Save the Hatch

Research, monitoring & conservation
of aquatic insects

Have you noticed a favorite aquatic insect hatch disappear or decline? We have too. We started The Salmonfly Project after finding widespread salmonfly declines across the Western US. But it's not just salmonflies - many of our favorite mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly hatches have weakened or been lost.

We are here to solve that problem.

Aquatic insects represent 70% of freshwater biodiversity.

When we protect aquatic insects, we protect the fish, birds, and entire ecosystems they support.

  • What we do

    Protecting aquatic insects across the West

  • Meet the salmonfly

    A flagship species for declining aquatic insects

  • Where we work

    Prized western fisheries

Problem and approach

Aquatic insects are declining from more prized fisheries in the western US. How do we save them?

 

What we do:

Research the impacts that cause aquatic insects to live or die in different rivers

Monitor populations to understand where aquatic insects healthy, where they’re declining, and why

Educate the community about the importance of aquatic insects and the fisheries they sustain

Prevent future declines and restore impacted populations by working with stakeholders, conservationists, and managers

Projects

Monitoring

We monitor aquatic insects in the field to better understand where populations are healthy and where they’re declining.

Citizen Science

The community is our greatest asset. We work with anglers, birders, and conservationists to make observations of stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies across the West. Join us.

Research

We do research in the field and laboratory to better understand why aquatic insects live where they do and what they need to stay healthy.

Get involved

Help track aquatic insect populations by making observations in the field

Featured News

Interviewed by The New York Times

The New York Times interviewed us for a recent article highlighting trout die-offs in Montana - are aquatic insect declines to blame? We don’t think so.

Featured in Patagonia mini-film

Patagonia included an interview with us in their recent mini-film No Fly Zones highlighting the ‘bug apocalypse’ and why we should care. We’re excited to be getting attention from the angling community. Thanks, Patagonia!

Recent Publication

Co-Director, James Frakes, and colleagues published a new paper in the Journal of Insect Physiology showing how heavy metals make salmonflies more sensitive to heat and hypoxia. Nice work!