JoJo... It would be rather easy if we were living in a rational world. What you're not seeing, however, is that the state is not in the business of saving money. As illogical as it is, they are in the business of spending money. The political doctrine of state run agencies is to spend it or loose it. If a bureacracy fails to spend its budget, the state doesn't reward them for their good business sense. They take away that money! And NO bureacratic agency ever wants a smaller budget the next year because they failed to spend every dime this year. Bureacracy is by it's very nature, always trying grow and expand.

IMHO, habitat restoration is not as politically important as are hatcheries. The private interests involved in keeping government out of habitat restortation, such as the timber and construction industries, prevail often times over good environmental management. Hatcheries are much easier to politically justify and support- very little political risk involved.