Letter to the editor teaser graphic

The streams in our Powder River basin need our help. It’s disappointing that some folks in our county want to delay moving the water quality improvement process (TMDL) forward. Asking questions about the process can be helpful, but pushing for delays does not help anyone. We all want and need good, clean water.

When we drive the Powder River Canyon in the summer and see the excessive algae growth it is clear something is wrong. Maybe an example will help people understand why we need action now.

I grew up fishing the Big Hole River in southwest Montana. My dad would take me to the Big Hole to fish for grayling on a family friend’s ranch along the river.

In the early 1980s, the dewatering and heating up of the river came to a head as the grayling population was in noticeable decline. Fisherfolk and the state got involved because most people did not want to see the grayling disappear.

The landowners along the river said they were willing to work with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks to fix the problem. These folks hired a biologist, but nothing substantive was done; the water levels continued to drop and the river continued to heat up. By then it was too late to simply “work with” everyone to save the grayling.

The Fish Wildlife and Parks managers finally were forced to put significant restrictions on fishing when a certain level and/or temp was hit. The river would be closed to fishing in the early part of the summer every year and recreation took a major hit. Since the Big Hole River was the largest, healthiest population of fluvial grayling in the lower 48, efforts to list the grayling via the ESA started.

Failure to take timely action has hurt many people and the local economy. A good friend was a fishing guide on the Big Hole, like his father before him. It was his livelihood. No longer; the fishery is kaput on the Big Hole compared to 50 years ago. That shouldn’t have happened.

Delaying sound action solves no problems. We can do better than what happened in the Big Hole. Let DEQ know you value good water quality for fish, wildlife, people recreating, and our farms and ranches by sending in a short note to powderTMDL@deq.oregon.gov.

Rick Meis

Halfway