what about trout?

Last Wednesday I set out out to see if my new backpack was tough enough to carry the boy and everything needed for a day and a night or two in the wild yonder. If we go on any of the snow surveys, I want to make sure before I am miles up and out that my pack can comfortably carry the kid and everything we would need in any terrain. My last pack was a back-killer and couldn't store much.

For a good experiment covering some usual trail walking with a steep climb, we decided to hike up the east side of the Elwha part of the way to Humes Ranch, then back down by Goblin's Gate and up Rica Canyon (nice and steep) About 5 or 6 miles in all. I discovered that I should have been using the fancy pack the whole time. Nice backpacks may seem bulky, but the extra weight and size is defiantly worth the comfort and not pulling a muscle four miles in. And even on a steep climb, the weight is distributed well, so its doable even though the added weight can be a drag.

So, how does this relate to my work on the Elwha?

Well, on the way back out, we ran into a guy works with the park. His job is to keep track of bull head trout. Apparently they are hurting too. The dam has them trapped above and below and their population is declining.

This got me thinking on how political all these issues are. Why don't more people care about the trout- they are in trouble, but we never hear of it. Maybe its because they aren't as big in fine dining circles, perhaps it is because they weren't as much as a staple food for the people that inhabited the area before the "settlers" came.

Either way, how many species really are in danger over this, how many have we lost before we even knew to look. All over the country we do things for the "betterment" of the people with out thinking about what it will do to the world around us. Build a really big fence all around our nation, what will that do to all our land migrant animals? It seems the only way anything can get worked on it when there is *huge* public pressure and even then it takes a long time.

How long are we going to keep on repeating our mistakes of the past before we just stop and think about what we are doing.

Eh?

***

Example of public pressure finally getting things done: did you all hear that WallMart is demanding higher standards and environmental responsibility from its shrimp farmers- can this be real? Maybe the free market theory is the best way to deal with environmental issues, if we all think about what we buy and let our money do the voting, the big companies that do the most damage and can make the quickest changes will listen. If WallMart is getting eco-concious, that really proves something.

(below digresses into more of a rant - I do not intent to offend anyone)
We can fight for political regulations to get things moving, but fast significant change will only occur if companies start loosing money for dong business in ways we don't agree with.

What would happen if everyone who considered themselves "ecologically conscious" stop buying food and cloths that traveled 150,000 miles, more or less, to get here. What if we recycled and reused and didn't buy new for a year and rode the bus more often? How about if we just started buying local organic produce and eating with the seasons? For as popular "caring about the environment" is getting, if just half the people starting acting like it, I bet more than Wal-Mart would be listening.

so, what about the other factors...

A short ways back I read an editorial the local paper about salmon habitat. The main premise of the essay was that while many think removing the dams will make the salmon come back (in time) to their glorious sizes and levels of old- we ought to look at other factors.

Look at the Queets. Never damed, it too is a pale comparison of the river booming with life that is once was. Is it a result of poor forestation practices and the resultant sediment/ habitat loss, the absurd amount of salmon harvested through commercial fishing for our demanding appetites, our ocean getting sick and dirty, global warming????

To show one example of a toxin in the ocean that could be affecting salmon, here is an interesting article about toxins in farmed (and wild) fish. If PBDE's are toxic to us, they could be affecting the fishies in negative ways too. I heard a report on NPR a few months ago about giant swaths of the ocean that are literally dying. When are we as a society going to be willing to change our convenient lifestyle to address these issues before it becomes dire.

Yes, removing the dams is a great step for restoring pacific salmon habitat and encouraging them- doing what we can to keep any more species from going extinct. But we may find out that though we restore the river, there are more factors at play which can't repaired that easy.

Not the reason

I just came across this page from King County on salmon friendly living.