National Park Service set to use pestisides and gill nets to Kill Fish in Alpine lakes

Seattle Times

North Cascades, a vast wilderness area about the size of Rhode Island with jagged high peaks and more than 300 glaciers, is the only U.S. national park where stocking nonnative fish still occurs for recreation purposes, Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said. Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks no longer do it, Zipp said. Park officials have tried for decades - without much success - to phase it out and bring the North Cascades in line with national park policy.

After a long review, including a 12-year scientific study, the National Park Service decided in January to end fish stocking if it doesn't get Congressional approval by July 1. It would remove fish from some lakes, using gill nets or a pesticide that has been used in other parks.

Well it looks like one of my favorite local SITX areas is not only losing fish stocking, but the park service wants to kill all the fish.

Since I was a kid I've been hiking and camping in the mountains and occasionally catching trout for dinner.

It just doesn't make sense to me, but what do I know I'm not a naturalist.

It never occurred to me that there were never fish in some of these lakes until we introduced them according to the park service, but that was more than a hundred years ago.

I think people are going to stock them illegally anyway, but it bothers me that the park service is probably going to fight back by poisoning them.



[edit on 13-4-2009 by verylowfrequency]

reply to post by verylowfrequency

That's a shame. I used to go up on Bluitt pass when i was a teenager and fish a lot. Also spent a week up there with my brother when i was 15 for survival practice.