Brook Trout, are our native, wild, mountain fish. It seems in keeping with the beauty of the Virginia Piedmont and the spectacular Blue Ridge Mountains, that perhaps the most beautiful of all the wild trout species should have its origins here. If you ever have a chance to spend a day catching little brookies from a sparkling, dark mountain stream, then you will be one of the lucky few who get to step back in time. Today these trout are descendants of native brookies from the ice age, and their stream environs are much like they were hundreds of years ago. Make a fervent wish while you're there that they, and you, will survive to challenge each other another day.

After hundreds of years of Brook Trout spawning a new set of youngsters each year, we finally, in this century, may see its demise. There is a danger lurking in the Blue Ridge that has already removed some of these native fish from their homes. It goes by the name of acid rain. It scours the insects from the stream bottoms and clings to the gills of our little fish. It poisons the water by making it like vinegar. Acid rain is caused by burning fossil fuels that create sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. When these chemicals mix with water in the clouds they become sulphuric acid and nitric acid. When this rain falls on mountains with a high concentration of limestone it is neutralized. But when if falls in an area where the geology is less friendly, it lowers the pH of the water to levels that kill insects and fish. This is a very real threat in this century, and may well end the long and abundant life of the only native trout of the eastern United States.

Take your children, or grandchildren, to the mountains. Find a worm or a fly. Catch a native brookie, and share this sight, this lively little piece of Virginia history. It will make for a day that you will not forget. Hopefully, it will make for a day that this child will not forget either. As the older generation, it becomes our duty, our charge, to educate, to inspire, to share this most precious of Virginia's resources. In so doing we not only show them a part of our heritage, but can plant the seeds of concern for its future. If we can't find ways to make our Congressmen alter the dangers of our industries, then at least we may be able to train the soldiers who will wage the next battle, if indeed we do not lose the war before they are able.