|
A
Fishy Story,
by Garry
Stauber
 In high school I had a
friend whose nickname was Frog. We spent a lot of time together and he was
the life of the party. In our minds we were a comedy team. We viewed
ourselves as our high school’s Laurel and Hardy. One day Frog publicly
humiliated a classmate solely because of her physical limitations.
When news of his actions spread, Frog bragged and showed no
remorse. I was so embarrassed. Immediately
I wanted to distance myself from him. I hoped no one would
associate me with Frog ever again. He had crossed the line and I no longer
wanted to be viewed as sharing his values.
I felt
similar feelings of shame when I read the recent Mt. Shasta News article
about the actions of some equestrians.
Every year the Mt. Shasta Hatchery supplies about 5 million fish,
populating local streams and lakes with trout for anglers. Local tourism
and trade depends upon the abundance of fish to attract these sportsmen.
Steve
Sanders is manager of the government hatchery, which was founded in
1888. After a rain in early January, Steve made a horrible discovery. He
noticed the water flowing to the hatcheries was unusually muddy. When he
went to inspect the feeding streams, about 150 feet of fences had been
cut and fence posts knocked down. These fences kept anything or anyone
from entering the creek, which normally supplies fresh clean water from
the mountain streams to the hatchery. Tracks and manure left behind
indicated that horses had been ridden in the stream. The creek banks had
been broken down, filling the stream with soil. Silt washed into the
water which flowed into the tanks of eggs, smothering them, and keeping
them from breathing. More than 500,000 brown trout eggs (with a value of
$7,500) were lost.
"I hear they
have a great school where we’re going.."
Illustration by
Jessica Young
The
apparent reason for the vandalism was merely to create short cuts to
trails in the Mt. Shasta Park. A police report was taken and now their
actions are being reported in newspapers, magazines and television news
programs, providing negative publicity effecting all equestrians.
Incidents such as this provide ammunition to those advocating limiting
equestrian trail access
I was
embarrassed as I called Steve Sanders for an interview.
Memories of Frog and old familiar feelings of embarrassment
entered my mind as I introduced myself as an equestrian writer. Steve
was surprisingly cordial and kind. In fact, I found out he is a fellow
horseman. He added the irony that equestrians are the primary
distributors for the hatchling trout in the higher mountain lakes and
streams. The Backcountry Horsemen of California and other equestrians
volunteer hundreds of hours with their mules and packhorses to disperse
the hatchlings each year. “We couldn’t be successful without their
help,” Steve said.
He
added that probably most of the equestrians who had ridden in the creeks
were not the perpetrators of the vandalism to the fences.
After the fences had been destroyed, most of the equestrians were
probably riding through the creeks, unaware of the impact of their
actions.
I
called the President of one of the local units of the Backcountry
Horsemen, Jim Griffith, and asked if he had heard of the incident. He
was shocked and equally disappointed. He was quick to add he was going
to call Steve Sanders, who he knew, and offer assistance in rebuilding
the fences and posting signage. For
the past several years Jim’s unit has assisted in packing fish into
the high mountain lakes of the Trinity area, in a cooperative effort
with the National Forestry Service. He commented the fish drop is an
annual planned event that his unit enjoys and looks forward to.
“It is unfortunate that the actions of a few overshadow the
hundreds of hours donated to assist local forestry conservation,”
stated Jim Griffith. But as we know this is often the case.
I like
Jim and Steve’s attitudes. Both intend to educate the public and to
post visible signs about the importance of not entering the streams, to
make all who pass by aware that these fences protect a delicate natural
resource. The eggs have been replaced and this summer equestrians will
again carry the brown trout to their new mountain homes. Local
conservation corps members have also been assigned to assist in
repairing the fences. All
these actions make me proud to be an equestrian.
These and similar actions help promote the kind of values and
behaviors we all want to be identified with in the equestrian world.
Thanks Jim and Steve, and I’ll see you on the trail.
Return to top
Copyright Garry
Stauber © 2004 All rights reserved. The above article is
the property of the Author and may not be duplicated or redistributed in
any way without permission. Visit Garry on-line at Dream Adventures.
|
