Sage is not moving. Based on Bainbridge Island, Washington, Sage manufactures all of its fly rods right there and plans to continue doing so. Seems like some recent scuttlebutt over the company possibly moving is now quashed. “I don’t ever see us leaving Bainbridge,” said Sage’s president, Travis Campbell. “At the end of the day, I think we can make a better product here.” Another reason he cites: “[T]o protect our intellectual property. If we took (Sage) to China, everybody would very quickly know our magic. Here, we can keep our secrets.”
As I wrote a few weeks ago, the fly fishing industry manufactures its stuff mostly right here in the USA, especially the high and mid level gear, but even a lot of the lower priced quality stuff is done domestically. See Scott and St. Croix, for example. It will be interesting to see if this serves as a model for other industries of if we’ll instead sadly remember this as the shadow of the once thriving U.S. manufacturing base.
Now is the time to contact your elected representatives as well as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency if you are concerned about the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed. Orvis has set up a Bristol Bay action page to send letters to your senators, representatives and Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA, asking them to investigate the impact of this mine.
In case you are not aware, the proposed Pebble Mine would be sited at the headwaters of two of the main rivers that feed Bristol Bay. This watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon run in the world (by far) and is one of the largest salmon fisheries in the world. Pebble Mine is fraught with huge risks. It would require the world’s’ largest earthen dam to contain the 2 billion to 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste produced, in a very seismically active area.
I am writing today to encourage you to use your authority under the Clean Water Act to take a hard look at how the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed will impact our nation’s biggest wild salmon fishery, the commercial fishermen and Alaska Natives who depend on it and the local businesses who make their living off of this wild landscape in Southwestern Alaska.
If built, Pebble Mine will produce between 2 and 10 billion tons of toxic waste that will have to be treated for hundreds of years. Located in a seismically active region, the mine would require the world’s largest earthen dam to be built, around 700 feet high and several miles in length. Independent scientists have questioned whether the dam could withstand the force of a massive earthquake, such as the 9.2 quake that devastated Anchorage in 1964. Because of its size, geochemistry and location, Pebble runs a high risk of polluting Bristol Bay, one of the world’s last remaining strongholds of healthy salmon populations, including the largest sockeye salmon runs in the world. The region provides pristine spawning grounds for trophy rainbow trout and all five species of Pacific salmon and a variety of wildlife that depends on the nutrients from salmon, clean water, and undisturbed habitat.
I urge you to initiate a Clean Water Act 404(c) process in Bristol Bay immediately. Alaska Natives, sportsmen, commercial fishermen and conservation organizations deserve a public and science-based process to determine if the Pebble Partnership’s plans to build the biggest open pit mine in North America will harm one of our nation’s greatest fisheries.
The study found that brook trout in the St. Lawrence river have large quantities of antidepressants in their livers and brains, and much smaller amounts in their muscle tissue. Even very small concentrations of pharmaceuticals in waterways have been linked to significant changes in those ecosystems.
Pennsylvania has a great interactive map showing the state’s fishable waters, with stocking info, directions and more. You can filter for Class A wild trout streams, stockable rivers, the whole bit. It also shows what percentage of each stream has public and private access. Very, very cool and useful. Will come in handy this spring and summer when I travel up there.
I think most people would love to see Marcellus gas production if done safely. That is the whole question with hydrofracking — how safe is it? There are numerous reports of ground water contamination, improper disposal of fracking fluids into river systems, the use of highly toxic chemicals, the exemption from publicly reporting of what chemicals are used and fish kills due to Marcellus gas drilling operations. From the WTAE story, which is about just the air pollution from gas operations:
Pam and Kristen Judy say they’ve been getting headaches, sore throats and nose bleeds ever since this compressor station was built next door. DEP air monitoring in the Judy’s yard last year found evidence of methane, benzene, toluene, acetone and 12 other compounds.
John Hanger, DEP: “The total numbers, once we get to 40,000 wells in this state, of air emissions, unless the industry uses the cleanest technology, will be a problem.”
Ray Walker, Marcellus Shale Coalition: “We’re literally going to be able to move gas or compress gas or treat gas with literally tenths of a percent of the emissions that we used to.” Some of those technologies already exist but aren’t always used. In fact, they aren’t required to be used. Like vapor recovery units that can be placed on tank stacks to prevent the kind of pollution plume you’re seeing here. That’s why the group GASP wants DEP to require the use of cleaner technologies.
The concerns over groundwater pollution are much greater.
Pennsylvania, with over 5000 miles of water containing brook trout, stands to lose a lot if drillers are not responsible or if it is not possible to drill for gas safely, both of which seem to be in question. Brook trout depend on clean groundwater. Humans, not coincidentally, depend on groundwater, too. Groundwater flows deep within the earth’s crust and provides fresh water in our springs, streams, rivers, lakes, wells and irrigation systems. We don’t have maps showing where this water travels deep underground. Injecting millions of gallons of fracking fluids into a gas well is not guaranteed to be contained within the well area, and gas drilling chemicals are often not contained (this link is to a bunch of lawyers with an interest in exposing this, but the site links to actual articles on reputable news sites). And once contaminated, cleaning up a water source thousands of feet underground is not possible, and where that water flows next is not always understood.
In Madison County, both the lower Hughes and Rose Rivers have been stocked this week. With a little warmer weather and some uneducated fish, might be worth a trip. You could hit both in a day.
Yes, things have slowed way down here at the Brook Trout Fishing Guide, the only website that purports to promote fly fishing for brook trout above all else that is interesting, wholesome and good. Is that really true? Quite possibly, no. Nevertheless, the lord of this website, yours truly, has been slammed with a lot of work that pays the bills as well as a lot of work that does not. The latter would include shoveling wet snow literally for days last week, keeping the house warm by keeping the generator running after we lost power, and generally just trying to pull out of the funk that is the dead of a cold, gray winter. But this will all soon change.
In the pipe are some new reviews, including a couple fly rods, a fishing pack/vest and some new hippers I just received. I’m also going to cover where to go, what to wear and how to fool those little fish in our little backwoods streams. And fly tying. I’ve got fur, feathers and dubbing coming out the wazoo now, and have made some of it into mostly bad looking flies, but some not too bad at all. And I need to give you beautiful photos. Lots of ’em.
So bear with me as I retool for the coming season. I see the groundhog did not see his shadow today, so winter should hopefully be dying a quick death around here, the waters warming up and the crocus and daffodils getting ready to sprout. Can’t wait.
