I can get to a kayak launch into the Boston Harbor and Harbor Islands with a 15 minute drive from my house; a 20 minute drive to surf my homebreak. I can go paddle and swim in the Charles also in 15 minutes(but talk about boring.... zzzz...)
Yes. My advocacy and willingness to pay higher taxes contributed to a cleaner Boston Harbor and Charles and Mystic rivers.
Michigan DNR doesn't even give it officers
a simple cheap hand held GPS.
Gave them coordinates to find poachers,
illegal feeding, etc. and the guys still
called me on a Sunday to ""guide him in"".
If it isn't associated with a PAID LICENSE
they don't really give a hoot or hollar.
Paddlers are zero revenue, hence out of mind.
NOPE, not the way to go at all in Michigan !
Got to go where money is, infrastructure renewal.
partner with others you keep saying how they don’t listen to paddlers but do to others. Those others would have reason to care about water quality too so partner with them to change things.
Thankfully our quality is generally very good on open ocean with rare exceptions.
OMG… you had it right. The dude just wants to bitch. No one group can do it alone when it requires significant public will and expenditures. It’s a long term commitment and coalition building. He isn’t going change anything. Just wants to blow smoke.
sing
As a fisherman/hunter, hiker, paddler and surfer who have seen and witnessed shared agenda and action across these groups.
People in Michigan know what myself and
others accomplished on the Shiawassee River Headwaters
creating a Heritage Water Trail for paddlers.
It has been a tough, tough 10 year slog
with little or no outside help for budgeting.
Other folks on other rivers also do massive
amounts of manual labor clearing woody debris
for free, all volunteer efforts.
I've been in the trenches plenty and I
speak from experience that most efforts
to get and keep a river clean aren't initiated
by city, county, state officials.
Your willingness to pay higher taxes - that there is the crux of it. If we want the trappings of civilization, we are going to have to pay for it. People who believe the idiocy coming out of the Tea Party will regret it once the rivers and lakes become toxic sewers like they were in the 50’s.