Fishing the Elk and Paying for it
I'm planning to spend some time fly fishing this summer in SW Alberta and SE British Colombia, home not just of grizzly bears (and yes there are plenty), but also home to some of the best fly fishing in North America.
The cat is out of the bag on fishing in some of the BC streams. There are more and more non-residents like me showing up, and more and more guides with their driftboats on the water. The suggestion has been made that this increase in tourism has denegrated the fishing experience in this area. Hard to argue that, but one must point out to the folks in Fernie that they can't have their cake and eat it too.
Meanwhile, new regulations are now in place for certain rivers in BC (translate that to all the rivers that matter to fly fisherpeople) that basically institute an additional $20 per day user fee to fish these rivers. I will pay the additional fee - I only visit that area every two or three years, and while the fee is annoying, I'll get over it. Imagine though that you lived in SW Alberta, and fished the Elk or some of the other streams regularly all season. Suddenly this looks like an expensive proposition. Alberta anglers are not amused. They feel that they are being discriminated against - that the fee action is just wrong.
I've linked to a letter to the editor on A River Never Sleeps.com. My friend Ken, a fly fisherman and writer from Idaho, sent me the link, along with the suggestion that we could have a really good time this summer fishing the Bow, Old Man, Crowsnest, Castle and Livingston, all in Alberta!. If we did this, it would put our tourist canadianos into the pockets of Alberta businesses - the breakfast places, the fly shops, campgrounds, motels, and so on. The folks in Fernie would have 3 fewer fisherman crowding their rivers, but would see none of the advantages that go along with having palukas like us in their town.
I have to say that some of the back-country BC rivers are among the most beautiful places I have ever visited. However, the landscape of Alberta is nothing to sneeze at either - I keep hearing that from folks who have gone to see Brokeback Mountain, filmed not in Wyoming but in Alberta.
So, read the letter.....what do you think?
3 comments:
Ok. Read the article and agree that the $20 for out of province anglers is justified. While I understand that Albertans feel discriminated against, it seems to me that charging a fee is reasonable given that the locals pay taxes in the province etc. I have been to Fernie - a lovely place - and grew up not too far from the East Kootenay. The development that inevitably comes out of people "discovering" a jewel of a place is seriously detrimental to the environment, but also to locals who often wind up paying higher property taxes etc. (which is exactly what's going on in my home town of Rossland, where the ski hill and golf course are expanding and now the locals are up in arms because their taxes are rising exponentially while the rich out of towners are buying up property). This is my longwinded way of saying that, if a $20 fee - which the article pointed out was pittance compared to other costs anglers shell out - is going to discourage a ton of people from invading a space, then that's just dandy with me.
What is it with Albertans, anyways? They can be so whiney sometimes!
Good points, Coyote. I think you also have to consider the geographical context though. SE BC & SW Alberta are connected by the Crowsnest Pass, and for the piscator, the experience of the area is a BC / Alberta joint experience. Yet, because of a provincial boundary, they have to belly up to the bar twice for license fees. If I lived in Coleman or Blairmore, Alberta, I suspect I would be more than a little resentful of the additional user fee to fish in what is essentially my neighbourhood.
hmmm.... The out of province crowd is also dropping a lot of tourist canadianos in the Fernie area. I don't agree that Alberta needs to institute a daily rod fee at all. The idea that if people from outside BC would only pay a daily fee, they wouldn't be "tramping up here dragging whirling disease....." is just a wee bit reactionary, don't you think?
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