-
- Species
- Whitetails
- Rut Reporters
- Deer Camp
- Big Game
- Small Game
- Birds
- Special Methods
- Bow Hunting
- Conservation
- Heroes of Conservation
- Hero for a Day
- Outdoor Skills
- Total Outdoorsman Challenge
- Land for Sale
-
- Species
- Bass
- Trout
- More Freshwater
- Saltwater
- Catchbook
- Special Methods
- Fly Fishing
- Hook Shots
- Conservation
- Heroes of Conservation
- Hero for a Day
- Outdoor Skills
- Total Outdoorsman Challenge
- Land for Sale
-
- Health & Fitness
- F&S Adventurer
- Outdoor Skills
- Total Outdoorsman Challenge
-
- Rifles
- Shotguns
- 2nd Amendment
- SHOT Show
- Outdoor Skills
- Total Outdoorsman Challenge
Herring: How to Dynamite a Creek
Recent Comments
- Mike Diehl on Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases (27)
- bruisedsausage on Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases (27)
- Mike Diehl on Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases (27)
- bruisedsausage on Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases (27)
- Mike Diehl on Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases (27)
Categories
- Alaska (1)
- ATVs (1)
- Bass Fishing (8)
- Best Wild Places (1)
- Big Game Hunting (28)
- Bird Hunting (33)
- Bow Hunting (12)
- Deer Hunting (15)
- Fishing (134)
- Fly Fishing (16)
- Guns (5)
- Heroes (7)
- Hunting (145)
- More Freshwater (21)
- Other (1)
- Saltwater (28)
- Small Game (16)
- Survival (1)
- Trout Fishing (18)
- Water (1)
Recent Posts
- Hero for a Day 2012: Assessing the Health of an Ohio River Tributary
- Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases
- Conservation Update: Sportsmen's Groups Step Up Campaign for Sodsaver
- Hero for a Day 2012: Building a New Shell Reef in Tampa Bay
- House Goes After Trout Stream Protections--Again
- Remembering What the Dust Bowl Taught Us About the Importance of Conservation
- Conservation Update: Colorado Roadless Areas One Step Closer to Protection--Maybe
- What Do You Do With Unwanted Fish?
- Conservation Update: Busting the Buster Programs Spells Trouble for Waterfowl
- Sage Advice: If Loss of Habitat Causes Bird Numbers to Drop, Don't Take It Out on Hunters
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
Syndicate
The Conservationist
in your Inbox
August 17, 2010
Herring: How to Dynamite a Creek
By Hal Herring
I’ve been thinking and writing a lot lately about the clearing and straightening of creeks, and how that produces a wide range of negative effects, from the devastating floods that occur when stormwater that used to be absorbed by trees and wetlands and blunted by meanders and bends suddenly comes freight-training downstream, to the dry and sterile creekbeds that are left behind after the raging waters have scoured the habitat and wreaked havoc further down.
So I was fascinated when my friend Bruce Farling of Trout Unlimited sent me this old DuPont ad that celebrates the virtues of straightening creeks with dynamite. I honestly don’t think that people are much different today: we still yearn for the simplest answer, demand to make straight what nature made crooked, make flat what the world has made steep, even long after we understand the tremendous costs of those desires and the projects that make them real. What we have become better at, though, is covering up, using softer language to describe the destruction of natural places. Nobody in 2010 would make an ad like this one. And yet the destruction continues. The bald-faced honesty of the DuPont ad is almost refreshing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Today on Field & Stream
Loading...
Visit Our Sister Sites at Bonnier Corporation
| Enthusiast | Kiteboarding | QUAD | SKI | Skiing | Scuba Diving | Sport Diver | TransWorld Ride BMX | TransWorld Business | TransWorld Motocross | TransWorld SKATEboarding, | TransWorld SNOWboarding | TransWorld SURF | WakeBoarding | WaterSki | Warren Miller Entertainment | WindSurfing |
|---|---|
| Travel | Caribbean Travel & Life | Destination Weddings & Honeymoon | Islands | Meeting Traveler | Resorts & Great Hotels |
| Lifestyle & Shelter | Florida Travel & Life | Garden Design | Home Ft. Lauderdale | Home Miami |
| Luxury | SNOW | Spa |
| Marine | Boating Life | Cruising World | Fly Fishing in Salt Waters | Power Cruising | Marlin | Motor Boating | Sailing World | Salt Water Sportsman | Sport Fishing | Yachting | NewBoats.com | UsedBoats.com | YachtBroker.com |
| Outdoor | Field & Stream | Outdoor Life | SHOT Business |
| Parenting | Babytalk | Parenting |
| Science | Popular Science | Science Illustrated |
| Saveur | Saveur |
| Working Mother Media | Working Mother |
| Entertainment / Events | World Entertainment Services | World Sports & Marketing |
Fieldandstream.com is part of the Field & Stream Network, a division of Bonnier Corporation.
Copyright © 2012 Bonnier Corp. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Comments (7)
DuPont was and of course is an explosives manufacturer, so their motivation in offering the ad is plain. What I find refreshing is the absence of any claim that the effort is somehow being done in an "environmentally friendly way."
Here in Arizona we have a Canadian firm pushing the Rosemont Mine proposal and issuing the most mendacious proclamations about the benefit. One of them is that in leaving a vast open pit with a pool (a toxic one) at the bottom and filling up three nearby canyons with waste rock will all be done in an environmentally friendly way, and that after the mine departs we will hardly know that they were ever there. Another is the mantra that 'America needs copper to make electronic devices and wire; it's time to put Americans back to work making consumer goods that are made with copper.' That is an interesting claim because the Holding Corporation's plan is to export the raw copper ore to China, where the refined copper will be used by Chinese factories to make electronic goods. The idea that the mine will bolster America's industrial sector is ludicrous. It's not even going to put Americans to work making copper ingots.
Mike ~ Good that you and others are not duped into thinking what foreign corporations want you to believe about their dubious practices.
Case in point. Through "Rebuild America" programs, thought to be a part of the Obama Administration's Recovery Act of 2008-09, Wind Mills are popping up in Nebraska, Texas and anywhere it's flat and windy.
With property trade-offs a part of the deal, wind turbines, as a source of alternative energy (low cost), will be made available to consumers. These consumers are cattle ranchers and every day homeowners along with big and small businesses.
Build the turbines in the United States, erect them by Union Iron Workers and we'll all sleep better at night. Only one problem. Or should I say, many problems.
The manufacturing part of the Recovery Plan, earmarked for US companies, is in fact contracted to Chinese Corporations. The Chinese shipping firms get their piece of pie with this one. Now on to the "put Americans to work in America" part of the "Recovery Act."
Chinese workers are, in fact, erecting the turbines on our soil. So much for Union Iron Workers going to work.
Then there's the wildlife habitat, now changed forever. With certain US EPA-like regs in place to enforce possible terrain degradation, it's a trade-off at best for alternative energy needs.
We all need to NOT TRUST what foreign corporations promise. After the job, they leave with the money revenue and Americans are left with "unseen problems" not fully disclosed when contracts are awarded.
They forgot to mention that if you straighten it you have to dam it. The creek be damned.
Make me wonder, in 30 years what will we all think about today's actions?
Hal -- Lots of straightened creeks where I live -- I don't know how many were done with dynamite. FWS used to blast potholes for wildlife habitat, too. As a kid I remember when our local wildlife biologist came out to our farm with a detonator and a bags of fertilizer to blast potholes along our creekbottom. Unfortunately he miscalculated and we got small, deep craters instead of wide, shallow potholes. It was exciting to watch, though.
The rainy cycle we are in right now in the Midwest really points up how much we could use the flood mitigation that all our lost wetlands used to provide.
This reminds me of the claim made by Massey Energy that they are creating jobs by getting coal out of the mountains of the Appalachia. What they fail to tell you is that it only takes f percent of the labor to use mountain top removal than it would if it was done conventionally. Not only that, the coal removed is metallurgical coal. All of it exported to China...
Best regards from Afghanistan!
Albert A Rasch™
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Cleaning your Sleeping Bag!
Sorry, Five percent of the labor, One in twenty.
Best regards from Afghanistan!
Albert A Rasch™
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Cleaning your Sleeping Bag!
Post a Comment
DuPont was and of course is an explosives manufacturer, so their motivation in offering the ad is plain. What I find refreshing is the absence of any claim that the effort is somehow being done in an "environmentally friendly way."
Here in Arizona we have a Canadian firm pushing the Rosemont Mine proposal and issuing the most mendacious proclamations about the benefit. One of them is that in leaving a vast open pit with a pool (a toxic one) at the bottom and filling up three nearby canyons with waste rock will all be done in an environmentally friendly way, and that after the mine departs we will hardly know that they were ever there. Another is the mantra that 'America needs copper to make electronic devices and wire; it's time to put Americans back to work making consumer goods that are made with copper.' That is an interesting claim because the Holding Corporation's plan is to export the raw copper ore to China, where the refined copper will be used by Chinese factories to make electronic goods. The idea that the mine will bolster America's industrial sector is ludicrous. It's not even going to put Americans to work making copper ingots.
Mike ~ Good that you and others are not duped into thinking what foreign corporations want you to believe about their dubious practices.
Case in point. Through "Rebuild America" programs, thought to be a part of the Obama Administration's Recovery Act of 2008-09, Wind Mills are popping up in Nebraska, Texas and anywhere it's flat and windy.
With property trade-offs a part of the deal, wind turbines, as a source of alternative energy (low cost), will be made available to consumers. These consumers are cattle ranchers and every day homeowners along with big and small businesses.
Build the turbines in the United States, erect them by Union Iron Workers and we'll all sleep better at night. Only one problem. Or should I say, many problems.
The manufacturing part of the Recovery Plan, earmarked for US companies, is in fact contracted to Chinese Corporations. The Chinese shipping firms get their piece of pie with this one. Now on to the "put Americans to work in America" part of the "Recovery Act."
Chinese workers are, in fact, erecting the turbines on our soil. So much for Union Iron Workers going to work.
Then there's the wildlife habitat, now changed forever. With certain US EPA-like regs in place to enforce possible terrain degradation, it's a trade-off at best for alternative energy needs.
We all need to NOT TRUST what foreign corporations promise. After the job, they leave with the money revenue and Americans are left with "unseen problems" not fully disclosed when contracts are awarded.
Make me wonder, in 30 years what will we all think about today's actions?
They forgot to mention that if you straighten it you have to dam it. The creek be damned.
Hal -- Lots of straightened creeks where I live -- I don't know how many were done with dynamite. FWS used to blast potholes for wildlife habitat, too. As a kid I remember when our local wildlife biologist came out to our farm with a detonator and a bags of fertilizer to blast potholes along our creekbottom. Unfortunately he miscalculated and we got small, deep craters instead of wide, shallow potholes. It was exciting to watch, though.
The rainy cycle we are in right now in the Midwest really points up how much we could use the flood mitigation that all our lost wetlands used to provide.
This reminds me of the claim made by Massey Energy that they are creating jobs by getting coal out of the mountains of the Appalachia. What they fail to tell you is that it only takes f percent of the labor to use mountain top removal than it would if it was done conventionally. Not only that, the coal removed is metallurgical coal. All of it exported to China...
Best regards from Afghanistan!
Albert A Rasch™
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Cleaning your Sleeping Bag!
Sorry, Five percent of the labor, One in twenty.
Best regards from Afghanistan!
Albert A Rasch™
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Cleaning your Sleeping Bag!
Post a Comment