Interesting Article (River Fertilizing)....

[blackdog]

I stole this from PP's board, but thought that it was interesting enough that some of you may enjoy reading it. I know funding for anything is tough, but this seems like a wise investment in the future of our rivers and streams.

http://www.ariverneversleeps.com/backissues/june00/news.shtml

[Fish Hunter]

Great article. Has anyone ever noticed how much better the trout fishing is in the Yakima river canyon below the feed lot on Thorpe south of Ellensburg. The hatches, trout numbers and size is way better than further upstream. Same kind of deal. Obviously there are limits to how much fertilizer a body of water can handle. Another example of this would be in SW WA where I was involved in data collection on Siouxon and Canyon creeks with Clark Skamania Fly fishers probably 10 years ago. The two watersheds are very different but are mainly right next to each other. Siouxon is a drainage where much of it was a very old (100yr?) burn. Lots of old growth. The Canyon Creek drainage had been logged for years. Canyon Creek clearly had better trout habitat. It had bigger trout and much more aquatic insect life. This was probably due in part to the reduced canopy and increased sunlight getting to the creekbed. Some folks in the Clark Skamania Flyfishers group at the time thought that a controlled logging rotation might actually be beneficial to a stream. Can't say I would disagree based on what I saw. That concept was not a popular one amoung the members at that time. My point is we have alot of preconcieved ideas that may need to go. The learning processes on how to manage these resources is incredibly slow IMHO.