Winter Has Arrived

Rachael and I took the girls to Seattle for Thanksgiving to visit family and had a great trip. It was a quick trip filled with lots of good family time...not quite enough time to wet a line, though. The region is well known for its salmon and steelhead fishing, as well as a place to target sea-run cutthroat trout. The weather was quite wet, with rain and snow; I'll bet the steelheading on the Olympic Peninsula is prime right now. We arrived home last night to find extreme winter conditions here. There is a good snowpack in the valley already, and an unusually deep snowpack in the mountains for this time of year. It's still snowing today with more forecast for the week. The La Nina weather pattern we are currently in should give us a wet winter. Skiing should be great and our water content next year promises to be healthy. The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort opened yesterday for the season. The entire mountain opened...top to bottom, which almost never happens this early. Not much to report on the fishing front; for now, this image tells the story around here...

No More Dams!

The weather around Western Wyoming has begun its transition into late fall mode. The cottonwoods and aspens have completely shed their leaves, the sky is grey and the wind is blowing. A winter storm watch is in effect for the weekend and the 2010 fly-fishing season is now a distant memory for me. Time to start thinking about some skiing! In the meantime, here is yet another update regarding the Green River dam proposal for the Warren Bridge area.

The last report I gave made it sound as if this project had no possibility of going through. There was yet another article to run on this story in the Jackson Hole Daily last week. Click this link for all of the details: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6676 The recommendation from the Wyoming Water Development Commission to not fund this study apparently stemmed from opposition from Governor Dave Freudenthal. It now looks like our new Governor-elect Matt Mead may in fact support this project. Let's hope not!

Just after this story ran, another disturbing story made the front page a day later. There is growing support over the hill in Idaho to rebuild the Teton Dam, on the Teton River. This project would flood and fill the beautiful Teton Canyon. The original dam broke on June 5, 1976 releasing 300,000 acre feet of water and killing 14 people. Idaho farmers are worried about back-to-back drought years and think that rebuilding this dam will solidify their water needs. This has yet to be determined. The Teton Canyon is a critical winter range for Mule Deer and Elk, not to mention a pristine fishery for wild trout. Click this link for more info: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6679 There certainly must be other solutions out there to address the water needs of farmers and ranchers. Here's to more days like this on the Green River...good times with Scott Smith and Tom Montgomery. Happy Thanksgiving!

Green River Update

Since my last post, local anglers have received good news regarding the proposed Green River dam above Warren Bridge, South of Jackson. Members of the Wyoming Water Development Commission turned down a funding request of $750,000 to study whether or not we need to build a $45,000,000 dam on the Green River. Although the issue is not completely dead in the water, it has now jumped a major hurdle in turning it down. In December, Wyoming state legislators on the select water committee will decide if anything warrants the proposal to move into the legislature for discussion. From everything I have seen and heard, it looks like it will likely not move forward. Water Development commissioner and local Jackson resident Bill Resor cited many reasons why we don't need to dam the Green, including the fact that the recreational arguements for building a dam there "don't hold up". Thanks Bill!! Here's a link to the most recent story that ran in our local paper this week: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?ctg=4 Thanks for all of the feedback from my readers on this. Your emails helped! Here's a pair of Green River rainbows that Scott Smith and I successfully released below Warren Bridge that will be very happy with this news!

A Dam On The Green River?

Sublette County Wyoming commissioners are steadily moving forward with a plan to dam the Green River about a mile above the Warren Bridge. Proponents of this project want to take more control of water rights on the river and potentially harness hydro-power near the headwaters of the Green River, just south of Jackson Hole. They are also claiming that there are other benefits such as "boating, camping and fisheries". Guess what...it's already there, and we don't need to put a dam up for those reasons. There is already world-class camping, fishing and driftboating found here. For those readers who are not familiar with the area, the Green above and below the Warren Bridge is an exceptional trout stream, home to trophy Brown, Rainbow and Cutthroat trout. It is also home to a healthy Brook Trout population and native Whitefish. The amount of public access above Warren Bridge through mostly BLM land is unrivaled. The area is also right in the middle of a very critical migration corridor for Antelope. It seems to me that putting a dam up in this pristine area would prove to be a devastating decision that could not be reversed. The Wyoming Water Development Commission and Legislature’s Selective Water Committee met in Casper today and will meet tomorrow to consider the request for funding. There will be a vote tomorrow, and a final vote in December to decide on the future of this proposal. Your comments can be emailed to this commission before the December vote. For those of you that have been with me on a guided trip on this unique fishery, or have been there on your own experiencing the great camping and fishing, please consider passing along your thoughts to this commission. Here are two different email addresses to use that will be forwarded to this commission: jwade@state.wy.us or mpurce@state.wy.us. Also, here is a link to the article on this that ran in today's Jackson Hole Daily: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6644 Enjoy a photo I took this summer of the beautiful Green River as it meanders above the Warren Bridge through sagebrush country. The second picture exemplifies why we visit the Green: a perfect Green River Brown trout. More soon...