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3. lost forever

I have been fishing north west pa for years,mostly the counties in the allegany forest areas but this year i have seen my native brookie and wild trout streams are gone. I know there are alot of pa fly fishers on this site and wonder what you have run across. This year small creeks that i fished in the fifties and late sixties after i got out of the service and thru the early eighties were filled with brookies and wild trout but this year those same streams had nothing ,not even any insect life. i guess my short 60 to 80 mile trips will now be 200 mile trips to fish for those brookies i cherish

From what I've seen and heard, the ANF's biggest threat and damager to brook trout and their habitat has been sedimentation. The ANF isn't what it use to be for sure. It's so cut up from all of the mineral extraction happening there (the worst hasn't even started yet)that the streams are being silted in. Acid precip. wasn't too bad this year at all, as most of our snow/winter rains came from the ocean instead of the traditional over the industrial belt stuff. Waters in my area were all very close to 7 pH because of this. But the deep gas drilling on the state forests in N. Central PA is about to happen, creating well pads and many, many access roads to add silt to our headwaters and kill the insects and brookies.

So sad. Our elected officials are using the lands that were put on a shelf to be preserved and enjoyed by all like an ATM machine so a select few can get richer.

Makes me sick.

B.J.

"Acid precip. wasn't too bad this year at all, as most of our snow/winter rains came from the ocean instead of the traditional over the industrial belt stuff."

The silver lining, if we can call it that, is that there really isn't an industrial belt that still exists in the US of A...On certain days Detroit looks like a ghost town. They are discussing moving folks closer together and farming the lots that no longer have homes on them.

Spence

"The silver lining, if we can call it that, is that there really isn't an industrial belt that still exists in the US of A...On certain days Detroit looks like a ghost town. They are discussing moving folks closer together and farming the lots that no longer have homes on them.

Spence "

Meanwhile, almost all of the individuals in charge of saving the motor industry and Detroit drive foreign made vehicles, yet they don't understand what the problem is.

There's really, really something wrong with our society and the "leaders" we keep electing.

B.J.

Just about the only thing we have left over here is what attracted the kings of manufacture years ago and that's water. Before it was for transport and one day the dry parts of the country will want to stick a straw in it and drain it all away. NYC did it to the wonderful streams in upstate.

Back in the 70's/80's before things started to go south here the largest available amount of investment dollars were tied up in pension funds...Now if you were the manager of one of these monsters and were forced to find return for these funds you probably didn't invest in the "rust-belt". Maybe Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley, one of the big Texas cities, Las Vegas & Miami real-estate, the far-east etc...

So, in effect the dollars that were set aside by the workers in the industrial mid-west paid to develop areas outside of the region and eventually drained off the jobs and growth and investment dollars there...They, in effect, did themselves in and didn't even know it.

We ruined many of our rivers during the logging and mining eras and eventually we became a little smarter and set up things like the EPA and freash air & water regs...Now they may be restricted here but in these new economies it's like the early days of capitalism and there are no rules...They are in effect pissing in the streams over there and we sit here and let them ship us shit from places where they are doing things we wouldn't tolerate back here...Does this make any sense?!

I have this weird theory that somewhere along the line, I haven't been able to pick a year, we passed a human population number that may have been sustainable here on this planet...1492?, 1648? I don't know, but growth for growths sake has run it's course in my opinion and we need to somehow slow it down.

Hey! I thought this was a fishing blog, Spence!

Take Care!

Spence

Man i just hate to hear that because the reasons for something like that happening are just total bullshit! I haven't lost any "heart rivers" yet, but the way some humans don't care for what small percentage of wildlife ecosystems we have left is simply pathetic. Im so sorry to hear it but, its just not right... However don't give up on the creeks because you never know what can happen, and do whatever you can to get your name out there and try to protect those creeks! Sad world that were living in sometimes, just sad.

the sad part of this matter is that the majority of americans would rather "virtual fish" on their i-phone than go out and do the real thing. we are the minority here. when sandra bullock's divorce gets more media coverage than the oil rig explosion or the sad state of the rust belt then there is a message here - the general public has more interest in this bullshit than our little (important) problems. where is this administration's outburst? wasn't there a campain promise that the enviornmental policies would be so much better than the policies of the last 8 years?
sorry - but i'm pissed off. i suspect the rest of you are, too...

I find the news on the oil spill especially depressing, but I trust the Democratic party and the president far more than any past or future Republican administration in terms of protecting the environment. Even minimal research shows that Obama already has a much better environmental record than Bush. The president is in an almost impossible position given the state of the economy, the general frustration and unease over it, and the attacks of those who don't like having what they see as a socialist arab nigger non-citizen in the White House. I can't imagine Bush, Cheney, McCain, or Palin beginning to handle successfully the problems with all their complexities that Obama faces. Perhaps these problems are too much for anyone to manage and come out with success in every case. A cool headed assessment of the big picture, and some recognition of the challenges ahead is what I'd like to see more folks consider. Ultimately we need more regulation of all industries that have the potential to do environmental damage. History shows that they will not regulate themselves. And history also shows that the Republicans will not regulate them.

Hi all,
The prospectus of drilling in the Marcellus Shale for oil and the practices and result of this process in the past only seem to spell more destruction and loss of habitat for the native and even stocked trout. People are going to get rich overnight because of this, but will forfeit more important things in the process.

TU is currently working, here, in the east to restore brook trout habitat. Read here:
Eastern Conservation

Brook Trout

You might look for help through a local chapter. Also, there may be certain conservation groups in your area that might be able to help. I live close to the PA border and know there is a local Genesee Headwaters Association that does fantastic work helping restore local rivers and streams. There may be a group in your section of PA. They're not far from you if you are in NW PA.

Growing Greener-Genesee Headwaters Assn.

Mark

I second all of the above comments. And I have to say this: the only good thing that can come from the oil spill in the Gulf is that America FINALLY wakes up to the fact that the energy industry is a bunch of dirty filthy LIARS and THIEVES that don't give a rat's ass about anything other than $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

In my humble opinion, and at the risk of being called a "socialist" (even though I myself work for private industry - which hasn't exactly done well by me!), the entire energy industry of this country should be nationalized - this is WAY too important to be in the hands of idiots like Haliburton and Dick Cheney's cronies and their fellow compulsive gamblers who can NEVER make enough money. The entire rest of the economy of this country is far too dependent on the energy sector to let a bunch of self-serving profiteering PRICKS keep screwing us all over like this!!!

BTW, that goes for the health care and financial industries as well!! You can call me a communist if you want, but I would rather have some elected official who I can FIRE be responsible for these parts of our society than some richer-than-God f-ing robber baron scumbag who's worried about whether or not he can afford his next $500 million yacht or castle, and who I can NEVER touch or have any influence over...

Go for solar and wind - I have yet to hear of any trout being killed by either of these industries. Yes, I know, wind kills birds - but apparently not nearly as many as existing power lines, buildings, house cats, etc...

F*CK BIG OIL!!!!!

Jonathon