"If the checks and balances are working so well, why are so many salmon and steelhead runs extinct"

Guys like you and I building homes,roads and support systems on the slopes facing the Snoqualmie river for example. All the trees that were cut down to make way and frame this infrastructure since the mid 1800's. Well intentioned environmentalists stopping the dredging of the river channel that was silted by this development. The willow scrub ecosystem that lined the river valley that was removed to make the river more accessable and to clear Farmland to grow food for a growing community. We asked that the checks and balances be set up to make it easier and more affordable to live the way we want. We are still doing it with our comsumer choices.