Ryan,

The region has allocated a water budget for fish in the Columbia basin, and I believe the fish should get that share. Not that they couldn't use more, but that's a separate issue. We have had energy conservation and national energy policy preached at us for nearly 30 years, and no significant progress is made. I don't really wish rolling blackouts on anyone, but I don't believe our society will take the energy issue seriously unless and until they begin to have some personal adverse effects. It's just too easy to flip a switch or pull into the self-serve gas station. Part of the reason it's so easy to do these things is because, as a society, we take too great a share of the water that fish need to survive because we don't see any direct connection between our individual actions and the collective outcome.

Northwesterners say they want to save the salmon. This is an excellent opportunity to walk the talk. And if we don't, the returns in 2, 3, and 4 years will be even lower than they're gonna' be. And this coming year is going to be really tough on the best of river systems. And just when it was beginning to turn around for some of our fish stocks.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.