Monday, September 1, 2008

U.P. Report: The Triple AAA Road

The Kennecott Eagle sulfide mine project is looking like is it is going to happen in Marquette County. All that is left is the ruling by the state supreme court. I figured I should get up there one more time, as i haven't fished there in a while. Saw some of these along the way.



So I had along my handmade map to get us out there from Big Bay. Don't know why but the Triple AAA road is really well known in the U.P. Say - "I'm going up by the Triple AAA" and every one knows where you're going.



The trackless forest primeval, the Yellow Dog Plains, headwaters of three great watersheds, the Salmon Trout River, The Yellow Dog River and the Escanaba. It look pretty good from the map book even.



But the Google tells a different tale. The MDNR, and the MDEQ haven't yet met a logger they don't like. Lots of good toilet paper there yah know. Notice the interesting pattern of cutting and how it looks so much like the Escanaba River state forest outline ?



On the ground the jack pine plains don't look so bad, but its one of those things. What did it look like before it had been parcelled out, and parcelled out again, and parcelled out again.



The rivers that cut through the forest were super pretty.












Caught a ton of these little guys. There were alot of foot prints on the bank. A lot of expensive new cabins along the river, too.









Packed a righteous snad for dinner.



So I imagine I'll be posting about the acid rock runoff flowing into these streams, putting three watersheds at jeopardy, including one with the last moderately healthy run of coasters on the south coast. I have some pictures to look at now.

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