Actually, I think I may have sounded a little overly sanguine.

I don't think the sky has actually fallen, and as I said, this decision probably won't have a large effect on processes that are already underway. But I should have made more clear that those processes could easily be and seem to be headed towards the kind of disasterous policies eddie is talking about. Very powerful forces beside the Pacific Legal Foundation would love to see an all-hatchery future. They're betting you'll accept the loss of the wild fish and over-farmed, over-logged, over-developed, over-polluted watersheds, if they can at least promise you harvestable numbers of hatchery salmon returning to those defeated rivers. This decision certainly does nothing to slow that idea down.

I just wanted to point out the PLF and its friends have not quite won the victory they're trying to crow about. Their golden future has not arrived just yet. They might have gotten a little closer, but there are plenty of groups wiling to keep fighting for those of us who would NOT be satisfied with that future.

Ramon Vanden Brulle,
Washington Trout