With the influx of human population immigrating to Pacific Northwest Region of the United States at the end of the 19th century, extracting the natural goods of the environment quickly became an issue of sustainability and preservation. In the State of Washington Ninth Annual Report of the State Fish Commissioner of 1898, author A.C. Little illustrates how the extractive actions along many of Washington’s river systems are resulting in a major depletion of salmon species unique to the Northwest. Little’s Report aimed to bring attention to over consumption of this finite resource that was not only intrinsically valuable to many people within the region but was also a very successful economic engine too value to deplete. The booming fishing industry, …show more content…
Little claims that fish like the Royal Chinook Salmon, which found market value at about four to six cents per pound, sells better than any other salmon. However poor fishing practices can lead to this high valued commodity to be lost1. Little’s report consistently pushes for more regulation and state action on illegal fishing. Yet the fishing industry had been formulated in a system where the foundation of regulation was weak. Patrolling the local waters of the state was not sufficient enough at the end of the 19th century to truly prevent serve damage to fish populations. In Lissa Wadwitz’s article Labor, Mobility and Environment in the Transnational West, She outlines that the prominence of State Fish and Game Enforcement was limited as they only had one patrol boat with a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour prior to 19112. To produce a productive, sustainable fishing economy, this was a determent to the longevity of economy of the …show more content…
Little’s Ninth Annual Report of the State Fish Commissioner of 1898, may not have immediately propagated change in the region toward salmon fish restoration, but the argument laid out in the report provides that the recommendations provided were only to benefit all parties. From the transnational fishing industry, to the individual livelihood of the local fishermen, along with the improvement salmon spawning population, finally paired with ultimate sustainable harvest practices, would piece together to support and improve all entities of the Pacific Northwest’s salmon fishing economic engine. Little’s report sought took into account the diversity reaction that his recommendations may propagated, and worked to pair all parties to illustrate that the ultimate outcome was to support a society at the brink of developing into a major economic center of the western United States. At the end of the 19th century sustainable salmon practice held a significant share in the progress of Washington State, Little only sought to prove that salmon restoration and sustainable practices could provide a prosperous future for the
For centuries the Nooksack tribe located in Northwest Washington has been dependent on the wilderness for survival. Originally defined as a horticultural community, the Nooksack people have used their knowledge the land to support their daily necessities of food and shelter. Salmon runs in the nearby Nooksack River, named after the local tribe, continue to be a steady source of protein for the tribe up to this day. However, this way of life has lately been threatened by the diminishing glaciers of nearby Mount Baker. In order to understand the significance this event has to the culture of the Nooksack tribe, we must first look at how their culture has changed in the past, how it would possibly change in response to the glacial thinning and what the reemergence of Mount Baker may mean for future Nooksack generations.
Importantly, let's not overlook the effects of salmon population declines on the indigenous peoples of California. Tribes such as the Karuk, Yurok, Wiyot and the Hoopa, to name just a few, have depended on salmon as their main food source for centuries. Salmon was not just food, but central to their religion, their diet, and their overall way of life. Salmon are the cornerstone of their culture (Harling, 2006). The loss of this abundant natural resource must be seen not only as degrading the health of the river ecosystem, but also as severely impacting the health of the tribes.
Like Hundley, Deverell and Sitton emphasize the Progressive political impulse and its expression in Roosevelt’s New Deal, historically important with the largest water projects taking place during this period. Water and Los Angeles is more a collection of period documents highlighting the efforts to harness the Los Angeles, Owens and ultimately the Colorado Rivers than an interpretive effort. Conceptually, however, the book is important in highlighting a fundamental truth of California’s growth: man is ultimately the master of the environment and when man seeks to act decisively he can, through brute force, reshape the environment to meet his needs. In encasing the Los Angeles River and its tributaries in concrete, man resolved the issue of floods. In encasing the Owens River and forcing to flow into the San Fernando Valley, man resolved the issue (at least temporarily) of inadequate supply. In harnessing the Colorado and making it flow over mountains and in alternative channels, man made possible greater growth and the acquisition of greater wealth and power. Controlling these three rivers, however modest the Los Angeles was, demonstrated man’s ultimate
The Nisqually tribes reserved the right to fish, hunt and gather shellfish in a treaty initiated in 1854. For their tribe, Salmon was the main food source. You could call them a “fishing people.” It was not only their way of life and culture, but a main component of their diet. Because
Today, it is easy to look back and see that Native Americans, including the Micmac, lived unsustainable lifestyles. The Micmac’s economy revolved around trading small animals (e.g. beavers). Their desire for European goods provided an incentive to deplete the animal population (Merchant 13). A problem with this lifestyle is that it is difficult to know that the animal’s population is being depleted until it is too late.
Afterall, the Three Rivers Challenge is “a plan to share stewardship of the Yaak region among logging interests, recreation enthusiasts and environmental advocates - is the proposal best known to me in this legislation” (13). Bass believes that “this bill increases wildness, protects endangered species, and detoxifies - once and for all - the word ‘wildness’ ” (13). Since the bill portrayed an open minded view, it led to the opportunity of the bill being regarded as fair and agreeable by everyone. Lastly, he wants to let us know that “the process has been as inclusionary as it has been informal, with the participants not directed by any agency requirement, but instead by the grassroots flow of democracy” (10) because fairness is an important factor of
Alaskan men have a long history of struggling to survive in the wilderness. Today, some, like the Gwich 'in, a native Alaskan tribe, still choose to live off nature. Recently, though a new argument has come to Alaska, one that could destroy the traditions of the Gwich’in forever. Politicians, environmentalists, economists and neighbors now fight over the prospect of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Many of the arguments for drilling are worth consideration; however, in comparison to the evidence against it, they are neither convincing nor compelling.
The environment, and recreational activities that are essential to the outdoors, have also been negatively impacted by this system for allocating water rights. The issue of whether or not this system is equitable towards environmental protection has been raised because environmental organizations typically do not have the same funds as other entities, such as cities and towns, oil, gas, and energy companies, and manufacturing. Furthermore, as Jones and Cech point out, “environmental concerns continue to be underrepresented in Colorado water law and policy” (p. 712). This has created a situation similar to agriculture, where environmental concerns become second thoughts to those of M&I, giving rise to environmental issues across the state. These environmental issues can have an effect on residents throughout Colorado, from anglers who enjoy healthy streams and rivers for fishing, to kayakers and rafters who need flowing rivers to recreate
As Dr. Higley wrote the poem that became “Home on the Range,” the American industrial frontier simultaneously began to render the roaming buffalo extinct. At the same time, Americans depleted and exploited other native animals and natural lands, turning nature into capital and paving the way for the American industrial frontier. The depletion of America’s
The author believes that restoring the river will not cause any changes for the salmon. The author mentions the problem with salmon, “ Besides, scientific evidence suggests that California’s salmon problem have been caused in large part of oceanic condition and the environment mess that is the San Joaquin- Sacramento Delta” (McEwen 1). McEwen knows that the project will not benefit the salmons in any way. The San Joaquin River doesn’t fit the environment salmons require causing the population to decline. The river doesn’t meet the requirements which would let the problem to increase dramatically. The author also uses logos when he mentions the farmer agreements, “.. Many of the farmers in the Friant Water Users Authority decided that settling out of court and giving up some water for salmon was smarter than taking their chances with federal judge” (McEwen 2). This quotation states that farmers display willingness to share some of their water for the salmons and their safety. If restoring the river to save the salmons consists of the main goal they don’t have to worry about it anymore, the salmon's hypnotizes safely in the farmers waters. The problem hit farmers around the river harder than others, but they all suffer consequences badly. Restoring the river won’t cause any change to the salmon’s although their situation can already consist of solving by the farmers using other
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is part of the largest statuary on the West Coast of the United States. The Delta covers over 738,000 acres and is home to over 50 species of fish and almost 300 different kinds of mammal, reptile, and bird species (Lund, et al.) Moreover, the Delta is the largest source of water supply for the entire state, channeling water from Northern California to millions of acres of farmland in the Central Valley and to over 20 million residents in California (Holyoke). In its vicinity, the Delta supports agricultural, fishing, and recreational activities. In other words, the Delta is the jugular of California’s water system and the states’ entire economy and wellbeing is attached to it. With so much riding on the Delta, humans have re-engineer its natural fluvial shape to rip off benefits without thinking of future consequences.
Though overfishing and lack of proper fisheries management has left much of the world in a critical situation, that’s not the case everywhere. Alaska’s fisheries are some of the most environmentally friendly and economically booming businesses in the world. Every year fishermen harvest hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fish and shellfish from their waters. Fishery managers have created a system that successfully creates abundant annual fishing seasons that practically eliminates overfishing and environmental destruction. Under Alaska’s sustainable-fishing rules, which are some of the strictest in the world, these rules help prevent the overfishing that has brought ocean’s elsewhere to near catastrophe. Permit systems and reserves helped
Ronald Takaki’s “America’s errand into the wilderness” and Richard Walker’s notion of “prospector capitalism” in California have some similarities and differences. In Takaki’s Overblown with Hope, he includes a term coined by scholar Perry Miller. Miller used “Errand into the Wilderness” to describe a period in American history which reflects an ideology of colonial control and development. Takaki believed that the puritans had an “errand into wilderness” to discover a place where the eyes of the world could look upon them. The “errand” represented the process in reshaping America into their own image. This resulted in a cultural and physical transformation of natural terrain. Because of this ‘errand,’ there was a large value placed on industry,
In order to protect vital food sources, past heritages, traditions, and cultural values for future generations, the government should not ban the practice of hunting wild animals. Author Jacqueline Thursby argues, in her article “Hunting and Feasting in Utah and Idaho” that this region is “rugged country; it is no easy task, even today, to make a living there, and wild game continues to serve as a mainstay for some families” (103). Most urban families take for granted the accessibility of the supermarket; a convenience that is hardly used for these communities in Utah and Idaho, mostly thriving off of what the earth provides for them. Banning the right to hunt in this region would be similar to closing down all providers of food in big cities,
Environmental history of the oceans and seas are daunting topics, either because of the vastness of the oceans and seas, the artificial boundaries, or their seemingly changelessness. Until about 1990, with Arthur McEvoy’s The Fisherman’s Problem: Ecology and the Law in California Fisheries, 1850-1980, historians largely ignored marine ecosystems as areas of research. Focusing instead on inland fisheries, environmental historians have still had to be “exhorted… to embrace this opportunity” of expanding the discourse of human impacts on marine environments. Scientists, anthropologists, archeologists, and historical ecologists have thus far dominated the production of knowledge concerning historical and current marine ecosystems. In