Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is seeking public comment on two new steelhead gene bank proposals targeting lower Columbia River tributaries. Options under consideration include either the Grays and Chinook rivers or Mill, Abernathy, and Germany creeks.

“Our advisory group was divided on two options, so we’d like to get some additional input from the public,” said Cindy Le Fleur, WDFW regional fish manager. This is the last of four Columbia River tributary drainages, below Bonneville dam, targeted for gene bank status. Three other rivers, East Fork Lewis, North Fork Toutle/Green and Wind rivers were added to the program in 2014.

Wild steelhead gene banks are hatchery free zones created on selected rivers in the state. They are a component of the statewide steelhead management plan adopted in 2008. NOAA and WDFW cite studies showing hatchery fish weaken the genetics of wild populations and compete for food and habitat.

A public meeting will be held in Cathlamet, WA on Jan. 21. The department will also accept public comments electronically starting on Jan. 25, when additional information on the two options will be posted, here.

Read More

Tom Bie
+ posts

Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

Category: Daily Drake
Tags: 

Author: Tom Bie

Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment