Back from the Dead

Wow has this thing been neglected or what?! Shit, 3 years since the last post. Damn. Does anyone even read this anymore? I'm definitely getting plenty of traffic on the WWD, but considering the number of spam comments I just deleted, I have to wonder if it'll even be worth resurrecting this blog or if I should just delete it and go with the new one. Oh yeah, there's a new blog coming. I don't know for sure when I'll have it online though. Its going to be integrated tightly into a completely redesigned World Waterfall Database, and right now we're planning on running it on Wordpress, so those of you on Blogger who subscribe to this blog, keep watch and be prepared to change your bookmarks and feeds (you'll have notice when we do).

Right now I'm working on a very long winded thesis for the World Waterfall Database on the definition of "waterfall". Those of you who still read this thing, I'm very curious to get some input on what you all consider a waterfall to be. How tall does it have to be? How steeply does it need to drop? Does it need to flow all year long? Why (to all of the above)? What are you basing your opinion on? Eventually I'm going to publish a survey to help gauge peoples opinion on the subject on a more global sense, but right now I'm mainly looking for talking points in my paper. So whatchu got?

More later.

"Giant Waterfall discovered in California Park" along with steaming pile of propoganda

The Associated Press dropped this story a few days ago, and I for one was not in the least surprised at the reportings. An alledgedly previously unknown waterfall said to be in the vicinity of 400 feet tall was "found" in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area west of Redding, California. The article, however, also states that the falls were marked on a map, by name (Whiskeytown Falls), back in the 1960's, and that several people already knew about it.

Now, don't get me wrong. Any major waterfall coming in to public view is not a bad thing (especially when the Park Service builds a trail to it), but I have some serious issues with this story. The falls were not discovered, but rediscovered. The falls were not unknown, because clearly people knew about them for a long time (if the majority of the Park Staff didn't, that wouldn't surprise me). And lastly, the falls are most likely not even 400 feet tall, according to California waterfall hunter Leon Turnbull (http://www.waterfallswest.com).

And then don't even get me started at the whole sensationalizing of this previously unknown, though relatively modest waterfall (in the grand scale of things). I'd like to give the various people who thought this was worthy of national attention a tour of the North Cascades or the British Columbia Coast Range some time. I can't count how many unnamed, presumably largely unknown 400 foot waterfalls there are around here. Hell, we've even got some unnamed, unknown waterfalls topping 2,000 feet. Now where's the AP?

New waterfall? No. Good waterfall easily accessible in the near future? Yes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050812/ap_on_re_us/secret_waterfall

Renton Teen drowns at South Falls

News agencies around the Seattle area are reporting the drowning of a teenager from a Renton Church youth group at the base of Oregon's 177 foot South Falls. It appears the teen was swimming at the falls, and did not fall over the falls as some may have construed. This goes to show that even the smallest, most placid streams can present significant dangers - especially at the base of waterfalls. South Falls isn't a very powerful waterfall at all in the summer, but at 177 feet tall, the force of the aeration in the plunge pool is plenty to suck a person under. Please be mindful of your surroundings folks, and don't go swimming in areas marked off limits.

More information on South Falls

Peterson Dam to stay...

Sadly, this means there will be no restoration of Sturgeon and Walleye spawning habitat that was lost when the Lamoille River was dammed in 1949. It also means that 4 submerged waterfalls (Woods Falls, Hulgate Falls, Manley Falls, and Poor Farm Falls) will remain underwater. Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, the owners of the dam, reached an agreement to remove the dam in 2024. A clerical oversight, along with the efforts of two representatives from Milton, Kevin Endres and Doran Metzger, allowed the deal to fall through. Call me an idealist, but giving your word should be enough to ice the deal. In a bitterly ironic note, the very bill that rescinded the Peterson Dam agreement provided $31,000 to the Lake Champlain Walleye Association, one of the three organizations that had worked so hard to reach the agreement. Representatives Endres and Metzger have suggested that alternative means be found to provide for spawning runs.
"I'm as much for fish as the next guy," Endres said.
"If we can help their cause with fish ladders to get the fish above the dam or whatever," Metzger said, "hey, sign me up." Let's see if their word binds them to any agreement...It hasn't with the other players involved.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/Columnists/Matt/0328042803.htm

Grrr

See now the idea with this blog was to give us (largely me) something to do when we're board. Since Dean is preoccupied with getting his new site together, I'm usually the one who posts stuff here. Haven't been doing a very good job of that, huh? Well, now that Powweb is having some major issues with their mySql servers, ALL THREE websites (WPNW, WWD, NEUS) of ours are all down right now, so I felt I had no excuse not to post something.

So here's something. We've been digging in New Zealand in the last 48 hours, and we found this picture of a 400 meter (1312 feet) waterfall NE of Mt. Aspiring, which looks to be one of the more significant waterfalls of the country. Just to the left of the big falls is another two-step fall which drops 110 meters (360 feet). Not a bad place to visit, if you ask me. Per New Zealand standards, neither waterfall appears to be named. And here I thought I was jaded in Washington.

History only sucks in school

This is the kind of shit I love stumbling across. Historical photos which appear to have been taken by early stream survey expeditions across the Pacific Northwest. Like 180 of them. Enjoy.

Who the hell was Murhut?

Then again, when it looks this good, who really cares?
More info here.