It was rather personal, to be sure. Having worked with the Tribes (mostly PS) for a while on primary salmon issues I found that a little honesty went a long ways. On both sides. We did our best technically and then let the policy folks make decisions. Most of the time, we were also told why so that we could explain it to stakeholders. WDG was less accommodating and had more conflicts.

Then we got Co-Management. At that point, rather than try to find the "best" answer we tried to satisfy the tribes.

Unfortunately, WDFW no longer has, in my mind, either a conservation ethic (Per Ado Leopold) or, an more importantly, any way to support one. They don't have the money, they don't have the authority to protect land and water for natural resource production, and they don't have political support to stop anybody.

As a consequence, folks find their narrow niche to work in and do that well. All the while ensuring that the walls of that silo are never scratched much less broken down.