Protect the Kootenai for current generations and those in the future

To the Montana Board of Environmental Review: I am writing on behalf of the Kootenai River.

A valued resource, its clean water and the life it sustains. My wife and I raised four children 7 miles north of Bonners Ferry, within a short walk on a country road to its bank. My sister and I own our family log cabin on 10 acres with close to 900 feet of frontage on Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. It's been in the family since our parents purchased it in 1970 and the only thing in our lives that has remained substantially unchanged. My grandmother lived across the Kootenai River and took the ferry near Port Hill to go to school. This river has been in my family's stories since I can remember, flowing through my life and my heart. The kids, their children and their mother and I still swim, fish and boat the Kootenai River and Kootenay Lake.

We all still live near this life-giving river. That is four generations and a fifth due in March.

Please do not change the existing selenium limits in Montana which protect this precious resource. Continue to protect our health, water quality and our fish for all times. Teck Resources has no standing in Montana, Idaho or the USA.

I trust you will make the right decision. If for no other reason, protect the Kootenai River for your great-grandchild.

ROD BARCKLAY

Sandpoint