UB-Fat

ReadThis poem was conceived during a presentation by Eric Riley - Project manager for the Umpqua Basin - Fish Access Team. The UB-FAT mission - identify passages where roads cross streams to determine whether replacing the culvert will increase salmonid access to natural habitat. Jim Monk of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife related how no matter what the return runs, the salmonid frye in the Smith River tributary of the Umpqua River have peaked - no space remains in the existing juvenile habitat.

fish access
everywhere they can get
our human teams
empower fish (how so, how so)
with habitat and space
players all over
restoring quality
to water and air
building habitats
with log placement
boulder inset
refugia creates
room to hide
this temporal location
where fish can hang
in time, here, now
mebbe not tomorrow
if the water doesn't hold
Culverts... (feelings Barbra)
nothing more than culverts
trying to forget those
culverts of passage
when a road meets
a stream bed
the hole beneath
requires agilty, faith
and a lurch into darkness
a smashed, dented
plugged failed pathway
denies this land
particulate exchange
nutrients from the sea
carried by salmon
carcasses feed critters
post-spawn
natures weigh is odd
whattsa matter (billy joel)
when the fish are swimming
can you tell that
the streams not wide
mebbe up to
the bedrock channel
and the fish have
maniacal slides
if they get there
and they can hide
perhaps the numbers
can really increase
half a percent survival
needs only be nudged
for fishery restoration
and tasty dinner treats
what is important
miles of habitat available
quality of stream water
quality of upstream habitat
are there barriers below
one matrix sorts it out (bilbo)
one matrix guides them
one matrix weights the goals
biggest bang for buck
fish thought the thalweg
which lets us know
our fish can go
further upstream
back to beyonds
they once knew
all because
we be UB-FAT

(c) 2005 lemme howdt