Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
However, I have to ask that if the HSRG understood that WB wasn't historically Chinook habitat in any meaningful measure, would they still recommend trying to create a naturally self-sustaining wild Chinook population in habitat that wasn't suitable in any great quantity historically, and is severely degraded from that capacity and productivity today and for the foreseeable future.

You'll never have the answer to that question, but you can ask the manager (no co-managers in WB) what goals it provided to the HSRG when it did the reviews. Those were the goals used by the HSRG to develop its recommendations. We could look up the old reports, but I'll bet that WDFW did not put forward the same view of the present and future for the biological significance, population viability and habitat quantity and quality as you put forward here.