WEBVTT - Ep. 480: Future Wild - A Brighter Future for Trout, Salmon, and Anglers with Chris Wood 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:05.560 Hunters and anglers have a superpower. I have it, You 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:09.520 probably have it. I think just about any outdoorsman or 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:12.280 woman out there who has fallen in love with the 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:17.200 pursuit of turkeys or trout, walleye or white tails. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:18.520 Probably has it too. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:26.520 And that superpower, that incredible gift, is optimism. Despite all 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.880 the failed casts, the skunked outings, the seasons that just 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.559 don't go your way, we keep returning to the field, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.720 into the water, believing that it's all gonna be different 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.920 this time, Today is going to be the day. This 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:45.000 is gonna be the year. Just this one last cast, 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.800 it's gonna be the one. To hunt or fish simply 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.600 demands this kind of optimism, and almost to an unseemly degree, 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.600 And because of that demand, it also seems to breed 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.480 more of that same thing, at least from what I 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.440 can tell, the more you hunt or fish, the more 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.920 it seems that you become the kind of person that 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.880 believes good things can happen and that you can. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:09.880 Make those good things happen. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.400 It's for that reason I believe that hunting and fishing 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.920 conservation organizations have become some of the most active and 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:18.200 effective in. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:19.000 The entire world. 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.000 These groups, these causes are armed not only with well 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:27.720 appointed strategies and smart people and staff, but also an 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:32.600 army of true believers, men and women who believe that yes, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:37.479 things will work out. Today will be the day things. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:42.679 Can get better. Take, for example, trout and salmon and. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.320 The many millions of people who obsess over them, myself included. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.880 As is the case with so many fish and wildlife today, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.720 trout and salmon do face some real challenges amidst this 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:54.560 changing world. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.480 But at the same time, there. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.440 Is very real cause for optim about their future too, 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.240 and much of that I believe is because of the 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:11.080 legions of incredibly, maybe rationally optimistic anglers who have dedicated 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.480 themselves and sometimes their entire lives, to making sure that 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:15.680 that better future. 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:16.720 Becomes a reality. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:22.239 One such angler and optimist is Chris Wood, the president 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.800 and CEO of Trout Unlimited, one of the largest and 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.440 most influential conservation groups in the hunting and fishing world. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.239 I've asked Chris to join me here today to help 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.560 me better understand exactly what that future might look like 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.680 for the fish and the rivers and the still waters 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.519 that so many of us know and love, and why 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:49.120 and how a brighter future might actually be possible. Trout 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.160 and Salmon have a lot going for them, and I think, 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.520 notably that can include us. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:57.120 Thanks for being here. 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:03.040 This is Future Wild presented by Concert First Bank. Chris Wood, 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:04.720 Thank you so much for joining me. 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.079 Hey, Mark, it's good to see you man. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.040 I'm glad we're doing this again, this time on a 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.200 different show, a different kind of platform. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.360 But any excuse to get to chat with one. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.440 Of the most well respected leaders of one of the 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.800 most well respected conservation organizations that I know of is 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:26.760 a treat I'm certainly appreciative of. 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.600 So I'm not sure I deserve that introduction, but I 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.680 love chatting with you, and I love the work you do, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:34.760 so it's great to be here. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.440 Well, I apologize then for what I'm about to do 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:38.960 to you here, Chris, because I want to start with 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:45.120 a doozy. I'm gonna drop you right in, and I 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.040 want you to help explain a dilemma, the dilemma that 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.280 I think many of the folks listening to this show 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.360 can relate to. I would love for you to explain 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:02.280 for me why it is that Sam Men and Trout 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.560 drive so many of us absolutely nuts. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:07.880 Why is it driven. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.480 Why has it driven so many of us crazy and 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.720 obsessed us and hooked us and caused us to spend 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.880 so many of our our vacation days and our savings accounts, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.000 and our our sanity in pursuit of them? 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.440 What is it about these fish? 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.920 I don't know, I mean what I mean, I can 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.640 think of one or two things that might be better 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.360 than fishing for drout and salmon, but I'm not sure 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:36.479 I know what they are, so I don't really I 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.040 think I'm going to object to the nature of your question. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:44.920 I mean, well, you know, it's it's I think there's 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.160 probably a complex and a simple answer. I think the 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.880 the complex answer is that there's something about these critters 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:55.640 that live below the surface of the water. And it's different. 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.320 I know both both you and I hunt, and it's different. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.080 When you're hunt, to be, I mean, you're sort of 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.320 in your element, and and when you're fishing, you're not 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.719 in your element. And it takes a lot of knowledge 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:15.279 and experience and time spent to become a really good angler. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.560 And I can't think of a single time that I 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:24.640 went fishing in my life where I didn't learn something 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.440 a single time. And it's I mean, and as much 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:29.960 as I love the hunt, it's not that way when 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.600 I hunt and so and and you're always becoming a 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.880 better angler, always just by the people you talk to, 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:43.360 the more time you spend on the water. And then 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:48.279 I think there's a there's a there's a more complex 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:54.400 answer as well, and that's you know, it's uh it's 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.520 for me and not to get too woo woo here, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:02.839 but fishing is almost in affirmation of our ability to 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.880 experience the wonder of God's creation. I mean, it is. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.120 It's just such a even whether it's out here on 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.520 the Potomac or I just just finished writing a piece 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.240 that we're going to publish soon, trying to encourage people 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.280 to perhaps as it gets warm and we're about to 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.480 hit like one hundred and five degrees this week here, 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.880 to maybe think a little bit less about going out 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.080 for trout in this kind of weather, and maybe, as 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.800 I've been doing lately, you know, start plying waters like 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:39.200 the Potomac with big Klauser minnows and full sync line 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.560 to go after giant blue cats which can which can 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:48.680 use the hurt because they're not they're invasive and uh 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.719 d c are our d n r here in Washington 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.880 actually encourages you do poke them in the head when 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:59.800 you catch them. Very different though, very different than trout 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:04.039 and catch and release. Yes, but I just think there's 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.840 just something magical about being on the water. I was 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.760 out this weekend speaking of the Potomac. We've got this 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.480 little friends group that I'm a part of here called 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.240 Friends of Fletcher's Cove, And we did this event on 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:22.080 Saturday with this organization called Blue Star Families, and this 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:27.280 is serving military families and trying to get them into 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.480 the out of doors, like trying to help military families 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:35.000 through outdoor experiences. And we had about twenty five kids. 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.640 I think I had. I had, I know, I had 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.280 two parents and two little kids. So the youngest was 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:48.280 probably four and the older daughter was probably six or seven. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:54.400 And just I mean, you know, between untangling the lines 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.880 and answering questions about everything that, especially that little boy saw, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.840 I mean, every single thing I had, I had the 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.280 best time I've had in weeks. And they caught fish 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.240 and and and and now they're hooked, you know, And 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.280 so there's just something special about that. And so I 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:13.920 don't think of it as a curse. I think of 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:14.720 it as a blessing. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:16.160 I'm right there with you. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.200 Uh, and I can I can certainly relate to that 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.280 second hand joy that comes from teaching right somebody else. 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.400 I'm in the throes of that with my with my 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.960 two young sons. We we just spent the past weekend 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.880 up at our family deer camp and uh, we also 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:33.680 did a lot of fishing. We've had a little creak 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.720 on the property where there's a little brookies, so we're 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:37.760 trying to get the boys on some little brookies. And 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.840 then in the evenings we go to a lake down 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.920 the road and they catch bluegill and uh, and yeah, 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:47.559 it's it's so much fun to see them. Two things, 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.280 one seeing them discovering the love of it and the 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.880 joy of it and and and like you mentioned, like 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.800 there's there's a different they recognize and appreciate all the 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:59.760 things that we take for granted. After having done this 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.880 for decades, they find so much joy just the excitement of. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:04.840 Look at look at the eye, look at look at 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.960 how beautiful that eyeball is, you know, anything like that. 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:13.560 But then also the the really interesting, uh opportunity you 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:15.880 have to see someone figuring it out, not just how 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:17.839 cool it is but figuring out how to do this thing, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.559 how to how to do this kind of complex activity 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:26.920 that requires some precision and some uh a number of 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:28.480 different things all working right together. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:30.080 That's really fun to see in a young person. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.880 Uh yeah, amen, And you know one of the things 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:35.520 I love about. And my kids are older now than yours, 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.360 and so we're past this phase. But I get this 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.480 vicariously through these weekends where we do stuff like we 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.200 did with the Blue Star families this weekend. You know, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.920 one of the kids, so we have these uh, these 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.920 cool like shale formations almost like these striations in the rock, 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.200 and this you know, four year old boy, you know, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.000 after asking me about like scars all over my body 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.240 and why I was losing my hair and are you 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.120 sweating so much? And he looked at the rocks and said, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.160 why are the rocks like that? And you know, I 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.000 looked at him. I thought, I don't know, I'm gonna 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.760 have to go look that up. Yeah. So kids they 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.679 also teach us, you know, they they help us to 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.080 see things that I've fished that river a thousand times, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.240 maybe ten thousand, and I've never really wondered about those rocks. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.080 But I can be I can tell you for sure. 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.000 This week I will look that up and find out 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.040 why are the rocks striated that way? 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:29.520 Yeah? 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.320 Is there is there any moment in your own life 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:36.080 when you were getting into these things that you can 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.240 point back to as standing out as a moment when 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:43.160 you realized, oh wow, these fish, this experience with them, 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.440 this is like it's got me you. Was there a 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.080 moment for you or some series of moments when all 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.080 of a sudden you realize, like your life is different 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.200 now because this thing is so something. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.960 Yeah, you know, it's funny you ask that, and a 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.680 lot of people assume that because I can't you know, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.800 I work at Child Unlimited, that I came here because 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.800 I love to fish, and I do. Don't get me wrong, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.440 I'm a freak. I love I love to fish and hunt. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.520 But I came here because of conservation. It was it was, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:18.720 you know, the desire to protect wild places and and 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:23.040 restore areas that led me here. And and so I 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.640 my fishing background is is it's uh, it's more checker 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.600 than pedigree. I remember I was. I went to school 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:38.160 in Vermont and I had the Orvis. They still make this. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:42.439 It's like the tenth edition. Tom Rosenbauers, you know, orvis 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.440 Guide Oorvis one oh one guide to fly fishing. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:47.560 I'm sure you do. 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.880 We all do. And I remember sitting on my dorm floor, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.080 you know, cross leged. It was also obvious and black 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:57.720 and white when it was on paper. And then I 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.040 get to the river and I didn't care a trout 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.320 for the first thirteen times I went on the unlucky 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:06.040 thirteenth I caught a trout and I'll tell you how 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:11.040 I caught it. I was untying a knot in the line, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.520 not even a knot in the leader, so it was 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:21.719 this Gorgian knot and in the line, and my zugbug 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.520 was trailing behind me. I had a little zugbug on 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:30.240 and after about five minutes, some trout came by and 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.000 ate the zug bug that was trailing fifteen feet behind 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:38.040 me in the That was how I caught my first trout. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:40.120 That's amazing. 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.920 Yeah, but you know, but it's I you know, I 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:49.040 think if there was ever a time where I kind 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:50.880 of realized this is it, this is what I want 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:52.520 to do it, and I think I've shared this story 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.680 with you so I won't do it again. But it 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.400 was in Alaska, and there I discovered salmon. And you know, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.600 I grew up in New Jersey in the northeast had 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.920 you know, we didn't have any public lands in New Jersey, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.600 and it wasn't until I graduated and I went on 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.439 this cross country trip across America with my dog Gus 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.960 in a big box of Dnty Moore beastew and you know, 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.080 we camped our way across America, and it was just 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.200 incredible to me this notion that you know, you just 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.080 by virtue of being an American citizen, I have the 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.480 right to camp on all these lands, and in fact, 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.800 not only I own them, and you know, for most 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:34.640 of us, it's all the land we're ever going to own. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.320 And that's where I discovered the love of public lands. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.080 But the love of fishing happened later that summer. I 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.599 went to visit my friend and Mickey, and I discovered 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.400 salmon and the life cycle of these remarkable creatures that 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.520 you know. They they they're reared in fresh water, they 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.520 remained there for varying times, migrate out to the ocean. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.240 They come back after a certain period of time to 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.280 the very place they were born to have sex one 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:10.200 time before they die, and then their bodies, their decaying bodies, 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.920 provide the nutrients that keep those systems intact. And I 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:17.360 was so I was so captivated and taken by that. 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.960 And again, sadly, this is when I was like twenty 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:25.720 six years old. Shows how ignorant I was, you know, 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.920 but I remember that sentiment of learning about salmon and saying, 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:30.840 I want to save the salmon, that's what. And I 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.160 was trying to figure out what I wanted to do 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.320 with my career, and I was like, that's it. I 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:36.840 want to save the salmon. I want to be part 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.640 of this great movement of all of us to try 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.600 to recover these most remarkable of God's creatures. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.520 What's that? What's that journey? 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.920 What does it feel like to have been on that 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:56.240 journey now for all the years since then, to have 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:00.160 had a moment like that so impactful, so real and tangible, well, 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.200 and then saying I want to I want to help 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.120 protect this thing. And now many years later, you've you've 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.360 been a very real, intangible part of doing just that. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.800 How does that feel to be able to look back 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:12.280 and see that trajectory? 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.640 It feels great. I mean, look, when I was in 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.480 high school, I was. I went to Saint Peter's in 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.400 Jersey City, and it's a Jesuit with school, and I 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.800 had a great uh. He was a former Green Beret 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.520 in the Vietnam War who was who taught theology, and 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.520 I was convinced after taking his class as a sophomore, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.600 I wanted to be a priest. And and I was 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.000 fine with the vow of obedience, and I was fine 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.600 with the vow of poverty. It turns out that the 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.720 valve of chastity became a bit of a bridge too far. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.680 And I get it. 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:56.720 Yeah, but but and the family is in the and 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.000 but I have that same sense of service every day 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.560 that I go to work. I mean, I have told 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.720 people that that we have a group of interns. We 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.640 have three of them in here right now, and I 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:11.960 tell them the same thing every time I meet with interns, 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:13.760 that you know, I come to work every morning like 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.760 it's Christmas morning, because I truly I get the sense 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.080 that we're trying to make the world a better place. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:24.560 And whether you're doing that through conservation or through you know, 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.400 service as a priest, or through whatever else you can 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.680 do to give back to the world, I just think 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.480 it's a great thing. So I'm I'm. You know, I've 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.800 got brothers that are investment bankers. One of them is 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.200 a CEO of a public and chairman of a publicly 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.720 traded company. And I wouldn't trade what I do. I 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.240 wouldn't trade a day of what I do for anything 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:45.720 in the world. 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:52.520 When you think of all of the different projects underway 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:58.640 right now, initiatives, campaigns, you know, the many, many, many 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.880 different things going on right now that are impacting the 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.200 future of trout and salmon. What gets you the most 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.560 excited of the ongoing work at this moment? What is 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.520 the thing that's getting you You mentioned waking up in 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.520 the morning and going to work and being really charged 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.960 to have this opportunity of service. What specific thing out 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.120 there right now has got you the most fired up? 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:26.040 Such a good question. You know, it's a combination of 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.640 the profound in the mundane, to be honest, and I'll 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:30.639 start with the mundane. And this is something I just 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.840 wrote about. Like if you look at like the Colorado 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.680 River basin right now, forty million Americans, you know, get 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.280 their water from that basin. It's it's been in a 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:45.760 prolonged mega drought, right a mega drought and now there's 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:51.320 this you know, conflict between the upper basin states and 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.240 the lower basin states. That's probably going to be resolved 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.240 by the Department of Interior, but we'll almost certainly go 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:02.440 to the Supreme Court at some point. And you can 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.400 look at that issue. And obviously climate change is having 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.360 a profound effect on the basin this you know, where 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.120 we're in the midst of a twenty year drought. It's 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:18.520 you know, it's not getting any better. And and you know, tragically, 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:23.520 over the weekend, we just lost three federal firefighters who 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.080 were fighting a fire on the you know, the Utah 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:30.480 Colorado border, and those fires aren't going to get any better. 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.560 And and then in places like the northeast, you're getting 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:38.520 you know, one hundred year floods occurring at the catal intervals. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.560 I mean, it's and so you know, it's easy to 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.520 look at that and and to basically sort of take 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:47.920 the you know, throw your hands up in the air 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.200 and just sort of say what I can't there's nothing 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.560 I can do about that. It's like, you know, taxes, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.640 what are you going to do about you know, I mean, 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.520 and I think a lot of people take that approach, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.320 but one of the things that I enjoy about Trout 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:05.000 Unlimited is that. And you know, and when you think 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.640 about it in the grand scheme of things, this business 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:11.560 that we're in, this business of conservation, like it's it's 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:16.679 really the business of overseeing loss, right, It's you know, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.280 we had twenty eight trout species in this country. Historically, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.239 we've got twenty five now three have gone extinct. Of 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:29.080 those that remain, seventy five percent occupy less than a 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:33.040 quarter of their historic capitat right, I mean, and water quality, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.399 open space. I mean, you can go on and on, 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.879 and I think it's really easy to become disconsolate or 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:44.800 defeatist in the presence of that reality. And one of 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.200 the wonderful things about TU is and I think it's 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.320 because we're an organization of anglers. You know. It's like 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.640 this addiction that you talked about to kick the show off. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.840 I mean, it's why we're all we were perpetually late 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.960 for dinner. You know, one more cast, one more cast. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.960 That's the fifteenth last cast, you know, and all of 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:09.840 that adds time, yes, and so, but you know, anglers 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.040 are inherently and I think fly anglers take this to 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.640 a ridiculous level. We're optimists, you know. We we cast 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:19.000 this combination of fur and feather and wire at river ghosts, 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.640 and we're perpetually late because we think that the last 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:23.760 cast is going to yield the biggest fish of the day, 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.199 and so we our lives and so we take that 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:32.240 sentiment into conservation. And so you look at the situation 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:34.879 that I just talked about in the Colorado River basin, 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:36.280 and it's kind of like, well, what are we going 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.199 to do about it? What is little old trout on 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:42.600 Limity going to do? Well? The reality is we're doing 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:47.960 We're we're replicating or we're modeling the kinds of things 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.720 that can actually ameliorate or even help to fix the 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.120 problems in the Colorado River basin by you know, by 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.720 by doing these small mundane things like we have probably 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:05.040 built over the past two years ten thousand beaver dam 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.320 analogs minimum ten thousand. And what a beaver dam analog 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:14.280 It's simply you go in and you drive steaks across 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.840 the stream, wooden steaks by hand, and then you weave 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.159 alders or willows or whatever your native vegetation is, to 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.240 try to basically replicate what beavers have done historically. And 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.080 by doing that you slow the water down, you create 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:32.440 more pool habitat, you create more complexity to the habitat, 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:35.600 which is just inherently good for trout. But it keeps 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:39.160 the water in the system longer. And then that's good 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:42.119 not only for those of us who love to fish, 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:46.240 but it's also great for late season flows for irrigators. 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:50.840 For example. The longer we can hold the water in 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.680 these systems, the more that we can recover the natural 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.760 resilience of these rivers and streams to the effects of 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.240 climate change, the floods and the fire and the drag out. 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:04.880 The better that is for fish, but it's also better 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:10.240 for downstream communities. And I see that literally. I mean, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:14.040 I don't have the number, but I bet we're working 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:20.800 on over one thousand projects across national forests and private 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:26.919 lands in the Rockies across the West that helped to 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:31.680 hold water in systems longer, which obviates the need, for example, 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:36.120 to build storage reservoirs, which are bad for fish, definitely 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:40.280 bad for salmon. It provides late season flows, which is 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:47.399 great for downstream farmers and ranchers. It frankly helps to 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:52.480 filter water, which diminishes downstream water filtration costs, And now 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.960 is this work even if we could take it to 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.800 scale like we've got this proposal, we in seventy other 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.560 entities proposed a two billion dollar fund in the Colorado 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:05.840 River basin to be able to take this kind of 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.000 work to scale. And will will that solve the problem? 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:13.840 Probably not? Will it make a big difference? Absolutely? Absolutely will? 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:18.200 And so you know, that's the mundane piece is that 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:22.400 these every day working with tribes, working with our partners 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:25.400 like the Forest Service and the Bureau of Reclamation and 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:29.040 the BLM, and working with other nonprofits to go out 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:32.720