media article..walking at the fish hatchery

So, biking did not happen this week with the rain and the SNOW up here in the mountains. Is it springtime yet? On a positive note my family and I took a trip to the Bobby N. Setzer Fish Hatchery in Pisgah Forest at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. We walked on approximately 2 miles of the trails which were laid out in an interpretive format through a hard wood forest. I guess what I enjoyed very much about it, besides being outside, was the environmental aspect of the walking trails. The Center had placed at various points along the trail information about rivers, plants, trees and the impact humans can have on their environment. The displays were cohesive and really brought to the forefront the idea that everything in nature is connected, that life is connected, and that humans are no different in that respect. We too are a part of life and nature. What happens in our surroundings affects us.

As for the fish hatchery, hmmm......did you know that the rainbow trout and the brown trout are not native to the Carolinas? The rate of reproduction for these two types of trout are exerting pressure and competition on the only native trout population of North Carolina, the brook trout. Here again for me is an example of the impact that humans can have on their environment. According to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, brook trout populations are being pushed into the headwaters of streams high in the mountains. As a side note the brook trout is the third type of trout grown and stocked by the fish hatchery.

With the thought in mind that life is so interconnected, I came across an article on a child cancer cluster that is causing families in Sandusky County, Ohio alarm, specifically a 12 mile area in Sandusky County in Clyde, Ohio. I know...I know, from walking to fish hatchery to cancer cluster, but bear with me. This article showed me the vulnerability of humans. We may exert a lot of control over our environment, but what happens in it can affect us. The article I read talks about the high number of children that have been affected by various types of cancers and tumors all within a very small area. There has been no definite link that these cancers have been caused by anything in their environment although there is a lot of speculation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40855275/ns/health-cancer/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41736672/ns/health-cancer/