The Drake Magazine

“Wilderness begins where the road ends; if the roads never end, then there will be no wilderness.” —Idaho Senator Frank Church, who sponsored the Wilderness Act in 1964, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968, and, in 1980, was instrumental in helping create Idaho’s River of No Return Wilderness. (Which, four years later, was renamed the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.)

Hotspot alert! To find these fish, drive to the middle of nowhere, Utah, hang a right, then drive another 150 miles. Can you name the trout?

According to my news feed, there are only two issues currently as important as access to public streams and public lands: 1) AI’s “recursive self-improvement” 2) If Trump’s name will or will not go on the Kennedy Center. We probably can’t do much about the last two, but please make it to the Emerson Center in Bozeman tomorrow to rally for Montana Stream Access!
Patagonia Fly Fish Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Simms Fishing Products Yellow Dog Flyfishing R.L. Winston Rod Company Trout Unlimited Skwala Fishing SITKA Gear Public Land Water Access Association Fishing Outfitters Assoc of MT

A huge congrats—and thank you—to Craig and Karen Hayes from Turneffe Flats lodge in Belize. Last week, Craig, along with Belize Prime Minister John Briceno, signed the Turneffe Conservation Land Trust Agreement—nearly a decade in the making—that permanently protects roughly 2/3rds of the atoll in its natural state—more than 17,000 acres.
This agreement prohibits dredging, jet skis(!), overwater development, mangrove clearing, and other dumb ideas, and provides more than a million dollars (American, paid by Turneffe Flats) for the University of Belize to establish a marine research institute at Turneffe. Thank you Craig and Karen and all who helped make this happen! Photos: Jim Klug

You bird nerds already know this, but for those who don’t, this is a Swainson’s Hawk (shot from a float-tube in northern Colorado). Like certain fortunate fishing guides, Swainson’s spend winters in Argentina. They fly like 7,000 miles—the longest of any raptor except the peregrine falcon. Like trout, Swainson’s love them some grasshoppers (when they aren’t nabbing rabbits or rodents). They also love a good fencepost hang.