Today’s blog was written by FVTU Board member Carl Swanson. Carl is a long time member of our BOD and Chairman of our Trout In The Classroom program.
Green Mountains, Lake Champlain
A recent day on the water got me to thinking about the good old days. A common statement that comes up very often each spring. This usually coincides with the latest stocking reports or word of an upcoming announcement concerning the raising of license fees, the implementation of a Trout Stamp or other management regulation. First off let me state that there IS NOT any current discussions around either.
In my case the good old days would have to be defined as around 55 yrs ago. The good old days were spending time with my father and brother learning to fish, and tagging along hunting. Picking night crawlers in the back yard or the local school yard. Time spent with my buddies in the neighborhood with no clocks except for the piercing whistle from my father for dinner. Summers vacations spent on Lake Champlain with my family including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, doing what else but fishing. The best of times!
As I look back I can’t categorize those days as the best fishing or environmental conditions. The EPA and environmental protection buzz words wouldn’t appear until the late 60s and early 70s. DDT wouldn’t be banned until 1972. The 70s brought recognition of Love Canal and the results of a 100 years of unregulated industrial pollution. Thoughts of being environmentally conscious and the famous PSA ad for ‘Keep America Beautiful’ with Native American actor Iron Eyes Cody wouldn’t air until 1971. But at the time we didn’t know any better.
Over the next 48 – 50 years we would see improvements to our waterways, skies and land. With these improvements came better fishing, better hunting and a better quality of life. More opportunities for hiking, bird watching, swimming and other outdoor activities. Not only better fishing and hunting conditions but the opportunity to fish and hunt for species long thought forgotten or newly introduced.
Yes, with these improvements came higher costs, but so hasn’t the cost of everyday life. As with everything else, the cost for our outdoor activities has risen. But for less than $0.15 a day I can fish in both freshwater, saltwater or hunt small game, within season, 365 days a year. A pretty good deal if you ask me. The cost of highly educated biologist, new equipment to run our hatcheries, new equipment to manage our forests, parks and game land, etc have all risen, and unfortunately our DEEP has taken the brunt of state budget cuts.
But I believe we are witnessing today, the best fishing the state of Ct has ever had. We can argue over current Striped Bass, Bluefish or other migratory fish stocks, but much of that has to do with natural population cycles and conditions that are out of our control. Spawning conditions in other states, bag limits in surrounding states, forage fish depletion in the high seas and other state jurisdictions. But overall fishing opportunities and conditions have never been better. I would be willing to stand toe to toe with anyone that the trout fishing in our local waterways has never been better. Whether it be the natural flows of the Housatonic or the tail waters of the Farmington. Local urban rivers that once ran different colors depending on the time of day are now supporting put and take fisheries and even the spawning of wild fish. One needs to just take a look at the out of state license plates lining our rivers to realize this. We may even be at the point of maximum capacity on some of these waters. Even our lakes and warm water fishing is at its prime. With the advent of specific species and lake management practices, these opportunities have never been better.
Our quality of experience has also benefited greatly from these improvements. We’ve witnessed the return of the osprey to our state. Successful nests have been appearing along our state shoreline as well as inland. Today seeing an American bald eagle is commonplace along our rivers and lakes as opposed to the rare occurrence. Sighting bears, turkeys and even a moose has become part of our outdoor experience.
But we need to stay diligent of the current situation to ensure that these fisheries stay this way and our wildlife continues to flourish. Climate change, the introduction of invasive species both fauna and flora and the deregulation of current environmental laws will soon have a heavy impact of our current conditions. Funding to support our DEEP and EPA needs to increase with inflation along with everything else. We need to work to ensure that our elected officials continue to pass legislation and to keep current regulations in place. And we need to police ourselves, whether you’re a fisherperson, a kayaker or hiker or a part time user of our state parks. It’s our responsibility to ensure that the few don’t ruin it for the majority.
If we don’t, we could soon be referring to today as the Good Old Days.