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Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood Pushes for Conservation, Dam Removal by Kari Dequine Harden Idaho Mountain Express, August 30, 2023

Organization head talks Snake River dams, salmon recovery with IME.

During his annual trip to the Wood River Valley and visit with the members of the local Hemingway Chapter, Trout Unlimited President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Wood sat down last week with the Idaho Mountain Express to talk all things angling and cold water conservation.

Wood has worked for Trout Unlimited for more than 20 years, serving as CEO since 2010.

Founded in 1959, the nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, has about 400 chapters nationwide and an annual revenue of about $50 million. In the 13 years he has been CEO, Wood said the organization has gone from about $20 million in annual revenue to setting its sights this year on bringing in $100 million.

In addition to meeting with local businesses and organizations, donors, anglers, and chapter members, Wood visited the ADA compliant wheelchair fishing access platform at Silver Creek Preserve, a project on which TU was one of the sponsors.

The interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

IME: Most people are familiar with Trout Unlimited, but for those who aren't or want to know more, what does your organization do? And can you describe some of the localized impacts?

CW: To simply state, we care for and recover rivers and streams. And we do that in four simple ways [protect, reconnect, restore, and sustain].

First, we protect the highest quality existing habitat. In 2008, we helped secure protections through the Idaho Roadless Rule and Roadless Wilderness Protection. Of 9.3 million acres of roadless land in Idaho, just over 8.3 million acres is wholly or partially contained within designated Trout Unlimited priority waters. There are 368,699 acres of roadless priority water in the Wood River Valley.

But we can't just have protected areas. We have to reconnect those protected areas to floodplains to withstand climate change and be more resilient against drought, flood, and fire. And there are a series of things we do to replumb rivers, removing barriers and improving fish passage.

Restoration is the bread and butter of the organization. Since 2014, with partners, Trout Unlimited has reconnected or restored about 100 miles of important habitat in the Wood River basin. TU also actively participates in the Wood River Water Collaborative, a group that represents 75 diverse water users that are working together to ensure the long-term health of the watershed.

In the Big Lost River, with landowners and other partners, we've provided fish passage at every major diversion and its tributary Antelope Creek [except Mackay Dam].

And finally, there is a social imperative to make sure our work is sustained over time. We make investments in youth education. And work with volunteers.

IME: Why is Trout Unlimited's current campaign to remove dams on the Snake River so important?

CW: We are running out of time. There are about 1% to 2% of the historical numbers of salmon in the basin. Right now, the Snake system contains about 48% of the cold water habitat for trout and salmon in the West. By 2050, scientists predict it will occupy over 60% of the cold water habitat. Forty percent of the Snake River is protected, in Wilderness or Roadless areas. The problem is the Snake River is a five-star quality habitat but fish can't get up to that hotel and incredibly high quality habitat.

IME: What about the arguments against—and the price tag quoted anywhere between $18 and $34 billion to compensate for the losses in transportation, irrigation, hydropower energy?

CW: The point is we can do it. We can replace every social and economic benefit provided by the dams. But the fish need a river. Right now, they don't have a river. Now they have 170 miles of warm bathwater and predator-laden reservoirs.

It would be such a tremendous tragedy as a society if we let the fish slip into extinction if we have the ability to make sure they objectively recover and if that recovery is in our grasp.

IME: Trout Unlimited has a significant scope of influence and impact across the country. What makes your organization unique?

CW: Lots of groups do advocacy. Tons of groups do restoration. We are one of the only ones who does both. We try to leverage the goodwill we create through our restoration and leverage that for policy change.

There's the bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Risch from Idaho (R) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) from New Mexico [the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act] that makes it easier for good Samaritans [state agencies, local governments, nonprofits] to clean up abandoned mines. It has such down-the-middle representation as a problem-solving group, bringing in one of the Senate's most progressive voices, Heinrich, with Risch, one of the most conservative. That's the secret sauce of Trout Unlimited. We aren't bipartisan. We are nonpartisan. We have more members who are Republican than Democrat, which is unique for a conservation group. When we take a position on a policy it is backed by science. We are confident we can get things done when the science is clear—like campaigning on the only way that wild fish will come back is to take out the lower four Snake River dams. When we started Bristol Bay a lot of the Alaska delegation was not supportive. By the end, most were supportive, and we were able to protect that place.

[In a 2020 news release, following a major victory after a nearly two-decade-long fight to stop the Pebble Mine proposal in the headwaters of the "most prolific wild salmon fishery in the world," Wood stated: "The Corps' denial of the permit for the Pebble Mine is a victory for common sense. Bristol Bay is the wrong place for industrial-scale mining, and we look forward to working with the people of the Bristol Bay region, Alaska's Congressional delegation, the state and other partners to permanently protect Bristol Bay and its world-class fisheries."]

Money flows to things people want. We don't do a lot of things. We don't gadfly issues. When we grip onto an issue we stay focused. That's part of our reason for success. When policy makers hear from us, they know to take it seriously because they know we will take it seriously.

IME: Why do you love fishing?

CW: I love where trout are found. Robert Traver has a quote, "I love to fish because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful." I'm a conservationist first. But there may be no better way to create advocates for conservation than to take them out on the water.

IME: What are some more of the projects or issues Trout Unlimited is working on in this area?

CW: The Magic Reservoir Dam is now up for licensing. We are working with the chapter on identifying minimum flows to keep the Wood River healthy. And helping make sure dam owners comply with contemporary environmental laws.

We are also working on the Diversion 45 Dam Remediation and Fish Passage Project. The diversion irrigates 9,000 acres around Bellevue, but it's impassable to fish. We've raised close to $1 million to create a passage through the diversion and allow irrigators to get the water they need. We anticipate completing construction in 2024.

TU also actively participates in the Wood River Water Collaborative, a group that represents 75 diverse water users that are working together to ensure the long-term health of the watershed."

[Wood talked about the recent proposal to reopen an open-pit copper heap leach mine near Mackay, redeveloping the old Empire Mine Deposit in the Mackay Mine Hill area. Wood said he'd started a trip over Trial Creek Pass to visit Mackay last week, but given his borrowed Dodge Challenger as the only option at the rental car agency, he decided turning back would be the best decision for the survival of the vehicle's tires and undercarriage.]

We are not against mining. We need to develop critical minerals in our transition to renewable energy in the future. But it has to be done thoughtfully. That was the problem in Bristol Bay. It was ham-handed. For Mackay, we don't have a position yet. There is the question of whether they have enough water . . . Idaho has a lot of water scarcity. We try to ask the right questions before they come out with the plan of operation. In addition, we've invested about $5 million in the restoration of the Lost River systems. We have concern about our investment if a ton of toxic tailings were to run off into the system.

IME: What gives you reason to be optimistic?

CW: Rivers are remarkably resilient systems – if you give them half a chance they'll come back . . . the recent Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are so important in supercharging conservation efforts in a way that hasn't happened in at least a generation. We turn a relatively small amount of private philanthropy into 10s of millions in already-secured commitments to put into on-the-ground restoration."

[U.S. officials in Nov. 2022 announced a five-year, $40 million agreement with Trout Unlimited to improve watersheds on national forests and grasslands that contain key habitat for trout and salmon. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the agreement includes cleaning up abandoned mines, removing barriers to fish passage and other stream habitat improvements.]

IME: What gives you reason for pessimism?

CW: It's easy to become disconsolate or depressed over the state of cold water fisheries. We lost 106 salmon stocks to extinction. Two hundred and fifty more are at risk of extinction. The Snake River is down to 1 to 2% of its historic population.

But despite the data set the community of anglers we work with are inherently optimistic. It's why we are constantly late for dinner. We know the last cast is going to get the biggest fish.

IME: Why do you think anglers often make the best conservationists?

CW: I'm both an angler and a hunter. They have a visceral connection to rivers and streams. You can't stand in a river and see a fish holing in a pool created in a downed log and not see the connections to the system's health, habitat and conditions.