Todd-
Point taken.
I will say that the Wildcat Steelhead club ( I am not a member) has done many good things for the Skagit, yes there are bonkers in the club as there are everywhere.
Their point, and I agree, is that those spawning beds that you say have thousands spawning, used to have tens of thousands and the fisheries numbers as well as the Federal numbers support a sharp decline in the Native population within 3 years of the Bolt decision. Just because the our fiseries agency say we are meeting escapment does not mean a darn thing, they will tell you whatever they want to appease the masses.
Remember my brother in law is one of them and has over the years shocked me with what goes on behind closed doors among themselves as well as what they have done with the Indians.
We are all saying the same things, just a different delivery. You are a lawyer, how many times has the same story been spun a different way to make a point?
I just want to make sure everyone keeps an open mind and remembers that places like the Skagit were in decline right after Bolt and before the logging community screwed up the Sauk.
Before the Bolt decision, I was there for years before Bolt and the sportsman had little affect on the fisheries, in fact the runs stayed strong for 25 years, now I know that fishing preasure increased about the same time and that does have an effect, but those nets (and the ones still there today) have had the biggest impact on the Steelhead, not Habitat.
Habitat is the States way of deflecting the stupid management they have done over the years.