I'm a civil engineer that designs the sub-divisons, Home Depots and other developments you see devour our land every day. Thats right folks, I'm a whore to the process. I learned long ago that development was going to happen reguardless of what I did for a living, so instead of living in relative squalor I became an engineer.

Originally posted by Dave Vedder:
You hit the nail on the head, Dave. Also, I do agree that we tend to fixate on the nets as the only problem, but I think thats because it is the largest component of the problem and nothing is being done about it. Of course we need to maintain habitat. I support stream buffers and restricted logging in river coridors. The measures that triggered this thread go far beyond that, however.

It is disheartening for me to comply with the increase in regulation here in the Puget Sound along streams that are already nearly devoid of anadromous fish, only to go out on the penninsula on the weekend and see a new swath of trees cut down right up to the river. We do live in an enlightened society, but politics and special interests seem to get in the way of what our best available science tells us. I do not see this changing in the forseeable future either.