Excellent thought;
In our lifetimes the environmental picture has changed drastically, mostly for the better and the hatches we saw years ago have changed with the changing water quality. Like I said the changes are mostly for the better for example the Detroit river has not caught fire in some time and there is a very healthy steelhead run out of Lake Erie, a lake declared dead and irretrievable in the early 70's. Alas some of the changes are not so good, increased pressure on aquifers and on potable water and urban sprawl has seriously effected the water tables in many areas, this is most noticed in the water temperatures and low water conditions in summer. The warmer water tends to push out some species of mayflies especially the crawler type who rely on cold running water to breath. Stoneflies are also very intolerant to warm water. Floods and droughts which we have had a couple doozies of in the last few years are also capable of changing the benthic diversity. Look at the Beaverkill this year, horrific floods in April produced a very small March Brown hatch and may effect this hatch for years. I believe I also read something about Agnes in 1973(?) wiping out the green drakes on some Pocono rivers and they have never returned. Mike M
