[env-trinity] Trinity Journal August LTE: Restoration wasting millions

[Tom Stokely]

I missed this one from the August Trinity Journal.

TS

http://www.trinityjournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_1be2a3da-0f80-11e3-8524-001a4bcf6878.html 
Restoration wasting millions
From G.R. Archerd Weaverville | Posted: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 6:15 am
I have been an avid outdoorsman all my life, and at my current age of 55 I have become baffled at some of the so-called Trinity River “Restoration Projects,” aka TRRP, taking place here on the Trinity River. It should be called, “Restriction Projects.”
Before the TRRP, river access along Steiner Flat Road was numerous, and there were true primitive camping areas, but after their restoration efforts, it is all designated now, looking more like a picnic area. At first it was deceptive in nature, with them having us believe it was all for the fish and wildlife, but as one who has followed behind all of their restoration projects, they have done nothing but eliminated great fishing spots, filled the river up with even more silt and have limited river access even more than they ever have. They have polluted the woods with surveying tape, stakes, and have even used ½ inch steel rebar to stake the so-called native plants they replanted to cover the destruction that was created in their restoration projects in the first place.
In the name of restoration they have taken away the primitive campground on Steiner Flat Road. They wiped out river trails, cut channels everywhere there was access, and now you have to wade across these so-called channels just to reach the actual river. They have left behind more garbage than there was in the first place. At one particular location they wouldn’t even pick up the old tires and a refrigerator that some fool had dumped four years ago. They have left behind old cables and broken equipment parts, caused even more erosion than before, blocked roads with boulders and put up locked gates on our public lands. Not to mention changing the course of waterways; this is against the law if you or I were to do it.  
They have outlawed suction dredging, all for the safety of the fish, but look at how many yards of rocks and gravel they injected into the river. One should visit downstream when they are doing their “injections” like I have, and you will see firsthand how much silt and debris floats downstream, filling in prime spawning areas. If anything they should be removing the rocks and silt, not adding to it.
Before they killed most of the salmon in 2008, I was able to consistently catch fish, landing salmon in the 30-pound range and all sizes and species of trout. Not since then though, for the river is all but sterile these days. You don’t see the small fry and fingerlings like there used to be in the shallows and it seems to have gotten worse year after year. You don’t see the eagles and osprey that flew up and down the river every morning. Why? No fish to be found. In fact if one wants to see these birds of prey, you have to go to the lakes where there still is a food source available for them.
I will conclude as it has become apparent to me that this is just more of our freedom we keep losing on a daily basis. On a positive note, at least some of these restoration employees have a job for now and it should add to our local economy, as long as “THEY” have something left to restore, as long as our federal government continues to waste millions of our tax dollars in new and creative ways. Thank you.
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