Friday, August 24, 2007

Leave Silver Creek alone


Generations of fishermen (and fisherwomen!) and just plain sightseers with an insatiable appetite for the grandeur of unspoiled nature have reveled in the tranquility of Silver Creek, surely one of the outdoor world's most renowned and treasured preserves and wildlife havens.

Owned by The Nature Conservancy since 1975, the 883-acre core preserve 33 miles southeast of Ketchum has been expanded to 9,500 acres through conservation easement agreements with abutting property owners. In addition to world class brown and rainbow trout fishing, Silver Creek is the habitat for 150 bird species.

Now, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission proposes to interrupt this outdoor idyll with rules changes designed mostly to ease the burdens of bureaucrats with "simplification" of statewide regulations.

Trying to pigeonhole Silver Creek and make it conform to all other Idaho recreational sites would be an indignity to a beautifully managed nature preserve whose world-class reputation is built on the concept of man letting nature be nature.

One of the most incomprehensible changes proposed by the commission is to allow fishing from non-motorized boats on Silver Creek, a sure-fire way to scare off trout, increase congestion in often crowded fishing areas and ultimately scare off fly fishermen partaking of the blue-ribbon experience.

Objectors to the Fish and Game Commission's proposed changes—and there are bound to be plenty—have until November to register their opposition. Critics need not be fishermen. Sightseers who simply take in the beauty of Silver Creek are entitled to their say, too.

As one of the area's most respected outdoors experts suggested, the commission should "leave Silver Creek alone."

It ain't broke.




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