Family-Outdoors

Logo of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) More than 200 blockages in the nation’s major natural resource “arteries” were removed last year thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Passage Program. Working with numerous partners, the program improves fish passage, local economies and public safety by ridding the nation’s rivers of derelict dams that no longer serve a purpose. “Free-flowing, healthy rivers and streams are vital to our nation. Many species of fish, wildlife and plants depend on the natural ebb and flow of rivers at critical stages of their lives,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “I’m pleased to report last year the Service and its partners reconnected more than 2,500 miles of streams and 36,000 associated wetland acres, providing opportunities for aquatic populations to increase and become more resilient in the face of greater environmental pressures.” Estimates show there are approximately 74,000 derelict dams...

Image via Wikipedia All forms can be found on our event website: www.riverfrontamphitheater. com/Earthtones   September 10th Deadline Photography contests – black/white and color Youth Coloring Book contest Great Mississippi River Cleanup registration      Vendor and exhibitor registration (any business, non-profit, agency, or individual can still register; we are at capacity for food vendors) Ad Space in the Coloring Book (Full page: $100 (only 2 opportunities for this size!); 1/2 page: $50; 1/4 page: $25) September 15 th Deadline Plein Air art contest Rain Barrel order for on-site pick-up On-site Recycling Reminder – bring: Hand & power tools in working condition; donating materials to The Habitat ReStore Plastic plant pots; donating  materials to The Nature Institute Cell phones Volunteers needed for the event’s activities: e-mail cfavilla10@sbcglobal.net   or sara@altonmarketplace.com to let us kno...

Eleven Point River Near Greer Spring Probably with poor timing and even jumping the gun a bit, we have gotten off the ground a section at Family-Outdoors devoted to Trout Fishing in the Ozarks . The area will be broken into the sections titles Trout Parks , Freestone Rivers , Tailwaters , and Smaller Streams . We believe that this will be one of the few areas on the web where such a comprehensive treatment of these areas of Missouri and Arkansas and the trout fishing opportunities available. Comprehensive descriptions of the waters and the tackle and flies that will be effective will all be a part of this section. We hope it will be a highly used and helpful resource!

Missouri ’s Little Piney Creek is a little known stream, but it is one of the best wild trout streams in the state. Rising high in the Ozark Mountains , this creek starts as a small, ice cold trickle, and it gradually becomes a small river that holds hundreds of trout per mile. This stream is a wade-fisherman’s dream. Often too low to float, it provides a quiet area to target wild rainbows. In all, about 10 miles of stream holds trout, but the creek changes drastically along its course. Read more on this pretty stream at Little Piney

We wade fished an Ozark river last Friday evening. My youngest son, who is sixteen years old was my fishing partner. The river has a moderate flow but is really pretty tame overall, and this will be important to the theme of this story. Of course any river has its hidden perils and one should exercise a degree of caution when entering their domain. Naturally, one should have some basic skills for their environment, perhaps the most important being a good swimmer. The fishing was quite slow as the river was running pretty strong for this particular stretch and was heavily silted. We worked our way down stream, leap frogging one another as we tried one hole after another. While my son is an excellent swimmer and fisherman, his experience level in reading rivers is not great. It occurred to me to bark orders to him about where to cross, to take each step slowly and test ahead for holes over his head, and not to get in so deep that the current would sweep him off his feet. Instead,...