Month: March 2025

Bugs

Are you crazy for caddis?

It’s fun to turn over rocks and see what kinds of critters are lurking beneath them. This video is really good at showing the different types of creepy caddis out there–I love them! Plus it’s super helpful to know what kind of bug life is happening at any given moment on the stream. For SoCali streams, you can’t beat caddis imitations. Think green.

If you want to get deeper into the beloved caddis fly, here are a couple of excellent reads.

First is the classic “Caddisflies” by Gary LaFontaine. Gary used to hang out at Fisherman’s Spot decades ago and apparently was a really nice guy as well as being an obsessed researcher and writer. Written in 1981, Gary discovered the synthetic Antron held air bubbles, which could mimic a caddis pupa! Actually, he wrote about his Emergent Pupa pattern that “All the air bubbles clustered around the fly turn it into an attractor as well as an imitator, often making it even better than just a perfect copy.”

The guy was a star.

For a more approachable book with pics that will give you a glimpse into the different encasements mentioned in the video, check out “Bug Water” (2010) by Arlen Thomason. I love the opening paragraph:

“Bug water is a soggy place inhabited or visited by creepy crawly creatures we collectively, if imprecisely, call bugs.” Gotta love the alliteration!

See you on the river, Jim Burns

Earth quotes

Earth quotes: David James Duncan

“The riverbank there was interesting: it was made of hard-packed clay; bare rock; spilled oil; logging cable; shards of every kind and color of pop, beer and booze bottle; flood-crushed car and appliance parts; slabs of broken concrete with rebar sticking out of them; driftwood; drift Styrofoam; drift tires and reject mill parts–huge reject mill parts.” (Except from “River Teeth”)

Political action

Join the Ides of March postcard campaign for national parks and public lands

Tomorrow (that’s right, the Ides of March when Julius Caesar was assassinated), I’ll be mailing this postcard to Donald Trump protesting his abuse of our public lands. It reads simply, “Hands off national parks, public lands, national monuments and the federal employees who protect and maintain them.”

President Donald Trump

White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20500

Pretty simple. Please join me and thousands of others in this simple way to voice your opposition. Don’t wait until your national park vacation to find out it’s different this year.

See you on the river, Jim Burns

Call to Action

Comment on the proposed river plan for Piru Creek by April 21
Credit: Tim Palmer

Greetings Stakeholders and Interested Parties, 

This email is to notify you that the objection period for the subject project will start on Friday, March 7, and end on April 21.    You are receiving this message because you have submitted comments on the project previously, and may be eligible to file an objection.  

To learn more about the process and requirements for an objection, or to view the Environmental Assessment, the Comprehensive River Management Plan, or the Draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact, please visit the project website >>HERE.

You may also contact me for questions.  

Thank you for your interest in Piru Creek Wild and Scenic River.

Gary Seastrand
Natural Resource SpecialistForest ServiceAngeles National Forest

p. 626-574-5278
c: 626-320-0038
gary.seastrand@usda.gov