WASHINGTON—The final public meeting for the Puget Sound Wild Steelhead Management Zone selection process will be held tonight in Sequim. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) plans to designate at least three Puget Sound rivers to promote wild steelhead recovery in the region where steelhead were listed as threatened in 2007. The department will not release hatchery fish into selected rivers. Candidates include the Skagit-Sauk, NF Skykomish, Nisqually, and Elwha… to name a few.

The Statewide Steelhead Management Plan includes the following strategy to conserve and recover wild steelhead:

Establish a network of wild stock gene banks across the state where wild stocks are largely protected from the effects of hatchery programs. At least one wild stock gene bank will be established for each major population group in each steelhead distinct population segment. Each gene bank will have the following characteristics and management:

-Each stock selected for inclusion in the gene bank must be sufficiently abundant and productive to be self-sustaining in the future.
-No releases of hatchery-origin steelhead will occur in streams where spawning of the stock occurs, or in streams used exclusively by that stock for rearing.
-Fisheries can be conducted if wild steelhead management objectives are met as well as any necessary federal ESA determinations.

Public comments can be submitted online, here.

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Tom Bie
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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
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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.

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