Contributor
View AllSam Lungren
Sam Lungren is MeatEater's Fishing Editor and a former freelance writer/photographer, commercial fisherman, and editor of BHA's Backcountry Journal. Though originally from Whidbey Island, Washington, he's been in Montana for almost a decade and probably isn't leaving—except during steelhead season. Follow him @samlungrenmedia.
Latest
Environmental Issues
Washington State Advances New Aquaculture Despite Recent Escapes
Sam Lungren
Jan 24, 2020
Remember a couple years ago when a quarter million Atlantic salmon broke free from net pens into Washington’s Puget Sound? The estimated 263,000 non-native farmed fish escaped from a dilapidated Cooke Aquaculture facility on August 19, 2017, near Cypress Island after the pens collapsed under the weight of millions of pounds of unmitigated mussels, barnacles, and fish waste.
Two-hundred thousand Atlantic salmon were never recovered, even after...
Two-hundred thousand Atlantic salmon were never recovered, even after...
Public Lands & Waters
Legislation Would Protect the Boundary Waters from Sulfide Mining
Sam Lungren
Jan 17, 2020
This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation in the House that would permanently protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area from sulfide mines proposed to be sited upstream of the famed Northern Minnesota wilderness. If enacted, H.R. 5598, the Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act, would withdraw more than 200,000 acres of the Superior National Forest within the Rainy River Watershed from current and...
Policy & Legislation
How Changes to the Clean Water Act Affect Hunters and Anglers
Sam Lungren
Sep 19, 2019
On Sept. 12, the Trump Administration’s EPA and Army Corps announced that it was rolling back regulations regarding interpretation of the 1972 Clean Water Act. The federal agencies say it was necessary to repeal the Obama-era rules that limited filling and pollution of wetlands and ephemeral streams, but the conservation community is gravely concerned about the effects of these relaxed regulations on fish and wildlife.
The leaders of a number of...
The leaders of a number of...
Environmental Issues
Florida Water Crisis: Is New Leadership Finally Turning the Tide?
Sam Lungren
Sep 10, 2019
Captain Daniel Andrews stands on the skiff’s bow, staring intently across the sunrise-pink waters of Pine Island Sound, remembering aloud when the tide flowed the wrong way.
“In the summer of 2013 we had really bad discharges,” Andrews said. “It was like a full-time outgoing tide at Redfish Pass. There were days where the tide was supposed to be slack and it was just dumping. It would have to be like a really strong incoming to be able to fight...
“In the summer of 2013 we had really bad discharges,” Andrews said. “It was like a full-time outgoing tide at Redfish Pass. There were days where the tide was supposed to be slack and it was just dumping. It would have to be like a really strong incoming to be able to fight...
Wildlife Management
California Bans Fur Trapping, Rinella and Callaghan Respond
Sam Lungren
Sep 6, 2019
On Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he had signed a bill making it illegal to trap animals for the purposes of recreation or to sell fur, making his the first state to ban trapping.
“Fur trapping is a cruel practice that has no place in 21st century California,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, the bill’s author.
Data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife suggest that trapping had already lost a...
“Fur trapping is a cruel practice that has no place in 21st century California,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, the bill’s author.
Data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife suggest that trapping had already lost a...