Tying Inventory/ 2 Headed Trout

Every couple of weeks, my desk become cluttered with fly tying materials and junk. I have put off cleaning my desk for a very long time and it finally got to the point today where I was unable to find anything that I actually wanted to find. I decided to do a mass cleaning and an inventory of all the fly tying material I own.

I made some surprising discoveries while cleaning. I managed to find my glasses and a wide variety of other items that I've been looking for. I also found that I had a whole other golden pheasant pelt that I didn't even know I had. Good stuff.

On to other news (I feel like a news anchor)...... I read a very interesting article today on a 2 headed trout found near a mine in eastern Idaho. The photo was found in a scientific report that also contained photos of several other deformities. The report was being used by the company J.R. Simplot to justify an increased level of selenium pollution in creeks near the mine. However, after the report was reviewed, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Fisheries biologist Joseph Skorupa found some flaws in the report.

The researchers who conducted the study failed to take into account the migrating fish as a total population count and also underestimated the number of fish that would suffer deformities in the creeks adjacent to the mine. Another flaw that was found in the report was that the selenium levels in one of the creeks exceeded even the standard levels of selenium that Simplot had proposed. Sounds like the company's own report came back to bite them. It really bothers me to see a company like this, trying to justify what they are doing to fish, birds and other animals.

For years the Clark Fork was polluted with mining deposits and the effects of that pollution show today. In the fall of 2011, I listened to a lecture by Patrick Saffel, the regional fisheries manager for western Montana. He explained that the population of trout in the Clark Fork is at about 1/5 of its capacity and that most juvenile trout are not surviving because of the toxins in the water from years of mining pollution. This still bothers me to no end and too see some of the same stuff going on today makes me want to start a riot or something. Either way, I think we can all gain one thing from this article.....Mining = Bad for trout.

Check out the full article at http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=8225.