Fly Fishers, Eugene, Oregon, 1964. David Hurn, speech at FFF Conclave, Eugene, Oregon, 1965. Boise State University Special Collections, “Ted Trueblood Collection, Series II: Subject Series,” Boise State University Library, http://archiveswest .orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv54400, accessed April 19, 2012. Douglas Precourt, “The American Fly Fisher,” Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing 25 (1999): 14–21; David Policansky, “Catch-and-Release Recreational Fishing: A Historical Perspective,” in Recreational Fisheries: Ecological, Economic and Social Evaluation, ed. T. J. Pitcher and C. E. Hollingworth (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2002), 74–93. S. J. Cooke and H. L. Schramm, “Catch-and-Release Science and Its Application to Conservation and Management of Recreational Fisheries,” Fisheries Management and Ecology 14 (2007) 73–79; S. E. Danylchuk, A. J. Danylchuk, S. J. Cooke, T. L. Goldberg, J. Koppelman, and D. P. Phillip, “Effects of Recreational Angling on the Post-Release Behaviour and Predation of Bonefish (Albula vulpes): The Role of Equilibrium Status at the Time of Release,” Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 346 (2007): 127– 33; C. Pelletier, K. C. Hanson, and S. J. Cooke, “Do Catch-and-Release Guidelines from State and Provincial Fisheries Agencies in North America Conform to Scientifically Based Best Practices?” Environmental Management 39 (2007): 760–73. Lee Wullf, Handbook of Freshwater Fishing (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1939). T. H. Johnson and T. C. Bjornn, Evaluation of Angling Regulations in Management of Cutthroat Trout: Job Performance Report Project F-59-R- 6 (Boise: Idaho Fish and Game Department, 1975). FFF’s volunteer conservation directors include Dr. Marty Seldon in the 1980s, Dr. Verne Lehmberg from 1997 to 2006, Dr. Rick Williams from

391

N OT E S TO PAG E S 26 4 –28 0

16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 21. 22.

23. 24.

25. 26.

2006 to 2009, Bob Tabbert from 2009 to 2012, and Dr. Glenn Erikson from 2012 to present. Federation of Fly Fishers, Native Fish Policy (Livingston: FFF, 2010). FFF conservation coordinators were Kiza Gates (2002–2003), Kajsa Stromberg (2004–2005), and Leah Elwell (2006–2010). FFF Conservation Committee. “FFF Strategic Plan for Conservation: 2009– 2013.”  Report to FFF Board of Directors, August 2009. Richard N. Williams, “Refugia-Based Conservation Strategies: Providing Safe Havens in Managed River Systems,” in Oregon Salmon: Essays on the State of the Fish at the Turn of the Millennium, ed. Oregon Trout (Portland: Oregon Trout, 2001), 59– 63; Richard N. Williams, Return to the River: Restoring Salmon to the Columbia River (New York: Elsevier Academic Press, 2006). Federation of Fly Fishers, Native Fish Policy. Federation of Fly Fishers, Native Fish Conservation Area Policy (Livingston: FFF, 2010). Jack Williams, R. N. Williams, R. F. Thurow, L. Elwell, D. P. Philipp, F. A. Harris, J. L. Kershner, P. J. Martinez, D. Miller, G. H. Reeves, C. A. Frissell, and J. R. Sedell, “Native Fish Conservation Areas: A Vision for Large-Scale Conservation of Native Fish Communities,” Fisheries 36, no. 6 (2011): 267–77. L. C. Elwell, “Dealing with Didymo,”  Flyfisher 2006 (Autumn):24–27.   See the FFF website for additional information on the project: http://www .fedflyfishers.org/Conservation/Projects/ YellowstoneLakeCutthroatTrout .aspx . Marty Seldon, FFF Conservation History and Philosophies: Issue Paper for the Federation of Fly Fishers (Livingston: FFF, 2006). See the Red Brook Restoration Project at www.redbrook.org.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

392

Art Neumann is a founding member of and the first executive director of Trout Unlimited. John E. Ross, Rivers of Restoration, (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2008), 14 Coral Davenport, “Obama Announces New Rule Limiting Water Pollution,” New York Times, May 27, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/ 28/us/obama-epa-clean-water-pollution.html, accessed June 1, 2015. George A. Griffith, For the Love of Trout (Grayling, MI: George Griffith Foundation, 1993), 90. Griffith, For the Love of Trout, 91. Ibid., 106. Ibid., 104. Ibid., 92. Ibid., 131. Ibid., 156.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 28 0 –29 0

10. Ibid. 11. Ross, Rivers of Restoration, 10 12. Vic Beresford, “History of TROUT, Unlimited,” T ROU T, Unlimited Quarterly, Winter 1959, 3. 13. In its origin, Trout Unlimited capitalized Trout as T ROU T, Unlimited. 14. Vic Beresford, “National Board of Review Formed,” T ROU T, Unlimited Quarterly, Winter 1959, 1. 15. Art Neumann, “The Story of Trout Unlimited,” Mershon Muddler, Fall 1998. 16. This calculation was made using the MeasuringWorth.com Purchasing Power Calculator, http://www.measuring worth.com/ppowerus/. 17. Paul Arnsberger, Melissa Ludlum, Margaret Riley, and Mark Stanton, “A History of the Tax-Exempt Sector: An SOI Perspective,” Statistics of Income Bulletin (Winter 2008): 105–35, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/tehistory .pdf. 18. Art Neumann, “The Story of TU Founder, Art Neumann” (online transcription of speech originally delivered by Neumann to the St. Lorenz Men’s Club in 1991), William B. Mershon Chapter of Trout Unlimited (MI), accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.mershon-tu.org/uploads/2/6/0/8/ 26085089/the_story_of_art_neumann.pdf. 19. Ibid. 20. Thomas E. Mooney, “Battle of the Big Hole,” Montana Standard-The Butte Daily Post, September 19, 1965. 21. Ross, Rivers of Restoration, 94–95. 22. Ibid., 123. See also “Trout Unlimited,” accessed January 2, 2016, www .tu.org. 23. Ibid., 117–18. 24. US Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau, 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, 1991, 2011 (rev. 2013). 25. “Bring Back the Natives” (grant award), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, http://www.nfwf.org/Content/ContentFolders/National FishandWildlifeFoundation/Programs/BringBacktheNatives/1991_1999_ grants.pdf. 26. “Western Water Project,” Trout Unlimited, accessed January 2, 2016, http://www.tu.org/tu-programs/western-water. 27. Michelle Nijhuis, “World’s Largest Dam Removal Unleashes U.S. River After Century of Electric Production,” National Geographic, August 27, 2014, accessed January 2, 2016, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ news/2014/08/140826-elwha-river-dam-removal-salmon-science-olympic/. 28. “Penobscot River Restoration,” Trout Unlimited, accessed June 1, 2015, http://www.tu.org/tu-projects/penobscot-river-restoration. 29. “Veazie Dam Removal Brings Atlantic Salmon Closer to Recovery on the Penobscot River,” Trout Unlimited, July 22, 2013, accessed Janu-

393

N OT E S TO PAG E S 291–301

30. 31. 32. 33.

34. 35.

36. 37.

ary 2, 2016, http://www.tu.org/press-releases/veazie-dam-removal-brings -atlantic-salmon-closer-recovery-penobscot-river. Actually, the trout— brook trout—is a char (Salvelinus fontinalis) and a cousin to lake trout, bull trout, Dolly Varden trout, and Arctic char. Ross, Rivers of Restoration, 125. Ibid., 7. H. Ghaffari, R. S. Morrison, M. A. deRuijeter, A. Živkovi´c, T. Hantelmann, D. Ramsey, and S. Cowie, Preliminary Assessment of the Pebble Project, Southwest Alaska (February 15, 2011), prepared for Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., by WARDROP (a Tetra Tech Company), Vancouver, British Columbia. See also Northern Dynasty Mines, Inc., Application for Water Rights South Fork Koktuli River, LAS 25871 (July 7, 2006), http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/ mining/largemine/pebble/water-right-apps/index.cfm. Ghaffari et al., Preliminary Assessment. US EPA, “An Assessment of Potential Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska,” January 2014, http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/ bristolbay/ recordisplay.cfm?deid=253500. Executive Summary, page 17; see also chapter 6, page 10. Ross, Rivers of Restoration, 120–25. Calculated using “The Value of Volunteer Time,” Independent Sector, http://independentsector.org/volunteer_time.

CO N C L U S I O N

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

394

Howard L. Jelks, et al., “Conservation Status of Imperiled North American Freshwater and Diadromous Fishes,” Fisheries 33 (2008): 372– 407. James D. Williams, et al., “Conservation Status of Freshwater Mussels of the United States and Canada,” Fisheries 18 (1993): 6–22. Daren M. Carlisle, et al., “Alteration of Streamflow Magnitudes and Potential Ecological Consequences: A Multiregional Assessment,” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2010), doi:10.1890/100053. Jack E. Williams, et al., “Prospects for Recovering Endemic Fishes Pursuant to the US Endangered Species Act,” Fisheries 30 (2005): 24–29. N. LeRoy Poff, “Ecological Response to and Management of Increased Flooding Caused by Climate Change,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A 360 (2002):1497– 510; Jack E. Williams et al., “Potential Consequences of Climate Change to Persistence of Cutthroat Trout Populations,” North American Journal of Fisheries Management 29 (2009): 533– 48. Bruce E. Rieman and Daniel J. Isaak, “Climate Change, Aquatic Ecosystems, and Fishes in the Rocky Mountain West: Implications and Alternatives for Management,” USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Experiment Station General Technical Report RMRS- GTR-250 (2010); Amy L. Haak and Jack E. Williams, “Spreading the Risk: Native Trout Management in a Warmer and Less- Certain Future,” North American Journal of Fisheries Management 32 (2012): 387– 401.

N OT E S TO PAG E S 302–30 6

7.

8. 9. 10.

11.

12. 13.

14.

15.

16. 17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

Frank J. Rahel and Julian D. Olden, “Assessing the Effects of Climate Change on Aquatic Invasive Species,” Conservation Biology 22 (2008): 521– 33. Sandra Postel, “Water: Will There be Enough?” Yes Magazine, 54 (Summer 2010): 18–23. Ibid. James E. Deacon, et al., “Fueling Population Growth in Las Vegas: How Large- Scale Groundwater Withdrawal Could Burn Regional Diversity,” BioScience 57 (2007):688–98. Todd M. Koel, et al., “Yellowstone Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences: Annual Report, 2008,” Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, YCR-2010– 03 (2010). For a general discussion about how the introduction of lake trout has devastated not only cutthroat trout but the entire Yellowstone Lake ecosystem, see Todd M. Koel, et al., “Nonnative Lake Trout Result in Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Decline and Impacts to Bears and Anglers,” Fisheries 30, no. 11 (2005): 10–19. John D. Varley and Paul Schullery, Yellowstone Fishes: Ecology, History, and Angling in the Park (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998), 119. Susan G. Spierre and Cameron Wake, Trends in Extreme Precipitation Events for the Northeastern United States: 1948–2007 (Report of Carbon Solutions New England, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 2010). David W. Clow, “Changing in the Timing of Snowmelt and Streamflow in Colorado: A Response to Recent Warming,” Journal of Climate 23 (2010): 2293– 306. Seth J. Wenger, et al., “Flow Regime, Temperature, and Biotic Interactions Drive Differential Declines of Trout Species Under Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (2011):14175– 80. Ibid. Bruce E. Rieman, et al., “Anticipated Climate Warming Effects on Bull Trout Habitats and Populations Across the Interior Columbia River Basin,” Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136 (2007): 1552– 65. Daniel J. Isaak, et al., “Effects of Climate Change and Wildfire on Stream Temperatures and Salmonid Thermal Habitat in a Mountain River Network,” Ecological Applications 20 (2010): 1350–71. Patricia A. Flebbe, et al., “Spatial Modeling to Project Southern Appalachian Trout Distribution in a Warmer Climate,” Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 135 (2006): 1371– 82. Amy L. Haak, et al. “The Potential Influence of Changing Climate on the Persistence of Salmonids in the Inland West,” US Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2010–1236 (2010). D. Kendall Brown, et al., “Catastrophic Wildfire and Number of Populations as Factors Influencing Risk of Extinction for Gila Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae),” Western North American Naturalist 61 (2001): 138– 48. Jack E. Williams and Julie Meka Carter, “Managing Native Trout Past Peak Water,” Southwest Hydrology 8 (2009): 26–27, 34. 395

N O T E S T O P A G E S 3 0 6 – 3 11

23. Kurt D. Fausch, et al., “Strategies for Conserving Native Salmonid Populations at Risk from Nonnative Fish Invasions: Tradeoffs in Using Barriers to Upstream Movement,” USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS- GTR-174 (2006). 24. Nathan Mantua, et al., “Climate Change Impacts on Streamflow Extremes and Summertime Stream Temperature and Their Possible Consequences for Freshwater Salmon Habitat in Washington State,” Climatic Change (2010), doi:10.1007/s10584– 010–9845–2. 25. Ibid. 26. Peter B. Moyle, et al., “Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout in California: Status of an Emblematic Fauna,” Report to California Trout (University of California, Davis, Center for Watershed Sciences, 2008). 27. Ibid. 28. Gregory C. Johnson, et al., “Recent Bottom Water Warming in the Pacific Ocean,” Journal of Climate 20 (2007): 5365–75. 29. N. Bednarsek, et al., “Limacina helicina Shell Dissolution as an Indicator of Declining Habitat Suitability Owing to Ocean Acidification in the California Current Ecosystem,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences 281 (2014). 30. Rahel and Olden, “Assessing the Effects” 31. J. M. Lavery, et al., “Exploring the Environmental Context of Recent Didymosphenia Geminate Proliferation in Gaspesia, Quebec, Using Paleolimnology,” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71 (2014):1–11. 32. Robert T. Lackey, et al., eds, Salmon 2100: The Future of Wild Pacific Salmon (Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society, 2006). 33. In particular, we would call your attention to Jack E. Williams and Edwin P. Pister, “Lifestyles and Ethical Values to Sustain Salmon and Ourselves,” in Salmon 2100. 34. The ecological footprint is defined as the area of productive land and water in various classes— cropland, pasture, forests, and so forth— required to provide all the energy and material resources consumed and absorb all the wastes produced. 35. Wendell Berry, Citizenship Papers (Washington, DC: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2003), 64. 36. Dr. James Hansen, former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, offers an interesting perspective on the intersection of science and politics in his book Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009).

396

Index Page numbers in italics indicate a figure. Aamskaapipiikani (Blackfoot subgroup), 114, 117, 118, 123 Aapatohsipiikani (Blackfoot subgroup), 114, 115, 117 aboriginal peoples, 13–25, 73–74, 154, 182–83, 189, 200–1, 241– 43, 246, 247, 249, 250, 290, 294 Abraham, Maurice “Mooch,” 80, 81, 82 Academy of Natural Science (Philadelphia, PA), 130 acclimatization, 178–79 acclimatization societies, 178–79, 181– 85; Australia, 182; “Eland Dinner” (1959), 184– 85; Frontier Acclimatisation Society (FAS) (South Africa), 183, 192; King Williamstown Naturalists Society (South Africa), 183; New Zealand, 187– 88; South Africa, 182, 183, 191–92; Transvaal Trout Acclimatisation Society (South Africa), 380n43; United Kingdom, 185 acid mine drainage (AMD), 291 Adams, John Quincy, 75 Addison County (VT), 313 Adirondack Mountains, 132 Adirondack Museum, 317–18 Adopt-a- Stream (AaS) program, 263 Advisory Board on Educational and Inspirational Functions of National Parks, 57 Ælian, 29

African Colony, The (Buchan), 180 African National Congress (ANC), 181 Agassiz, Louis, 130, 321, 322 Aho, Juhani, 148, 149, 150, 150, 153 Ahonius, Rudolf, 150 akaitapiitsinikssiistsi. See under Blackfoot People Akita Prefecture (Japan), 200 Akiyamago Prefecture (Japan), 200, 201 Alabama (steam ship), 75 Alaska Native community, 294 Alberti, Leon Battista, 42 Albert the Great, 34 Alexander, George L., 134, 136 Alexander III, Czar (Russia), 146 Alien Species Regulations (South Africa), 164 Alken, Henry Thomas, 328 Allen, Fred, 126–27 Allenberry Inn (PA), 294, 324 Allenspur Dam (MT), 287 alligator gar, 60, 63, 65 “Along the Steelhead Rivers” (Haig-Brown), 90 Alps (mountain range), 36 amago (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae), 196, 200, 214 Amato, Frank, 88, 88–91, 92; publishing house, 89 Amato, Nick, 96. See also Salmon Trout Steelheader Ambras, Lake (Austria), 33

397

INDEX

Amemasu (subspecies of Salvelinus native to Japan), 216 America, 209 American Angler’s Book, 130 American Fork Canyon (UT), 291 American Motors, 278 American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF), 5, 223–24, 318 American Museum of Natural History, 225 American Purple Gallinule (bird), 65 American Rivers (organization), 264, 290 American Salmon Foundation, 290 American Sportsman (publication), 90 American Sportsman, The (TV program), 232– 33, 287– 88 American Sportsman’s Club (CO), 233 American Turf Register (publication), 9 Anchorage Public Library (AK), 314 Anchor River (AK), 314 Anderegg, Gene, 254– 55, 255 Anderson, Ben, 82 Anderson, George, 189 Andrus, Cecil, 91– 92 Angler’s Club of New York, 86 Angler’s Eldorado (Grey), 184 Angler’s Guide (Hardy), 153 Anglers of the AuSable (organization), 257 Anglo-Boer War, 180 Ann Arbor, MI, 129, 132 Annual Cane Rod Makers School (Catskill Fly Fishing Museum), 319 Apache trout (Oncorhynchus gilae apache), 268, 286, 299, 305– 6 aquafarming, 199 aquatic invasive species (AIS), 269 Aquatics in the Classroom (Golden West Women Fly Fishers), 229– 30 Aquinas, Thomas, 42– 43 archaeological evidence of fishing, 33, 34, 36 Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), 145 Arctic Sea, 145, 154 Are Trout South African? Stories of People, Places and Fish (Brown, D.), x, 172 Arizona, 268 Arkansas River (CO), 293 Arnold, Bob, 93, 94 Arte of Angling, 42 “Articles of Faith for Good Anglers” (HaigBrown), 86

398

artificial fly: drab winged coachman, 131; Henryville Special, 101, 105, 363n16; history of fishing with, 27, 29– 32, 36; Quill Gordon (fly pattern), 101; Royal Wulff dry fly, 260; Tomah Jo, 231. See also fly patterns artificial propagation. See pisciculture artificial spawning grounds, 214 artisanal fisheries, 36– 39 “Ascent of the Steelhead” (Lampman), 85 Ashaway Line and Twine Company, 232 Aspen, CO, 254 Association of Northwest Steelheaders, 87, 89 Astaschev, General (Russia), 146 Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), 20, 38, 89, 96, 98, 132, 141, 145, 154, 155, 160, 162, 167, 185– 87, 242, 260, 261, 289– 90, 319, 326 Atlas Mountains (North Africa), 166 Audubon, John James, 61, 62– 63 Augusta, ME, 289–90 Au Sable River (MI), 13, 20, 21, 22, 126, 128, 130, 133– 36, 138, 139– 40, 264; associations, 278; Barbless Hook (Trout Unlimited cabin/foundation site), 275, 279; Burton’s Landing, 278; logging, 135; North Branch, 133, 139– 40, 275– 78, 277 Au Sable River System Property Owner’s Association, 278 Australia, 10, 18, 181– 82, 184– 85, 226 Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis), 218 Babbitt, Rube, 140, 276 Babine River (BC, Canada), 325 Bachman, Robert, 93 Back the Brookie (TU). See Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture Backus, William, 81 Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes (publication), 321 Bahamas Billfish Championship, 234 bait fishing, x, 23, 30, 36, 37, 43, 48, 65, 120, 134, 147, 151, 176, 201, 206– 8, 210, 313, 318 Baker, Senator Howard, 287 Bakke, Bill, 86, 91– 93, 94, 97 Baltic Sea, 141, 145, 149

INDEX

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 61 Banff National Park (Canada), 122 barbel, 32, 36 Barber, Lynn, 185 Barbless Hook (Trout Unlimited cabin/ foundation site), 275, 279 Baring, Colonel, 119 Barker, Thomas, 324 Barnard, J. G., Major, 75 Bartlett, John, 321 Basel, Switzerland, 29 Bashline, James, 324, 326 Bashline, Sylvia, 326 Basic Environment Law 1993 (Japan), 205 bass, 171, 173, 174, 234, 261 bass fishing, 234 Bassano, Italy, 30 Bassano, Jacopo da, 30 Bass’n Gals, 234 Basurto, Fernando, 30– 31, 43– 45 Bateman, Louisa, 92 Battle of Isandlawana (New Zealand), 183 Bavarian Alps, 36 Bay City, MI, 130, 134 BC Wildlife Federation, 245 Bean, Jack, 119 Bear, Fred, 280 Beardslee, Kurt, 96 Beattie, Mollie, 226–27, 231 Beaverkill River (NY), 102, 108–12, 111, 233, 289 Beecher, Henry Ward, 46, 48, 51, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59 Behnke, Robert J., 93, 322 Bellingham, WA, 327 Bentley Historical Library (Ann Arbor, MI), 129, 132 Beresford, Vic, 280, 282 Berners, Dame Juliana, 6, 8, 28, 224, 233 Berryman, Jack, 94–95, 100 Bethune, George Washington, 46, 48– 49, 49, 54, 57– 59 Beveridge & Diamond (law fi rm), 288 Bierman, Marsha, 233– 34 Big Hole River (MT), 286, 322 Bimini (Bahamas), 226 Biodiversity Act (South Africa), 191 biologists: Agassiz, Louis, 130, 321, 322; Behnke, Robert J., 93, 322; Cope, Professor, 130; Hardin, Garrett, 134; Haz-

zar, Albert S., 280; Lagler, Karl F., 280; McFadden, Jim, 283; Needham, Paul R., 280; Westell, Casey E., 280, 283 Birds of America (Audubon), 63 bison, 139 Black Antelope (Blackfoot chief), 118 black bass (Micropterus salmoides), 48, 60, 65, 132, 171, 211–12, 268 Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, 122 Blackfoot People, 113–25, 242; akaitapiitsinikssiistsi (origin myths), 116–17; fly fishing, 119–20, 122, 123–25; groups, 114; history of, 117–19; language, 364n1; medicine bundles, 116, 365n18; missionary schools, 117, 119; Niitsisskowa (traditional territory), 114, 117, 123; reservations, 114; taxonomy of living things, 114–16 Blackfoot River, 289 Black Hills, 320 black marlin, 234 black perch. See black bass Black River (MI), 128, 137 bleake, 40 Bliss, Aaron T., Governor (MI), 138 Bloods. See Kainaa bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus), 168, 212 blue marlin, 234 Blue Ridge Mountains, 291 Bodensee (Lake Constance, Germany), 38 Boiling Springs, PA, 324 Boise, ID, 267 Boise State University Library, 258– 59 Boke of St. Alban’s, 30, 44 Boldt, Judge George C.: Boldt Decision, 91 Bolzano, Italy Boone and Crocket Club, 13 Borgelt, Bryon, 275 Borgo del Grappa, Italy, 30 Bow River, 122 Boy Chief, 118 Bozeman, MT, xi, 121, 322–23 Bradner, Enos, 82, 84, 85 Brayshaw, Thomas, 80, 81, 85, 87, 325 Breede River (South Africa), 170 Brenta River (Italy), 30 Bring Back the Natives, 288– 89 Bristol Bay (AK), xiii, 16, 22, 100, 234, 293–94

399

INDEX

Bristow, Edmund, 328 British Angling, 80 British Columbia, Canada, 80, 236 British Columbia Conservation Foundation, 98 British Columbia Steelhead Society, 90, 96 British Columbia Wildlife Federation, 89 British Museum (UK), 184 Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited (BCTU), 111 Brodhead Creek, 102, 106, 110, 111 Brooks, Charles E., 322 Brooks, Joe, 89, 279 brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), 11, 14, 60, 102, 103, 109, 110, 127, 135, 136, 139, 161, 162, 167; restoration, 199, 216, 275–76, 290–92 Brook Trout Fishing (Currier and Ives lithograph after A. F. Tait painting), 107 Brown, Dick, 265 Brown, Duncan, x, 172 Brown, Jen Corinne, x Brown, John J., 47 Brown, Roderick L. Haig. See Haig-Brown, Roderick L. Browning, Mark, 237 brown trout (Salmo trutta), xi, 10, 13, 106, 121, 127, 135, 141, 145, 148, 150, 154, 156, 157, 159, 141, 144, 145, 148, 150, 154, 156, 157, 158, 159, 164, 164, 166, 167, 169–70, 173, 174, 177, 182, 184, 186, 199, 216, 228, 269, 276, 286; anadromous, 145, 152, 154, 160; potamodromous, 145, 151, 155, 156 Bruen, Matthew, 103, 105, 111, 290 Buchan, John, 180– 81 Buckland, Frank, 185 buglossa (herb), 32 bull trout, 115, 299, 305 buñal (bird), 31 Bureau of Indian Affairs (US), 121 Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (US), 121 Burge, Richard, 97 Burroughs, John, 53, 55 Bush, George H. W., 288 Bushkill River, 102, 103 Byron, Lord, 71–72, 73 caddis fly, 231 Caledonia, NY, 231

400

California Fly Fishermen United, 86 California Trout and Steelhead Conservation Act, 92 CalTrout (organization), 90–93 Calvin, John, 58 Campbell, Jim, 187 Campbell River Rod and Gun Club, 245 Canada, 47, 79, 82, 117, 123, 180, 181, 237, 240, 244, 249– 50, 317, 318–19, 326 Canaletto, 328 Cape Department of Conservation (South Africa), 191 Cape Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation (CDNEC), 168, 173 Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK), 165– 66 Cape Nature Conservation, 163, 175, 180, 190, 191–92 Cape of Good Hope Department of Agriculture (South Africa), 183 Cape Piscatorial Society (CPS) (South Africa), 172, 173 Cape Province (South Africa), 167– 68, 171, 172, 173, 174 Cape Town, South Africa, 166– 67, 172, 176 carp (Cyprinus carpio), 33, 40, 42, 43, 165, 168, 185, 217, 301 carpione (Salmo trutta carpio) (trout species in Lake Garda, Italy), 34, 38 Carter, James (“Jimmy”), 287 Casarez, Ben, 2, 304 Cascapedia River Museum/Musée de la Rivière Cascapedia, 318–19 Casentino Mountains (Italy), 34 Castel Roncolo (Runkelstein), 32 Casting for Recovery (CFR), 230 catch and release, 8, 80, 81, 86, 88, 96, 97, 207, 210, 214, 233– 34, 260– 62, 261, 265 catfish, 217 Catlin, George, 73 Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum (CFFCM), 111, 319 Catskill Mountains (NY), 17, 20, 101–12, 224, 270, 289, 319 Catskill Packet (publication), 109 Centennial Exhibition (Philadelphia, PA), 231 Center for Pacific Northwest Studies (Western Washington University), 327 Central Idaho Wilderness Act, 258, 260

INDEX

Chandler, Leon, 93 Chapman, George, 323 Chapman, Mary, 323 char, 2, 20, 36, 128, 145, 262, 299, 305 Charlemagne, 31 Charles, Cindy, 227–28, 236 Cherokee Dam, 287 Chesapeake Bay watershed, 291–92 Chicago, IL, 129, 132 Chile, 226 Chinnery, George, 328 Chinook salmon, 79, 186, 306. See also king salmon; quinnat salmon Chips (George Dunbar’s assistant), 72 Cholmondeley-Pennell, H., 321 Christian, Herman, 319 chub, 37, 300, 307 chum salmon, 79 Church, Frank, Senator (ID), 256– 57, 258, 260 Clark- Skamania Fly Fishers, 92 class distinctions, 241 Clean Angling Coalition, 269 Clean Water Act (US; 1972), 226, 257, 274, 294, 296 Clearwater River (ID), 85, 262 Clerk, Andrew, 130 Cleveland, Grover, 105 climate change, xi, xiii, 3, 18, 22, 23, 296, 298, 300, 300, 301, 303, 305–10, 316; species affected by (chart), 300 Clove Catskills, The (painting by Thomas Cole), 107 cod, 38 coho salmon, 79 Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery (NY), 228, 383nn18–19 Cole, Thomas (artist), 107 College of Charleston Library Special Collections, 319–20 Colman, Samuel, 318 colonialism, 10, 240, 247 colonial studies, 240 colonization, 178–79, 182– 83, 187 Columbine Hondo Wilderness (NM), 292 Comar, Catherine, 225 Combs, Trey, 89, 90, 96 common bleak (Alburnus alburnus), 160 Compleat Angler, The (Walton), 50, 72, 320, 323, 327 Complete Flyfisher (South Africa), 172

Connell, Frank Hovey-Roof, Ms., 228 Connett, Eugene, 326–27, 328 Conroy, Thomas J. (fishing tackle shop), advertisement, 68 Conroy, Thomas John, 68 Conservation Act (1987, NZ), 189 conservation leaders and activists: Beattie, Mollie, 226–27; Charles, Cindy, 227– 28, 236; Connell, Frank Hovey-Roof, Ms., 228; Crosby, Cornelia “Fly Rod,” 224–25; Fairchild, Julia Freeman, 228; Krieger, Fanny, 229– 30; Page, Margot, 230; Vokey, April, 236 Conservation Small Grants Program (FFF), 269–70 Coolidge, Calvin, 105 Cooper, Alfred, 328 Cooper, James Fenimore, 73 Cope, Professor, 130 Cornell University, 320 Cotton, Charles, 6, 8 County Farm, The, 7 Country Gentleman (publication), 81, 82 Covered Bridge Pool (Beaverkill River), 111 Cowboy Trout: Western Fly Fishing As If It Matters (Schullery), x, 13 Cowlitz River (WA), 85 Crawford County, MI, 128 crayfish, 36, 37 Creel: The Bulletin of the Flyfishers Club of Oregon, The, 87 Critical Biodiversity Areas. See South Africa: fish sanctuaries Crosby, A. See Crosby, Alfred Crosby, Alfred, 10, 185 Crosby, Cornelia “Fly Rod,” 224–25, 325 Cross, Reuben, 319 Currier & Ives (lithography company), 107 CuttCatch/BassCatch award program (IFFF), 268 cyprinids, 36, 40, 148, 166 Daily Delta (publication; New Orleans), 76 Dakotas (territory), 132 dam removal: Elwha River Dam (WA), 268; Glines Canyon Dam (WA), 268, 290; Great Falls Dam (CT) removal campaign, 289; Red Brook (MA), 273 dams, 85, 93, 196, 217, 260, 268; Allenspur Dam (MT), 287; Cherokee Dam, 287; Edwards Dam (ME), 289; Finland,

401

INDEX

dams (continued ) hydroelectric, 154– 58; Glines Canyon Dam (WA), 268, 290; Great Falls Dam (CT), 289; Japan, 204, 217; Kennebec River (ME) dam removal, 268, 273, 289; Klamath River basin restoration, 293; legislative battles, 286– 88; Maden Dam (South Africa), 191; Norris Dam (TN), 287; Operation Restore (TU), 287; Penobscot River (ME) dam removal projects, 290; removal, 268, 273, 289–90; reoxygenation weirs, 287; South Holston Dam (VA), 287; Susitna Dam (AK— proposed), 294; Tellico Dam project (TN), 286– 87; Two Forks Dam project (CO), 287– 88; Veazie Dam (ME), 290 damselfl ies (Ecchlorolestes peringueyi), 169 Daniels, John H., xiv, 323 Danube River, 33, 37, 40 Darbee, Elsie Bivins, 224, 319 Darbee, Henry, 319 Davy, Sir Humphry, 8 D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture, 320 De animalibus: truthae (Albert the Great), 34 De arte venandi cum avibus (Emperor Frederick II), 42 Decameron (Bocaccio), 41 Dedini, Art, 82 Deer Creek, WA, 81, 83, 84 “Deer Creek— Home of the Rainbow” (McLeod), 82 Deer Creek Restoration Fund, 93 Denver, CO, 287 Department of Conservation (Te Papa Atawhai, NZ), 189–90 Department of Fish and Game (US), 209. See also US Fish and Wildlife Service Department of Natural Resources (DNR) (MI), 281– 83 Departments/Divisions of Inland Fisheries (South Africa), 162, 167– 68 De Romanis piscibus libellus (Giovio), 38 Derrydale Press, 319, 327, 328 Deschutes River, 290 d’Este, Beatrice, Duchess of Milan, 32 Detroit, MI, 129, 132, 134, 282 Detroit Free Press, 277 Dette, Walt, 319

402

Dette, Winnie Ferdon, 224, 319 Devereaux Memorial Library (Grayling, MI), 127, 135, 138 Devil’s Hole Creek, 106 Dialogo (Basurto), 30– 31, 43– 45 Didascalicon (Hugh of St. Victor), 42 didymo (Didymosphenia geminata), 269, 307 Dieppe, France, 37 Dingman’s, 104 dispossession, 240, 246, 247, 250 Dodge, John, 109 Dole, James Drummond, 246 Dolly Varden trout (Salvelinus malma), 198 Doña Blanca, Infanta of Navarra, 32 Douglas, David, 320 Douglas, Harris, 245 Douglas, T. E., 139 Doyle, Larry, 98 drab-winged coachman (fly), 131 Drakensberg Mountains (South Africa), 171 Draper, Malcolm, 10, 20, 21, 172, 190, 191, 193, 194, 332 Driftless Area Restoration Effort (DARE), 292 Dry Fly Entomology (Halford), 323, 327 Dubravius, Jan, 40 Ducks Unlimited (organization), 272, 278 Dullstroom, South Africa, 171 Duméril, André Marie Constant, 73 Dunbar, George Towers, Jr. (pseud. Piscator), 60–76; biography, 348– 49n2; ichthyological studies, 62– 63, 349– 50n10, 352n37; literary influences, 72–74, railroad surveying, 61, 65, 70, 74–75; trout fishing, 65– 66 Dunbar, George Towers, III, 74 Dunlap, Thomas, 181 Durham County, UK, 33 Earth Justice (organization), 270 Earth Summit (UNCED), 211 Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (TU), 290–91 ecological imperialism, 10 Ecology and Fishing of Yamame and Amago: Ecology for Freestone River Anglers (Kato), 211 Edwards, Jonathan, 58 Edwards, Keith, 315 Edwards Dam (ME), 289 eel, 34, 37, 318

INDEX

Eel River (CA), 81, 85– 86, 90 Egypt, angling in ancient, 6 Eifel Mountains, Germany, 39 Eisenhower, Dwight D., 282, 318 E. K. Harry Library of Fishes (International Game Fish Association), 322 eland, 184 “Eland Dinner” (1959), 184– 85 elf (South African native fish) (Pomatomus saltatrix), 176 elitism (of fly fishing), 240, 249 Ellis, Jack, 183 Elmer Fenton Collection, 127, 135, 138 Elmore, Ann, 244 Elwell, Leah, 269 Elwha River (WA), 14, 268, 290 Elwha River Dam (WA), 268 Embrace-A- Stream, 287 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 72–73, 75 Emmanuel, King Victor (Italy), 146 Endangered Fisheries Initiative (EFI), 263 Endangered Species Act (US; 1973), 226, 257 “End of the Rainbow, The” (McLeod), 82 England, 151 Enrique of Castile, Prince, 32 Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World, An (Halverson), x entomologists: Marbury, Mary Orvis, 224, 231, 231– 32; McBride, Sara Jane, 224, 231– 32 Environmental Achievement Award, 291 Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), 286 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 257, 274, 275, 286– 88, 291, 294, 296 Erikson, Glenn, 391–92n15 ethics, 44, 87, 96 “Ethics and Aesthetics” (Haig-Brown), 87 Eugene, OR, 253, 256 Eurasia, 212 Europe, x, 201 European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), 160 Evelyn Forest Station (South Africa), 183 Evergreen Fly Fishers, 86, 253 exhibitions, fly fishing: A Graceful Rise: Women in Fly Fishing, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (American Museum of Fly Fishing), 223, 224 Ezmemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (conservation agency, South Africa), 191

Fabricius, Johan Christian, 73 fair chase, fair play, 241 Fairchild, Julia Freeman, 228 Farr, Augustine, State Senator (MI), 138 Farrington, Chisie, 233, 384n36 “Fascinating Challenge” (Haig-Brown), 89 Favored Flies and Select Techniques of the Experts, 172 Favorite Flies and Their Histories (Marbury), 232 Fearing, Daniel B., 321 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (US), 289 Federal Power Act (US), 226 Federated Farmers (organization, NZ), 189 Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF), 14, 22, 86– 88, 91, 94, 97–99, 228, 237, 239, 252– 73, 322; Adopt-a- Stream (AaS) program, 263; Casting Instructor Certification Program, 271–72; clubs, 257, 263, 269–71; collaboration with Fisheries Conservation Foundation, 267; conclaves, 252, 254– 58, 258; conservation coordinators, 264; Conservation Small Grants Program, 269–70; councils, 257; CuttCatch/BassCatch award program, 268; dam removal projects, 268; didymo education, 269; Endangered Fisheries Initiative (EFI), 263; FFF Fly Fishing Academy, 272; fly-tying exhibitions, 271–72; founding, 253– 56; Flyfisher (publication), 255; Gila Recovery Plan, 268; Invasive Species Action Network (ISAN), 269, 270; lake trout study, 269; legislation, 257– 58, 260; membership, 257, 272; mission, 264– 65, 265; native fish conservation activities, 265– 69; Native Fish Conservation Area Policy, 265– 66, 273; Native Fish Refuge Symposium, 267, 273; Osprey (publication), 267; Southwest wild trout conservation, 268; Steelhead Committee, 267– 68; Whitlock-Vibert box program (WVB), 260, 262– 63; Wild Trout Symposia, 267. Federation of South Africa Fly Fishers ( FOSAF), 168, 171, 172, 173, 175, 176, 192, 194; Yellowfish Working Group, 174 Ferris, Barbara “Sugar,” 234 FFF Fly Fishing Academy, 272

403

INDEX

Field and Stream (publication), 81, 82, 85, 90, 225, 326, 259 Finland, x, 18, 20, 21, 143– 61, 144; angling clubs and organizations, 147, 151– 53, 156, 159, 160– 61; angling origins, 145– 46; brown trout, 158; dams, hydroelectric, 154– 58; fishing tourism, 147, 153– 54; Hilmo River, fishing on, 157; Huopana Hatchery, 151, 152; invasive species, 161; logging, 148; mining, 154; Puntarinkoski Rapids hatchery (Joensuu), 151; rapids, 148– 56, 149, 150, 160– 62; restoration, 158– 60; rivers, 143– 45, 144; salmonids, 143– 45, 144; Simuna hatchery, 153; Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto (SUKL, Finnish Federation of Anglers), 151– 53, 156, 159, 161 First Cast (youth program), 295 First International Trout Congress, xi Fischereibuch von Tirol und Gorz (Fritz), 32 Fish Action Council, 86 Fish and Game New Zealand (organization), 189 Fish & Game New Zealand (publication), 188 Fish Culture Hall of Fame. See D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture Fisheries Act (Japan), 204 Fisheries Act (NZ), 188 Fisheries Act 1901 (Japan), 202 Fisheries Agency (Japan), 199, 202, 203, 204, 208, 212–16 Fisher King (literary), 32 Fisheries Conservation Foundation, 267 Fisherman’s Luck (Van Dyke), 53, 57 Fisherman’s Spring (Haig-Brown), 86, 249 Fishers Craft and Lettered Art (Hoffmann), 7 Fishery Act 1949 (Japan), 202 fish farms. See hatcheries, fish hatcheries. See hatcheries; pisciculture. fishing/fish, early treatises on, 28, 28, 29– 34, 43– 45 fishing clubs (organizations), 13, 147, 151– 53, 156, 159, 160– 61, 239, 241, 247 Fishing Gazette (journal), 147 Fishing Gazette (UK), 232 fishing guides and guiding, 137: Babbitt, Rube, 276; Crosby, Cornelia “Fly Rod,” 325; Fly Gal Ventures, 236; Taylor, Kate, 234; Vokey, April, 236

404

fishing license, 156, 176–77, 216 Fishing Manuscripts Collection (Yale University), 328 fishing reel. See reels fishing tackle, 66– 69, 67, 68, 151, 153, 232, 294, 313 Fishing Tourist, The (Hallock), 130 “Fish of the Warrior Class, A” (Lampman), 82 Fitzhugh, D. H., 130 Five Rivers (TU collegiate fishing clubs), 295 Flemming, Leonard, 164 Flick, Art, 319 Florence, Italy, 40 Florida Power and Light (company), 289 Florida tarpon, 132 flounder, 313 fly casters: Wulff, Joan Salvato, 224, 232– 33, 234– 35 fly casting, 271–72 Flyfisher (publication; FFF), 88, 255 Flyfishers Club of Oregon, 87 Fly Fisher’s Entomology, The (Ronalds), 327 fly fishing: Western US, in the, 93 Fly Fishing (publication) (South Africa), 172 “fly-fishing only” regulations, 139– 40 Fly Fishing Oral History Collection (Western Washington University), 327 fly fishing schools: American Sportsman’s Club (CO), 233; Cane Rod Makers School (Catskill Fly Fishing Museum), 319; Wulff School of Fly Fishing, 233 Fly Gal Ventures (guiding company), 236 fly patterns: Favorite Flies and Their Histories (Marbury), 232; Henryville Special, 101, 105, 363n16; Quill Gordon, 101; Tomah Jo, 231. See also artificial fly fly rod. See rod fly tyers: Crosby, Cornelia “Fly Rod,” 224– 25; Cross, Reuben, 319; Darbee, Elsie Bivins, 319; Darbee, Henry, 319; Dette, Walt, 319; Dette, Winnie Ferdon, 319; Ford, Mary Ann, 327; Gordon, Theodore, 231; Grant, George F., 322; Halford, F. M., 323, 327; Hewitt, Edward R., 319; Jacklin, Bob, 322; Jorgensen, Poul, 319; Lilly, Bud, 322; Marbury, Mary Orvis, 224, 231, 231– 32; McBride, Sara Jane, 224, 231– 32; Steenrod, Roy, 319; Stevens, Carrie, 325; Tiitola, Matti, 158

INDEX

fly tying, 271–72 Foggia, Lyla, 382nn4– 5 Ford, Paul, 327 Forest and Stream (publication), 8, 9, 11, 68, 82, 104, 130, 132, 137, 138 Forester, Frank (pseud. Henry William Herbert), 10, 329 Forshey, Caleb, 74 Forsyth, Therese, 175 Fort Macleod (Canada), 121 Four Books on the Family (Alberti), 42 Fox, Charles, 283 fracking (hydraulic fracturing), 102, 291, 362n5 fracking mitigation, 291 Frank Amato Publishers, 89 Frank Church— River of No Return Wilderness (ID), 258 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, 42 Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, 340n19 Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, 321 Fritz, Martin, 32 From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Land Legacy (Wood), 316 Frontier Acclimatisation Society (FAS) (South Africa), 183, 192; FAS Trout Club, 192; Pirie Hatchery, 192 Frontier Acclimatization Societies, 162, 166– 67 Frost, Carrie, 224 Fukushima No. 1 (nuclear reactor, Japan), 218 Fukushima Prefecture (Japan), 218 Furai-no-Zasshi (Fly Fishing Journal) (Japan), 206 Gallatin Valley (MT), 323 Gallup, Joan, 327 Gallup, Vernon, 327 game fish, 11, 83, 226, 234; International Game Fish Association, 321–22 game wardens, 151, 153, 157 Garda, Lake (Italy), 34, 38, 39 G. A. Serlachius Co., 158 Gates, Rusty, 140 Gauvin, Charles F., 288 Gdansk, Poland, 37 gender issues in fishing, 235– 36, 385n43. See also women in fly fishing

genteel, 241 German Peasants War, 39 Gessner, Conrad, 29, 31, 34, 43 giant redfi n (Pseudobarbus skeltoni), 166, 176 Gila Recovery Plan. 268 Gila trout, 268, 286, 299, 305– 6 Gill, Emlyn Metcalf, 326 gillnetting, 83, 89, 91, 93, 95, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 154, 155, 160, 161, 269, 302 gin-buna (Carassius auratus langsdorfii), 217 Ginzan-Daira, Japan, 205 Giovio, Paolo, 38 Glacier National Park (MT), 119, 121, 266 Glines Canyon Dam (WA), 268, 290 global warming, 296, 300–1; species affected by (chart), 300. See also climate change Godspeed, Charles, 48 Golden West Women Fly Fishers (GWWF), 227, 229– 30, 236 Gold Medal trout waters (CO), 287– 88 Goodspeed, Charles E., 324 Gordon, Theodore, 9, 102, 107– 9, 231, 318, 319, 324 Gowdy, Curt, 287– 88 Graceful Rise: Women in Fly Fishing, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, A (exhibition, American Museum of Fly Fishing), 223, 224 Grail cycle (literary), 32 Grand Cascapedia River (Quebec, Canada), 319 Grant, George F., 286, 322 Grant, Ulysses S., 11 grayling (Thymallus thymallus), 13, 27– 30, 33, 36– 37, 40, 115, 141, 145, 153, 156, 160 Grayling, MI, 126– 40, 275–76, 280 grayling, Michigan (fish). See Michigan grayling grayling, Montana (fish). See Montana grayling Grayling Fish Hatchery, 126–27, 127 Greater Yellowstone Coalition, 269, 322 Great Falls (Missouri River), 117 Great Sand Hills (Saskatchewan, Canada), 114 Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 286 Green, Jimmy, 85

405

INDEX

Green, Seth, 8, 10, 138, 325 greenback cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki stomias), 267, 286 Green River (WA), 85 Greig, Elizabeth, 224 Grenoble, France, 36 Grey, Zane, 9, 22, 80, 81, 84, 184 Griffith, George, 140, 276– 81, 277, 283, 285, 296 Grinnell, George Bird, 119 Grisma River (Iceland), 261 gudgeon, 33 guides. See fishing guides and guiding guilds, fishing, 37 Gui of Bazoches, 32, 41 Gulf of Bothnia, 145 Gunma Prefecture (Japan), 201 Haapakoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing, The (Leeson), 96 Haig-Brown, Roderick L., 9, 19, 21, 22, 80, 81, 85– 89, 205, 238, 256, 261, 325 Haig-Brown, Valerie, 325 Halford, Frederick M., 8, 323, 327 Hallock, Charles, 54, 130, 137 Halverson, Anders, x Ham, Roswell G., Jr., 328 Handbook of Freshwater Fishing (Wulff), 80– 81, 261 Hankins, Joe, 296 Hansberry, Roy, 327 Hansen, Clifford, Governor of Idaho, 256 Hardin, Garrett, 134 Hardy’s (British fishing tackle manufacturer), 151, 153 Haro, Count of, 32 Harris, Cole, 241 Harrison, Benjamin, 105 Harry Hawthorn Fly Fishing Club, 248 Harry Hawthorn Foundation, 238, 247, 251 Harvard University, 130, 266 Harvard University Library Archives and Special Collections, 321 Harvey, George, 324 Haslam, Greville, 319–20 hatcheries, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 126–27, 127, 138– 39, 138, 151, 160, 197, 214, 215, 243; Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery (NY), 228, 383nn18–19; D. C. Booth

406

National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture, 320; Grayling Fish Hatchery (MI), 126–27, 127; hatchery-raised trout, 126–27, 127, 138– 39, 138; Howie Fish Hatchery (Scotland, UK), 186; Huopana Hatchery (Finland), 151– 52; impact upon wild trout streams, 90, 91, 92, 99; Jonkershoek Hatchery (Stellenbosch, South Africa), 167, 180, 190, 192, 194; Kamberg Trout Hatchery (South Africa), 191, 192, 192; New Caledonia Fish Hatchery (NY), 10; Pirie Hatchery (South Africa), 192; Puntarinkoski Rapids hatchery (Joensuu, Finland), 151; Simuna hatchery (Finland), 153. See also pisciculture Hawking, Stephen, 232 Hazzar, Albert S., 280 Hedge, Marvin, 82 Heidelberg booklet, 42 Heimpel, Hermann, 29 Hells Canyon (ID), 260 Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Act, 260 Helsinki, Finland, 152, 160 Hemingway, Ernest, 105, 226, 318 Hemingway, Jack 85, 90 Henry, E. N., 106 Henryville, PA, 104 Henryville House (PA), 102, 104, 106, 111 Henryville Special (fly pattern), 101, 105, 363n16 Herbert, Henry William. See Forester, Frank Herlihy, David, 42 Hermosa Creek and Browns Canyon National Monument (CO), 293 herring, 37, 38 Hersey Creek (MI), 130 Hersey River (MI), 128 Hewitt, Edward R., 319 Hey, Douglas, 180, 190, 192 Hey, S. A. (Sydney Adolph), 169, 180, 192 Hidy, Pete, 86, 87 Hietamankoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Hill, Peter, 171 Hilmo Rapids (Finland), 148, 157 Hilmo River (Finland), 152, 153, 156, 160 Hilton, Bill, 254 Himemasu (Onchorynchus nerka), 216

INDEX

Himmersbach River, 33 Hintze, Alexander, 147 Hoffmann, Richard, 6, 7, 18, 19, 27– 45 Hokkaido Biodiversity Conservation Regulation, 217 Hokkaido Island (Japan), 195, 198, 199, 216, 217; fishing for Dolly Varden trout, 198 Holt, John, 124 Homer, AK, 314 Homer, Winslow, 318 Home Rivers Initiative (TU), 288– 89 Honshu Island (Japan), 195, 198, 199, 205, 218 Hoover, Herbert, ix, 11, 282 Hope Rod and Gun Club, 85 Hopkinson, Daniel J., Jr., 326 Horiuchi, Masanori, 21, 332 Hosfield, Skip, 253– 55, 273 Housatonic River (CT), 289 Howie Fish Hatchery (Scotland, UK), 186 huchen, 36, 40 Hudson River School, 107 Hughes, Dave, 92 Hughes, George, 191 Hugh of St. Victor, 42 Humboldt, Alexander von, 74 Hunt, William Henry, 328 Hunting Trout: Angles and Anecdotes on Trout Fishing (Sutcliffe), 172 Huopana Hatchery (Finland), 151 Huopanan Urheilukalastajaklubi (anglers club), 153, 159 Huopana Rapids (Finland), 150 Huopana River (Finland), 150, 152, 153, 156, 160 Hurn, David, 252, 256 Huron, Lake, 110, 128, 275 hydroelectricity, 152– 53, 154– 58 ichthyologists: Agassiz, Louis, 130, 321, 322; Behnke, Robert J., 93, 322; Cholmondeley-Pennell, H., 321; Gessner, Conrad, 29, 31, 34, 43; LaMonte, Francesca, 225–26, 227, 231, 235, 382n8, 383n10 Idaho, 23, 79, 85, 90, 91, 227, 256– 60, 262– 63, 266, 267, 289, 293, 305, 316 Idaho Rivers Unlimited, 96 Idaho Wildlife Federation (IWF), 259– 60

Ihtsipaitapiyo’pa (The Source of Our Life), 114 Ii River (Finland), 145 Ikeda, Hayato, 204 Illustrated Outdoors News, 54 Imata Rapids (Finland), 146, 152 Impson, Dean, 167 Independence (publication; Poughkeepsie, NY), 109 Industrial Revolution, 4, 58, 102 Initiative 62 (Washington State), 83 Initiative 77 (Washington State), 83, 91 Inland Waters Fisheries Adjustment Rules, 203 Institute of Fisheries Research, 278 International Federation of Fly Fishers (IFFF). See Federation of Fly Fishers International Fisheries Exhibition (1883), 185 International Game Fish Association (IGFA), 226, 234, 321–22, 383n9 International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, 250 International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 169 Invasive Alien Species Act (2004, Japan), 212, 213, 217 Invasive Alien Species Act (2005, Japan), 199 invasive species, 161, 269, 302, 307. See also nonnative fish Invasive Species Action Network (ISAN), 269, 270 Invasive Species Specialist Group, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 169 Ireland, 33 Irving, Washington, 46, 59, 107 Isabeau of France, Queen, 32 Ito (Hucho perryi), 216 iwana or char (Salvelinus) (Japan), 198, 200, 201, 205; Amemasu, 198; Gogi,198; Nikko iwana, 198, 214; Yamato iwana, 198 Izaak Walton League of America, 11, 57, 239 Izmirian, Richard, 265 Jacklin, Bob, 322 Jacklin’s Fly Shop, 322

407

INDEX

Jackson Lake Lodge (Moran, WY), 256, 258 James River (VA), 291 Japan, x, 18, 21, 195–219; dams, 204, 217; Fisheries Agency, 202– 3; Fishery Act, 202– 3, 204; fishery cooperatives, 203– 4, 205, 206, 207, 217; fly fishing organizations, 207–10, 211, 215; Hokkaido Island, fishing on, 198– 99, 198, 216–17; Nagara River estuary weir, 205– 6; native salmonid species, 196–98, 200–1, 205, 214, 216–18; nonnative trout, 198–99, 217; rivers, 196; stream restoration, 215; tenkara (Japanese traditional fly fishing), 200–1, 202, 202, 214; Trout Forum (organization), 207–10, 211, 215; yamame (native trout), fishing in Tohoku region for, 200 Jefferson River, 286 Jersey City, NJ, 314 Jesus Christ, 52, 55, 58 Jindra, Tom, 273 J. L. B Smith Institute of Ichthyology. See South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity Joan and Lee Wulff Fishing School. See Wulff School of Fly Fishing Joensuu (Finland), 151 Johannesburg, South Africa, 166, 170, 177, 180 John H. Daniels Fellowship (National Sporting Library and Museum), xiv, 323 Johnson, Les, 90, 92 Jones, David, 295 Jones, William, 328 Jonkershoek fish hatchery (Stellenbosch, South Africa), 167, 173, 180, 190, 192, 194 Jorgensen, Poul, 319 Jovius, Paulus. See Giovio, Paolo Judd, Richard, 241, 243 Juutua River (Finland), 154 Kaaterskill Falls, 107 Kaffrarian Museum (South Africa), 183 Kaiko Takeshi, 205 Kainaa (Blackfoot group), 114, 117 Kajaani River, 147 Kalkkinen Rapids (Finland), 417 Kalkkinen River (Finland), 152, 156 Kalmukosken kalamiehet (angler’s club), 156

408

Kalmukoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Kamberg trout hatchery (South Africa), 191, 192, 192 Kanto earthquake, 199 Kato, Kenji, 211 Kaufmann, Randall, 8 Keese, John, 48 Keihäri Rapids (Finland), 148, 151 Keitele River (Finland), 148 Kekkonen, Urho, 159 Kelly, John, 93 Kelly, Mick, 314 Kelly Creek (ID), 262, 266 Kemi River (Finland), 145, 146, 152, 155, 156 Kenai Peninsula (AK), 314 Kennebago Tribe (angling club), 325 Kennebec River (ME), 289, 290 Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), 226 Kienbusch, Carl Otto Kretzschmar Von, 324 Kimball, Thomas, 257 Kimberley, South Africa, 166 Kimberley mine (South Africa), 166 king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), 294. See also Chinook salmon; quinnat salmon King Williamstown, South Africa, 183, 192 King Williamstown Naturalists Society (South Africa), 183 Kipp, Joe, 117, 119, 120, 123, 124 Kipp, John, 120 Kishino, Isamu, 208 Kispiox River (BC, Canada), 325 Kivijärvi River (Finland), 148 Klamath River, 82, 293 Klamath River basin, 293 Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin), 293 Knapp, Stuart A., 323 Knudson, Al, 82, Kokemäki River (Finland), 145, 156 Koktuli River (AK), 293 Konstanz, Germany, 38 Korrûbel, Jan, 192 Koura (indigenous fish, NZ), 190 Kreh, Lefty, 11 Krieder, Claude, 86 Krieger, Fanny, 229– 30 Krieger, Mel, 272

INDEX

Krom River (South Africa), 174 Kruger National Park (South Africa), 165 ksaahkommitapiiksi (earth people), 115 kudu, 184 Kuma River (Japan), 217 Kurow, NZ, 187 kurper (South African native fish), 169 KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) (South Africa), 170, 171, 173, 174, 186 Kymi River (Finland), 145, 147, 152, 160 Kyushu Island (Japan), 196, 217 LaBranche, George M. L., 318, 319, 324, 328 La- Charité-sur-Loire, France, 33 Ladoga River (Finland), 145 Lagler, Karl F., 280 Lake Chuzenji (Japan), 199 Lake Inawashiro (Japan), 199 Lake Päijänne (Finland), 147 Lake Pennask Fish and Game Club, 246, 247 Lake Saimaa (Finland), 145 lake trout (Lambach, Austria), 29 lake trout (S. namaycush), 36, 37, 128, 269, 273 LaMonte, Francesca, 225–26, 227, 231, 235, 382n8, 383n10 Lampio, Eero, 154 Lampman, Ben Hur, 82 lamprey, 32, 37 land ethic, 4 Langinkoski Rapids (Finland), 146 Lanham, Charles, 109 Lapland (Finland), 145, 154 largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), 165– 66, 168 Larson, Todd, 68 Latreille, Pierre André, 73 Laukaa (Finland), 152 Lax, Ilan, 194 leervis (South African native fish) (Lichia amia), 176 Leeson, Ted, 96 legislation, 83, 91, 137– 38, 257– 58, 260 Lehmberg, Judy, 273 Lehmberg, Verne, 264– 65, 273 leisure (and fishing), 27, 41– 45, 50, 107, 240– 41, 247 Lent, consumption of fish during, 35, 37 Leopold, Aldo, 2, 3, 4, 4, 12, 15, 229, 257

Leopold, A. Starker. See Leopold, Aldo Lerner, Helen, 226, 233 Lerner, Michael, 226 Lever, Christopher, 182 Lew Beach, NY, 233 Library of Congress, 54, 67, 107 license. See fishing license Lilly, Bud, 322 Limietberg Mountains (South Africa), 171 Lincoln, UK, 37 Linnaeus, Carl, 73 Linnell, John, 328 Little Bushkill River (PA), 104 Little Rivers (Van Dyke), 53, 55, 56 Little Tennessee River, 286– 87 Lively, Chauncy, 324 Livingston Manor, NY, 111, 112 logging, 83, 88, 131, 134– 36, 135, 148 Lohilastuja ja kalakaskuja (Aho), 151 Lohilinna (The Salmon Castle), 154 Lokensgard, Ken, 242 London, UK, 28, 34, 41 Longest Silence, The (McGuane), 97 Loo, Tina, 240 Louisiana Board of Public Works, 61 Louis the Pious, Emperor, 31 Lovells, MI, 139 Lower Peninsula (MI), 127–28 Lower Snake River (ID), 260, 263 Luch, Bill, 89. See also Association of Northwest Steelheaders Luonto-Liitto (Finnish Nature League), 160 Lutto River (Finland), 154 Lybeck, E. W., 149 Lyons, Nick, 322 Lyons Press, 322 Macdonough, R. A., 241 MacLean, Lachlan, 186 Maclean, Norman, x–xii, 7, 19, 326, 288, 289 Maden Dam (South Africa), 191 Magnus, Albertus. See Albert the Great Maine Audubon (organization), 290 Major, John, 72 Making Salmon (Taylor), 243 “Management Manual of Fishing Grounds in Freestone Rivers” (Japan), 213 Man and Nature, 53 Manchester, VT, 232 Mandela, Nelson, 177

409

INDEX

Mangfall River (Germany), 36 Manistee River (MI), 128, 136, 138 Mankala Rapids (Finland), 152, 154, 156 Mannerheim, C. G. E., 153 Maori (aboriginal people, New Zealand), 182–83, 189; Ngati Tuwharetoa (tribe), 189–90 Maori Land Amendment (NZ), 190 Maori Land Claims Adjustment Act 1926 (NZ), 190 Marbury, Mary Orvis, 224, 231, 231– 32 Marca, Giacomo della, 42– 43, 45 Margulis, Bob, 99 Marias River (MT), 118 Marinaro, Vincent, 20, 324 marlin, 226, 234 Marsh, George Perkins, 53, 75 Marshalls Creek (PA), 102 Martinsville, VA, 295 Mason, George (president, American Motors), 278–79, 28 Masonis, Rob, 99 Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, 324 “Master Plan for Fishery Industry” (Japan), 213 Matagi (aboriginal people, Japan), 200–1 Mather, Cotton, 58 Mather, Fred, 10, 136, 138 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, 32– 33, 39 mayfly, 231 McBride, John, 231 McBride, Sara Jane, 224, 231– 32 McDonald, John, 108, 329 McDowell, R. M., 182, 184– 85, 187– 88 McFadden, Jim, 283 McGlenn, John, 95 McGuane, Tom, 97, 238 McKenzie Fly Fishers, 253– 54, 256 McLeod, Ken, 81– 85, 84 McMillan, Bill, 86, 92, 93, 95, 97 McMillan, John, 99 Measure of the Year (Haig-Brown), 249 “Medicina piscium” (Bodleian Library, UK), 30, 31 medieval period. See Middle Ages Meiji Era (Japan), 202, 212 Meiji Restoration (Japan), 212 Mellon, Paul, 328 Menagier de Paris, Le (book), 34

410

Merrimac River (NH), 326 Mershon, William B., 20, 129, 132, 132– 39 Mershon Collection/Archives, 129, 132 Mershon Muddler (publication), 283 Metcalf, Ben, 247, 250 Metsästys ja Kalastus (journal), 148 Meyer, Deke, 96 Meyer, Roelph, 181 Michigan, Lake, 110, 128 Michigan Conservation Department, 278, 280 Michigan Corporation and Securities Commission, 280 Michigan Fish Commission, 137, 139 Michigan Game and Fish Protection League, 138 Michigan grayling (Thymallus tricolor), 126– 40, 129; pisciculture attempts, 138– 39, 276 Michigan Sportsmen Association, 133, 136– 37 Michigan State University, 282 Middle Ages: angling illustration, 28; archaeological evidence of fishing, 33, 34, 36; artificial fly, history of fishing with, 27, 29– 32, 36; artisanal fisheries, 36– 39; ethics of fishing, 44; fishing/ fish, treatises on, 28, 28, 29– 34, 43– 45; guilds, fishing, 37; leisure and recreation, 41– 45; Lent, consumption of fish during, 35, 37; mining, 38; nature, philosophy on, 40– 43; overfishing, 38– 39; pisciculture, 40, 344n49; pollution, 38; privatization, 39– 40; recipes, 33– 34; recreation, 42– 45; recreational fishing, 28, 30– 33, 43– 45; regulation of fishing, 39– 40; religion and fishing, 30, 36, 41, 44– 45; subsistence fisheries, 35– 36; trout, 27, 29– 36, 38– 40, 43, 45 Middlebury College (VT), 313 Middle Fork Salmon River (ID), 266, 266 Middleton, Harry, 1, 6 Milford, PA, 104 Mill Creek (PA), 106 Miller, Alfred W. See Sparse Grey Hackle Milne, Douglas M., 326 Milne, Helena McElwain, 326 Milner, Lord, 180 mines/mining, 38, 154, 245; acid mine drainage (AMD), 291; cleanup, 291; Pebble Mine (AK— proposed), 293–94

INDEX

minnow, 33 Mississippi River, 64, 263 Missouri River, 286 Mitchell, Harry B., 322 “Mixing Trout in Western Waters” (Leopold), 12 Mizuguchi, Kenya, 209, 212 Mkhize, Khulani, 191 Moa (extinct bird, NZ), 187 Modoc County, CA, 228 Money, Noel, 80, 81, 85 Monroe County, 111 Montana, ix, x, xi, 18, 20, 23, 113–14,117–18, 121, 122, 124, 127, 139, 286– 88, 322 Montana Fish and Game Commission, 286 Montana Fish and Game Department, 121 Montana grayling, 139 Montana State University, 322–23 Montana State University Library Trout and Salmonid Collections, 322–23 Mooi River (South Africa), 194 Moor, Margriet de, xi Moore, Frank, 86, 88, 91, 94 Moore, Thomas, 73 Moran, WY, 258 Morely (William B. Mershon’s friend), 137 Morland, George, 328 Morning Oregonian, The (publication), 85 Moser, Tom, 286 mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), 168 Mott, Jordan “Major,” 80, 82 mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni), 115 Mpumalanga highlands (South Africa), 171 Mpumalanga Province (South Africa), 172, 173 MS Harley 2389 (British Library), 30 Muir, John, 55 Munsterhjelm, Ludwig, 151, 154 mura, 203 Murray, William H. H., 53, 57 Museum of Central Finland, 150 Muskegon River, 128 muskellunge, 128, 321 My Healthy Stream: A Handbook for Streamside Owners (Wood), 316 Naarakoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Näätämö (Neiden) River (Finland), 145, 154 Nagano Prefecture (Japan), 200

Nagara River (Japan), 205, 206 Nakamura, Tomoyuki, 213, 214 Nakazawa, Takashi, 206 Nash, J. Waldo, 325 Nash, Roderick, 57 Nass River (British Columbia, Canada), 236 Natal Parks Board (South Africa), 191 Natal Province (South Africa), 167, 170, 190, 192–93, 192, 193 Nation, Bill, 80 National Bank of Detroit, 282 National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) (South Africa), 164, 175 National Fish Habitat Action Plan (TU), 290 National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas (South Africa), 176 National Parks Conservation Association, 269 National Park Service (US), 280, 303 National Research Institute of Aquaculture (Japan), 208 National Research Institute of Fisheries Science (Japan), 213 National Resources Transfer Agreement (Canada), 122 National Sporting Library and Museum (Middleburg, VA), 5, 323 National Wildlife Federation (NWF), 256 Native Americans: archaeological sites, 73–74; Blackfoot People, 113–25; Northwest Tribes, 89, 91 native fish conservation, 265– 69 Native Fish Conservation Area Policy (FFF), 265– 66, 273 Native Fish Refuge Symposium, 267 Native Fish Society, 97, 270, 273 native fish species, 13, 14, 15, 136, 169, 181, 187, 189–90, 192, 197, 270, 273 native trout: map of US species, 299 Naturalists Society (South Africa), 183 Natural Resources Council of Maine, 290 nature, philosophy on, 40– 43 Nature Conservancy, 270, 290 Nature Conservation Ordinances (South Africa), 168, 173 Nature essay (Emerson), 72–73 Nauheim, Bob, 85 Nedbank Guide to Fly Fishing in Southern Africa, The (Wolhuter), 172

411

INDEX

Needham, Paul R., 280 Nelson, Bill, 86, 87, 253– 56, 254 Nemes, Sylvester, 322 Neumann, Art, 140, 274, 279, 280, 282– 86, 296, 392n1 Neustadt an der Hardt. See Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany, 42 Neversink River (NY), 102, 109 New Caledonia Fish Hatchery (NY), 10 New England, 46, 47, 75, 224, 241, 307, 318, 321, 322, 324–26 New Haven River (VT), 314 New Mexico (state), 1, 2, 14, 205, 268, 292, 304, 306, 310 New Orleans, LA, 61, 64, 66– 67 New Orleans-Nashville Railroad, 61 New York (state), 20, 101–12, 228, 242, 270, 283, 284, 290, 291, 317–18, 319, 320, 325 New York City, 50, 60, 66, 67, 68, 86, 101, 107, 108, 130, 224, 228, 229, 253– 54, 295 New York State Fish Commission, 325 New York Times, 104, 106, 315 New York Tribune, 57 New Zealand, 10, 18, 21, 178–94, 196, 226, 302; acclimatization societies, 181, 187– 88; colonization, 182– 83; deer eradication, 187; fish hatcheries, Tongariro National Trout Centre, 189– 90; Maori (indigenous peoples), 182–83, 189–90; native fish, 187, 189–90; New Zealand mudsnails (invasive species), 302, 307; “quangos” (quasiautonomous nongovernment organizations), 188; salmonids, introduction of, 186– 87; trout, introduction of, 184 New Zealand mudsnails (invasive species), 302, 307 Nez Perce Dam (ID), 260 Nicholas, Prince (Russia), 146 Nicols, Arthur, 182 Niigata Prefecture (Japan), 200, 205 niitá’pomiiksi (salmonids), 115 Niitsisskowa (traditional territory), 114, 117 Niitsitapiiksi. See Blackfoot People Nishiyama, Toru, 209 Ni’tohkai’kimsskaiksi (One-Horned Serpents), 115, 116–17, 120, 122, 123, 124–25

412

nonnative fish, 136. See also invasive species; native fish species Nooksack River (WA), 85 Nordic, 147 Norris, Thaddeus, 10, 20, 130– 34 Norris Dam (TN), 287 North American Association of Honest Anglers, 57 Northcoast Fly Fishermen (organization), 85 Northern Dynasty Minerals (company), 294 northern pike (Esox lucius), 128 North Fork Stillaguamish (WA), 82, 84 North Peigan. See Aapatohsipiikani North Saskatchewan River (Alberta, Canada), 114 North Umpqua Foundation, 93 North Umpqua River (OR), 80, 85, 93 “North Umpqua Story, The” (Hemingway), 91 Northwest Sportsman (publication), 83 Norway, 154 Nova Scotia, Canada, 47, 226 Oak Creek (AZ), West Fork, 268 Oakley, Annie, 105 Okinawa, Japan, 195 Okutadami Reservoir (Japan), 205 Okutama Fishery Cooperative, 206, 207 Olson, Ralph, 85 Omnibus Public Land Management Act (2009), 293 Onchorynchus, 79 Onchorynchus mykiss, 79. See also Pacific steelhead trout; rainbow trout; steelhead trout Operation Restore, 287 Oquossoc Angling Association, 325 Orange County Patriot, 110 Orange Free State (province, South Africa), 167 Orange-Vaal river system (South Africa), 170, 171 Orange-Vaal smallmouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus aeneus), 170, 171 Oregon chub, 300 Oregon Trout (organization), 93, 264 oriental weather loach, 217 Orleans, France, 33 Orvis (tackle company), 232, 294, 313

INDEX

Orvis, Charles, 232 Orvis, Laura Frederick, 232 Oshorokoma (Salvelinus malma malma), 216 Osprey (publication), 94, 97, 267 Otranto, Italy, 33 Oulu River (Finland), 145, 146, 152, 155, 156 Outdoor Life (publication), 82 overfishing, 9, 20, 38– 39, 71–72, 133– 34. See also poaching Ovid (medieval literary depiction), 32 Owen, Richard, 184– 85 Oxford University (UK), 180 Paasikivi, J. K., 153 Paatsjoki River (Finland), 154 Pacific chorus frogs, 229 PacificCorp (utility company), 293 Pacific Mine (UT), 291 Pacific Northwest, 80 Pacific Rivers Council, 270 Pacific salmon, 265, 267– 68 Pacific steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), 262, 267– 68 Page, Margot, 230 Paiute cutthroat trout, 286 Paladru, Lac (Lake) (France), 36 Palmer, Geoffrey, 188 Pamilo Rapids (Finland), 156 Panama Canal Treaty, 287 Paradise Valley, MT, 287 Pard, Allan, 115, 123 Paris, France, 32, 37, 42 Paris Hatchery, 278 Parker, John, 193, 194 passenger pigeon, 132, 137, 139 Paterson, NJ, 232 Patoonkoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Pautzke, Clarence, Assistant Secretary of the Interior (US), 256 Pavia, Italy, 32, 39 Pawnee Mountain Skipper (butterfly), 288 Pebble Mine, xiii, 16, 100, 293, Peigan. See Piikani Pellicane, Alfred T., 322–23 Pennask Lake (British Columbia, Canada), 246– 49, 248 Pennsylvania, 101–12, 323–24 Pennsylvania Eastern Brook Trout Habitat Initiative (TU), 291

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, 295 Pennsylvania Fish Commission, 280 Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Association, 323–24 Penobscot Indian Nation, 290 Penobscot River (ME), 290 Penobscot River Restoration Trust, 290 perch, 36, 65, 148 Pere Marquette River (MI), 128 Perhokalastajat (Finnish fly anglers’ club), 156 Perhokalastus (journal), 159 Pero, Tom, 93, 96 “Perspectives on Fisheries Conservation” (Bakke), 91 Peru, 226 Perugia, Italy, 40 Petsamo (Pechenga) region (Finland), 154 Petsamo River (Finland), 154 Philadelphia, PA, 101, 103, 106, 130, 231 Philadelphia Quakers, 103 Philip IV of France, King, 38 Phillips, Leonard Enig, 328 Piegan. See Piikani Piikani (Blackfoot group), 114 pike (Esox lucius), 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 60, 65, 148, 149. See also northern pike Pinchot, Gifford, 53, 243, 284 Pine Forest Range (NV), 293 Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), 79 Pinzgauer Zellersee (lake in Austria), 39 Pioneers, The (Cooper), 73 Pirie Hatchery (South Africa), 191 Pirie Mountain (South Africa), 183 Piscator. See Dunbar, George Towers, Jr. Piscator (South African publication), 172 pisciculture, 8, 10, 11–12, 40, 98, 138– 39, 138, 151, 185, 320, 344n49; D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture, 320; Great Britain, 185; Green, Seth, 8, 10, 138, 325; Michigan grayling, attempts at, 138– 39; Middle Ages, in, 40, 344n49; origins, 185. See also hatcheries Pit River (CA), South Fork, 228 “Place Called Pennask, A” (Thoms), 246 Plymouth, MA, 273 poaching, 152, 153, 157. See also overfishing

413

INDEX

Pocono Mountains (PA), 20, 101–12; fishing postcards, 103, 105 Pokagon Hatchery (MI), 139 Poland, 38 Pollard, Robert, 328 pollution, impacts upon fi shing, 38, 239 Pond, Fred E., 329 Poplar Run (PA), 106 Po River (Italy), 39 Porter, William, 63, 70, 74 Portsmouth-Weldon Railroad (NC), 70 Potmo Rapids (Finland), 148 Potomac River, 291 Powell, Edwin, 82 Pray, Jim, 81, 82 Primer on Fly Fishing, A (Haig-Brown), 244 Princeton University Libraries, 324 privatization, 39– 40, 242. See also public access Project Healing Waters, 295 Proper, Datus C., 323 Prosek, James, 7 public access, 23, 194, 242– 43, 292 public resource management, 242– 43 Puntarinkoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Puntarinkoski Rapids hatchery, 151 Puritan, 47– 48 Puuskankoski Rapids (Finland), 156 Puyallup River (WA), 88 Qualicum Fish and Game Association, 85 “quangos” (quasiautonomous nongovernment organizations, NZ), 188 Quebec (province), Canada, 132, 242, 318–19 Quick, James, 327 Quill Gordon (fly pattern), 101 quinnat salmon, 186– 87. See also Chinook salmon; king salmon Qureshi, Yasmeen, 247 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), x, 10, 11, 13, 124, 127, 135, 157, 161– 64, 166, 167, 169, 172–74, 177, 184, 196, 199, 205, 216, 217, 229, 234, 276, 286 Ramaphosa, Cyril, 181 Randolph, John W., 106 Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society, 324 Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum, 324–25

414

Rapid Creek (SD), 269 Rapture of the River, The (Hey, S.) (book), 180 Ravenna, Bishop of, 37 Ravenna, Italy, 37 Raymond, Steve, 90, 96 Read, Stanley, 238 recipes, 33– 34 Recollections of My Fifty Years of Hunting and Fishing (Mershon), 134 Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, 295 Recreational Fishing in Japan, 199, 202– 6, 208, 213, 216 recreation and recreational fishing, 7, 9, 15, 20, 23, 31, 42– 49, 58, 83, 98, 129, 135, 145, 148, 151, 153, 170, 182, 186, 187, 199, 202, 208, 210, 233, 240– 43, 246, 248, 250, 301 redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp.), 228 Red Brook watershed (MA), 267, 272–73 red fish, 65 Redfish Lake, 315 Redford, Robert, 288 Redmond, Bill, 97 Red River (LA), 71–72 Redwood Creek (Oakland, CA), 229 Redwood Sportsman’s Club, 86 reels (fishing), 65– 66, 67, 68, 69, 89, 148; museum collections, 313, 317, 318, 321, 327 regulation of fishing, 39– 40, 243 Reichle, MT, 286 Reiger, John F., 11, 46, 76, 239, 244 Reilly, William K., 288 Rekiranta, Heli, 144, 149 Relander, L. K., 153 religion, 7, 17, 19, 80; fishing, and, 30, 36, 41, 44– 45 “Remedy for Disappearing Game Fishes, A” (Hoover), 11 Remiremont, France, 31 Renfors, Herman, 147 Renfors, Maria, 147 reoxygenation weirs, 287 resource development, 3 resource extraction, 239, 248 restoration, river and stream, 158– 60, 215, 268, 290–93, 310 Reubens, John B., 329

INDEX

Rhine River (Europe), 42 Rhodes (South Africa), 171 Richard K. Mellon Foundation, 287 Richardson, Lee, 325 Rio Costilla (NM), 2, 304 Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis), 1, 2, 15, 268, 298, 304, 310 Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (NM), 292 Rio Grande River (NM), 292 Ripple Multimedia, 171 Rip Van Winkle (literary figure), 107 Rittershofen, Johann, 42 Riva, Bonvesin de la, 37 River Never Sleeps, A (Haig-Brown), 85, 91, 205 River of No Return Wilderness. See Frank Church— River of No Return Wilderness (ID) River Runs Through It, A (MacLean) (book), ix, xi, 288, 326 River Runs Through It, A (motion picture), 288, 326 Rivers of A Lost Coast (video), 99 Rivers of Restoration (Ross), 15 Roadless Rules, 289, 293 Roanoke River (NC), 70 Roberts, Don, 93 Rochester, NY, 231, 325 Rochester Museum and Science Center, 325 rockfish. See striped bass Rockwell Springs, OH, 283 Rocky Mountain National Park (CO), 266 “Rocky Riffle on the Rogue” (Grey), 82 rod (fly), 16, 30, 33, 48, 52, 54, 55, 60, 65, 66, 68, 69, 80, 82, 85, 89, 100, 119, 123, 126, 128, 134, 148, 150, 180, 182, 225, 230, 234; Cane Rod Makers School (Catskill Fly Fishing Museum), 319; museum collections, 318, 319, 321, 324, 327; spey rods, 234, 235, 245, 247, 253, 260, 275, 280, 283, 313, 314; tenkara traditional Japanese rod, 200–1, 202 Rod and Reel (publication), 232 Rogers, J., 110 Rogowski, Ted, 255, 273 Rogue River (OR), 80, 82; fishing, 82 Rogue River– Siskiyou National Forest, 293

Rome, Italy, 38, 40 Romney, George, 283 Ronalds, Alfred, 327 Rondegat River (South Africa), 175 rooi-vlerkje (South African native fish), 169 Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell, 10 Roosevelt, Theodore (“Teddy”), 54, 105, 257, 284 roosterfish, 234 Rosborough, Polly, 87 Roscoe, 111 Roseburg Rod and Gun Club, 85 Rowlandson, Thomas, 328 Royal Northwest Canadian Mounted Police, 120 Royal Wulff dry fly (fly pattern), 260 Ruling Passion, The (Van Dyke), 56 Rumigny, France, 32 Ruodlieb, Prince (literary), 31 Russian River Steelhead Coalition, 99 “Rustlers of Silver River” (Grey), 81 Ruth, William, 149 Ryti, Risto, 153 Saarijärvi (Finland), 156 Saarikoski Rapids (Finland), 154 “Sable River trout.” See Michigan grayling Sage, Dean, 320 Sage, Elizabeth, 320 Sagebrush Rebellion, 260 Saginaw, MI, 129, 132, 280, 281, 284 Saikku, L. A., Collection (photographs), 157, 158 Saima Canal (Finland), 146 Saint Lorenz Lutheran Church (Frankenmuth, MI), 281 Saitama Prefecture (Japan), 197, 215, 216 Sakata, Junichi, 216 Sakurai Masakazu, 204, 213 sakuramasu (amago), 217 Sakuramasu (O. masou, or yamame), 216, 218 Salmelainen, A. E., 148 salmon, 38, 144, 178– 82, 184– 87, 225, 227, 234, 262, 314–16. See also Atlantic salmon; Chinook salmon; chum salmon; coho salmon; king salmon; Pacific salmon; pink salmon; quinnat salmon; sockeye salmon Salmon, The (Haig-Brown), 249 Salmon Conservation League, 83

415

INDEX

salmonids, 115, 120–21, 123–24, 143– 45, 144, 178–79, 184, 186– 87, 196–98, 200–1, 205, 214, 216–18 Salmon Poisoning Research Collection, 323 Salmon Trout Steelheader (magazine), 87 salter brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), 267, 273 Salzburg Alps (Austria), 39 Sand County Almanac (Leopold), 3, 4 San Francisco, CA, 227, 229 Sarca River (Italy), 38 sardines, 37 Sauvé Crevasse flood (New Orleans, LA), 61, 75 Save Our Public Lands (organization), 260 Save Our Wild Salmon (organization), 270 Saw Creek, 104 Schaadt, Bill, 85 Schîonatulander (literary figure), 27–28, 31, 42, 43 Schmidt, Lydia, 284 schools. See fly fishing schools Schullery, Paul, x, xiv, 12, 13, 16, 182, 232, 237, 242– 43 Schultz, James Willard, 116, 118, 119–20 Schwab, Peter, 82 Schwiebert, Ernest, 20, 110, 283 Science of Dry Fly Fishing, The (Shaw), 151 Scotland (UK), 180 Scott, Genio, 10 Scott, Walter, 73 Scranton, PA, 104 sculpin, 36 Seager, Bob, 126–27 sea-robin, 313 Seattle Post Intelligencer, 83 Seattle Sportsman’s Association, 83 Seattle Times, 85 Seattle Trout Club of Washington, 83 Seccombe, Joseph, 48 “Seeking the New Generation of Trout Fishing in Japan” (seminar), 209 Seine River (France), 39 Seldon, Marty, 264, 267, 273 Serlachius, R. Erik, 158 Sforza, Ludovico, Duke of Milan, 32 shad (Alosa sapidissima), 38, 65, 70 Shakumono, 198 Shaw, Fred G., 151 Shaw, Helen, 224

416

Shaw, John, 186 Shelton, J., 169 Shenandoah River, 291 Sherman, Marty, 92 Shiels, William, 328 Shikoku Island (Japan), 195 Shimazaki, Kenshiro, 209 Shiraiwa, Takayuki, 195, 197, 198, 200, 202, 215 Sigismund of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Emperor, 29 Sigune (literary figure), 27 Siksika (Blackfoot group), 114, 117, 122 Silvius, Lloyd, 81 Simo River (Finland), 145, 146 Simuna hatchery (Finland), 153 Simunankosken Urheilukalastajain Yhdistys (Finnish anglers’ club), 153 Simuna Rapids (Finland), 152, 157 Simuna River (Finland), 156, 159 Sjöberg, Ola, 158 Skagit River (WA), 85, 94 Skeena River (British Columbia, Canada), 95, 100, 236, Skolt Sámi (Finnish aboriginal people), 154 Skues, G. E. M., 321, 324 Slaymaker, Sam, 324 smallmouth bass (M. dolomieu), 166, 168, 175 snail darter (perch species), 286 Snake River (Pacific Northwest), 85, 90, 91, 258– 60, 263 snapper (fish), 65, 313 Snowbird Resorts (UT), 291 Snyder, Sam, 16, 63, 310 “Social History in the Process of the Declined River Fisheries” (Sakurai), 204 social injustice, 240, 242, 250 Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals in the United Kingdom, 185 Society of Fish Reproduction (Japan), 205 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), 16, 79, 293, 315 Sol Duc River (WA), 99 Sopwell, UK, 233 South, Bob, 188–89 South Africa, x, 18, 21, 162–77, 163; acclimatization societies, 182, 183, 191– 92, 380n43; angling in, 168, 170; AngloBoer War, 180; biodiversity, 165– 66; colonization, 166– 67; economic impact

INDEX

of angling, 170–72, 177; fisheries legislation, 164, 168, 173; fishing licenses, 176–77; fishing regulations, 168, 173; fish sanctuaries (Critical Biodiversity Areas), 175, 176, 177; fish stocking, 183; fly fishing, indigenous species, 176–78, 181, 192; fly fishing in, 168, 170–72; fly fishing organizations, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174; fly fishing publications, 172, 177; Frontier Acclimatisation Society (FAS) (South Africa), 183, 191; indigenous fish species, 166, 169–70, 174–78; invasive fish species, 166–70, 173, 174–76; Jonkershoek Hatchery (Stellenbosch), 180, 190, 191, 193; Kamberg Trout Hatchery, 191, 192, 192; King Williamstown Naturalists Society, 183; Pirie Hatchery (South Africa), 191; piscicide use, 174, 175; provinces (map), 163; salmonids, 162– 65; 166– 67, 169– 72, 173–75; Transvaal Trout Acclimatisation Society (South Africa), 380n43; trout farming and hatcheries, 163– 64, 166– 68, 167, 172, 173; trout habitat, 162– 65, 163, 164; trout zones, 175, 175, 177; venison market in, 185; Western Cape (map), 175; Witte River, 164 South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, 173 Southern Oregon Coast Range, 293 South Holston Dam (VA), 287 South Holston River Gorge (VA), 290 South Humboldt Bay Conservation Club, 86 South Piegan. See Aamskaapipiikani South Platte River (CO), 287 South Tirol (province), Italy, 32 Soverel, Pete, 96 Soviet Union, 154 soyiitapiiksi (Underwater People), 115, 116– 17, 118, 120, 122, 123, 124–25 Sparse Grey Hackle (pseud. Alfred W. Miller), 328–29 Spearfish National Fish Hatchery. See D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture spearing, 151, 153, 154, 157 Sperry, B. W., 128 Spirit of the Times (periodical), 9, 61, 63– 65, 63, 69, 70, 74, 75, 76

spirituality, of fly fishing, 237 Splash (quarterly publication of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum), 321 Sponholz, Craig, 310 spoonbill catfish, 65, 71 sporting ethics, 239, 244, 245, 250 sporting values, 241, 244, 245 Sports Afield, 82, 85 Sportsman’s Alliance for Marcellus Conservation, 291 Sportsmen for the Copper- Salmon Wilderness, 293 spotted bass (M. punctulatus), 166, 168 Sprague River (OR), 293 Squeri, Lawrence Louis, 103 sspommitapiiksi (above people), 114–15 “State of the Steelhead” (Tomine), 15–16 St. Charles Hotel and tackle shop (New Orleans, LA), 66– 67, 67 fig. 3.2 Steamboat Inn (Idleyld Park, OR), 86, 92, 95 Steelhead: Drift Fishing and Fly Fishing (Amato), 89 “Steelhead Angling Comes of Age” (HaigBrown), 90 Steelhead Committee (FFF), 267– 68 Steelhead Country (Raymond), 96 Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies (Combs), 90, 96 Steelhead on a Fly? Here’s How (McLeod), 89 “Steelhead or Atlantic Salmon” (Brooks), 89 Steelhead River Journal, 96 Steelhead to a Fly (Krieder and Fleet), 86 steelhead trout, 15–16, 85– 86, 89, 90, 96, 167, 227, 234, 259– 62, 267– 68, 276, 293 Steelhead Trout, The (Combs), 89 Steelhead Trout: Dynamite Dressed in Sheer Silver (Lampman), 85 “Steelhead Trout on the Rogue River” (Backus), 81 Steenrod, Roy, 319 Stellenbosch, South Africa, 180, 190; Jonkershoek fish hatchery, 167; trout, introduction of, 191 Stellenbosch University. See University of Stellenbosch Stephans Bridge (Grayling, MI), 275 Stevens, Carrie, 224, 325 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 55

417

INDEX

Stikine River (British Columbia, Canada), 236 St. Joe River (ID), 262, 266 stocking (of fish), 108, 121–22, 123. See also hatcheries; pisciculture Stoddart, Alfred, 326 Stone, Livingston, 11 St. Petersburg-Viipuri (Vyborg) Railway, 146 Strathmere, NJ, 313 striped bass, 60, 65, 70 Stroebel, Diane, 284 Stromberg, Kasja, 269 Stroudsburg, PA, 104 Strung, Norman, 323 sturgeon, 39, 65, 259 subsistence fisheries, 35– 36 Succulent Karoo (biome, South Africa), 165 Summers, Bob, 277 Sunrise in the Catskills (Thomas Cole painting), 107 Sun Valley, ID, 256 Suomen Urheilukalastajain Liitto (SUKL, Finnish Federation of Anglers), 151– 53, 156, 159, 161 Superior, Lake, 127 Supreme Court (US), 287 Susitna Dam (AK— proposed), 294 Susquehanna River, West Branch (PA), 291 Sutcliffe, Tom, 172 Swammerdam, Jan, 73 Sweden, 155 Sycan River, 293 Tabbert, Bob, 264 Tabor, Toby, 123, 124 Tadami River (Japan), 205 Taimeninstituutti (Trout Institute, Finland), 160 Tait, Arthur Fitzwilliam, 107, 318 Tales of Fishes (Grey), 81 Tales of Professional Fishermen (Tomon), 201 Talkeetna, Alaska, 294 Tama River (Japan), 206, 207, 218 Tanaka, Kakuei, 204 Tanner (Mershon’s friend), 137 tarpon (Megalops atlanticus), 65 Tasmania, Australia, 184 Taupo, Lake (NZ), 190 Taupo District (NZ), 190 Taupo Fishing Regulations (1984, NZ), 190

418

Taupo River (NZ), 184 Taylor, David, 287 Taylor, Joseph, 243 Taylor, Kate, 234 Ted Trueblood Collection, 258– 60 Tegernsee (Germany) compilation of fi shing advice, 42 Tegernsee Abbey (Germany), 36, 41 TEK (traditional ecological knowledge), 40– 41, 43 Tellico Dam project (TN), 286– 87 tench (Tinca tinca), 37, 168 tenkara (Japanese traditional fly fishing), 200–1, 202, 202, 214 tenkara rod, 200–1, 202 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 286– 87 Teno (Tana-Deatnu) River (Finland), 145, 154, 155 Thames River (UK), 41 Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers, 86, 110, 253– 55, 257, 295 Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, 270 Theuderic, King (Frankish), 33 Thompson’s Landing (MI), 131 Thoms, Michael, 241, 245– 47 Thoreau, Henry David, 46, 50, 59, 72, 75 Thorpe, Thomas Bangs, 63– 64 threespot pompano (South African native fish) (Trachinotus botla), 176 Thurston, F. H., 133 Ticino River (Italy), 39 Tidskrift för Jägare och Fiskare (Journal), 147 Tiitola, Matti, 158 Time Magazine, 244 Tobyhanna, PA, 104 Tohoku region (Japan), fishing in, 200 Tokyo, Japan, 197, 206, 208, 218 Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., 218 Toledo, OH, 132 Tomah Jo (fly pattern), 231 Tomine, Dylan, 15, 99 Tomon Hideo, 201 Tomorrow’s Fly Fishers (fi lm), 384n24 Tom’s Creek (PA), 104 Tongariro National Trout Centre (NZ), 189–90; fish hatchery, 189–90; Tongariro National Trout Centre Society, 190 Tongass National Forest (AK), 294 Tornio (Torneå) River (Finland), 145, 155

INDEX

Törnwal, L. O., 156 “Tragedy of Steelhead, The” (Tomine), 99 Transvaal Province (South Africa), 167 Transvaal Trout Acclimatisation Society (South Africa), 380n43 Trasimene, Lake (Italy), 40 Traun River (Austria), 29, 37 Traverse Bay (MI), 128, 282 Traverse City, MI, 282 Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, A (attr. to Berners), 28, 30, 43– 44, 233 trevally (South African native fish) (Caranx ssp.), 176 Treviso, Italy, 30 trout. See amago; Apache trout; brook trout; brown trout; bull trout; carpione; Dolly Varden trout; Gila trout; greenback cutthroat trout; lake trout; native trout; Paiute cutthroat trout; Pacific steelhead; rainbow trout; redband trout; Rio Grande cutthroat trout; salter brook trout; steelhead trout; westslope cutthroat trout; wild trout; yamame; Yellowstone cutthroat trout Trout (magazine; formerly TROUT Unlimited, Quarterly), 87, 93, 281, 285 Trout and Salmon Foundation, 267 Trout Bungalow monument (South Africa), 193, 194 Trout Culture: How Fly Fishing Forever Changed the Rocky Mountain West (Brown, C.), x, xii Trout Fishing in the Cape Colony (Manning), 172 Trout Forum (organization; Japan), 207–10, 211, 215 Trout in the Classroom (TIC) initiative (TU), 294–95 Trout Unlimited (TU) (organization), 5, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 89, 90, 97, 138, 140, 245, 264, 267, 269, 270, 272, 274–96, 322; Back the Brookie/Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, 290–91; brook trout restoration, 290–92; Bring Back the Natives, 288– 89; budget, 296; chapters, 275, 282– 84, 286–90, 295, 296; Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration, 291– 92; conventions, 282– 83, 284; Driftless Area Restoration Effort (DARE), 292; Embrace-A- Stream, 287; Environmental Achievement Award, 291; First Cast

(youth program), 295; Five Rivers (collegiate fishing clubs), 295; foundation plaque at Barbless Hook, 276; founding of, 276– 81; fracking mitigation, 291; fundraising, 282, 292, 296; goals (mission), 296; Great Falls Dam (CT) removal campaign, 289; Home Rivers Initiative, 288– 89; Kennebec River (ME) dam removal, 289; Klamath River basin restoration, 293; legislation and legal action, 287, 289, 291, 293– 94; meetings, 278– 80, 282, 285; membership, 275, 282, 288; mine cleanup, 291; National Board of Review (formerly National Board of Scientific Advisors), 281; National Fish Habitat Action Plan (TU), 290; Operation Restore, 287; Pacific Mine (UT) cleanup project, 291; Pebble Mine (AK— proposed), 293–94; Penobscot River (ME) dam removal project, 290; Pennsylvania Eastern Brook Trout Habitat Initiative, 291; Project Healing Waters, 295; publications, 281– 83, 285; Public Lands Initiative, 289; Roadless Rules, 289, 293; South Holston River Gorge (VA) trail, 290; Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, 289; staff and leadership, 275, 280, 282– 84, 288, 289, 296; Tellico Dam project (TN), 286– 87; Trout (magazine; formerly TROUT Unlimited, Quarterly), 281, 285; Trout in the Classroom (TIC) initiative, 294–95; trout symposium (1964), 284– 85; TU Stream Explorers, 295; Two Forks Dam project (CO), 287– 88; Veazie Dam (ME) removal project, 290; Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (VTSSS) (University of Virginia/TU), 291; Western Water Project, 289; Western Wilderness Areas initiative, 292–93 Trueblood, Ted, 85, 87, 90, 257, 258– 60, 258, 259 Trust for Public Lands (organization), 264 Tsumagoi Prefecture, 201 Tsuri-Doraku (publication; Japan), 216 TU Stream Explorers, 295 Tulln, Austria, 37 Tuntsa River (Finland), 154 Tuolumne River (CA), 383n13, 383n15 Tweedsmuir, Lord, Governor- General of Canada. See Buchan, John

419

INDEX

Two Forks Dam project (CO), 287– 88 Two Medicine, Lake, 119–20 Udall, Stewart (US Secretary of Interior), 284 Ugui (Tribolodon hakonensis), 218 Umpqua River, 84 Union- Castle Mail Steamship Company, 186 United States, 181, 214 United States Fish Commission, 11, 12 United States Supreme Court, 89, 91, 250 University of British Columbia Rare Books and Special Collections/Archives, 238, 248, 325 University of California, Berkeley, 227, 257, 280 University of Chicago Library, 326 University of Chicago Press, ix University of Michigan, 129, 132, 280, 283 University of New Hampshire Library Angling Collections, 326–27 University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), 190 University of Vermont, 226 University of Washington Press, xii Uono River (Japan), 200 Uonuma Fishery Cooperative, 205 Upper Campbell Lake (BC, Canada), 238 Upper Peninsula (MI), 127, 132 Urheilukalastajan käsikirja (The Angler’s Handbook), 153 Urheilukalastus (Journal), 148, 159 US Army Corps of Engineers, 75 US Bureau of Land Management, 267, 268, 288, 315–16 US Bureau of Reclamation, 286 USDA Forest Service, 267 US Fish and Wildlife Service, 226, 256, 267, 268, 286, 288, 315–16, 320. See also Department of Fish and Game US Forest Service, 284, 288, 289, 291 US Geological Survey, 269 US vs. Washington (court case), 89, 91, 250 utilitarianism, 243 Vaal River (South Africa), 177; fishing on, 171 Vainio, V. H., 154, 155 “Valiant Steelhead Trout, The” (Lampman), 85 Valladolid, Spain, 32

420

Valles Caldera National Preserve (NM), 292 Valle Vidal (NM), 2, 292, 304, 310 Van Coervering, Jack, 277 Vancouver Island, 80 Van Demark, Dick, 96, Van Dyke, Henry, 5, 46, 48, 53, 54, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 326–27 Van Fleet, Clark, 86 Van Gytenbeek, R. P., 89, 97, 98 Van Loan, Jim, 95 Van Luven, Harry, 82 Vantaa River (Finland), 160 Vasa Kings, 146 Veazie Dam (ME), 290 vendace (Coregonus albula), 160 venison, 185 Verona, Italy, 30, 32 Vibert, Richard, 262 Vienna, Austria, 33 Villiers, Riki de, 163 Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (VTSSS) (University of Virginia/TU), 291 Virtavesien hoitoyhdistys (Society for Stream Conservation; Finland), 160 Vokey, April, 236 Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture. See D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery and Archives and Von Bayer Museum of Fish Culture von Eschenbach, Wolfram, 27, 29 Vörchel, Martin, 42 Vosges (department), France, 31 Vosges River (France), 38 Vuoksi River (Finland), 145, 146, 152 Vuolenkoski Rapids (Finland), 152, 156 Wagstaff, David, 328 Wahl, Ralph E., 327 Waitaki River (NZ), 187 Wallenius, William, 151, 153 walleye (Sander vitreus), 128 Wall Street Journal, 276 Walter Reed Army Medical Center (DC), 295 Walters, Stan, 254 Walton, Izaak, x, 1, 6, 7, 19, 50, 58, 68, 72– 73, 320, 323, 327 Wanigas Rod Company, 280, 283– 84 Warner, Charles Dudley, 55 Warren, Julianne Newton, 12 Washington (state), 253, 263

INDEX

Washington Fly Fishing Club, 84 Washington State Conservation Association, 83 Washington State Department of Game, 83, 84 Washington State Sportsman’s Council, 83, 92, 93 Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts Archives and Special Collections, 327 Washington Trout (organization), 96 Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices (Wood), 316 Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada), 122 Webster, Daniel, 75 Weissbarth, Frank D., 298 Weisskönig (autobiography of Maximilian I), 33 Welch, Herb, 325 Wellesley College (MA), 225 Wells, H. G., 275 Wells, Sam, 82 West, Benjamin, 328 Westell, Casey E., 280, 283 Western Angler, The (Haig-Brown), 81, 85, 244, 245, 249 Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (WCNCB), 174, 175 Western Europe, 146 Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections, 327 Western Water Project, 289 Western Wilderness Areas initiative, 292–93 westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi), 115, 124, 262, 266 West Yellowstone, MT, 322 Whal, Ralph, 82, 85 Whale People, The (Haig-Brown), 249 Wharton, Joe, 82 “What is a Steelhead? Identity of Steelhead Trout Discussed” (Grey), 82 Wheatley, Francis, 328 whitefish (Coregonus ssp.), 36, 39, 145 Whitefish Press, 68 White River (AR), 262 Whitlock, Dave, 262 Whitlock-Vibert box (WVB), 260, 262– 63 Wiesen bei Rinn (Austria), 33 Wig, Daryl, 122 Wiik, Walter, 151, 153

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968), 257, 260 Wildcat Creek (Richmond, CA), 230, 384n23 Wild Fish Conservancy, 99 Wildfly (outfitters, South Africa), 192, 193–94 Wildlife Act (NZ), 188 Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation Collection (Washington State University Libraries), 327 Wildlife Management Institute, 283 Wild Salmon Center, 96, 97 Wild Steelhead Coalition, 5, 97, 98, 100 wild trout, 13, 160, 161, 215 Wild Trout Symposia, 267. See also native fish species Wild Turkey Federation, 272 William B. Mershon Collection. See Mershon Collection/Archives Williams, Andrew, 97 Williams, Austin, 296 Williams, G. William “Soapy” (governor of Michigan), 278 Williams, Jack, 296 Williams, Rick, 85, 86, 264– 65 Williams, Ted, 318 Williamson River, 293 Willowemoc River (NY), 102, 108, 109, 111, 289 Wiltshire, Bob, 269 Winston Fly Rods, 82 Withern, Bob, 87 Witte River (South Africa), 164 Wolstenholme, Dean, 328 Woman Flyfishers Club, 228 women in fly fishing, 18, 21, 223– 36. See also gender issues in fishing Wonderful South Africa (publication), 183 Wood, Arthur H. E., 328 Wood, Chris, 289, 316 Wood River, 293 Wootton, John, 328 Worde, Wynkyn de, 28, 30 World War I, 199 World War II, 154, 155, 202, 204 Worms, Germany, 37 Wulff, Joan Salvato, 19, 224, 232– 33, 234– 35, 261 Wulff, Lee, 8, 9, 19, 80, 87, 232– 33, 254– 56, 260– 61, 261, 282– 83, 318, 319, 329 Wulff School of Fly Fishing, 233 Wyoming Range, 289

421

INDEX

Yale Center for British Art, 328 Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 328–29 yamame (Oncorhynchus masou masou), 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 206, 214 Yellow Breeches Creek (PA), 294 yellowfish, 170–71, 171, 174, 176, 177 Yellowfish Working Group. See under Federation of South Africa Fly Fishers Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri), 266, 269, 273 Yellowstone Lake, 269

422

Yellowstone National Park (US), 121, 210, 266, 269, 270, 273 Yellowstone River (Montana), 114, 287 Yosemite National Park (US), 227 Zako River (Japan), 201 Zaragoza, Spain, 30 Zeno, San (Italian saint), 30 Zern, Ed, 87 Ziegler, Alvin, 106 Zürich See (Switzerland), 41