Image provided by: Upper Left Edge; Cannon Beach, OR
About The upper left edge. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1994)
MORE TALES FROM THE WORLD OF WILDLIFE We last heard from W ashington State Fish and W ildlife enforcem ent agent M ike Mercer during the m ayhem of Elk season in the fo o th ills of M t. St. Helens. A t tha t time, we discovered that deer and Elk have som ehow adapted w ell to industrial forest land. We learned that fall is the tim e w hen all great killing com es to a head. W e w itnessed fair am ounts of big game and even more men and w om en w h o w an ted to kill som ething, some badly enough to do heinous crimes to satisfy the urge. The o p p o rtu n ity to observe the w ildlife enforcem ent process recently presented itself to me again. This time, e ffo rts would be turned to w a rd fishm g a ctivitie s on the C olum bia River. A State jet boat would take agents M ercer, Bob Powell, M ark Hart, and me from Vancouver east to M ultnom ah Falls. "W e 'v e taken the finest salm on stream in N orth A m erica and turned it into a storm dram ," M ike told me as we left for the patrol. As early as the turn of the century, we w ere w arned that the salmon runs on the Colum bia were in peril. A ny m oron w ith an ounce o f foresight could have ascertained tha t the in te n sity w ith w hich we rem oved salmon from the Colum bia River w ould be short lived. We n o w kn o w that over fishing shares the blame for the salm on's dem ise w ith hydroelectric dams, logging, agriculture, and a m ultitude of bad regulation, or no regulation at all. Sport fishing and the rod and reel have replaced com m ercial fishing and the gill net, but even sport fishing is no w quite lim ited on the Colum bia River. Still, many people seek the fish ou t. "O ur job is centered on tryin g to pro te ct som ething that d o e sn 't e x is t," agent M ercer com plains. He later adm itted that the enforcem ent presence is, none the less, very im po rta nt. W ith o u t it. poaching and fraudulence w ould be rampant on every bend in the river. M ike w ould like to be o p tim istic about the eventual fate of salm on in the Columbia River but maintains tha t w e have finished them . Real solutions are not possible Is is not likely that the dams w ill be removed, that forests w ill replace tree farms, or that Hanford contam inants w ill not leach into the river Instead, we w ill continue to squabble and com prom ise until the last great "Jun e Hog" inches its w ay tow ard Idaho, only to find itself alone on a trek that once involved m illions of its kind. Unlike my last patrol w ith these agents, this day was calm and largely uneventful. Aside from having to retrieve a freshly w ritte n ticket that ble w aw ay in the transfer from agent to vio lator, the day presented no real challenges. M ark Hart captained the boat. Banter and personal slander echoed through the cabin o f the boat as Bob Powell and M ike M ercer took shots at one another on a va rie ty of fronts. W hen the green cop y of a ticke t w hipped out of M ike ’ s hands and landed in the river, Bob said that w e should hu rry to retrieve it before it sunk. "It w o n ’ t sink, you id io t," Mike told him, " it's made of w o o d ." A discussion then ensued about u n iform s and foot attire. M ike noted, "These black m ilitary style boots are playing havoc w ith my gout, eve ryth in g is form over fu n ctio n w ith this o u tfit." Bob had just returned from a d o c to r's check up. Mike was particularly interested in Bob's experience w ith being probed for prostate cancer and repeatedly made inquiries about the process. Bob refused to lend details. "A person your age should have that done every other w e e k ," M ike told him. The pilings that once supported huge fish wheels are scattered along the shores east of Prmdle Island. Today, they make shelter for squaw fish, a b o tto m feeder tha t eats salmon and steelhead sm olt. The Bonneville Power A dm inistration (BPA) pays fisherm en $ 3 .0 0 per squaw fish in an e ffo rt to expunge the species. There were as many people fishing for squaw fish on this day as there w ere fishing for sturgeon or steelhead tro u t. Perhaps people are concerned about the Environm ental P rotection A gency (EPA) w arnings that fish from the low er Colum bia River have high concentrations of contam inants in them . Or, perhaps the prospects for fishing are sim ply too discouraging. A t any rate, fishing is an ancient and p o w e rfu l passion. M ost serious fisherm en are forced to spend more tim e and money to go to a place w here fish still exist Such places, of course, are them selves feeling the strains of popularity. Upon pondering these questions, M ike turned to the other w ardens and said, "Oh w ell, you can live in a place w here the re's a little bit o f w ild life , or you can m ove do w n to w n and be annoyed by the starlings sh ittin g on your d e ck." 6 imuntMistrTUttttm’» On returning w est to w a rd V ancouver the heat intensified and the river thickened w ith water skiers and sail boats A jet ski shot across our bo w shooting a ten fo o t rooster tail of water "Dam ned m otorized, Japanese w ater m aggots." M ike exclaim ed, "th is w hole place is turning into one vast beer com m ercial." Things cannot stay constant for ever. The C olum bia's fate w as sealed long ago. M ost people seem im m une to the changes that have stirred the river over the last century, stating that its m etam orphosis is only the normal course of action. Perhaps so. but as Bruce C ockburn says, "the trouble w ith norm al is it alw ays gets w orse " Many of us w ill never fondly or blindly accept the degradation of the places we hold in high regard. K & D MAIN STREET BOOKS tMF.n » R ARR. \ I SL'AL Dawn DeBemardi (503) 648-9216 211 E. M ain Street, H ills b o ro . OR 97123 L_____________________________________________ Along the river, suburbia slithers deeper and deeper into the rem nants of our w oodlands and forested hills Some form s of w ild life adapt. Some are pushed further out into w hat remains of their habitat. O thers, in time, sim ply cease to exist I accom panied Mike on a cougar com plaint later in the day. East and north of W oodland, we meandered through the form er w ilds, finding small subdivisions nestled in the hill tops and over bottom s The com plaint included terrifying accounts of tattered garbage cans and piles of feathers from a neighbor's turkey pen. Earlier this year. Mike was rousted from the dinner table to respond to a call about a c o u g a r near V a n c o u v e r M ■ 'i s surrounded by suburbia. The cougar was darted, collared, and released in the W illapa Hills. These are the kinds of conditions that w ild life agents face today, w ild life c o n flictin g w ith human a c tiv ity . We seem to have little use for most w ild life species, until such tim e that they are nearly extirpated Mike sees this dilem ma as p o te n tia lly ■ a Human act *-ity is everyw here and w ild life is going aw ay. Soon there may be no co n flicts to m itigate The job w ill be left to park rangers w ho w ill patrol fenced roadw ays, keeping the camera w ielding cro w d s from th ro w in g popcorn at the m arm ots. As we approached the dock at W ashougal, I w ondered h o w the Columbia River w ould be regarded today hao we made more intelligent choices regarding ns use. The scenario is alm ost too ridiculous to be given serious th o u g h t, but most people w ho have fond memories of the C olum bia River have a bistoncel perspective "Finding a solution is fu tile ," Mike told me about the salm on's plight, "w a it un til the re's no fish and then over react in a style that only the governm ent could come up w ith My father lived in the best tim e ," Mike w en t on, “ but he d id n 't kn o w it. This is, of course, only one person's v ie w but as far as the Columbia River is concerned, M ike appears to be correct The m ighty C olum bia "rolls o n " in a w ay that nature no longer dictates. The salm on's con dition is sim ply indicative of the river's health and should not be surprising to any of us. DANGER: Government censorshq) is toxic to democracy. If swallowed, it's deadly. ANTIDOTE KBOO 90.7FM Community radio. Our poison control center is standing by. AZW9Q7 listener sponsored community RADIO COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE »2 7 IN THE Obviously, everything depends upon your perspective “ P reservationists are the m in o rity ." Mike told me, hoping that I w ould be irritated, "th e y see things d iffe re n tly but alw ays w ith a perspective that spans tim e ." Indeed. But they have historically been ineffective w ith their causes. Only w hen problems become so bad that even the blind can see them do we react. A more com m on perspective has forged the C olum bia's state of being It was im m ortalized by folksmger W oody G uthrie in 1941 You jus' w a tch this n v e r'n p re tty soon E eve ryb o d y's gonna be cha ngin ' their tune... That big Grand Coulee *n Bonneville D am ’ ll Build a thousand factories f'r Uncle Sam Roll on, Colum bia, roll on. Roll on, Colum bia, roll on. Your pow er is turning the darkness to daw n. Roll on, Colum bia, roll on. Ron Logan American Indian Ì Association of Portland 1827 NE 44th Suit» 226 Portland. 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