The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-28
THE ANGLER

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The remarkable effect the destruc-
ton Of forests has had upon the fish
supply in streams and lakes, and the
great benefits to fish life of forest trees
and shrubbery along the banks Of
water courses by regulating the flow of
water, by aiding in purifying pollution,
and by furnishing cover for the propa-
CATION of the insect life upon which so
many fishes feed, etc, are aptly de-
lineated in paper read before the Min
neapolis State Forestry association by
Frank H. Carleton of Minneapolis. He
said:
Forests not only regulate the flow of
water. but they purify it. This is an
experience which has been demonstrate
ed in Australia in cases where streams
have been polluted by wool washing
establishments. After having passed a
few miles through shady and dense for
ests the water, according to Mr.. Ha-
WITT, who was forester in Australia
some years. appeared as clear and pure
as it was above the wool wash.
In Scotland and other localities
where salmon are bred after scientific
methods, it has been clearly established
that it is not enough to put spawn and
fry in the water, but they must be pro-
vided with food and that the best
means to do this is to preserve the Dor
der trees and insure steady supply of
water and food by preserving the for
ests whence a supply of water and food
is derived. The changing Of the tenn
perature of the water of a lake or
stream by the clearing away of trees
and forests has a most deleteriouS eff
feet on fish. AS already stated not only
is the supply of food removed and
springs which should send forth sup
ply of clear, cool water in which fish
so much delight. dried up, but more
than this. The lirect rays of the sun
upon the water in summer raise it
to a temperature too warm for the
abode of fish, while in winter the abb
sence of trees causes an extreme cold
equally bad. If one of you gentlemen
had a superb trout brook on your
premises, we'll stocked with trout and
well protected by trees, and should
ask the Surest way to annihilate the
trout, | could tell you no surer way
| than to cut down the trees and bushes.
What few trout survived the loss of
food and the warm rays of the sun
and the warm water in summer would
readily be eXterminated by the ex-
IRENE cold of winter occasoned by the
absence of trees The higher breeds
of fish in which anglers most delight,
| like trout. salmon, bass. whitefish
| ficient shade, depth and GOODNESS of
! water in which. to live and breathe,
| and it is in the shade and cold water
| that the experienced angler hunts
| them.
"scientists tell us that the ranges of
| hills and uplands which we now have
in Minnesota are the remnants of that
| mountain chain which once constituted
| the greaE divide between the water
| systems of the Mississippi, the Winni-
peg and the Great Lakes, but which
| by erosion and other natural forces
| working through the ages have become
| the high }nds ana hills of to-day. They
also tell us that the lakes and streams
| of Minnesota have not only reached
their maturity but have passed it and
| that under the laws of nature, saying
| nothing about the raVages which we
! have already suffered and must con-
| tinue to suffer through forest destruc-
! ton, the tendency of these lakes and
streams will be to still further decline
| With this tendency of nature to reduce
! the quantity of water by natural laws
! over which we have no control, is il
| not crime to ourselves and to future
| generations to permit the destruction o
| forests to go on, and thereby still fur
Their reduce the quantity of water anC
| moisture and help on the train of evil:
. WHICH are sure ~ Deldll d IdllltSs
| country? 1t has been truly said tina
there are districts i'll France and Ital,
| where the olive and the orange once
| flourished but where now, on accoun
of the change in climate resulting from
extensive removal of the forests. the!
can no longer be grown with success
This saying involves an agriculture
truth as to every country where fores
| destruction has gone on, from the Eu
nj IN -
anglers there is a parallel truth, Whicl
| may be stated thus There are vas
districts in Minnesota Wisconsin an
| Michigan where fish of the noblest va
! reties once hOurished, where owing t
the diminutiOn of water at certai
| seasons of the year. and torrents an
floods at other seasons of the year, oC
| casioned by the removal of the for
ests, they have already disappeared
and other parts of these states ar
| rapidly reaching the same condition
| My nearest ngighbOr, a prominent IT
| surance man, whose early home was i
! Kentucky, tells me that in the earl
| history of Kentucky its streams wer
| full of trout, but as the land wa
| cleared the trout disappeared, and tha
to-day outside of a few private pre-
serves it is doubtful if q trout can +
| found in Kentucky; while in Virginia
Of which Kentucky was originally
part, in those regions where, own
to the poverty of the soil and othe
reasons, the forests have not been GU
the trout still abound. Do we nee
a better illustration of the effects G
forest destruction upon fishing tina
! this?
Did time permit I would like
speak of the vast quantities of none
brought into state by tourists, hum
ers and anglers, and tell how til
money gradually works back to II
pockets Of our farmers, producers an
merchants. I would like to tell no
the mountains of New Hampshire
sterile as they are, have through sun
mer months tourists and visitors prov
ed a veritahle Klondike to the either
of New Hampshire. and brought int
that little state millions of gol
Should the beautiful lakes and stream