Grandpa,

I'd give the Bush administration credit for doing the right thing, if doing the right thing was actually their plan. The preliminary draft hatchery policy was leaked a couple weeks ago, not by the scientists, but by high administration officials to see how it played with the public and Congress. The negative play resulted in Connie L's letter to Congress saying NOAA has made a preliminary decision to continue to protect threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead populations. The administration's appointees in NOAA would prefer to de-list, but they haven't been able to develop the necessary scientific and legal basis. The scientists and attorneys understand what the administration wants, but they are telling them that the science and ESA doesn't support their agenda.

The Hogan decision will require that some hatchery populations be listed along with their threatened counterparts, and some hatchery populations may be cast into separate ESUs if they are genetically divergent from the remaining wild populations. For instance, Green River hatchery chinook are ubiquitous throughout Puget Sound. However, they are genetically extremely divergent from Skagit, Stillaguamish, and White River chinook.

It's one thing to credit Bush for doing the right thing when that's his intentiion. It's absurd to credit him for doing it only because he cannot develop the scientific and legal basis to carry out his preferred plan.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.