09-09-2003, 04:26 AM
I would try my hand at "man and environment" but I don't know enough, yet, to talk intelligently about it but the time will come.
I tend to agree with some of your points, Dave. Not totally in agreement but close. You also made some points that I hadn't thought of.
One point I would like to make, is about garbage-dispensing outdoorsman; those who leave their trash for others. I sure wish there was an open season on them with no limit. I just returned from another bout with Cache La Poudre River (northwest of Ft. Collins) and what I saw just turned my stomach. Here's a prestine river running clear and clean and some a**hole has to leave his beer bottles on the bank. This while there's garbage can not fifty feet away. Yes, I picked them up and properly disposed of them. While I'm not an overly religious man, I consider the outdoors my church and want to keep it clean. I could get started on this subject but I'd have to take another Prozac.
On the positive side, by considering how Cache La Poudre Canyon was formed (it must have taken thousands of years), it's an open book as to what can happen with the next ice age. In my mind, I can see the canyon completely blocked with ice while the water upstream continued to form an even bigger lake. Note: did you know that eight rivers have their start in Colorado? Watch out when the ice melts, it'll flood all the way to the Kansas stateline, or what's left of it.
I do remember that comet that passed close to earth. The scary part? Scientists didn't detect it until it had already passed. What's the Hubble telescope for besides catching images of galaxies fifty million light years away? That's not going to hurt us, near earth objects are. And I'm willing to bet my pension that all the aspirin in the world wouldn't help that headache if one hit. Alien fish in the crater?
As I drove through Ft. Collins, I watched all the dirt, gravel, busted asphalt and other miscellaneous debris being swept into the river. No wonder there are no fish as the river passes through town. Now that's criminal. A gravel company tried to get a permit to open a pit near Barr Lake State Wildlife Area (about ten minutes from Brighton) but the entire idea got shot down by the City Council (election time was close). If they had succeeded, it would have put a ton a day of dust into the lake, effectively killing most of the fish. When I finally got called to speak before the council, I had all of three minutes, I pointed out that the City Council had no authority to over ride a federal law, namely the Endangered Species Act. You see, we have about twenty nesting pair of Bald Eagles permanently established in that area. By killing the fish, they would be deprived of their secondary food supply, the first being ground squirrels. End of discussion, sit down and shut up. I don't know if my well-researched arguments swayed the council, but I'd like to think I did. Now the developers argument was that they would leave an open space about a quarter mile wide for the eagles to fly through to their hunting grounds. Gimme a break here, eagles don't read maps and observe no boundaries; they go where they want. Permit denied. Okay, so we won on that one (votes before cash). But there will be other times, developers have deep pockets and worship the all-mighty dollar.
Back to the Cache La Poudre River (how I love that place). I did manage to catch, and release, several rainbows, German Browns and something that swam like a fish, looked like a fish and even fought like a fish, but I couldn't identify it. They didn't want gold Kastmasters but silver, the small variety. Blue Fox even took one but Mepps wasn't on their menu. After about an hour of fun and thrills, I put away the fishing pole. Wouldn't you know it? That was the time the bigger ones (I'm talking 16" to 20") decided that the dinner bell had rang or were they just teasing me? Either way, it was fun watching them rise to the surface, grab a bug and slink back down into the depths. These aren't planters but natives.
Enough for one night. There's a thunder-boomer headed my way and I don't want my computer fried, again. Back tomorrow.
[signature]
I tend to agree with some of your points, Dave. Not totally in agreement but close. You also made some points that I hadn't thought of.
One point I would like to make, is about garbage-dispensing outdoorsman; those who leave their trash for others. I sure wish there was an open season on them with no limit. I just returned from another bout with Cache La Poudre River (northwest of Ft. Collins) and what I saw just turned my stomach. Here's a prestine river running clear and clean and some a**hole has to leave his beer bottles on the bank. This while there's garbage can not fifty feet away. Yes, I picked them up and properly disposed of them. While I'm not an overly religious man, I consider the outdoors my church and want to keep it clean. I could get started on this subject but I'd have to take another Prozac.
On the positive side, by considering how Cache La Poudre Canyon was formed (it must have taken thousands of years), it's an open book as to what can happen with the next ice age. In my mind, I can see the canyon completely blocked with ice while the water upstream continued to form an even bigger lake. Note: did you know that eight rivers have their start in Colorado? Watch out when the ice melts, it'll flood all the way to the Kansas stateline, or what's left of it.
I do remember that comet that passed close to earth. The scary part? Scientists didn't detect it until it had already passed. What's the Hubble telescope for besides catching images of galaxies fifty million light years away? That's not going to hurt us, near earth objects are. And I'm willing to bet my pension that all the aspirin in the world wouldn't help that headache if one hit. Alien fish in the crater?
As I drove through Ft. Collins, I watched all the dirt, gravel, busted asphalt and other miscellaneous debris being swept into the river. No wonder there are no fish as the river passes through town. Now that's criminal. A gravel company tried to get a permit to open a pit near Barr Lake State Wildlife Area (about ten minutes from Brighton) but the entire idea got shot down by the City Council (election time was close). If they had succeeded, it would have put a ton a day of dust into the lake, effectively killing most of the fish. When I finally got called to speak before the council, I had all of three minutes, I pointed out that the City Council had no authority to over ride a federal law, namely the Endangered Species Act. You see, we have about twenty nesting pair of Bald Eagles permanently established in that area. By killing the fish, they would be deprived of their secondary food supply, the first being ground squirrels. End of discussion, sit down and shut up. I don't know if my well-researched arguments swayed the council, but I'd like to think I did. Now the developers argument was that they would leave an open space about a quarter mile wide for the eagles to fly through to their hunting grounds. Gimme a break here, eagles don't read maps and observe no boundaries; they go where they want. Permit denied. Okay, so we won on that one (votes before cash). But there will be other times, developers have deep pockets and worship the all-mighty dollar.
Back to the Cache La Poudre River (how I love that place). I did manage to catch, and release, several rainbows, German Browns and something that swam like a fish, looked like a fish and even fought like a fish, but I couldn't identify it. They didn't want gold Kastmasters but silver, the small variety. Blue Fox even took one but Mepps wasn't on their menu. After about an hour of fun and thrills, I put away the fishing pole. Wouldn't you know it? That was the time the bigger ones (I'm talking 16" to 20") decided that the dinner bell had rang or were they just teasing me? Either way, it was fun watching them rise to the surface, grab a bug and slink back down into the depths. These aren't planters but natives.
Enough for one night. There's a thunder-boomer headed my way and I don't want my computer fried, again. Back tomorrow.
[signature]