My thoughts.....

It's either a case of under-use or over-use in many locations around our state. There is no doubt that many places sucome to being sold as private property that once "appeared" to be unclaimed, unknown or "never had a problem" with the land owner. Plenty of old property owners became used to the foot traffic and may have never concerned themselves to much with the minor tresspass to fish the river etc..Or, like the Skykomish River, many land owners have set up small fee access points to park and get to the river from.(-Which I think is a great idea, and I don't know of too many other rivers in our state that has so many private pay spots as the Sky...what's $1-2 bucks for the day!!! -Like Two-Bit Hole or the Reformatory) But, as time goes on, I'm sure many properties sell to new buyers (people get old, and people also move on... they can make some good money nowaday's in western Washington$ especially for river front properties)-and these new land owners ultimately decide what the fate of their land should be. It's unfortunate that many of them may be a bit selfish minded or unfamiliar with the history of these rare and used fishing access spots. I'm sure also, as our population has increased you have plently of more abusers out there who might not even be fishermen that leave or discard their trash etc. on the beach &/or in the woods.... -Those things have been going on for years but I can guarantee you that there are more people around today behaving that way just as a total number and not necessarily as a percentage% change! Land owners, both new and old ultimately end up posting signs. And as Hiker and Bob pointed out, you also have the areas that were once frequented by fishermen and the fishermen disappeared. Probably as a result of the fishery lossing it's abundance/productivity and freedom at one time and anglers slowly started loosing interest in returning to those waters. Then once you have the loss of interest in the sport you are left with fishery programs and enhancement efforts that the state and other agencies no longer want to spend/delegate money towards and would rather reallocate those funds to other areas of government spending. And yes, on a seperate note, Hiker pointed out that he knows of "secret spots" that he needs a machette or is willing to put forth the extra effort to make it(hike in) to those spots. Many of "those" holes will last as long as the fish numbers last because a vast majority of those "fishin' holes" I suspect are located deep within National Forests, private managed forests, railroad lands and State and Federal Park and Wilderness areas or are within jurasdiction of the DOT. The more friendly road access spots I'm sure are not going to improve unless we(active fishermen)make consorted efforts and seek cooperation between land owners and recreationalist, particularly fishermen. Local hardcore fishermen who care need to take some intiative and organize a local campaign to sustain some of the greatest fishing access spots that ajoin or meander through private land owners lands. Simply going out door to door like a cub scout and meeting people face to face might just "save face" on some of these long founder fishing acesses. The longer we wait, the harder it may become to convince people. By being willing to "pitch-in" and help maintain these spots by trail clearing, trash pick up and perhaps eco-enhancing these prime access spots land owners may be more willing to participate in sharing. A Story: I remember when I was in Jr High and Highschool I used to go down to a small creek in the heart of my home town. That creek is called Bear Creek in Redmond, WA. We used to catch salmon, steelhead, rainbows and really big sea-run cutthroats outta there, many of which we released....And now, due to urban growth and public access/private land development this awesome creek has suspended it's fishing and is closed forever.
Good Fishing, Darin