This is what America looked like before the EPA cleaned it up

[brewens]

32. Right at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers in Idaho was a cesspool in the early 70's

That is in Lewiston Idaho where I live. You wouldn't want your kids down there fishing or playing or anything these days if it was till like that. Rusting junk, old tires, weird looking yellow foam. Someone from a real industrial areas back east would have thought you were crazy telling them that about rivers in Idaho! But it was just a couple miles downstream from a paper mill.

We now have a pretty good salmon and steelhead fishery in that area, smallmouthed bass too if you know what you're doing. Had things kept going like they were when I was a kid, you probably wouldn't even bother owning a fishing pole these days. You sure as shit would be taking your life in your hands eating any fish you managed to catch!

It's amazing down there now. Geese, ducks, herons, osprey, upstream away from town a ways it's not unusual to see otters, beavers or whatever. The wildlife and geese poop is almost a nuisance. Out of the valley, the birds of prey are thick! You can't get any distance without seeing a big red tailed hawk or other bird hunting. Good luck driving and even ever being out of the sight of something like that! You were lucky to spot one when I was a kid. They had them beat down so bad with all the pesticides. Even out here in Idaho it was real bad in 1970.