Everyone knows that Home Depot is a Big Fish in the retailing world. But all retailing is local, and sometimes the company is just a Big Fish in a little pond. In the case of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, local residents feel that Home Depot is swimming upstream. At risk is the future of the LeTort Spring Run, a small stream depicted as a fly fisherman’s dream, according to the November 19th Philadelphia Inquirer. The stream has been described as a “national treasure” by the group Trout Unlimited. Now Home Depot Unlimited is planning to build a huge home improvement store within 20 feet of the fragile LeTort Spring Run. Avid fisherman warn that surrounding the Run with impervious asphalt and concrete will interrupt water recharging of the stream, and pollute the area with runoff from the parking lot. The Inquirer quotes a local resident who moved to Carlisle to fly fish in his retirement as saying “I see the arrival of Home Depot as a cancer. It’s only preventable, not curable.” The LeTort has been designated by the state’s Fish and Boat Commission as “Heritage Wild Trout Waters”, home to the spotted brown trout. These trout were reportedly brought to the area 70 years ago to help President Hoover catch something while flyfishing there. It turns out LeTort has already had a close encounter with big box destruction. Six years ago Wal-Mart tried to locate on the same piece of land. The Mayor of Carlisle opposed the Wal-Mart, but now supports the Home Depot, convinced that the LeTort will not be harmed, and that somehow Home Depot means jobs, shoppers, and tax revenue for Carlisle, although he has no figures to demonstrate the net impact on his community. But a lawyer for the developer had the greatest “fish story” to tell residents. “If it’s properly managed, development can coexist with a pristine trout stream.” To which one angler replied: “After (Home Depot) leaves, there’ll still be a blacktop. When the franchise goes away, who’s going to make sure those safeguards are still working? And they will go away. They always do.”
I am trying to envision a “Pristine Home Depot” with fly fisherman moving around it, parking on the far side of the lot and slipping into their wading boots. And the pristine orange building sits quietly on the land, a gentle presence in the slowly rising mist. No doubt many local residents will wonder why the Mayor vetoed Wal-Mart, and now wants Home Depot. For the people who want to protect the rare “Wild Trout Waters”, the hope is that Home Depot will turn into “the one that got away.”
