Troy Johnson

Williston

Well today, June 1, I was enjoying a day of fishing on Lake Sakakawea with a friend, in his boat, I noticed something. The Lewis and Clark boat ramp was completely packed, barely any room to park a pickup and trailer.

Next, while out fishing, I noticed many, many boats on the lake fishing, most were close to shore. Then I happen to notice that the only place people were standing on the miles and miles of beautiful beaches, was on private land by the golf course. There is something totally wrong with this picture. We have over 500 hundred miles of shoreline in N.D. on the big lake. Now my question is, why doesn’t the state override the Corps of Engineers on shoreline use for recreation? This is just insane. How many nice campsites could be created, the tourism for recreation here could exceed millions, including camping around the golf course, but yet, the ignorance in our state legislature only cares for themselves, we pay taxes on all this land and yet, it remains gated and fenced off.

It looks like fishing in our state is beginning to look like a rich man’s game, just like hunting here. If you don’t have a boat and also have a wheelchair, you’re pretty much screwed from fishing this great walleye lake due to lack of access. We need more boat ramps and ramps for our elderly so they can enjoy it too, especially on the western side of the state. I also noticed while reading today’s paper that the corps is pinching back the flows from the dam due to flooding downstream. If I read the article right, it looks like we only have three feet of storage left until spillway level.

This should open people’s eyes in Bismarck. It’s starting to look like the corps is going to fumble this one too. If it gets to spillway level this could be a repeat of a few years ago when Bismarck flooded.

Well the June rise is already flooding the river around Williston, but, oh ya, nobody cares for western ND.