“Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.” – Albert Schweitzer
Water gushing down into the Snake River during a release at the Minidoka Dam. -- Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
The siren letting people downstream know they are letting water out of the dam here at Lake Walcott has been blaring frequently the past few days.
The lake’s high, the irrigation canals are full and the Snake River is flowing fast and furious.
I watched yesterday as the siren blew and the water gushed down from behind the dam. The white pelicans floating near where the water splashed as it cascaded down a short incline watched, too.
Occasionally I see pelicans in the lake, but sitting below the falls seems to be their favorite hang out, probably because fish like the oxygen rich spot, too. And pelicans like fish dinners.
Red-winged blackbirds build their nest in foilage growing in the shallow waters along Lake Walcott's shoreline. -- Photo by Pat Bean
The Minidoka Dam here that created Lake Walcott has been around since 1906, and a power generating plant added soon after, giving local farmers both water and electricity. Teddy Roosevelt, in 1909, created the 25,000-acre Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge around the lake, and the state park, which came much later and which is full of families, fishermen, RV-ers, tenters and boaters for the memorial weekend,, is within the refuge boundaries.
While too often someone suffers when man interferes with Mother Nature, this time it seems like it’s mostly been a win-win situation for human and wildlife species alike.
This is all too rare these days.
Pat Bean's blog 
The river looks very powerful, Pat! I am happy you are enjoying what looks like it will be a fabulous summer!
I saw those red-wing blackbirds in Iowa and Minnesota when I was on my way to the cabin in the woods last summer.
Looks great there, will you be staying long? Sometimes the side effects of industry can be good. In the UK the road and motorways have created a vast if narrow wild space for wildlife that if you look can be seen as you travel from place to place. It is always the variety that surprises me more than anything.
Jim