The Diane Rehm Show

After years of stocking the lakes of the Sierra Nevada using pack animals, the California Department of Fish and Game began using airplanes in the 1940s. Many of the lakes previously had no fish.

Artificial propagation techniques have changed very little since the nineteenth century. Today, as then, the process begins with a pan, two trout, and some gentle squeezing.

A Westslope Cutthroat trout (or is it?) found its way into my net on the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana. Hybridization with rainbow trout has made it difficult to identify or even define this species.

For three days in 1962, helicopters,airboats, and drip stations like this one poured tens of thousands of gallons of fish poison into the Green River during its "rehabilitation." The poison, known as rotenone, can be seen turning the river white.