George Smith: Manure Merchant

To the Editor, Kennebec Journal, Oct. 2, 2008:

The amount of manure that George Smith is able to stuff into one column never ceases to amaze me. His diatribe on listing the Atlantic salmon as an endangered species (Sept. 24) is rife with misinformation and employs his usual scare tactics to inflame an uneducated public.

Had Angus King succeeded in preventing the listing of the Atlantic salmon, he would have been the one individual most responsible for their demise in the U.S. Thankfully, the federal government did the right thing by giving the salmon protection and it is now proposing to finish the job by protecting salmon in the Androscoggin, Kennebec and Penobscot rivers.

Claims by Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins that "state restorative efforts" can best increase salmon populations are a joke.

Maine doesn't even have the resources to keep its residents warm in the winter.

It was on the state's watch that salmon were nearly wiped out, thanks to inadequate controls on timber harvesting, agriculture and aquaculture, which all combined to damage and destroy salmon and their habitat.

Atlantic salmon are coming back. In the Sandy River, they're reproducing again for the first time in more than 150 years -- and their offspring are also returning to spawn. The potential for Atlantic salmon restoration and the resulting environmental, economic and social benefits, especially in the Kennebec River drainage, is enormous. Federal protection and funding, however, are needed if this potential is ever to be realized.

John M. Glowa Sr.

South China, Maine

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