Troubled Tributaries: Alberta Anglers, Fish Fights, and the Race to Save Mountain Coldwater Streams, 1900...

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George Colpitts

Troubled Tributaries

Name: Troubled Tributaries
Price: 84.45 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781773856858

Alberta Anglers, Fish Fights, and the Race to Save Mountain Coldwater Streams, 1900 - 1930

George Colpitts

$98.95 $84.45

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

University of Calgary Press
05 April 2026

Limnology (freshwater); Physical geography & topography; Conservation of wildlife & habitats; Wildlife: aquatic creatures; Fishing, angling

Anglers knee-deep in Alberta's mountain streams after the First World War understood that there was something wrong. Coal mining, forestry, and irrigation were industrializing landscapes. Roads and railways brought unprecedented numbers of people to remote fishing grounds. Once home to abundant runs of cutthroat, mountain whitefish, and bull trout, the Bow, Highwood, and Oldman Rivers, and their many high mountain tributaries, were in crises.

Up and down the Eastern Slopes, anglers rallied to defend their watersheds. The ensuing fish fights were not peaceful. Deep disagreement on tributary closures, open season dates, environmental protection, regulation and enforcement raged among fishers. But despite their disputed viewpoints, Alberta's anglers agreed to advocate fiercely for the conservation of their rivers and streams.

Troubled Tributaries reveals for the first time the work—and the controversy—of fisheries conservation in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains from 1900 to 1930. It is a story of passion and commitment, of the struggle to balance nature’s use and preservation, and of people coming together even when divergent viewpoints threatened to break them apart. This is the story of the first round in the great fight to save Alberta's western trout kingdoms.

By: George Colpitts
Imprint: University of Calgary Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781773856858
ISBN 10: 1773856855
Pages: 258
Publication Date: 05 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

George Colpitts is a professor of History specializing in environmental history at the University of Calgary. He is the author of Game in the Garden and Pemmican Empire.