PADDLER 32
“ Modern comforts require that we use nature to our advantage. But it’ s a question of balance. Of forethought and intelligence.”
PADDLER 32
TEMPORARILY TAMING THE RIVER
I understand the need for order and management. If the river washed out the road, how would locals get to their homes? However, temporarily taming the river, which will naturally rearrange itself throughout the following few high-water events, seems wasteful and harmful.
When heavy rain batters the valley, the resulting high waters move as much as 73,000 cubic metres of gravel and 57,000 cubic metres of sand and sediment annually under the Napoleon Bridge. This gravel shapes the river downstream, but today, that gravel is a resource, and humans extract it, negatively impacting the river as the quality of gravel changes. This is important to fish who like this slower flow and shallow riverbed for spawning. This extraction has even caused the river to cut into the riverbed in places noticeable to the naked but observant eye.
This stretch can be enjoyed at a large range of water levels, and with the distinct cleft of Krn Mountain overhead, this section offers maximum ease and spectacular views with minimal risk and effort. We pass the town of Tolmin and the confluence with the Tolminka, where the clear water of this mountain stream mixes with the already milky blue of the Soča. Milky. Not gin-clear like upstream. Next comes another lesson in the never-ending and always controversial balance between human needs( energy production, resource extraction and irrigation for food production) and human stupidity. The Podselo dam is the first of seven reservoirs caused by seven large dams on the Soča.
USING NATURE TO OUR ADVANTAGE
Yesterday, I used electricity to charge my phone and headlight, which was possibly produced by this dam. I pitched my tent on gravel either deposited or extracted from the Soča. And the zucchini we grilled with our steaks last night were likely grown on the Friulian flatlands in Italy, irrigated with water from the Soča. Modern comforts require that we use nature to our advantage. But it’ s a question of balance. Of forethought and intelligence. Every type of energy production has an impact on the environment. And I use( and enjoy) the comforts it creates. But how many dams are too many? Is this the best way to produce
“ Modern comforts require that we use nature to our advantage. But it’ s a question of balance. Of forethought and intelligence.”