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Abstract
Lee Wulff, one of the world’s most celebrated fly tiers and angling authors, once said, “When we teach a person to fly fish, we just created a conservationist.” (FFI Homepage). The connections between angling and environmentalism are long standing and, in many ways, a natural and almost symbiotic relationship. Anglers often seek their prey in the wild, where the rivers flow free and nature still dominates the landscape. While creating environmentalists through angling is a happy side effect of the practice, the concept of the importance of place in both memory and formation of life’s pathways is supported by scientific research and human experience. Angling, and the intimate connection to nature it requires, helps establish an ethos of environmentalism that creates advocates––from all walks of life––for preserving our existing wild places for future generations. In this paper, I will examine how place and memory are intertwined, the importance of angling in the environmental movement, and how those who fight for the preservation of our wild places can use these connections to support their causes.