|
Sandpoint High students and a
committed Conservation Officer work
together to beautify Bridge Street
Sandpoint
is transforming quickly. We have new
roads, new restaurants, and new
franchises moving in. We have new
people, new pets, new perceptions and
attitudes. With all of this newness,
it’s easy to lose track of what was,
but thanks to the hard work of many, we
can still give a nod to our natives.
One
of the fairly recent downtown
transformations was the work on Bridge
Street, thoroughfare to City Beach and
the Edgewater, that crosses over Sand
Creek and is a popular conduit for
pedestrians, peddlers, and automobiles
alike. Though Sand Creek is undergoing
its own transformation these days,
Bridge Street is now complete, and
walkers have their own safe corridor
across the bridge. A tall metal railing
on this pedestrian section is soon to be
transformed into an artistic display
honoring native fish.
Tom
Whalen, Senior Conservation Officer for
Idaho Department of Fish & Game, is
leading a project for Bridge Street that
will bring key partners together while
providing an eye-pleasing education for
everyone else at the same time.
Years ago, Whalen, started dreaming of
ways to integrate native fish
information and education with
art—living where we do, he saw
opportunities everywhere. And driving
where we do, he saw even more and talked
about his vision. Well, dreams come to
fruition with persistence and
dedication. When the new railing and
pedestrian walkway went in on Bridge
Street, he got the creative glow.
Whalen
is not your typical conservation
officer. Yes, he can cite people for
poaching or harvesting an illegal fish.
But he is all about education and
information. And now, art has entered
his arena too. Whalen specializes in
native fish protection and education; he
spends time with special interest
organizations, user groups and students
alike. He leads programs, passes out
placemats and temporary tattoos to kids,
and is constantly networking and coming
up with new ideas. His energy is
contagious; he gets things done.
Whalen
met his match in Sandpoint City
architect Allen Krister, who also serves
on the Sandpoint Arts Commission.
Krister convinced Whalen to take his
idea to the Commission and the Sandpoint
City Council, who in turn responded
positively to the project. Between the
Sandpoint Arts Commission, Panhandle
Trout Unlimited, and Avista (who
supplement Whalen with his native fish
educational endeavors), the daydream
became a reality. Also partnering on the
project are the Rotary Club of
Sandpoint, Sandpoint Urban Renewal, the
Sandpoint Arts Commission “Art by the
Inch” program, and the Downtown
Sandpoint Business Association.
Krister
and Whalen worked together to come up
with a design; it would be a metal and
glass work, an accurate but artsy
depiction of some of the fish native to
the Pend Oreille system.
In
deciding which native fish to focus on,
bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) were
the obvious choice—not only do they
have a special designation in Idaho, but
they are listed as threatened on the
federal Endangered Species Act list. In
the Columbia River Basin, bull trout
were historically found in about 60
percent of the basin. Today, they occur
in less than half of their historic
range. Bull trout also serve as an
excellent indicator of water quality and
stream health.
Whalen
also chose to include westslope
cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki
lewisi) as they are a “species of
concern” in the state and will no
doubt benefit from the added awareness.
For this project, Whalen thought it
appropriate to include a prey species
too, so he went with the mountain
whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni)—historically
the biggest prey of both aforementioned
native trout.
The
first step in the art project was coming
up with accurate drawings of both trout
species. Bull trout are known for their
pink spots and cutthroat are known by
the red slash under the jaw bone. IDFG
graphic artists provided accurate fish
drawings and City of Sandpoint staff
helped by drawing them on cardboard and
cutting them out. Whalen and Krister
then asked the Sandpoint High School
industrial mechanics class to help out
with the second step—using plasma
cutters to cut the fish shapes out of
steel sheets. To make matters even more
interesting, Industrial Mechanics
teacher Yogi Vasquez put his top dog on
the project, aspiring welder Katie
McIntire, a senior at Sandpoint High
School.
“The
hardest part so far has been getting the
fish to look like the way they’re
supposed to look,” McIntire said.
“We had to put the fins in different
spots and the mouth needed
modification.”
Adding
the students into the mix for this
project made it all the more stimulating
for Whalen. “For Yogi to actually do
the work, they’re gaining and we’re
gaining,” Whalen says. “By providing
the materials we also provided them a
project—everybody wins.” Whalen
thinks that by bringing in the students
it could also help reduce potential
vandalism to the site. If enough people
are involved, word will spread and
everyone will be proud to have been a
part of it.
The
mechanics class is quite busy. Fat
mud-tired trucks and riding lawnmowers
with fangs and flames litter the scene
amongst the fish cutouts.
“Right
now we’re building lawnmower
dragsters, starting a new club for the
dragsters at school, and also holding
welding contests for Skills USA,” says
Vasquez. “We have lots of
projects—cars, lawnmowers, and now
fish!”
Though
the project is challenging—creating
anatomically correct native salmonids
out of steel—the partners are coming
together to make it happen. Soon the
local glass artists, Bryan and Zabrielle
Dillon, will be coming in to fit the
bull trout spots with pink stained glass
and the cutthroat slash with red stained
glass.
“This
is quite the undertaking really,” says
Bryan Dillon. “Each spot is
essentially a handmade, crafted art
project. We felt honored that we were
asked to be part of the project.”
Given
the double-sided vision from the bridge
and from boats on the water, the
combination of glass and steel will
morph to produce an art outside of the
common box of fishery tools. This is
art, education, and preservation
combined.
“This
is so Sandpoint,” says Whalen, eyes
sparkling with anticipation. “This is
real interpretive art.”
The
fish will decorate the middle of the
bridge. Whalen would like to see large
steel boulders, pea gravel, and native
vegetation below the fish at the base of
the railing.
“It’s
cool because the sheets [of metal] that
we cut the fish out of kind of look like
rocks, so we’ll probably be able to
use all of it,” says McIntire.
At
this point, the plan is to put “shadow
fish” that are just the steel cutouts,
in schools and by themselves,
sandwiching the middle of the bridge
that will have the stained glass
components. It will draw onlookers’
eyes to the sun shining through the
brightly-colored glass, right where it
counts—directly over the water on the
middle of the bridge. The shadow fish
will also appear on the outside of the
railing for the benefit of boaters
crossing under the bridge.
“Thousands
of people are going to walk by ands see
this,” says Whalen. “Getting all of
these partners together creates an even
bigger awareness; it gets people to
think about native fish.”
The
City of Sandpoint has stepped in and
agreed to maintain the project for the
future. This brings the number of
partners to a local arts commission, a
city, an urban renewal organization, a
rotary club, business organizations, a
high school, a non-profit conservation
organization, a utility company, local
glass artists, state fish and wildlife
agencies, and more. It is not just a
pretty impressive effort; it’s a fun,
challenging, and collaborative endeavor.
It
could take a couple of years to finish
the project. But what an exciting
concept—coupling development,
infrastructure, public awareness, and
art.
“It
will create a groundswell of community
involvement that also builds
consensus,” muses Whalen as he stares
out over the railing on Sand Creek.
“We can spend our education dollars
wisely while thinking outside of the
box.”
Photos:
top: SHS Industrial Mechanics students
with the project art.
|
