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    Sam 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.

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    Gear

    Outdoors Businesses Suffering and Adapting Amidst Pandemic

    Sam Lungren

    Mar 25, 2020

    Cancelled bookings. Non-essential business status. Halted manufacturing. Closed boat ramps. No customers coming in the door. With quarantines and shelter-in-place orders in effect throughout the country, many outdoors businesses—from guides to gear shops to booking agents—are hemorrhaging cash just to keep the lights on. Many fear going under.
    Businesses and individuals across the U.S. economy, from Wall Street to corner convenience stores, are...

    Recipes

    Freestyle Cooking: Pickle Juice Venison Pot Roast Recipe

    Sam Lungren

    Mar 17, 2020

    Got a freezer full of wild game but not a whole lot else in the pantry? Grocery stores and restaurants closed, or you just straight up don’t want to be around people? Fear not, the MeatEater crew can help. Welcome to Freestyle Cooking, where we share simple dish ideas based around common, household ingredients and recipes that we often invented on the fly. 
    They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, sometimes you need to cook...

    Policy & Legislation

    ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime Deal:’ LWCF and Public Lands Maintenance Funding Bill Introduced in Senate

    Sam Lungren

    Mar 11, 2020

    Following President Trump’s public declaration of support last week for permanently funding the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund and addressing the public lands maintenance backlog, a bipartisan group of Senators submitted a bill to do just that. S. 3422, the Great American Outdoors Act, introduced March 9, would dedicate the full $900 million annually to LWCF, and provide nearly $2 billion annually to address massive maintenance backlogs...

    Endangered Species

    Feds Reject Calls to Breach Snake River Dams as Idaho Salmon Stocks Plummet

    Sam Lungren

    Mar 5, 2020

    On February 28, the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation released a highly anticipated draft environmental impact statement regarding operation of the dams in the Columbia and Snake River Basin. The report rejected increasingly loud and united calls from tribes, anglers, and the conservation community to tear down the four dams on the Lower Snake River in order to save the last of the salmon and steelhead returning to Idaho, saying...

    Policy & Legislation

    President Trump Tweets Support for Fully Funding Land and Water Conservation Fund

    Sam Lungren

    Mar 4, 2020

    President Trump publicly endorsed full and permanent funding for the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund on Tuesday. We can only assume this comes in the wake of the MeatEater crew attending a LWCF rally in Bozeman a few hours before. The LWCF takes royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling to invest in public parks, playgrounds, and access to public lands.
    From the president’s Twitter feed: “I am calling on Congress to send me a Bill...

    Wildlife Management

    Federal Judge Voids 1 Million Acres of Oil and Gas Leases in Sage Grouse Fight

    Sam Lungren

    Feb 28, 2020

    Due to the Trump Administration severely limiting public input on oil and gas leasing decisions in the last two years, nearly a million acres of public land leases in sage grouse habitat issued under that policy are now null and void, a federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday.
    U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush vacated a January 2018 memorandum from the Bureau of Land Management that had greatly reduced public comment and protest periods...

    Wildlife Management

    Interior Secretary Halts Aerial Gunning of Mountain Goats in Grand Teton

    Sam Lungren

    Feb 24, 2020

    Correction: This story was edited on Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. to reflect recent developments
    Responding to calls from Wyoming’s governor and other officials, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt halted Grand Teton National Park’s use of aerial gunners to cull mountain goats.
    Despite state management agency and public opposition, Grand Teton National Park contracted helicopter crews with shotguns to kill nonnative mountain goats today. The...

    Endangered Species

    New Coronavirus DNA Test Reveals Which Animal May Be Source

    Sam Lungren

    Feb 12, 2020

    The deadly disease that has now killed more than 1,000 people in China and across the world likely jumped to humans from wildlife, most scientists agree. Exactly how or what animals involved are less than clear at this point, however.
    Many of the early cases of coronavirus appeared in proximity to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, and investigators have found traces of the disease in samples from 22 market stalls and a garbage truck. All...

    Policy & Legislation

    EPA Removes Clean Water Act Protections from Many Wetlands and Streams

    Sam Lungren

    Feb 5, 2020

    This article was originally published in September, 2019, and has been updated to reflected current events. 
    On Jan. 23, the Trump Administration’s EPA and Army Corps announced new, weaker regulations regarding enforcement of the 1972 Clean Water Act. The federal agencies say it was necessary to repeal Obama-era rules that limited filling and pollution of wetlands and ephemeral streams, but the conservation community is gravely concerned about...

    Policy & Legislation

    Interior Department to Weaken Protections for Waterfowl and Other Migratory Birds

    Sam Lungren

    Jan 31, 2020

    On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced new regulations that would remove penalties for construction, oil, gas, and other industries that incidentally kill birds listed under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. If approved, the new set of rules would only punish companies that deliberately kill birds, making many in the conservation community wonder what purpose the century-old conservation law now serves.
    The Deepwater Horizon oil...