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Outdoor Corner: Where has all the water gone?
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) recent documentation that the past decade (2000–2010) has been the warmest on record seems to underscore some of the things I have had a gut sense of recently. Along with the warm temperatures, my 35 years in this part of the continent tells me that while temperatures are going up, water seems to be disappearing.
I have no scientific evidence for this! But, I can now drive a car where formally I had difficulty getting through with my Amphi-Cat all-terrain vehicle! Mind you, the Amphi–Cat was not much of an all-terrain vehicle by standards back then or now. But, for the last ten years or so, year after year, this has been the case. I am not speaking of the occasional dry year back in the 70s and 80s where a person could take his two wheel drive vehicle practically anywhere in the bush. I am talking about a ten year span now where, even though some winters we have had lots of snow, by fall, evaporation has taken place and mobility in the bush has been relatively simple.
While “jobs” seems to be the focus these days of governments everywhere, “environment” seems to have dropped out of politicians’ parlance. Why? Is it because wildlife, nature and the wilderness have neither voice nor vote?
I am not saying “Global Warming” is the culprit nor am I saying it isn’t. I do not have the scientific background to argue one way or another. Instead, I will take the word of the scientific community for this, particularly David Suzuki, who says that there is on any other scientific phenomena with the exception of universal agreement that gravity exists.
If a doctor tells me I need to lose weight, I will listen. If a dentist tells me I need dental work, I will listen. But we all know “acting” is infinitely harder than passively “listening”.
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Ponds and sloughs such as these pictured are becoming increasingly rare. While some farmers and residents are digging new dugouts, filling them in seems to be the more common practice. While dugouts were never here, obviously, prior to man’s appearance, sloughs were and their disappearance begs the question, “What effect will this have on water tables, water cycles, precipitation patterns and the like.
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