by Blaize Shepherd

Created on: July 10, 2009

When younger, the only lessons to we learned from the river were how to fish, swim, raft and play in on and around the rivers water and avoid drowning. Little is taught to us about protecting and preserving the life our rivers support or protecting the environment and life that supports our rivers ecosystem in return. It seems, that the lessons we learn from the river are lost in selfishness and ignorance.

Daily we exercise our free will to do whatever we desire to our rivers and only have ourselves to blame for the damage we cause as individuals, corporations, governments and a race as a whole. For most of us, these few lessons we have been taught when younger, are not enough to form a reasonable and respectable perspective of what lessons we can really learn, from the river.

The crystal clear streams, thriving with vegetation, wildlife and water life have changed so drastically over time, many of the rivers we encountered as youth are no longer the peaceful and serene connection we made with nature and its environment. Giving way instead, to deterioration by ecological and environmental stress caused by progress, pollution, humanity, climate change and introductions of all kinds. The rivers we remember from our youth seem to be only a figment of our imagination, that they might never have existed so beautifully and full of life as we remember them to have been. Though this has occurred slowly, it has happened continually.

You may have sat many hours by the banks of rivers in your area. You would have marveled at the large trout or native fish species that could move so smoothly and rapidly, pushing forward up the stream, against the current, resting in the deeper cool pools, with their sleek, quick bodies. You could watch silently as a mill worm would spin its way out of the thickly wooded bank sides and drop helplessly in the water, only to be gulped up, by the closest smooth swimmer. Where are these swimmers now? These beautiful fish, they are still here, but no longer seen, so few exist now in this stream. They have been replaced instead, by the thousands of carp, other species or pollution that have overtaken this river and its original natural habitat. The few trout that do remain, rarely surface, desperately seeking alternative sources food closer to the bottom of the river. Some have changed spawning areas due to predator competition.

Their replacement came, by changes made either through the course of environmental, ecological and man caused

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