Fly fishing’s toughest environmental writer published a short piece about the latest ridiculously flawed administration plan to restore Columbia basin salmon.
You can always rely on Williams to cut to the chase, which he does with the precision of a surgeon in this High Country News article outlining the futile, misleading attempts to blame salmon problems on predators:
Suppose the Bush administration prevails against squawfish, sea lions and terns. Is it then going to pacify the rest of nature? Will it attack cormorants, which eat more smolts than sea lions and terns combined? And what about orcas and those smolt-swilling walleyes and coastal cutthroat trout?
One gets the impression that if seismic activity threatened an obsolete dam, our federal government would try to rearrange earth’s tectonic plates. On the Snake River, we can save dams or salmon — not both. The administration knows this. Its war on predators is based on deception. There can be no end and no victory.
It’s short, and because the article so nicely sums up the futility of the existing plan (the Underground’s offering even money that Judge Redden goes nuclear on the government’s latest plan), it’s a two-minute education on an issue that is not going to disappear.
See you on High Country News, Tom Chandler.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Welcome back, Tom.
Between environmental squabbles regarding the Columbia, more Nestle/McCloud issues and a continuation of the trade show battle, I see you’re apparently having no re-entry issues.
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Smells: Hey, anger is one of the stages of grieving. Fortunately, Nestle, the City of Glendale, and the Columbia folks provide ample outlets for just such a thing, and tonight a “meet the candidates” forum on natural resources at the Brown Trout could prove interesting.
In truth, it feels damned awesome to be home again.
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Dunno about those grieving “stages”, Tom. I’ve always been amused by the fact that some shrink somewhere catalogued stages for something so profoundly personal. I guess he had to do something to justify the government stipend.
I know the truth, so why don’t you just admit that you’re really just an angry, ornery, fishing writer who’s always ready with a sharp stick for someone’s eye.
Good to have you and your stick back in Siskiyou County! I’d suggest taking it to that forum tonight.
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Tom, welcome back. Are you talking about the city of Glendale, down here? That is where Nestle is headquartered, but I don’t know anything else about the city (other than the fact that I worked in it for almost 4 years). Good luck at the meeting.
Regards,
KJ
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Smells: I’m handsome too.
Jim: The city of Glendale in SoCal features prominently in my “Short Casts” sidebar for prosecuting a homeowner who was trying to plant drought-tolerant landscaping. In the face of a second low-water year (and probably many more to come), it’s truly mind-boggling.
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Off topic, I know, but I just read the Glendale article. If it wasn’t for real, it would be absolutely hilarious. As it stands, I don’t know whether to drive out there and pummel someone or simply laugh until I dissolve into tears of frustration. Dirt between the plants…wow…
hawgdaddy
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hawg: Yes, it’s always reassuring to know that a city — one located in an arid environment and dependent on outside sources for its water — has a firm grasp of water conservation issues. A firm grasp.
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