The Toutle River when Mt. St. Helens blew was a great opportunity, and we squandered that one in a totally different way.

The State thought the river was so fuckin destroyed that they didn't even bother with pretending to put hatcheries in (or more accurately, digging up and re-activating the ones that were already there).

A big surprise to everyone...wild steelhead especially were back in good numbers far, far faster than anyone could have ever imagined.

Our response?

1. Wow! Look how great those wild steelhead are doing! Mother Nature is far better at this than us!

2. Space Mans must have planted the rivers!

3. I know! Let's put ten zillion summer run smolts in the hatcheries asap, and beat those pesky wild fish back right away, before someone realizes that we are fuckin retarded!

The correct answer is #3, though I wouldn't be surprised if #2 had some adherents...one thing's for sure, there was no one who took #1 seriously if they were in an actual decisionmaking position, though several of the non-decisionmakers held that opinion, and very strongly.

Fish on...

Todd