What the heck was that ?

Will Rogers said "just be thankful you don't get all the government you pay for". That's what I'm feeling now with the announcement from ADF+G that the river is open to keeping fish and its business as usual here at mile 14...Well , sort of business as usual, alot of plans were altered, trips and fun lost and anxiety and mistrust in the department created. I could go on and on but I won't, I just want to go fishing and starting again Thursday thats what I'm doing. Its catch and keep and the river has that energy we all love again.

This weekend was the 20th annual Kenai River Festival sponsored by the Kenai Watershed Forum which I was a Board member of and lately a semi consultant. The Forum is a non-profit started in conjunction with the Nature Conservatory 25 years ago. They are a non political group and I like to think of them as the 'conscious' of the Kenai. They are science orientated having been involved with ground water studies, hydrocarbon studies, culvert replacement (for fish passage) and a myriad of issues. But maybe the biggest and most important function of the forum is education. For sustaining the rivers future vitality it has to be generational and thats what the Festival is all about.....kids big and small and the future of the Kenai River and the lifestyles it supports.

The first pic is MP of course running the booth for The Friends of the Library. She's on their Board and they are in the process of spearheading a 3 million dollar addition to the Soldotna Library. The next pic is of the Bandstand, how many music venues have you seen with a view like that eh? Gorgeous. This year the Forum joined with KDLL our public radio station and sponsored ' Rockin on the River' concert, all day music...just my thing. That guy playing the Martin HD-35 is Joe Ray Skrha a fixture around these parts. He and I played music together 30 years ago at the first Kenai River clean-up event and he's still doing it.

The next Pic I printed big because its soooo cool. The folks from the Alaska Raptor Center were there to educate people about the birds that depend so much on a healthy Eco system. I'd bet not alot of folks have been up close like this to a Snowy Owl, this guy behaved like he new he was the star of the show. They also had a Falcon and in the past Bald Eagles. Its funny, up close the Eagles are not nearly as big as you think when we see them soaring overhead every day. They're all feathers and weigh at the most 15 pounds

It was a great weekend, like most Festivals we had all the food. Bratwurst with grilled onions, homemade Kettle Corn and one of the local politicians was giving away some of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. The last pic is of the Waterhed Forum staff and a few directors . Joscelyn in the middle is the secretary and she's the one that gets it done. Robert there is the Director, he's part scientist, part organizer and part P.R. guy....Me and the Kenai river thank you all for what you do.

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