Be Like Jim

Big Fin

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Brett French did a great job telling the background of the new Fishing Access site that is being celebrated later this month; the Jim Posewitz Free Fishing Access Site.

Article link here - https://helenair.com/outdoors/allen...cle_6ce7506e-5a08-5eb5-9c05-84aed5356706.html

Poz was my most formative mentor in conservation advocacy. For 25 years he put up with my foolish questions, sent me lots of ideas to think about, and we worked together on a lot of projects. I am glad to see him and his legacy honored in this way. And I'm thankful he and his peers did what they did in 1979 to keep the Yellowstone a free-flowing river.

We are lucky to have a guy like Brett still writing great articles in the Montana newspapers.
 
For a while I've been researching Jim's involvement as a staff member at FWP, where he both tried to basically oppose the city of Butte, which at the time was very powerful, in the creation the I-15 corridor along the Boulder River, and also, once the interstate was a certainty, he pushed back against the Montana Dept of Transportation, who wanted to straighten the Boulder River between Boulder and Basin, and avoid constructing the curves that are there now. Instead of a rip-rapped beeline, because Jim, against a fellow state agency, spoke up for the lesser-known of Montana's 2 Boulder Rivers, that stretch is still a meandering stream worthy of its namesake that my boys pull fish out of on the regular.


Even the little scenes that Jim spoke up for matter, and I bet in his day to day work there were others.

241780282_10224527612431377_8748768297866774645_n.jpg



You mention his value to you as a mentor. Mentors are really valuable things in life - be it around conservation or other things.
 
For a while I've been researching Jim's involvement as a staff member at FWP, where he both tried to basically oppose the city of Butte, which at the time was very powerful, in the creation the I-15 corridor along the Boulder River, and also, once the interstate was a certainty, he pushed back against the Montana Dept of Transportation, who wanted to straighten the Boulder River between Boulder and Basin, and avoid constructing the curves that are there now. Instead of a rip-rapped beeline, because Jim, against a fellow state agency, spoke up for the lesser-known of Montana's 2 Boulder Rivers, that stretch is still a meandering stream worthy of its namesake that my boys pull fish out of on the regular.


Even the little scenes that Jim spoke up for matter, and I bet in his day to day work there were others.

View attachment 287493



You mention his value to you as a mentor. Mentors are really valuable things in life - be it around conservation or other things.
Glad to see this picture of the old stream in tack.
I left when they wanted to freeway it.
 
I was also fortunate to work closely with Poz from the year 2001 forward.

Jim and Big Fin had their hands full teaching and mentoring this Upper Michigan kid on the uncountable lessons of conservation and how things work in the big arena.

A fine tribute for a fine man and many thanks to Brett for getting it to all!
 
I remember the first time I met Jim. He was a speaker at the Wyoming Wildlife Federation's annual meeting. He went on right before Mark Rey (then head of the Forest Service for W).

I don't think you could have found two more different approaches then those two when it comes to natural resources. Jim is a giant on whose shoulders we all stand.
 

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