JimB,

Viable solution? I honestly wish I knew. Consistently harvestable runs of wild steelhead occurred when the human population of WA state was about 2.6 million. Actions that would re-create as many of the environmental attributes that existed then may be the best shot at recovery. Since the price of a 3,500 square foot home on a 5 acre hobby farm in Pugetropolis suburbia is beyond the economic reach of most citizens, high density housing is becomming as much an economic necessity as an environmental one. Smaller homes on smaller lots served by fewer roads and less deforestation aid recovery. Say no to building more roads and the expansion of existing ones. Grid lock may be bad for us, but it will be better for fish, if fish are going to have to co-exist with 7 million people. If the grid lock is bad enough for long enough for enough people, then more environmentally friendly transportation systems will become economically viable. One of the problems is us, as anglers, who want to drive single occupant 3/4 ton trucks towing a 21' river sled from the Seattle urban area to the Snohomish or Skagit River basins to fish for steelhead, whose runs we claim we want recovered. As long as society wants mutually exclusive attributes, steelhead and chinook cannot recover. If society changes its mind about what it wants, collectively, not individually, then steelhead and chinook recovery becomes viable.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.