The guys writing over at False Casts and Flat Tires (Missoula) stumbled across a nothing-short-of-astounding change to the Bitterroot in the vicinity of the infamous Mitchell Slough…
The Bitterroot is one our favorite rivers. Its close proximity to Missoula, a strong trout population and the fact that their are still a few hidden gems where you can find some pretty respectable fish.
One of those gems is gone. Yes the Bitterroot is infamous for completely rearranging itself every year after runoff. However runoff cant do what a bulldozer and concrete barriers can.
The Mitchell Slough debate is a hot topic in the valley. The public’s right to legally recreate on public water vs. landowners protecting their property and the water that runs through it. It’s been a debate that has gone on for years with some pretty, now infamous, celebrities involved on the landowners side. It’s not limited to fishing access but includes waterfowl hunting and a host of water based recreation activities.
Fences across the waterway making it impossible for fisherman to legally access the water to feeding ducks and geese so no one can legally hunt the “baited” birds along the slough. These are the tactics that keep the public out of Mitchell slough. All of these efforts to keep the public out and for some “Rockstar” who actually sees this water maybe once or twice a year… Fine, you win. Keep the slough.
But keep your greedy hands off OUR river.
I don’t want to get on a soapbox or a moral high horse, but what I saw last week really upset me as a fly fisherman, a recreation management student and as someone who believes we should protect what resources we have left…
Read the rest of the tale here, view the pics and prepare to be pissed off.
In a day and age when, at least in Montana and around much of the intermountain West, folks are damned antsy about river stewardship and access issues, to (ostensibly) stealthily craft what appears to be a fairly major modification to a river bed like this might seem to be the absolute picture of arrogance and short-sightedness (some might even say stupidity).
Arrogance has defined much of the Mitchell Slough debate over the years. That’s pretty much obvious to anyone willing to spend the time to delve into the history of the tussle.
As to being short-sighted, our friend Al the Pal (AtP), who’s lived in the Bitterroot for his entire life and manages a business there, has laid eyes on the most recent handiwork and agrees that it won’t last the first average or better run-off season.
He’s much more interested in the fact that this appears to be a somewhat unsuspected salvo in a long-standing battle and suggests some in the Valley might just see this as a taunt that demands an answer. AtP claims to have overheard an interesting pub discussion recently in which various alternative methods to rearrange gravel in a river bed were being discussed.
More to come.
