Recycling

Appears this individual drank a few beers this winter, and was ill advised about curb-side recycling. CHEERS!

Tribute to the Timber Industry

The next time you folks are heading to Helenabuckit, you may not recognize the destination. I am not sure how many board feet of timber went into this fence, but there are around 2700 screws in it. Can't wait to run naked from the house to the garage and back.

Grand Canyon Baby!!!!

Alright boys and girls, it is once again time to donate your $25 to the National Park Service and take a shot at getting a Grand Permit. The application period closes at the end of May. Here is the link: http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.htm

Keep in mind that you should not apply unless you are willing to shoulder the burden of being the TL for an 18 day trip. Please also note that if you are successful, the NPS is going to take $400 out of your account whether you use the permit or not. Good luck and Happy floating.

STREAM ACCESS

Yep, here I go again. Anyway, for those of you who don't know the Gov called a special legislative session since the legislators couldn't get their shit together and pass the state budget and figure out what to do with a billion dollar surplus. The gov tried to get hookers and blow for everyone, but that got shot down as well as the stream access bill that I whole-heartedly supported and you all would have if you paid attention.

The legislators are back in session and I sent the following email to the following folks. Cut and paste if you want. This is one last chance to try to improve stream access while the legislators are a bit scared for their jobs since they could not get the work done in the allotted timeframe. Remember, these people are supposed to work for us.

Here is the email I sent:

Dear Legislators:

I appreciate the fact that this special session is focusing on the state budget, and tax reductions/rebates due to the budget surplus; however, the state can keep my $400 if you all can work together and somehow resurrect and pass Senate Bill 78 or similar, and provide Montanans better stream access. I've listened to the testimonies from both sides as well as testified in front of the Montana Senate, and the bottom line is that it is tough to knock on someone's door to ask permission for access when the landowner lives in California or New Jersey.

This special session is going to cost Montanans over $200,000, so please make it worth it to your constituents. I don't represent any group, I am just a voter that likes to fish, hunt and recreate on Montana rivers and streams, and I would like my children and their children to have that same opportunity. The last poll that I saw showed that 85% of Montanans support improved stream access.

I've attached a photo of the fence adjacent to the Craig Bridge on the Missouri where I've accessed the river to fish for the last 15 years.

Thank you for your time

Here is the email list that I sent it to. All of these folks either supported an earlier access bill or are fisher/hunter folk, or are assholes that are important:

mailto:kaufman@mt.net; galen@hollenbaugh.org; senatorjohn@bresnan.net; jim@jimelliot.org; gallus@aware-inc.org; llsd22@yahoo.com; rheinert@lclink.com; kendallvandyk@gmail.com; parkmont@hotmail.com; michelereinhart@gmail.com; joebalyeat@yahoo.com; brown.roy@bresnan.net; jeff@jeffessmann.com; vjack@centurytel.net; ricklaible@aol.com; oneil@centurytel.net; cooneyemail@aol.com; mlange6@hotmail.com

North Fork of the Clearwater

I figured I better write something since it does say contributors. So I got to looking and mapping the north fork and it is a 46 mile float from the put in at Hidden Creek CG to Aquarius CG. I marked the put in and take out on the map and it looks like you can come over from superior if the pass is open. It looks like the trout creek road comes straight over the hill to the put in, 43 miles from superior. I am working on the video and the pictures for you guys as well. Hopefully we can make this work for memeorial day. Let me know if you are going to be able to make it over to the lochsa in two weeks and I will be there as well. This time I will be floating as well!!!