Actually, Norm has more than a little knowledge… he has a couple of advanced degrees including a PhD and I don’t consider him a phony. But I wonder why such an educated man with more credentials than most of us will ever have occasionally works hard to convince folks he is something he is not.

This is an excerpt from a letter he wrote to Ecology regarding spatial planning:

“…the Washington Department of Fish and wildlife has almost completed its revised Puget Sound Rockfish Conservation Plan (PSRCP). It is available online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hab/sepa/10014deis.pdf I was an active participant in producing this plan and attended all of the Advisory Group meetings. I was also the designated speaker for marine reserves to this advisory group. I was also the Action Item leader asking 15,000 Sierra Club members throughout the state to support this plan.”

He was in-fact at every meeting but as an observer he was not recognized by the Advisory Group as an “active participant” in producing the plan.

He did in fact make a presentation on Marine Reserves. However, he was not “designated” by the Group or the Department. The truth is he was allowed to speak after Advisory Group member Doug Myer of People for Puget Sound requested permission to invite a guest speaker to make a presentation on MPA’s; I would not classify this as being “the designated speaker”. By the way, Norm also describes himself as an active member of People for Puget Sound.

I don’t know Norm’s exact background other than he owned a large nursery and he is recognized as somewhat of an expert on Daylilies. He also describes himself as a “lifelong environmentalist”. He is very knowledgeable on Marine Reserves and a host of other science based issues. I feel he is qualified to speak on their behalf but he is almost militant about them being the end all solution for rockfish recovery or at least preaches recovery will not happen without Marine Reserves. The fact is, there is no one single thing that will recover rockfish; it will take many things.