A Great Day in Washington State

Yesterday I was up early to meet with fellow "Fish First" members at Dave Brown's Fish Rescue Project. I met Dave Brown 4 years earlier when I noticed small Salmon and Steelhead fry trapped in a high water pool after the river receeded on our property. There were hundreds of them and unless they were rescued they would be doomed when the pond dried up in the spring. I had just completed my Watershed Stewards class and had a list of contacts which led me to Dave. He showed up with hip boots and nets with the energy of a hamster on a wheel. He talked a mile a minute about fish,fishing and the politics of fisheries. Not knowing at the time
whether this guy was legitimate I insisted on releasing the fish in the main stream just a few yards from the temporary pond. Hopefully some of them survived to make their way to the sea and back again as full grown adults to spawn. Now I believe that Dave Brown's project gives these tiny fish a better chance of making it in greater numbers.


The fish are kept in man made ponds near a spring fed tributary through the dry summer months and are fed and eventually released back to the river system they were obtained.



I was there to photograph and video tape the procedure of transporting the fish to the place of release where a family with children were to be involved.




The purpose of the filming is part of a campaign to market Fish First in order to gain more members and support. The film will be edited and eventually be released to the general public. On the same day my wife and I had to be at our precincts Caucus site so that we could vote for Barack Obama. Neither of us had been involved in the caucus process previously so it was a new adventure.
Although I have never been an active political type other than wearing buttons for my favorite candidate this year is unusual for many reasons. This year the people in our great country have an opportunity for positive change. We feel that Barack Obama is a person who can lead America toward a better future. So I volunteered to be a delegate at our local precinct caucus yesterday. I did it because I'm tired of the direction that our country has been going and I'm tired of the lies and corruption that goes on in Washington. Barack Obama has the potential of being one of our greatest leaders in history. He already inspires the young and the old and he can pull both sides of the table together to move forward in a positive direction. I doubt that Hillary Clinton would be as sucessful due to the fact that she carries more "baggage" and would tend to polarize members of Congress. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So now I look forward to the next round as a Delegate to the county convention in April. Perhaps I could make it all the way to Denver and what an adventure that would be. I doubt that many folks read my blogs but if you do I ask you to consider Barack Obama as a person who can give all of us hope and a greater respect worldwide. Yesterday Obama(pardon the expression)blew Clinton away. We can do it "Yes, we can".