28 - Wednesday, September 23, 1992 - North Shore News

The Run of The River, by Mark Hume, New Star Books, $14.95

~ IVERS ARE the veins _

and arteries of the

great sea-to-sky- and-back circulatory system of the earth.

tn places like Egypt, dominated ° by a single great waterway, people tend to be more sensitive to its

_ Importance; for millenia Egyptians have recognized that their very ex- istence is a “gift of the Nile.’’

Here in B.C., we're accustomed to such an abundance of great rivers running through our cities and towns, beside our highways,

_ Nourishing our forests and replenishing our fisheries, pro- viding us with cheap and prof- itable hydro-power, that we are in serious danger of complacently allowing our whole yast and in- tricate riverine system to become terminally sclerotic.

“ta these portraits of 11 B.C.

“givers, Vancouver Sun journalist

“Mark Hume delivers an unapologetically uncompromising diagnosis of the misuse and abuse of our water resources. In almost every case Hume examines, fish

_. are the harbingers; when a B.C.

_ tiver is under stress, the first sign is

:. a drastic decline in the salmon run or trout population.

Anyone who’s ever held a fish- ing rod knows there aren't as

the story

Mark Hume examines the senseless destruction of the environment in portraits of 11 B.C. rivers

John Moore BOOK REVIEW

_many fish as there used to be,

even 20 years ago, but for once those convenient whipping-boys — the commercial fishermen — are mostly let off the hook.

The incredibly prolific salmon could easily have withstood the excesses of a less than prudent fishery a lot longer, but for one factor: the destruction of their spawning grounds, whether by damming of rivers for power, toxic pollution from mining operations or the massive environmental degradation caused by clear-cut logging of old-growth watersheds.

Hume’s argument, implied throughout, is simple: the fish, and the tourism income generated by

. healthy sports fisheries and un-

touched wilderness areas.are real- istically renewable, self-sustainin resources. Mining and watershed logging are not; they’re short-term fast-buck propositions with per- manent environmental and finan-

| “WV author reads from work

2 WEST. VANCOUVER author ~ Jancis Andrews will read ex- erpts from her book of short

> stories, _ Rapunzel, Rapunzel, ¢Let Down. Your Hair, this-Friday

“tat Margaret’ Gabriel Bookseller

“in Vancouver. . a

The public reading is being = sponsored by. the Canadian “Poetry Association of Van- couver. Vancoiiver authors Sue Nevill and Vivian. Marple. and Burnaby writer Eileen. Ker-

naghan will join Andrews at the reading.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down. Your Hair, published by Cacanadadada Press, is An- drews’ first published collection of short stories. ~

Tickets for the 8 p.m. reading are $3 in advance or at the door. Margaret Gabziel Bookselier is located at 3036 W. Broadway:

For information phone 874-

0554 or 738-2665.

welcomes

LINDA SVENDSEN

. Author, teacher

at Park Royal Shopping Centre

SATURDAY, SEPT, 26th 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Ms. Svendsen will be signing copies of -her powerful new book = ~

MARINE LIFE

Eight interlinked stories about one family's difficulty in maintaining love and achieving trust.

“FHE BOOK COMPANY Pig We are what you read

~ Park Royal Shopping Centre Phone: (604) 922-5125 © Fax (604) 922-5171

Vancouver ® Kelowna ® Calg

ary ® Edinoutone Toronto

*Oltawae Montrenl© Hutifax

cial disadvantages.

The salmon regenerate themselves three or four times ina single decade; an old-growth wa- tershed takes millenia to reach climax, and when you cut it all down, you also condemn the wa- tershed’s salmon run, a product of millions of years of site-specific evolution.

Writing as an outdoorsman, Hume is fiercely lyrical on the subject of salmon, grizzlies, and the unique marginal birds that in- habit the last temperate rainforests on this planet, which happen to constitute our own back yard.

But even his poignant evocation of the spiritual desolation suffered by native peoples displaced from valleys they have inhabited for 10,000 years, pales beside the flat journalistic recitations of statistics, the accounts of rivers you could cross with dry feet walking on the backs of tens of thousands of spawning salmon less than 100 years ago where now it’s a good year if.100 fish return to spawn.

A million years of evolution lit- erally “sold down the river’ in less than a century. oo

If the numbers move you to tears, the smug quotes from log- ging and mining industry spokesmen, not to mention our elected representatives, who seem to regard themselves as a form of exalted commission salesmen, should move you to outrage.

This is not a book you can peruse astride a comfy fence-rail.

We have the misfortune to live, asthe old Chinese curse goes, in “interesting’’ times.

Selection may vary from store to store

‘11’S FUN AS MM IT’S DIFFERENT * | IT’S FOUR-PART HARMONY

DOGWOOD CHORUS seeks new women members. All voices, especially’ low range. No need to read music...

Meet Tuesdays 7:45 p.m. i). : 5 ‘ Highlands Schooi -.@ - S 5) 3150 Coiwood, North Vancouver”: For further information, please call:

_929-7061, 980-3584, 984-6370 .

WEEKDAY SPECIALS.

Sunday-all kids meals °1%?

Monday-seniors discounts

Wednesday-8” pizza. °4% (items 1-20) Hot Wings 25¢ ea. -

Thursday- ribber. dinner. Ae

Tuesday_ pasta night

Marine Drive NVan 9 :

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“Wiz OFF | onNmINGs ~

All in store stock valued to $9.98 = ~~

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Nytons and teslins Reg. valve to S12.86rn