C'man, yes wild Stilly Chinook are functionally extinct. As one of those Pollyanna optimists I'm not ready to throw in the towel. First, let me say, they are awesome Chinook, on parr with Skagit summer Chinook, just far less numerous. I want to try to preserve the stock with aggressive conservation hatchery measures, up to and including captive broodstock. I think it's worth a try. If it fails, then we can move on, confident we did all that was humanly possible in our time.
Situation sounds a whole lot like wild LCR tules. Adult recruitment incapable of replacement... wild tules functionally extinct were it not for oodles of hatchery-origin strays swamping the gravel.
Curious what in your mind makes one more worthy of saving than the other?
Doc, intrinsically neither is worth more than the other in terms of ecosystem values. However, as a fish snob, a quality I expect that you identify with, Stilly Chinook are genetically very similar to Skagit summer Chinook. And they are fat dripping delicious! (I've never eaten a Stilly Chinook.) So for ecosystem and ESA purposes, Tules should be maintained via hatchery supplementation ideally, replacement practically, so that the genotype is not lost. Unlike Stilly Chinook, where even the hatchery program struggles with replacement recruitment, LCR Tules fortunately don't have that problem in the foreseeable future.
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