Schlab, my comments about Curt Beardslee were directly the result of his editorial against Haskell Slough. I have never met the guy. I felt all the points in his article were false and/or misleading. Rpetzold’s comments on Washington Trout might shed some light on some of the reasons why he wrote what he did. I still can’t believe that any fish group could be against a habitat restoration project like this one.

Chumkiller, in 1990 the river destroyed a portion of the bank at the top of Haskell Slough. Those who fish this area know it as the bottom of the "Hersey Hole". The County indicated they would fix it. The work was never done. The Reiners have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in fencing, livestock etc. due to flooding. Since the County has neglected to fix the problem the Reiners decided to try to mine the gravel to pay for the repairs themselves and to recoup some of their past losses. No hidden agendas. The river has been in its current bank for 50 years. If it changes course and enters Haskell Slough it will wipe out 3 miles of farmland and Hwy 203. I don’t buy that “let nature take its course” in this case.

As far as property rights go. There are a lot of side-channel slough areas in the northwest that can be opened up for off channel rearing area located on private land. I feel we need to work with the property owners so they will in turn work with us. The whole Haskell Slough project, including the gravel mining, was laid out a long time ago and when it came time to start the mining process the rules were changed. It’s a wonder the Reiners and the other landowners haven’t kicked us out of there. I still feel that if this project goes sour then we have trouble going up to Sultan or where ever and trying the same thing.