| The Page For The Environmentally Active |
| A little background: For years I had trapped, netted and angled for minnows such as Chubs, Black Nose Dace, Golden Shiners, etc. I also dragged for crayfish in local streams to sell in my "bait and tackle shop". These were small, tree-lined streams, shaded, with gravel bottoms. One day I visited one such stream and discovered that someone had bull-dozed the bank, ripped out all the trees and shrubs lining its bank on both sides, pushed dirt into the pools, and filled the main pool with basketball size rocks. Eacb time it rains, mud pours in covering the bottom and the food chain dies. Where once a living ecosystem existed is now a warm, muddy ditch. I contacted the DEC. I was told that no environmental laws were violated here because it was "not a trout stream". I asked how they defined "trout stream" and was told "trout have to spawn, hatch and remain in the stream". Trout merely migrating in the stream during spawn runs and returning to Lake Ontario don't count. I responded: "So, you don't protect a stream unless it holds trout. Yet, a stream will not hold trout unless it is protected" (or left alone by dumb luck). I was told that was correct. I told the DEC official I had on the phone long distance (my dime) that this amounted to an environmental CATCH-22 and had a hard time believing that there were no laws that protect a "non-trout water" from habitat devestation. The official responded that he merely enforced the laws........Not wanting to let a bureauracrat off the hook, I persisted. "You mean to tell me that the current state of conservation laws, as they pertain to streams, actually allow for aquatic and terrestial habit destruction"...there was silence on the line. "In other words, the stream classification system (if you want to call it that) doesn't even maintain the environmental status-quo?". He again said I was correct. I thanked him for his time. Two weeks later I received the DEC publication called STREAM CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT. It is a wonderful blue print for the conservation and protection of streams. Too bad the DEC doesn't insist on its implementation. I have since seen two more streams bite the bulldozer. In one of the streams (before the destruction) I caught two Rainbow Trout in the middle of summer on two seperate days. When I notified the DEC Biologist for our region, his remark was "what are they (the trout) doing there?". I did get them to send a survey team to look for the trout. They looked in the wrong section of stream. Rather than examining the tree-lined two mile stretch, they concentrated on the open, farm land stretch. Consequently, the DEC refused to begin the process to reclassify and protect the stream. I even provided a photo of two Rainbow Trout hatchlings I netted in the middle of summer. Still they refused to even consider protecting this stream. Now they say there are not enough Rainbow Trout in there to warrant protecting. Real cute!! First I was told they don't protect a stream unless there is evidence of sucessfull spawning trout. Now they say they won't protect the stream because there are not enough hatchlings, fingerlings, jeuvenilles and adults in there. Amazing! This is what happens when an agency is allowed to make the laws they enforce and enforce the laws they make. Believe me, I have talked to DEC officials from Avon to Albany. No joy. Have you ever tried dealing with a government agency as big as the DEC? It is like yelling into the wind. All I can say is it is a shame that an agency entrusted to conserve our environment cannot act in the environment's behalf when handed such an opportunity on a silver platter! I wrote detailed letters to the Rochester Chapter of Trout Unlimited and got no response. I dropped my membership and so should you until they live up to thier mission statement of habitat restoration and protection. I also contacted a couple environmental groups. No one wants to buck the DEC. Who do they work for anyway? Contact Region 8 of the DEC (716) 226-2466 (they don't have a toll-free number) and ask them why they won't protect Sandy Creek in Orleans County. Or email them. [email protected] Here's another DEC ditty. You can bulldoze any stream in Orleans County any time you want, completely wrecking the aquatic and stream corridor habitat and you will break no laws. However, you cannot use a treble hook spinner from September 1 to April 1 in those same streams. Amazing!!! Yours for the environment: Al Capurso, owner Bait Barn & Fly Shop (just two miles from Sandy Creek) (585) 589-5855 |
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