I think Judge Michael R. Hogan's (I think he is a Democrat) precedent is flawed. The term ''endangered species'' means any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range... The intent of the law was to save wild species and subspecies in certain geographical areas. His ruling (stayed by the 9th circuit court) removed protection for central Oregon coho. He ruled in favor of development, logging, and agriculture interests. These interest groups are going to challenge 24 of the 26 ESA listed salmon stocks along the west coast.

What can we do about it? Write, email, or phone your representative. Vote for whoever you want to for president because Kerry will win WA, OR, and CA and the election will be determined by Jeb in Florida anyway. $700 M seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the 100s of billions being spent to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Enjoy salmon fishing while you still can.

This is going to be a dry summer and the rivers are going to be drained for hydro electric power and they're going to divert the Columbia to California and then Texas.