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Fly Rod #038; Reel Details Dangers of "Wise Use" Movement - The Same Folks Pulling Strings in Siskiyou County

By Tom Chandler 11/29/2007

You won't find me singing the praises of most of the mainstream fly fishing magazines, but one clear exception is Fly Rod & Reel, who have the guts to run whatever no-holds-barred Enviro Writer Ted Williams sends them.

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In the current issue (January/February 2008), Williams does a masterful job of exposing the "Wise Use" movement -- the same folks supplying the juice behind the temporarily derailed Siskiyou County Natural Resource Policy.

Of course, that's same policy that tried to take away your legal right to access and Siskiyou County's rivers. And yes, that's the same policy that was eviscerated by several hundred e-mails from the Undergrounders.

There's no online link to the Williams story, so if you want to see who's really behind the attempts to kill your right to access public waters, you'll have to buy the magazine.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

And while we're throwing props the way of the dead tree media, California Fly Fisher ran a news item about our battle to beat the Siskiyou County Natural Resources Plan. Good on 'em.

Sadly, this whole matter is far from dead; a certain unpopular-with-fly-fishers County Supervisor has said she's not much interested in getting public input on the Natural Resource Plan, and that she's convinced there's no legal basis for public access to the Scott and Shasta.

In other words, it ain't over yet. I suspect they'll try again, only this time, they'll know the world is watching.

Better refine those mad letter writing skills, Undergrounders. Bet we're going to need them.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

AuthorPicture

Tom Chandler

As the author of the decade leading fly fishing blog Trout Underground, Tom believes that fishing is not about measuring the experience but instead of about having fun. As a staunch environmentalist, he brings to the Yobi Community thought leadership on environmental and access issues facing us today.

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Marshall: I've tried to wade through the tangled mess of contradictory legal cites on Supervisor Armstrong's Web sites, but since most of it has been superceded -- or never really applied in the first place -- decided to stick to the basics. Those include the state's definition of "navigable" waterways. Most bizarre is her claim that the navigability of our rivers was somehow frozen at the time of ... more statehood. Insane (Fall River, anyone?), yet it's the kind of thinking that's driving policy in this county. There are a lot of factors at work here, and I believe Ms. Armstrong is relatively safe from a recall in her own district. I won't even try to delve into the North County vs South County dynamics other than to say that the world is changing, and not everyone's happy about it. Two final points. First, when confronted by a room full of largely pissed-off residents, the Supervisors in support of a Natural Resource Advisory Committee said they needed its expertise to help them deal with state and federal agencies. Yet Supervisor Armstrong was willing to write the Natural Resource Policies without the benefit of any outside expertise, and therein lies the real crux of this battle. The establishment of a Natural Resource Committee isn't a bad thing, but loading the Natural Resource Policy document with lots of extra-legal crap certainly is. Second, the supervisors won't publicly admit it, but much of the more bizarre stuff is coming through what I'll call the second wave of the Wise Use movement. What's coming soon is that those who have been largely dewatering the Scott and Shasta rivers for many, many years (while agencies who were supposed to protect wildlife looked away) will soon have to apply for "incidental take" permits for the endangered salmon they're going to kill, which will make it much, much harder to ignore what's going on. Ms. Armstrong isn't happy about it. I say it's about damned time.
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11/30 Tom, I wrote my email to the Supervisor in question. You should see the legal crap that she sent back. She had her attorneys dig back to 1803 and 1813 to try and find some legal precedents. Yet some of what she sent said the authority lies with the State or with the Federal Govt. I sure did not see anything about County Board of Supervisors having authority over the waterways in what she sent ... more me. Why not start circulating a recall petition? Local government just does not need people with such a blind view to good goverment policy. Marshall www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
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