"JT" wrote in message
...
RW and others,

Thought you might find this interesting.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/localn...ry/210344.html



I spent all of September at Silver Creek this year and camped at Hayspur
near the fish hatchery.

The water for the hatchery comes from a couple spring creeks, notably Loving
Creek, that eventually join Silver. They are all part of the same
aquifer, as is the Big Wood. I wonder if the Big Wood and hatchery
waters were tested.

I've been fishing Silver for around 25 years and this trip it was lower than
I have every seen it. Each year when I go there several new, huge, homes
have sprung up to suck up some more of the water that historically has made
it to Silver. Both the Big Wood and Siver Creek are under threat from
development, mainly in the form of these supersized trophy homes .... ( did
we all notice the huge home in Georgia using water at record rates during
the worst drought on record ? ... this type of person doesn't give a
single **** about anyone or anything but themselves and their own display of
ego via consumption )

In Sept I also drove to Jerome to protest suggested regulation changes on
the Creek. Five ( yes 5 and only 5 ) people over several years had
complained that they couldn't keep "enough" Brown Trout from Silver or use
their boats to fish from. Because of those 5 the F&G just decided to
'propose' increasing the limit and lifting 'floating vehicle type'
restrictions on this small, sensitive stream. To the credit of the
locals a LOT more than five turned out to protest. The proposed new rules
were defeated and the only change to be made is a very sensible re-writing
of the definition of "float tube" to make enforcement more clear cut.

I don't know of a single trout stream in the West that isn't under serious
threat. Sure, some of the smaller freestones near their sources are still
only at risk from Nature's action. But given the drought, increasing
temperatures, and development demand for water, all streams lower down the
mountains are suffering and I expect it to get worse.

If we want our great grandkids to go to the places we love and understand
why we loved them, it's past time to stand up and be counted in the fight to
preserve them. And it's past time to trim our own consumption to a level
closer to sustainable .... a new rod we don't need, a new anything when the
old one could be repaired and suffice, adds carbon to the air and pollution
to the water. The buy more, throw away more, "I am what I own" mentality
that has characterized the last few decades ... the attitude .. is one of
the greatest threats to our great grandkid's and the world they will have to
live on.