City officials meet with WDFW board members
Posted on Tuesday 09 March @ 11:09:45


by George McCormick
On March 3, Forks city officials met in Olympia with fours members of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission.
No action was taken at the meeting, but Forks Mayor Nedra Reed felt some progress had been made. They invited us to petition the commission for reconsideration of a two-year ban on the retention of wild steelhead due to take effect April 1.


Reed was accompanied by City Attorney/Planner Rod Fleck and City Clerk Dan Leinan.
The Forks group asked the commission to give them the opportunity to have input in the decision. We also asked to have the best available science made available to us, Reed said.

The Forks contingent asked for the meeting because they contended the process for making the decision was flawed. The wild steelhead issue was not on the agenda two months ago, Reed said. It was raised during the commission meeting and we didn’t have an opportunity to address the issue.

The Forks group wasn’t there to protest the decision itself, but the process by which it was arrived at. The Forks Chamber of Commerce and West End Business and Professional Association joined in sending a letter to the commission in support of the city’s efforts.

Saying the organizations are proud promoters of the healthy runs of salmon and steelhead in our Olympic Peninsula rivers. Our community welcomes fisherfolk to enjoy our rivers and make their cast for sport or for food and perhaps a trophy. We feel the manner in which the commission made its decision failed to allow for public input or comment …

We also feel that the public … should have the opportunity to read and study the scientific data upon which the commission’s decision was based, the letter said. We would expect the data to be specific to rivers and not general to the state as a whole. We have not seen such scientific data; but believe that a decision of this magnitude must have a scientific basis … the commission’s decision does not take into account the successful steelhead enhancement program at Snider Creek on the Sol Duc River that makes use of wild brood stock.

The Quileute Tribe also sent a letter to the commission supporting the city’s view and saying that as co-managers of the Quillayute River System, they were not included in the decision-making process.

The tribe’s science finds healthy wild runs on the rivers, Reed said. I believe they are good stewards of their resources.
The city is expected to avail itself of whatever legal process is available to them to set the decision aside, according to Fleck.