In the News...

The Minnesota Supreme Court has dealt a setback to a controversial proposed mining project in the northeastern portion of the state, giving cause for celebration to environmental groups who argue that the mine would threaten the state’s waterways and especially the Boundary Waters.

The court nixed approval of a permit to mine for the NorthMet copper and nickel mining project on Wednesday, saying that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources improperly granted the permit because mining company PolyMet did not establish a fixed term for its mine. The use of bentonite clay to seal water and oxygen out of the mine’s tailings basin, the court said, also needs further review. 

In the frigid, rough-and-tumble waters of Whitewater Creek, which squeezes through soaring stone walls, a rare trout thrives again after a 100-year brush with extinction. A native son is home.

Saved from overfishing, the introduction of non-native fish and apocalyptic wildfires by a small band of biologists, rangers, helicopter pilots and pack horses, this golden-hued descendant of prehistoric salmon is now abundant enough to be open to fishing. In the wilds of far southwestern New Mexico and Arizona, it is the most southern of all native trout in the United States.

Real efforts are now underway to protect the steelhead of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. 

" In December, as the winter steelhead season was kicking off, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced a series of emergency rule changes governing the entire steelhead fishery on Washington’s coastal and Olympic Peninsula streams. These new rules shortened the fishing season by a few weeks to protect spawning fish, eliminated the use of bait, required the use of single-point, barbless hooks and stopped the retention of rainbow trout in an effort to protect juvenile steelhead."

A copper mine threatens the iconic Smith River. It will bring jobs and the copper needed for a renewable-energy future, but is it worth the risk to one of the last pristine waterways?

In 2010, when a grassroots coalition called Montanans for Healthy Rivers formed to protect the veins of Montana’s heritage, the group put boots on the ground in communities all over Montana to find out which waters people thought were worthiest of preserving. “[The Smith] came up around the state,” says Kascie Herron, Northern Rockies associate director for the conservation organization American Rivers. “It’s one of those where it’s everyone’s river, even if it’s not in your backyard. The Smith is the soul of Montana.”