Corp. of Engineers is planning on closing all boating/bank fishing below all dams.

[tkwalker]

Probably most of you who sent the politicians a message got this back from Lamar ... Atleast we know they are aware of it ... <'TK><
Dear Terry,



Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting me know what’s on your mind regarding the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012.



I support the Sportsmen’s Act, which increases hunting and fishing access to federal lands while reauthorizing conservation programs. I will continue to work with leadership to resolve the bill’s budgetary concerns and bring it back to the Senate floor when it is ready.

I grew up hiking, hunting, and fishing in the mountains of Tennessee, and I know the importance of the great outdoors. This bill will allow Tennesseans to keep hunting and fishing without burdensome regulations, while at the same time protecting our wetlands and wildlife for future generations.

I am grateful that you took the time to let me know where you stand. I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as these issues are discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.





Sincerely,

Lamar

[Catch & Release]

I also sent Lamar an email and this is what he sent in return, with him being on the appropriations committee for the Army corps of engineers, he does have some pull so maybe we have some hope. Hopefully everyone will get on the band wagon and contact all their representatives (especially Lamar Alexander) and we can stop this.......

Here we the reply I got from Lamar:

Dear Douglas,

Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and for letting me know what’s on your mind regarding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) decision to restrict boat access to tailwaters along the Cumberland River.

I agree with your concerns about the impact this new policy will have on the fishing community, and I urged the Commander of the Nashville District Corps to continue to allow fishing in the Cumberland River tailwaters.

The fishing and community derives tremendous pleasure from the open access of the Cumberland River system, and the revenue that is generated by these activities is an important part of Tennessee’s economy. At a minimum, I believe that any change of this magnitude should be subject to a public comment period so those who enjoy fishing can have an opportunity to express their concerns and propose alternatives to improve public safety. Changes should only be considered after a thorough review of all public comments and suggestions.

As the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which has jurisdiction over the Corps, I will follow this issue very closely.

I’m grateful you took the time to let me know where you stand. I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as this issue is discussed in Washington and in Tennessee.


Sincerely,
Lamar

[bd-]

Originally Posted by tkwalker

Probably most of you who sent the politicians a message got this back from Lamar ... Atleast we know they are aware of it ... <'TK><
Dear Terry,



Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting me know what’s on your mind regarding the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012.



I support the Sportsmen’s Act, which increases hunting and fishing access to federal lands while reauthorizing conservation programs. I will continue to work with leadership to resolve the bill’s budgetary concerns and bring it back to the Senate floor when it is ready.

I grew up hiking, hunting, and fishing in the mountains of Tennessee, and I know the importance of the great outdoors. This bill will allow Tennesseans to keep hunting and fishing without burdensome regulations, while at the same time protecting our wetlands and wildlife for future generations.

I am grateful that you took the time to let me know where you stand. I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as these issues are discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.





Sincerely,

Lamar

Ha ha, looks like Senator Alexander sent you the wrong "form letter" response. He's got one personalized form letter for the Sportsmen's Act and a different one for the dam access issue. When your e-mail came in, some staffer of his probably glanced over it and quickly picked which response to send back to you. It's too bad that the response process is so impersonal, but considering the volume of e-mails that come in to our representatives, it would really be impossible for them to take time to respond to every single one.

Incidentally, the Sportsmen's Act was a very good bill and I was extremely pleased to see Senator Alexander come out in support of it. It would have been a tremendous achievement in expanding access to public land for hunters and fishermen.

Unfortunately, despite Senator Alexander's voice of support, the Republicans in the Senate killed the Sportsmen's Act stone cold dead last week:

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...dget-violation

Very unfortunate. The so-called budget concerns used as an excuse to kill the bill were extremely questionable, and I am hopeful that we'll see a re-worked version of the bill come up again soon.

bd

[fishfindergeneral]

Doug Markham told me about this over Thanksgiving weeken. We discussed it for hours while we fished and I find this encredibly disturbing. First the defunding of our hatcheries and now this. What's next? It's clearly not a "safety issue" based on the numbers. If they were concerned about safety, they would target personal water crafts. This seems like a smoke screen for something else, but what? The corp runs on a shoe string bugget already so I don't see how they could possibly enforce this anyway. Just my 2 cents...

[Smallmouth6]

The Corps of Engineers has said it will let us know what their news changes will be below dams this month---perhaps it will come as early as this week. The TWRA's commission has asked its director, Ed Carter, to pen a letter to the COE asking that it to not close boat access below the dams. Glad to see the commission getting involved. Meanwhile, I think Director Carter is supposed to me with Lt. Col. Jim Delapp, who is the primary person behind this whole mess. Ed is an excellent person to meet with the Col. Delapp because he has long been a strong supporter of sportsmen and opposed to regulations that are passed to protect us from hurting ourselves. For example, he is alright with kids having mandator life jacket laws, but he does not favor mandatory life jacket laws for adults (to actually have them on your body). He also told me recently that the law to have jackets on below dams was a compromise a few years back with the COE to avoid the closure of these fantastic fishing waters. Please continue to ask your congress folks to intervene. There is NO good reason for this change. Plenty of rules already exist below dams and if the COE wants to enforce them, they can stop plenty of apparently whatever it is they don't like about us being down there. I"ll keep you posted, but never just take "this is the way it's going to be" as an answer. Fishing below dams is a tradition in Tennessee. It's a legacy and it's been around for as long as there have been dams in Tennessee. Also, don't think this is a Homeland Security issue. If it was that important, I'm pretty sure TVA--the manager of dams on the much larger Tennessee River system--would have already done something about it.

[nofish]

Originally Posted by fishfindergeneral

Doug Markham told me about this over Thanksgiving weeken. We discussed it for hours while we fished and I find this encredibly disturbing. First the defunding of our hatcheries and now this. What's next? It's clearly not a "safety issue" based on the numbers. If they were concerned about safety, they would target personal water crafts. This seems like a smoke screen for something else, but what? The corp runs on a shoe string bugget already so I don't see how they could possibly enforce this anyway. Just my 2 cents...

it's clearly not about safety because out of 100s of trips below dams i have never ever seen any government official, coast guard, or twra below the dams at all. if they were concerned about safety i would have expected to have seen some agency at some point checking boats or watching.

[nofish]

depending on what the outcome is i think i'll put in downstream of a dam, cover my boat #s and fish it anyway. we'll see.

[nofish]

this is irrelevant i think, but i was fishing downstream of oh dam a few months back close to where the treated sewage flows into the river and a barge passed me going downstream and at the next bend he ran into the bank. it was like he was sleeping or something. it was really loud. he just backed up, straightened it out and just kept on going.

[browntrout]

Originally Posted by nofish

depending on what the outcome is i think i'll put in downstream of a dam, cover my boat #s and fish it anyway. we'll see.

I got 1 better I am going to write down those obnoxious Jet Skiers #'s when I am on the lake then go buy me a set of those numbers and put them on my boat. Imagine the shock the guy that owns the Jet Ski will get when he opens his mail and there is a ticket.

Roy

[agelesssone]

LOL, Roy, I like your thinking!

[j19bill]

Emails sent.

Has anyone typed up a "form letter" on this matter. A lot more people will send email if all they have to do is copy and past.

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by browntrout

I got 1 better I am going to write down those obnoxious Jet Skiers #'s when I am on the lake then go buy me a set of those numbers and put them on my boat. Imagine the shock the guy that owns the Jet Ski will get when he opens his mail and there is a ticket.

Roy

Love it!

[nofish]

Originally Posted by browntrout

I got 1 better I am going to write down those obnoxious Jet Skiers #'s when I am on the lake then go buy me a set of those numbers and put them on my boat. Imagine the shock the guy that owns the Jet Ski will get when he opens his mail and there is a ticket.

Roy

That's awesome! !!

[tkwalker]

Originally Posted by j19bill

Emails sent.

Has anyone typed up a "form letter" on this matter. A lot more people will send email if all they have to do is copy and past.

Go to page #1 ... 11th Post down by ME <'TK>< "Contact your Congressman"

[j19bill]

Originally Posted by tkwalker

Go to page #1 ... 11th Post down by ME <'TK>< "Contact your Congressman"

Don't know how I missed that...

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2