Without question, this is nothing but good for the river, the surrounding forest, and the anadromous fish populations. Given this development and that the Hoh Tribe has shown signs recently that they intend to be proactive with regard to protecting the Hoh's wild steelhead (I heard they went down to only two days of netting per week during the peak wild run last spring), the future of the Hoh River looks very bright.

Something we fisher types (especially those of us who are primarily bankies) may want to watch for is how this development might affect public access to the river. I have heard accounts of similar conservation efforts in Alaska that were advertised as habitat protection in the name of improved fishing and hunting opportunities but have effectively resulted in the loss of public access to those lands. I don't have any real reason to believe that is happening in this case, but I have seen a potential example of that trend in action firsthand.

When I tried to access my favorite run on the upper Hoh (which is now on HRT land) earlier this month, I was blocked by a huge mass of small cottonwoods that had intentionally been cut from both sides of the old logging road to block it. Certainly, this was not an unfamiliar sight. I figured whoever was responsible was only trying to block motorized access. As I looked for a path around the heap, however, I discovered that there was no reasonable way to negotiate the mass and get to the river on foot either. I suppose beating brush would have worked eventually, but I didn't want to spend the time or risk the integrity of my waders, so I opted for retreat to the lower river.

I don't know that the HRT had anything to do with the blockage of my former favorite access, but some reassurance that they did not would sure be nice. As regards the ecological health of one of my favorite places on Earth (which is the ultimate priority, in my mind), I think this is great news. Hopefully, it will be good news for fishing as well....