jpinkster
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Posts posted by jpinkster
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Maybe next year the brain trust will leave some water in the reservoirs over the spring instead of emptying them out and refilling with the rain that they hope will fall.
I'm not convinced this would have made a huge difference this year. The snow pack was so minimal and even our runoff was laughable at best. Just a bad year.
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I'd be really interested to see the economic figures of the closures impact. What's the contribution to the local economy made from guides, etc? How much is the government having to spend on the closure? Obviously this will translate to longer term payoff, but the short term stuff is still interesting to look at.
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curious if you got anywhere with this? I reported it a few times to 311, and the City said they'd pass it onto Parks. Still no signage, and trucks on the bar again this morning..
I sent the Administrative Inquiry in, but I still haven't seen a response. I'm going to follow up with City Admin later this week and see if they have a response yet.
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Sorry for guides and clients but good.Should close Old man and Crow too.
Big time, the pressure on the Crow-Oldman-Livingstone is going to be stupid. Closing some just hurts others.
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More gold nuggets from Jefferson:
"Tyranny is when the people fear the government.Liberty is when the government fears the people."
"a government powerful enough to give you everything you want is also powerful enough to take away everything you have."
The balance lies in the middle. I personally do not believe that a government should live in fear of citizens. Making policy based on fear is a poor model.
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Press release
http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=3839827F257BB-C76D-22BB-FD7D842C472EB896
Email ...
From: "Shane Petry" <shane.petry@gov.ab.ca>
To: _____________
Subject: Fisheries Closures and Advisories
Hello everyone, fisheries managers in the South Saskatchewan Region want to provide you with some up to date information relating to our ongoing concerns for fisheries in our streams and rivers in southern Alberta.
In early July, fisheries managers issued general fisheries advisories for safe fish handling in streams and rivers in southern Alberta due to concerns about high water temperatures and low flows in many of our waterbodies. A subsequent advisory was issued on Friday July 31, that detailed the growing concerns of fisheries managers at specific watercourses with regard to increasing stress to fish resulting from high water temperatures and low flows in many of our watercourses. As you may well know, stress to fish from high water temperatures can be exacerbated by angling and cause increased mortality rates even when great care is taken to minimize handling of fish and to release them as quickly as possible.
Over the past several weeks fisheries managers have been monitoring water temperatures at a number of locations in our streams and rivers in southern Alberta and we have considered these data in the context of the ability of cold water fish species to tolerate certain temperatures. Today we have issued variation orders to close a number of southern Alberta streams and rivers to anglers and we have updated our advisories to include additional rivers for which we have concern due to high temperatures and low flows.
The purpose of these closures is to ensure the long-term sustainably of our fishery resources in the South Saskatchewan River basin that are at high risk due to intolerable water temperatures, lows flows and higher risk of mortality to fish
Stream closures are currently being applied to rivers and streams where our fisheries management objectives are for cold water fisheries and the species present cannot tolerate elevated temperatures. At this time, the species of concern include, Bull Trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout. Stream sections where daily maximum temperature is routinely exceeding 220 Celsius © and or where the daily average temperature (over multiple days) is exceeding either 180 C (Mountain Whitefish) or 150 C (Bull Trout) will be temporarily closed. Information may be found at the following link:
http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=3839827F257BB-C76D-22BB-FD7D842C472EB896
Based on high water temperatures and a forecast of continued hot weather, temporary angling closures as of today (August 11, 2015) are implemented to safeguard fish populations until cooler water temperatures return at the following locations:
§ Sheep River from the headwaters to the Highwood River (including Gorge Creek and tributaries)
§ Threepoint Creek and tributaries
§ Highwood River from the headwaters to the Bow River
§ St. Mary River downstream of the St. Mary Reservoir & tributaries
§ Belly River downstream of Sec. Rd. 800- River only
§ Bow River from Bearspaw Reservoir to the Western Headworks Diversion (W.H.D. Weir)
§ Bow River from W.H.D Weir to the Carseland Weir
§ Bow River from the Carseland Weir to Hwy 24 Bridge(downstream side)
§ Bow River from Hwy 24 bridge downstream to Bassano Dam
§ Elbow River from Glenmore Reservoir to the Bow River confluence
Government of Alberta staff will be placing signs at angling locations to inform the public of these closures and using many other forms of communication through websites, social media etc. to provide information to the public. If conditions moderate and water temperatures recover to normal levels, angling closures will be rescinded.
It is expected that once closures are made, they will generally remain in place for a minimum period of one week. This will allow time for data collection, retrieval and analysis. Weekly analysis will also provide adequate time to determine if temperatures are trending sufficiently downward to warrant re-opening.
Please disseminate this information to your fishing friends and colleagues.
If you have questions or concerns please contact the Alberta Environment and Parks information center at:
Call Toll Free Alberta: 310-ESRD (3773)
Toll Free: 1-877-944-0313
Email: ESRD.Info-Centre@gov.ab.ca
Technical Questions may be sent to:
Paul Christensen Senior Fisheries Biologist – Bow District (Bow River and Tributaries)
Paul.Christensen@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-851-2149
Mike Bryski Senior Fisheries Biologist – Crowsnest District (upper Oldman, Crowsnest, Castle, Belly Waterton rivers) Mike.bryski@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-562-3373
Shane Petry Senior Fisheries Biologist – Grasslands District (Oldman, east hwy 2, lower Belly, St Mary rivers) Shane.Petry@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-382-4362
Regards,
Shane Petry
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Grasslands District, South Saskatchewan Region
Alberta Environment and Parks
2nd Floor, 530 - 8 St. South
Lethbridge, AB, T1J 2J8
T: 403-382-4362
F: 403-381-5723
Email: Shane.Petry@gov.ab.ca
This entire email frustrates me. "We are going to put up some cute little signs and hope that people follow the rules on their own". Regulations don't matter if you do not have the ability to enforce them!!!
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I sent out some info on the closure from Councillor Keating's FB page earlier. Nenshi is away for all of August, so I highly doubt he has his finger on the pulse. If I see his Chief of Staff in the hallway I'll ask him about this.
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I'm really excited, but I think it is imperative that the Blue Jays win the division. I don't think you want to go into the play-in game (probably against the Angels). One-offs can go any which way. I like the Blue Jays in a best of 5, but in a single elimination anything can happen.
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I have a brilliant money making scheme for all of us here:
Let's float the Bow armed with cell phones and cameras. We can call in everyone who is ignoring the closure and cash in huge. Who's in?!
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Thanks for posting this you beat me to it, I'm sure it will expand.
Because I'm terrible, there is also a second post on this in the S Alberta space. Can you either close that one down or amalgamate the two?
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Good to hear! Where you getting this info from jpinkster?
AB Outdoorsmen leaked it, looks like it is official now.
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Do you have a link to an official announcement?
I suspect this was a leek that Alberta Outdoorsmen jumped on. They were putting all of this information on Twitter. Awaiting verification.
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Alright here we go on the closures:
1) NOTICE: Effective Aug. 11, 2015 the following waters have been closed to all fishing due to high water temperatures until further notice:
2) Belly River and tributaries downstream of Secondary Road 800,
Bow River and tributaries from Bearspaw Dam to Bassano Dam,
3) Elbow River and tributaries below Glenmore Reservoir,
Gorge Creek and tributaries,
Highwood River and tributaries,
4) Sheep River and tributaries,
St. Mary River and tributaries below St. Mary Reservoir,
Threepoint Creek and tributaries.Maybe more to follow.
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I don't think you can look at it through the lens of "I don't own guns, so I don't care." It really is an issue of civil liberties and policy consistency.
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Don't drink the Kool-Aid.
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That guy has a mean right hook.
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Problem is, I had a CO tell me that the law is rather vague and that ATV's are allowed to cross a water body but not traverse up and down the stream bed. That means they could cross back and forth all day. If that is true (and I don't have a written copy of the law so I don't know) then it needs to be strengthened.
Thanks
Adams
This is a really important point to consider. Can anyone give a link that shows the exact law?
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I think we have a responsibility to not just say "this is a problem". We also need to offer the solutions. I'd love to hear some realistic options of what could be done. Here are a few of my thoughts.
Enforcement: We have the legislation that should protect these river systems, but we lack follow through. We need more resources for F&W to police this area. Our COs need more support, and having a few more able bodies would make the world of difference. I also think we need to start making better use of technology. We use aircraft to catch speeders on many highways already, I'm sure we could use a smaller unmanned aircraft to monitor some of these high country areas. Having a drone fly up the river would not require much man power and could easily pick out some of the perpetrators.
Legislation: We need a less BS approach to these issues. The Federal grant for Hidden Creek is great, but we need to start IDing how we avoid getting to this position in the first place. The few have ruined things for the many, and unfortunately all of us are going to have to make sacrifices to restore this region. Maybe open camping throughout this area should be restricted to designated Provincial campgrounds only. Maybe we need to restrict access to large areas of the Forestry Trunk Road. Maybe we also need MASSIVE signage that states that operating an ATV through a river is unlawful and punishable by fines up to X amount. I believe that there is a degree of ignorance for many of these folks, not that it excuses their behavior.
Citizen Action: We can fill in some of the gaps that the COs can't get to. Photographing abusers of the land and making calls to RAP does make a difference. I've always believed this area suffers because it is so far out of cell range. Even when we witness something, it is nearly impossible to call it in. I wonder if a few cell tours in the area might make it easier for us to call these in. We need to work closely with enforcement officers and make sure we tell them loudly and often where the key problem areas are.
What are your ideas?
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It'll be important to have a lengthy discussion with the local RCMP as well. If resources are scarce, maybe regular citizens can help bridge the gap.
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It just still blows my mind that these areas are monitored more. They leave massive tracks and the areas they do these are clearly accessible. Why aren't the COs watching these areas like a hawk and writing up one after another? You can hear these guys a mile away, it's not like they do this in secret.
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I'll be sure to bring my telephoto lens in the future to try and get some clear pictures that may be able to ID these folks.
Do you mind if I post these up on the F&W Enforcement FaceBook page and see what they have to say about this? I still find it crazy there aren't more of them up there on the long weekends.
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Say it isn't so... you writing about politics on FFC?!!
And a "pannenkoek huis" (those things are hella good by the way). My apologies to the Dutch, but I tried my best with google to get spellings.
I'm Dutch heritage on both sides of the family, you did fine
Notley's Staff....anti-Oil Activists From Toronto...wow!
in General Chat - Not Fishing Related (NFR)
Posted
Take Ezra's perspective with a grain of salt.