AuntyM -
Again as DaveD pointed out Washington State's sportfishers is hardly a homogenous group. Which steelhead interest group should the State try to please? WSC, Steelhead Trout Club of Washington , You, or me?

I believe that Jerry's comment

"Where in the hell are all the whiners and complainers when an impact can be made to the most important decisions that will affect steelhead for probably the rest of my lifetime? " was not aimed at the sport fishing community as a whole but rather that group of folks that have been pretty darn vocal that past WDFW policies was not representing their interest and who the vast majority had not taken advantage of an opportunity to provide some input.

Just curious just what legal mandate has WDFW not fullfilled. While you and I may agree that their attempts to fullfill those mandates are not what we would want given the diverse nature of the "sportfishing community" and other legal mandates, conflicting mandates and constraints placed on them by federal courts and State laws I would think it would be a difficult case to make that they are not fullfilling their mandates (which I think is Todd's point).

I found it interesting in virtually every case that I can think of that non-tribalfolks have successfully taken the State to court over there policies/decisions have won not because of the State's decisions but rather the inadequancy of the processes used by the State or lack of information. Might help explain why current processes are so cumbersome.

Tight lines
Curt