For the week of November 5 - 11, 2003

Silver Creek
Symposium features
conservation author

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"Central Idaho is just an amazing, wonderful place. It’s always a pleasure to write about it, to photograph it and to come there, because I appreciate the work people have done. People are exercising better stewardship of their land and water."

— TIM PALMER, Conservation author

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Though he didn’t live in Idaho for long, conservation author Tim Palmer said the time he spent here changed his life.

"I came to Idaho to work in the summer of 1967, and I have never been the same since," the 55-year-old Oregon coast resident said.

As an author who focuses primarily on rivers, Palmer has written 15 books, many of which focus on Western rivers and Western river conservation issues.

On Saturday, Nov. 15, Palmer will be the featured speaker at the all-day Silver Creek Symposium at the Sun Valley Inn. The conference, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy of Idaho, will give participants an in-depth look at the world-class fly-fishing stream by a "host of informative speakers," according to TNC.

Palmer said he plans to examine Silver Creek as it fits the mold of his 1994 book, "Lifelines: The Case for River Conservation." In that book, he said he looks at nation-wide river problems, "much of which are typified by the rivers in Central Idaho."

Palmer outlined four primary categories of river depletion throughout the United States: diversions, hydroelectric development, water pollution and invasions of non-native species.

"Certainly in Central Idaho, you have versions of those types of things happening. In fact, Idaho’s very exciting when you look at the variety of waterways we have and the variety of efforts to save the best of what’s there and to restore some of what’s been lost."

While significant progress has been made on restoring the health of waterways throughout the United States, and particularly in places like Silver Creek, Palmer pointed out that the present political atmosphere has not been more hostile in recent history.

As an example, he cited the 1972 Clean Water Act, which was passed with a super majority over President Richard Nixon’s veto.

"No president has ever taken on the Clean Water Act and been willing to take the risks of opposing it and undercutting it, but George W. Bush is," he said. "The degree of arrogance in some of these cases is very amazing."

Palmer pointed out that a majority of citizens around the country support conservation and environmental protection. He added, however, that the environment is not a high tier political issue.

"The polls show that Americans across the board support conservation," he said. "And yet, in many ways, our natural environment has never been more challenged. We’ve never been more challenged in our care for it, and it’s hard to make sense of all of it.

"I prefer to look on the bright side and the efforts of groups like TNC—people taking an unprecedented amount of responsibility for places in which they live."

TNC purchased the Silver Creek Preserve 27 years ago. The preserve consists of 835 acres, plus an additional 10,000 acres of conservation easements. The stream is internationally famous for its trout fishing and is one of the most visited preserves in TNC’s system.

Palmer has been active in river conservation since 1971. He speaks at many national, statewide, and provincial conferences and at colleges and universities nationwide.

He worked as a county planner on land use and environmental topics from 1971 to 1980, received a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture from Pennsylvania State University, and has canoed or rafted on more than 300 rivers and traveled extensively in mountains and on waterways throughout North America.

 

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