Leaderboard

Indeed. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Only metric the gov't uses is "if you've made both sides mad, you're probably doing something right". The UCP right is generally in a state of apoplecticness, and left feel the NDP aren't left enough and have betrayed their brethren. Yet I'm not trying paint Northfork and TIghlines with such a broad paintbrush as my above generalizations would seem. We can all agree to disagree. I for one, still have an 80% conservative voting record over my lifetime. I didn't vote for the NDP because I thought they had the perfect platform, nor were they an ideal choice for me. But, they were better than the alternatives. Northfork, I see this totally different; hard to believe you've been in the province for more than 5 years, if you think Minister Phillips is the worst one we've ever had. Yeesh. I do give them credit for taking action on certain files and paying attention, unlike the previous gov't particularly since the mid 90's. I try to look at this as practically as possible; I don't see the UCP developing policies anytime soon that appeal to me in terms of the health, education, and the environment, so, c'est la vie. It's why I've been attending Alberta Party events, and see where the wind is twisting there. Don, did you think a couple of years of change in gov't policies would percolate down and result in a titanic attitudinal shift in the squatters / abusers? Did you think change would happen overnight? Surely not...you've lived in this province long enough (longer than me) to ingrain a more cynical point of view than that i hope! Squatters and OHV crowd have had 2-3 solid generations of free-for-all, wild west mentality, it's not going to change in 36 months. Especially, when they are positioning themselves to back their boy saviour Kenney and have him save the day in 2019. All they are doing now is just riding this gov't out, and hoping the few 'wackier, lake-of-fire' types who want to be candidates don't sink their ship. I digress. I like the majority of changes this gov't has done, and I give them kudos. And funny enough, I suspect, for as much as they will or won't listen, they're probably more inclined to be receptive to critical feedback when it is balanced off with some recognition and encouragement.

For all who have been following this topic, a series of meetings were put together by AEP and the fishery stakeholder groups to address Bow River fish population declines and flow stabilization. The title of the round table discussions was "Flows, Fish & Fishing" - an interesting title. The most recent meeting included TransAlta staff and AEP Bow River Water Management Group. A number of commitments came out of the latest meeting on Tuesday July 31, 2018: Flows out of Bearspaw Reservoir have been stabilized and will be continued where at all possible. There is potential for a long-term water management change to stabilize flows into the future. AEP will conduct and expanded a Bow River trout population survey in September of this year There is a recognition that the Bow River trout population is in decline and may be under threat from environmental and water management practices. This within itself is a major shift in policy and makes all the work we have done on this portfolio worthwhile. On the subject of river flows and invertebrate survival. A very difficult field of investigation given all the variable that exist in a flowing body of water. We have discussed the subject with both AEP and academia with potential support of a research project that will give more insight into the subject. We would like to thank all stakeholders who have contributed to these important discussions Bow River Trout Foundation

Agreed, disinfecting water system is a good idea. I do it at the start of every season. However, I suggest drinking the vodka and using a bleach solution for the disinfection.

I will never understand this. You are travelling with a food grade holding tank, feeding food grade piping to your faucets. Use a foo grade hose (the white one with the blue stripe) to fill the tank and you have completed the system. I have used my on board water from three trailers over the past 17 years for drinking with no adverse effects. Every spring, mid summer, and fall (when I winterize) i run one or two bottles of the cheapest vodka I can find through my (empty system) then fill and drain the system once, fill it again and we are ready to go-disinfected and winterized if it's that time of year, with no nasty antifreeze taste.

Hard to beat Costco's pricing and included road hazard warranty.....

I agree, way too extreme. Although it's all good for fisherman and hikers, the hunters are getting the bone. OHV use should have exceptions, like for the purposes of assisting disabled outdoorsmen and game retrieval. Although I don't agree with all the flat-brim wearing, public land abusing OHV user's, the NDP have taken this whole thing way too far

I grew up in Red Deer. I watched the RDR change over my lifetime. I must admit, however, that I did not fish it when it was in its brown trout prime. As a teenager in the late 80s, it was possible to catch walleye, pike, goldeye, whitefish, and rainbow trout (yes, rainbow trout) in the city section. So, as long as I can remember, unless you were very specific (like bottom bouncing a sz16 fly tipped with a maggot for whitefish or chucking a big red devil for pike), at least to me, it has always been a piscatorial roulette. Oh, the things a kid could catch with a small panther martin spinner! I had not fished the RDR since 1992. I took up fly fishing about 12 years ago. I immediately started fishing the RDR, mostly for whitefish and goldeye, as a homage to my childhood. I remember the first brown trout that I caught. I had a WTF moment. I was expecting to set the hook on a 12" whitefish, but was actually a 24" brown trout. Since then, I have caught a steady 1 or 2 per year in an average of 4 or 5 outings per year. They do not live in your typical brown trout lies---those places are occupied by walleye. They live with the whitefish---kind of like a herd of house cats living with a lion. There is no doubt the brown trout population is in a tenuous balance with all the other species. The brown trout fry have a gulag/gauntlet to run to outsize the walleye, but if they can make it to 12", really, they only have the pike to worry about, and a big brown trout predator has a veritable cornucopia of food sources. They are very wiley; they would have to be to survive in the chaos of the RDR. But if you can catch one, they really are an archetype of the species---very beautiful.

i had hoped that the Squatters and OHV abusers had finally seen the light and realized the abuse cannot continue. But SIGH, looks like the abusers will take the day. Don

And weren't these responses predictable!