I hope that, unlike with the Snider Creek program, WDFW actually monitors the success of this program with respect to number of broodstock captured, number of eggs derived, egg to fry success, fry to smolt success, and most importantly, smolt to recruit rate. Absent these parameters it will be impossible to know if the program is any improvement over leaving the natural broodstock in the river doing their reproduction . . . naturally.

While producing fish for harvest is a desirable outcome, I'm less enthused if it comes at the expense of simply annually mining wild broodstock from the natural environment and its wild steelhead population.