My Dad and I were fishing the Nottoway River in Virginia a few years ago, a river I grew up on and now protect as a Riverkeeper. We had fished all morning and caught a few fish, but were about one fish short of having enough for the whole family. We could not fish any longer as my Dad and I both had obligations that afternoon.

Disappointed, we were not going to have enough fish to eat later that night, I said: “Well, we came close to getting enough to eat, but I guess we’ll have to let these go barring a miracle from above.”

An osprey clutches its prey. Flickr photo by Bill Weaver.

Just as I was reaching into the live well to grab the first fish to throw back, there was a large splash beside the boat only four feet away. My dad, startled, said “WOW, what was that?!” I looked and there was a nice eating-size largemouth bass floating beside us. We then heard this big SWOOSH SWOOSH sound and looked up to see an osprey (which you don’t see often on my rivers) gaining altitude straight over our heads. I looked at my dad in disbelief and said, “That osprey just nearly dropped that fish right in the boat.” We dipped up the fish and it was still fresh and in one piece; it was the perfect fish to fill out our catch so we could feed the family.

“Well,” my Dad said, “there is your miracle from above.”

I now have a tattoo on my arm (my only tattoo) of an osprey, and the local Nottoway Indians call me Fish Hawk and say that the Great Spirit blessed us with that fish that day for looking after the river that bears their name, the River we call Nottoway.

Help Protect Clean Water!

Join hunters, anglers, and conservationists in celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act! Speak out for clean water on Facebook and Twitter, and take action now to restore Clean Water Act protections for wetlands, lakes, and streams!

Jeff Turner was born and raised in the Southampton County area and has lived there all his life. Turner has camped and fished on the Blackwater & Nottoway Rivers all his life. Jeff works with state and local agencies to protect and enhance the watershed and is often sought out by these agencies for his intimate knowledge of the rivers. He currently sits on the Virginia Mercury Advisory Board, The Chowan Basin Flood Study Committee, the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Program (APNEP) CAC committee and the International Paper CAC committee. In 2008 Jeff he won national recognition by winning runner-up in the Volvo Hometown Hero’s Volvo For Life Award winning $25,000 for the Blackwater Nottoway Riverkeeper Program.

Burned trees along the mountain ridges, Cache la Poudre River in Colorado

I expected the scenery along the river to be all blackened, but most of the trees were not burned near the river. On to the mountain crests, we could see burned trees. Many trees are very brown because Colorado only got about 10 percent of its normal snow fall this winter, so conditions are extremely dry.

The biggest visual reminder of the fire was the ash in the water. Our guide said it would normally be clear to the bottom, but we could see fine ash turning the water black. Along the edges, the sand was also black.

Check out my video diary from the trip:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Along the highways and in small towns were signs thanking the fire fighters. We send our thanks for protecting the people who live in the area, and for getting the rivers opened!

This is me showing the signal for “I’m okay” if you fall out of your raft.

Judy Kohler from our Rocky Mountain office wrote this fabulous blog about the impacts of the Colorado fire on wildlife – check it out!

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of 10 NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in California, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these nine staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

A new study published this week in the journal Science examines sockeye salmon populations in the Fraser River of British Columbia. The Fraser River has heated up by about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1950s. Salmon mortalities can be close to 95% of millions in population during the river’s warmest years.

There are some sockeye salmon who will go to great lengths to survive. Some salmon will travel almost 680 miles upstream with an elevation gain of 3,000 feet to find colder, glacial waters.

Deemed “superfish” by researchers these fish may have what it takes to survive a warming river.

Photograph courtesy of Robert Polo, Science/AAAS

Will salmon populations simply evolve to become “superfish” to survive climate change?

Researchers in the study tested these “superfish” and others by placing them in swim treadmills and monitoring their vital signs while adjusting water temperatures. The “superfish” have larger hearts that allow them to move great distances to escape temperatures as they warm. Some “less super” fish can only handle water temperatures of about 62 degrees Fahrenheit before they reach a point of cardiovascular collapse and just cannot make the trip. It is unknown at this time why some fish develop larger hearts and others do not.

There are other limits to “superfish” travels. While some can travel 600 miles, others may only make it 400 miles, making it more difficult to spawn. Also salmon might not have the option to swim north or higher in altitude in cases of natural habitat limits, pollution, habitat destruction or ever-climbing temperatures.

To assist wildlife survival in a changing climate conservation managers are looking into options such as restoring or expanding natural areas, planting shady vegetation to cool river temperatures and, in some cases, potentially moving species to cooler locations.

What can you do to help the millions of fish in warming waters? Right now, critical salmon conservation funding and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit carbon pollution are both under attack. Speak up for salmon! 

Learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s efforts to help wildlife survive warming temperatures and other impacts of climate change.