Photo is from the WUWM Flickr set- I could not find a photo credit. It depicts Jon Apple fishing at the Kletzsch Park Falls.When two of my co-workers mentioned to me separately that they heard about the dam on NPR, I just assumed (incorrectly) that it was negative spin. Here is the link to the online article by Susan Bence.
From the article/radio show:
"I spot someone fishing a stone’s throw downstream, hip-deep in the river. Jon Apple is fully equipped with waders and a waterproof jacket, topped off with a camouflage cap. He’s also caught up in the sheer pleasure of the moment... Apple grew up watching this river change with every season...
'We pick it up and flip it in back of us and then cast it out and then the fly drifts along through the water,' Apple says. With an elegant flick of the wrist, his long graphite rod sends the line sailing downstream. If and when the fish bites, Apple says he might have a 20 minute tussle on his hands. He seems to be taking in everything around him. As Apple makes his way back to shore, he reels in his line and glances down at the fly attached to the end, bouncing along in the shallow water.'Did you ever see anything better than that? Look at that, dancing in the water like that,' Apple says. Apple admits there’s a bit of nostalgia mixed in with his love of the river. He grew up nearby, in Shorewood. 'And I can remember going over to Lincoln Park when we used to be able to rent rowboats there and fish for little sunfish, or whatever they were, I don’t know, it’s been a few years I guess,' Apple says. It’s those childhood memories that drive his feelings about the future of the water in Lincoln Park. Apple says he understands if the Estabrook Dam is removed and the Milwaukee River runs free, it might be cleaner. But he’s concerned about how that move will affect Lincoln Park. Without the dam, water won’t pool and the park’s waterways might dry up. 'You would think as a hardcore fisherman I would be for removing the dam. I’m very much against removing the dam, and this is going to choke me up a little. That dam serves Lincoln Park and Lincoln Park is part of our county park system and it will absolutely gut Lincoln Park and the people that have Lincoln Park will not have that type of water available to them,' Apple says."
I have met Mr. Apple. He is a kindly, thoughtful man, just the sort of person one would expect to hear on NPR.
