Fragile Things
When I was growing up, my dad loved watching birds. I remember driving down a dirt road one day and seeing a wild turkey. At the time, wild turkeys were just being reintroduced and seeing one was an extremely rare occurrence. My dad screeched the car to a halt and fortunately no one was injured as cars sped bye (and gave obscene gestures).
The same can be said of bald eagles. When I first started fishing the Muskegon River, it was a very rare occurrence to see a bald eagle on the river. Now, it is a daily occurrence (this pic was just taken today). A lot of things have come back and there are great stories in our natural resources about these things.
One thing that is really obvious if you are a guide is how fragile nature is. Though many things have come back, others become increasingly rare. In the past 200 years, our rivers have changed drastically. Some fish, such as grayling and blue pike, are totally extirpated from our state. We have filled vacancies in our ecosystems with some great fish, such as the steelhead and brown trout. Other openings are filled with invasive species and our game fish are in a constant struggle to hold their place in the environment. We have to be careful to protect our great game fish, so that they will always have a prominent place in our rivers and streams.
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