Here is reality: When I moved here in 1967 and 1968, and being an avid angler and hunter, I could walk up most any stream and find fish.
Today, most of the streams have gone dry numerous times. In the last 20 years, after being here almost 40 years, and being involved, to a degree, in every major building project in this valley, I have watched a steady decline in our water table. Water flows into both the Little Wood and Big Wood have slowed. More people are forced to lower their wells.
The truth is the West is running out of water. As smart as we are, no one knows how to manufacture water. With the growth predicted in our valley, to tell the people down below Magic Reservoir they are going to have more water is a disservice. The truth is they probably will have less each year.
The Wood River Legacy Project is based on what the ranchers did on the Lemhi River, and that has never been tested in court. So we don't know whether it's legal or not.
Recently, we talked about the water bank and other ways to save water. You can't save water that does not exist.
Our politicians could better serve us by spending more time and energy telling local politicians to start buying every water right they can get their hands on. That's what every city and municipality throughout the West is doing.
Here is reality: When I drove up and had my first look from Timmerman Hill, it was the most beautiful valley I had ever seen. I knew right then I had to live here.
One day, you folks will have to make a decision about whether you want to turn the valley into a desert so you can have free-flowing stream in the lower reaches of the Big Wood. Are we going to grow crops or fish? If it sounds way too good to be true; it's probably not.
Jim Walker Sr.
Bellevue
