Today I was thinking about Los Vaqueros some more, and the fact that they don't stock DFG trout there any more as a result of the Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit. Soon they won't be able to stock any trout at all when the DFG's exemption for private stockings expires.

Walking the bank out at Los Vaqueros a few weeks ago I saw dozens of frogs. They're everywhere. Why are these frogs there? Because this big, completely artificial lake was built out in the rain shadow of the east bay hills.

This is not a place where frogs lived in great numbers before. Maybe a few lived in a rancher's farm pond (artificial), or the small creek that ran through the lake. But now there's thousands of frogs. Now there's dragonflies, and insects, and white pelicans and cormorants. All of which were never there before.

So where there used to be dry grassy hills (likely covered in non-native grasses) now there's this big mix of introduced species and native species all basking in their new water hole. And none of it is real. None of it is "native" in the true sense of the word. Even the water temperatures are abnormal because the water is pumped in through a giant pipe (uphill, using a giant pump).

But we're supposed to sit here and worry about the biodiversity of this place. Scientists are forced, by law, to evaluate it and count up the native animals that are going to be adversely affected by stocked rainbow trout. And the more I think about this absurdity, the more angry I get.

This is like going to Disneyland and looking for native lizards on the fake rocks. Then determining that these lizards are eating flies that are attracted to lefotver hot dogs. And then litigating to protect the fake rocks and the garbage. It's all so wrong.

I feel bad for the families with kids who will go to Los Vaqueros next year, pay their big entrance fee at the gate, and sit on the shore catching nothing because there are no trout left to catch. There's so few opportunities for people to recreate outside to begin with, and with no trout, this will be one less.

The saddest thing is that there's no value gained in taking away this opportunity. Nothing. Not a darn thing.