by Damien Barstead

One can ask oneself what the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the decades of effort from countless dedicated individuals, and the unravelling of kilometres of bureaucratic red tape, has ultimately achieved. Is it only the salmon that we are protecting? More likely, it is that we are saving the salmon to save ourselves. Granted, many people cannot, or chose not, to see this perspective. However, there is no denying the fact that with the destruction of all wildlife, ranging from krill and salmon in the oceans, to the great predators such as the grizzly bear, we are in fact punching huge gaps in the food web that we are a part of.

"Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek"

Steps such as attempting to restore lost salmon streams are just as important in demonstrating a little human responsibility to future generations

Roderick Haig-Brown fishing
Photograph © Mary Randlett

as they are valuable to the salmon. It is these efforts which provide optimism for our generation, as well as for younger ones - a hope that they can make a lasting difference. In addition, they are given examples of what needs to be done to conserve our native earth and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"It seems clear beyond possibility of argument that any given generation of men can have only a lease, not ownership, of the earth; and one essential term of the lease is that the earth be handed on to the next generation with unimpaired potentialities. This is the conservationist's concern."

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