Habitat in both N Fk and S Fk was sufficient to support large numbers of returning adults in the early and mid 1980's. Freshwater habitat conditions have not deteriorated in the 30 years since then, so a reasonable person would have to conclude that freshwater habitat there is still capable of supporting healthy numbers of steelhead.

Remember that during the mid 1980's, rivers all across W WA were also seeing large numbers of steelhead returning, followed by an abrupt decline in returns thereafter. Steelhead returns in streams everywhere followed much the same pattern as the Toutle.

I'm not advocating one way or the other on the selection of the Toutle as a gene bank candidate, just saying that judging the quality of the habitat in the Toutle (or any other river) based on adult returns can lead to false conclusions because fails to incorporate the ocean influence that is currently driving the low returns.