So I got yet another kick in my face today, my fishing face
as it were.
Earlier this year a friend of mine told me the Colville
Confederated Tribes had decided to close the San Poil River to non-indians.
I had fished here for maybe 35 years and considered this one
of my very favorite spots to stream fish, south of the town of Republic,
Washington. We had spent hundreds of hours driving around and exploring,
discovering access points and figuring out all the tips and tricks to fish this
little gem. It was beautiful and full of wildlife, it was unimproved and
perfect. Last year a friend had spied a full grown moose standing in the middle
of the river feeding. I had already bought a full season tribal license
thinking I would be over there in August this year fishing.
I won’t do that again.
Ever apparently………
So then today I thought I would hit the Snoqualmie River
down by Fall City. I was going to an area called Neal Road, one of my standard,
basic, close to home fishing spots. As I drive down the road I see huge yellow
and orange construction equipment all over the place. The one hole I used to
call “Chum City”, the woods around the area were just destroyed, obviously they
were putting roads in. It was so ugly I assumed they were putting in a tract
housing development. This is the “Fall City Natural Area”, and it appears King
County in their ultimate wisdom are spending millions of dollars to tear the
hell out of the area and destroy it. They call this “improvements”. They will put roads all over and asphalt paved
parking lots, bathrooms of course and those raised wooden walkways, holy fuck do
they ever love those raised wooden walkways with “interpretive signs”. What
this means is tons of people parking in there, dog shit all over, litter all
over, I have seen this many times, like up at Moss Lake.
Moss Lake used to be a beautiful little place before King County “improved it”. The horrible part is now if they can’t ram through sky high taxes they will close the park because they can’t maintain it, when the park doesn't need maintenance at all it just need them to stay the hell away from it. Nature is not improved by "better access".
Moss Lake used to be a beautiful little place before King County “improved it”. The horrible part is now if they can’t ram through sky high taxes they will close the park because they can’t maintain it, when the park doesn't need maintenance at all it just need them to stay the hell away from it. Nature is not improved by "better access".
So I leave that dusty nightmare of screaming chainsaws and
head back to 203. I was so disgusted I almost went home.
But I decided to give David Powell Road a shot and see what
was up,…with trepidation. Sure enough, the issue here was float tubes and rafts
coming down the river. I was astonished! They were everywhere I looked, and
coming down in groups 50 yards apart. They were parked everywhere on both sides
of the river and just sitting in the river like plastic-neon colored islands of
noise and litter.
On the weekend sure, I can understand I guess. If it was
really hot maybe. But this was Tuesday night after work, cloudy and maybe 79
degrees. I can’t imagine where all these people come from because they don’t
live here in the valley. I also can’t imagine where all these people are
parking. They are using and blocking up facilities built for fishing and
launching fishing boats.
The Snoqualmie Valley is being loved to death. People like
me who wanted to retire here now can’t even get from A to B without really
thinking traffic strategy and timing.
Now I can’t even go fishing on a Tuesday night after work.
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