For those who love rivers, trout, and fly fishing, A River Runs Through It, although still the golden grail of all things fly fishing, has been over used, over done, and over dissected. Even so, we are still drawn to it’s prose, art, and spirituality on a fairly regular basis. The words of Norman Maclean from this story are, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful and poetic ever written. Every so often then, because this is a journal about all things rivers, I am going to include some of those words, and maybe some of Hemingways, and of course Traverse as well.
I”ll be slightly over six decades old next week and now, whenever I see old Norman at the end of the movie and hear his words…I can relate more & more.
“Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.
Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn’t. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.”
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
Its very early on a mid-winter Thursday morning in January. As usual, it is gray, bitter cold, and the light snow is falling in slow motion.
But I am in a special place writing this, sitting in a cabin only 10 or so feet from the very special Jordan River in Northeast Antrim County Michigan. The cabin is one that I have featured previously on this blog and I am here to show it to a couple from downstate. I thought I’d get here early though, and take some time to enjoy the pesce and silence thst is had only on a river like this one. Looking up, I see the river flowing towards me on its way to Lake Charleviox and, ultimately to Lake Michigan. This cabin is really unique in that it is sited so close to the river. This will never happen again because of the federal designation given to the Jordan as a “Wild & Scenic River”. All future building must be 200′ from the water. This is what I classify as a true “Legacy” property.
The Jordan has been classified by the MDNR as the purest river in Michigan although I’m not sure if that includes the U.P. The headwaters begin up by Alba with a gazillion small drops of pure spring water bubbling up from below, then from hundreds of small brooks & creeks, and finally several good size feeder streams…all cold & pristine. As it grows, the 23 mile long river runs south for a bit and then turns abruptly north and ends its voyage in East Jordan emptying into the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix.
But not before winding through some of the most stunning country in Northwest Michigan.
This is a superb trout stream that is not heavily fished, and the truth of the matter is that not many people are even aware it exists. It doesn’t get the press of the big waters that are the AuSable and Manistee rivers. There are generous and healthy populations of Brown & Brook trout as well as seasonal steelhead and salmon. Quality regulations are in effect here, and fishing is year round-catch & release. It is a challenge to fish the Jordan because it is fast and deep in many places, but the rewards are great.
I could be somewhere else this morning, home, the office, a coffee shop, Detroit…but I am grateful that I have special listings like this so that I can be here, and not there.
The Chicken and the Egg of Real Estate
The Proverbial Chicken and the Egg. Which comes first? When a potential buyer calls and wants to see a house, one of my first questions I ask is have you talked to a lender and if so, how much will they loan to you? Why even look at a house that you won’t be able to get a loan to but?
Buyers, I know this may not be what you want to hear, but you MUST talk to a lender before asking to be shown homes. Your pre-approval letter contains very important information.
- The maximum purchase amount – It makes no sense whatsoever to show you homes that are above the maximum purchase amount you qualify for, unless the home is overpriced. That I can determine by looking at comparable properties that have recently sold nearby.
- Whether you have chosen a direct lender or a mortgage broker – If you are using a mortgage broker, I cannot show you HUD-owned homes. HUD requires a pre-approval letter on a direct lender’s letterhead.
- The type of loan (Conventional, FHA, VA) – If you are qualified for anything other than a conventional loan, buying a condo or a “flipped” home can be very difficult and time consuming.
- Loan and/or Funding Conditions – We need to talk about your ability to provide documentation the lender requires on a timely basis.
I understand that you might not want to get pre-approved until you find the right house. Or maybe you won’t want to buy a house at all if you find out that $xxx,xxx can only get you a home in need of TLC in a less than desirable neighborhood. But the reality is that you MUST talk to a lender to see what kind of home you can afford.
We won’t know that until you get pre-approved. In Real Estate, the pre-approval letter must come first. Let’s call it the chicken. After that, we can go out together and look for that perfect egg.
Michigan Supreme Court Decision in Au Sable River Case Shores Up Protection for Environment
January 17, 2011
An environmental group’s legal victory to block contaminated dumping into a popular fly-fishing stream sets precedent to protect Michigan waters from pollution.
By Steve Kellman
Circle of Blue
By siding with the Anglers of the Au Sable in a long-running lawsuit over a state permit that threatened the celebrated trout stream, the Michigan Supreme Court has strengthened protection of all state waters in the process, according to lead attorney Jim Olson.
The dispute began in 2005, when the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) gave Houston-based Merit Energy a permit to discharge up to 1.15 million gallons of treated wastewater from a contaminated site into a creek that flows into the Au Sable River. The discharge plan was part of Merit Energy’s plan to clean up a former Shell Oil production facility in the Manistee River watershed.
Anglers of the Au Sable—a 600-member environmental conservation group—mounted a legal campaign to block the move, arguing that it threatened the river’s health and amounted to a massive diversion of water from one watershed to another.
While early court rulings favored the Anglers, a state appeals court ruling dismissed the DEQ (now the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) from the suit.
But on December 29, a narrow 4-3 majority of the court rendered its verdict, ruling that Merit Energy’s discharge plan was “manifestly unreasonable” and that the DEQ should be held accountable for violating the Michigan Environmental Protection Act.
In the process, the court overruled a previous decision from the 2004 case of Preserve the Dunes v. DEQ, which let the state environmental agency off the hook for permitting a sand mining operation on nationally protected dunes.
Traverse City-based environmental attorney Jim Olson, who specializes in water rights, represented Anglers of the Au Sable in the recently decided case and spoke with Circle of Blue about the outcome.
Olson called the decision “very important” and “crucial to maintaining the value and use of property rights, as well as the value and use of the state’s lakes, rivers, and streams.”
“The public and private property owners won in this case,” he said.
The court decision also set a precedent that state waters should be protected as a public trust, rather than the less rigorous concept of a “reasonable use balancing test,” which had been used in a previous lawsuit, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v. Nestlé Waters North America. In that 2007 case, the court ruled with the bottled water giant, which planned to pump millions of gallons annually from a Mecosta County aquifer.
Olson thinks the decision in the Au Sable case will help overturn the precedent set in the Nestlé Waters case, less than three years earlier.
“The use of the balancing test is very dangerous,” Olson told Circle of Blue. “It puts a price tag on water…Property rights would be reduced to political science and economic decisions.”
The decision also helps restore the rights of Michigan citizens to sue the state under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act of 1970.
The court’s now-overturned ruling in the Preserve the Dunes case had exempted DEQ permit decisions from the threat of citizen lawsuits—a right enshrined in the state’s 1970 legislation.
The December 28 decision restored the ability of any Michigan citizen to sue the state over environmental harm, including in cases where the harm was caused by a DEQ permit decision.
The decision may be short-lived, however.
Supreme Court Justice Alton Thomas Davis, who wrote the majority opinion in the Anglers decision, had been appointed to the state’s top court in August. Davis was filling the last four months of Justice Elizabeth Weaver’s term after her resignation. The term expired days after the court issued its opinion on the Anglers case, and Republican-backed Mary Beth Kelly has since taken the seat.
The three judges who voted against the December 29 decision signed on to a scathingly worded dissent—authored by Judge Robert P. Young Jr.—calling the lead opinion “extraordinarily lawless and profoundly dangerous” and warning that overturning the Preserve the Dunes ruling will “wreak havoc on this state’s legal system.” Judges Maura Corrigan and Stephen Markman signed the dissent.
The dissenters also argued that the case should have been dismissed in June 2010, when Merit Energy had abandoned its cleanup plans and submitted a new plan that did not involve dumping water into the Au Sable.
Steve Kellman is a Traverse City-based reporter for Circle of Blue. Reach Kellman at steve@circleofblue.org.
Happy New Year from the BluTrout. The holidays are over and although they were pleasant and quiet, this time of year holds no magic without small children around. Don’t misunderstand, I still believe in Santa Claus, and I always smile when I see colorful lights on homes and business’s. But c’mon, somewhere in the midst of all this frenzy, we should try to remember that this day, Christmas…is a birthday. Anyway, it’s over and the new year has started.
After a warm spell between Christmas and the new year, winter has returned this morning with a typical January day…gray, brittle cold, and snow. That’s OK, we live in a ski town and Shanty Creek Resort needs this weather. If people come up to ski and relax, they’ll be out spending money at the local shops too. They may even be thinking about buying real estate up here as well!
So…I have just the place for you. This weeks featured property is a really special cabin on the very special Jordan River.
801 Morrison Rd. is a three bed, 1 bath year round getaway on three acres with over 300′ on the river. And this isn’t just any kind of frontage. This cabin is about ten feet from the water which will never happen again due to the Wild & Scenic River act.
This is prime Brook, Brown, Steel head, and Salmon water and the Jordan is classified by the MDNR as the most pristine river in the state! $299,000 gets you the primo fly fishing camp on this river. Call 231-350-2100 or see more at realtor.com.
Once in a great while, we are forced to leave Northern Michigan to fish. Although I’ve never tried salt water fishing, it just doesn’t seem right to me to fish in anything but a pristine cold northern stream or river. Admittedly, the legal season to fish here is very short and of course, unless you enjoy steel heading or winter fishing on the few streams that are open, fishing opportunities are few at this time of year. So I understand why people leave here to fish for trout. A couple of local guys who own Mapleridge Construction just returned from a trip to New Zealand and I wanted to share a couple of photos with you. They told me that this was a trip of a lifetime and I can see why. To catch a brown like the one Chris is holding on a Michigan stream would mean heading out in the middle of the night. Not here, this sweetie was caught mid-day on a gin clear stream.
Christmas day and I opened the shop just long enough to write this. it has been a very quiet and peaceful day. An old friend and mentor from my time at Ford Motor came up and is staying at the cottage. We had breakfast this morning and went for the traditional Christmas hike up to the chutes about 1.5 miles downstream on the Cedar. It’s always beautiful there and today as every Christmas, we were completely alone.
Yesterday, Christmas eve, was a pretty good day as well. Errands, last minute groceries, lunch at Moka and a round of the shops downtown, and then to the office to write a purchase offer for the 2nd sale we’ve made this past month of the huge Dura manufacturing facility in Mancelona. This one is special because it means jobs for the locals who have been hurting for a long time due to the economic shifts in our state. So all in all, this is a good Christmas. Dinner is at friends in Central Lake at five so it’s time to lock up and head out.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas…”each and every one! (Remember Tiny Tim from the Christmas Carol?)
It was going to be the Purple Trout. I’ve had this vision of a purple trout for quite some time. Subtle shades of iridescent purple, slowly blending into a golden belly and yellow & red spots on it’s sides. I wonder why God didn’t create this beauty given all of the other stunning trout on earth. But I suspect he saved this one for the streams of heaven. read more…
