As the year comes to an end I would like to wish all of the best for the holidays. While fish things are important to many of us in the end it is about our families and the future. So let us hope the coming new year is great for all.

Now to business. It has taken a bit to chase down information on just what is going on with the Wynoochee Mitigation. I will post up the documents mentioned after this post to help one attempt to get an understanding but to be honest it is complicated. So what we do know?

• Starting in 2016 Tacoma Power met with WDFW and the Quinault Nation. Tacoma and WDFW have met six times since November 2016. QIN attended the initial meeting, but has not participated in the meetings since. The quarterly committee meetings have been canceled when no progress has been made on the agreement since the last meeting. (letter attached)
• WDFW has prepared three separate proposals in 2018 to discuss with QIN to reach agreement on potential alternatives for the expenditure of the mitigation funds. The initial proposal was summarily rejected by QIN. The second proposal was modified by QIN in August of 2018. In September of 2018 WDFW resubmitted a modified third version of the proposal to QIN to address the revisions received from QIN in August of 2018.
• At this time WDFW has not provided to the public information on what the first two proposals were.
• On September 23, 2019 Tacoma Power notified FERC they had accepted the WDFW proposal. ( letter attached )
• In November 27, 2019 letter to FERC Tacoma Power expressed reservations about some portions of the WDFW proposal. I have since been told that these concerns are about the spending of mitigation funds for the Wynoochee Dam trap not the production of Coho and Steelhead proposed.
• On December 10, 2019 Regional Director responded to our concerns with the following. In early September 2019, WDFW and Quinault Nation staff developed a draft agreement to increase Coho and winter Steelhead hatchery releases in the Chehalis River basin using Wynoochee Mitigation Trust Funds. WDFW also held a public meeting on September 24th to discuss the plan with constituents. We received three letters following the public meeting. Two of these letters (both attached) are in support of the proposal and one, from you, offered several suggested alternatives. We have reviewed the suggested alternatives and, in consultation with the Co-managers, are requesting a review and approval of the plan (as proposed) from Tacoma Power and FERC. In addition, we are proposing to continue working toward a long term plan that would result in increased hatchery production capacity in the Wynoochee River. Our current capacity, as you point out, is limited at Lake Aberdeen. We have support from Representative Blake to work to explore and identify opportunities for capital improvements within the Wynoochee basin that would increase our production capacity. I know Representative Blake is busy but maybe there is an opportunity for a future meeting to discuss options as we move forward.

So where are we with the issue? WDFW appears to be determined to utilize Wynoochee Mitigation funds to subsidize Bingham Hatchery ( on the Satsop River) Coho production. Additionally documents readily available on FERC's website do not entirely support WDFW's staff version of how the proposal was developed. Then this, WDFW in the process previously outlined intentionally did not allow public participation or review of the proposal until it was finalized with Tacoma Power and the Quinault Nation. When the public meeting Larry Philips referenced took place in WDFW's mind it was a done deal. In other words it was simply another Dog & Pony show to allow them political cover claiming public involvement.

So where are we? Still trying to gather information, objecting to FERC about the process and proposal, objecting to Tacoma Power about this attempted end run on the Wynoochee Mitigation. As bad as this all sounds there is good news as FERC's website and staff has guided us to the information to begin us understand just what, when, and how WDFW proceeded to put the proposal together. This thing is not over yet.