When: Wednesday March 3rd
Where: Bothell American Legion Hall
Time: 6:30-7 come have a cold one. 7-8:30 presentation
Address: 19213 Bothell Way NE, Bothell, WA
Speaker: David Montgomery, Author
David Montgomery, Author of King of Fish: The Thousend-Year Run of Salmon Drawing on a combination of scientific, historical, sociological and political research, Montgomery, a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington, traces the tragic and steady decline in salmon populations in Europe, New England, Eastern Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Using his detailed analysis of the destruction of native salmon runs at each site, Montgomery demonstrates that the decline has been caused by the same four actions: polluting rivers in the name of technology, changing the natural environment by damming rivers and clear-cutting forests, overfishing, and ignoring regulations and laws imposed to help salmon populations recover.
Montgomery's history of salmon moves from awe inspiring (their ancestors go back some 40 million
years) to heartbreaking ("Lonesome Larry was the only sockeye [salmon] that made it back [to Redfish Lake] in 1992"). But when the book's focus changes from fish to the likes of Queen Anne, King George, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who were all unsuccessful in stopping the salmon's slide toward extinction, Montgomery's tone becomes decidedly bleaker. Though the nature of the salmon's struggle to survive against these recurring threats to its life and habitat causes the book to be somewhat repetitive, Montgomery saves his best writing for the last chapter, where he courageously outlines the scientific evidence surrounding the salmon's plight and presents a no-nonsense plan for the fish's tenuous hope for survival. Photos and maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
David R. Montgomery is Professor of Geomorphology at the University of Washington. His research focuses on landscape evolution, including the impact of erosion and sedimentation on biological systems. A member of advisory committees to governmental bodies and private organizations dedicated to protecting rivers and wildlife, Montgomery lives in Seattle with his wife Anne, and his field assistant Xena, a black lab-chow mix.
Book Description
A passionate recounting of the natural history of the rise and fall of salmon in England, New England, and the Pacific Northwest--with recommendations for bringing the salmon back.
In coming to understand the natural and human forces shaping the rivers and mountains of the Pacific Northwest, geologist David Montgomery learned to see the evolution and near-extinction of the salmon as a story of changing landscapes. An integral part of the region's rivers and seas, the salmon that symbolize the Northwest's natural splendor are now endangered, either gone or threatened with extinction across much of their ancestral range. Montgomery shows how a succession of de facto historical experiments-first in the United Kingdom, then in New England, and now in the Pacific Northwest-followed a similar story in which overfishing and sweeping changes to the landscape rendered the world inhospitable to salmon.
In King of Fish, Montgomery traces the human impacts on salmon over the last 1000 years and examines the implications for both salmon recovery efforts and the more general problem of human impacts on the natural world. What does it say for the long-term prospects of the world's endangered species if one of the most prosperous regions of the richest country on earth cannot accommodate its icon species? All too aware of the possible bleak outcome for the salmon, King of Fish concludes with provocative recommendations for reinventing the ways in which we make environmental decisions about land, water, and fish.
Previous Topic
Index
