SEATTLE—The Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, built on a tributary of the Wenatchee River, has bolstered artificial spawning grounds for salmon, while simultaneously endangering the remaining bull trout population in Icicle Creek. Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy, who recently filed a lawsuit, says his group has been pushing federal officials for years to redesign the hatchery to provide for year-round fish passage.
“A federal appeals court ruling this week could set the stage for changes at the hatchery. A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to ensure that the salmon hatchery doesn’t endanger the tiny remaining bull trout population in Icicle Creek….”
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.