Floated June 19, crossover to black Creek, only fish we heard of were at the spill way. Didn't see a single fish.

The next day we thought we'd outsmart them by ambushing them at the mouth. I followed the tide up stream in the sled to just below the devonshire bridge. Again didn't see anything.

On to the cowlitz I guess

Well if you think the crazy salmon passage culvert replacement on the freeway between Monte and McCleary was nuts your going to love the next round. Heading West from Clemons road there is a rather large ravine crossing that most never notice but they are about too. It is a huge fill many years old and from what I was told they are going do a redo on it. My info is second hand so we will have to wait for the official word but this is going to be a traffic nighhtmare. Cannot wait to see the price of this one! DW anything to add?

For that amount of money are they going actually quantify, by species, the number of additional spawners, the number of additional adults produced (again by species), and a timeline for when all the wondrous improvement will occur?

Nope Nope Nope and your last queston NOPE

7/08/2025

Here's what I know....In the last couple of weeks, Grays Harbor County has fixed up a old road that is better fixed than at any time in the 52 I've lived less than a mile from this road.

The "new, old road", had all the old curb, removed and the road now looks like it could handle 2 lanes of most traffic.

It would be a bitch, to have all the traffic going West and East from Montesano to Aberdeen but IT MIGHT WORK if there were no accidents....

Word is more culvert work........that's what I know!!!!!! TIME TELLS ALL!!!!!!

Ahh, yes , the old measurable benefits of any project , well managed. And, actually is.known as Project Deliverables , as agreed to by all project stakeholders before any stupid project Go Ahead with expenditures is given.

It’s kinda required by all business projects, with the exception of State Business projects.

What a waste, and the jokes on us.

But you all know that by now...

Got one for you guys. My neighbor was around on the 4th and while chatting said he had seen two Chinook porpoise which I thought was ah…… shall we say a bit off maybe summerrun I said. Well setting on the deck with my coffee this morning I will be damned if one did the same thing 30 ft from me. Having handled more than one Chinook in my life I was surprised to say the least. No idea what is going on maybe fish are running late or run is larger than forecast but this is unusual to see in this reach of tide water. Hopefully a good sign.

For those who fish the Nooch this was a CC in my Email.


Thank you for reaching out and for sharing your concerns about the White Bridge access site. You're absolutely right that we first discussed this back in January, and as I noted during that conversation, it’s a complex and evolving situation. The site on the west side of the river is incredibly nuanced, both in terms of property ownership and the public's use. To clarify an important point: WDFW does not own land on the west side of the Wynoochee River at White Bridge. Instead, we hold an easement along a 25-foot-wide strip of land along the riverbank above the high-water mark, that is situated on private property. This easement was acquired specifically for public fishing access and includes no provisions for other forms of recreation.

Access to the gravel bar from Old Wynoochee Road is along a 60-foot-wide, unmaintained county right-of-way to the ordinary high-water mark. Through an agreement with Grays Harbor County dating back to the 1960s, WDFW has been allowed to manage access to this area in support of public fishing access. While not ideal, particularly due to the lack of parking, this location currently serves as the only launch option while our ramp on the opposite bank remains out of commission. Launching and retrieving boats from the gravel bar along this county right of way is currently allowed.

We fully understand and acknowledge that river use is increasing every year. Unfortunately, with that increased use has come a noticeable uptick in disrespectful and damaging behavior including illegal dumping, vandalism of portable restrooms, theft of private property, fires, off-road vehicle use in the river, drug activity, and reckless driving. These actions are not only harmful to the Access Area but have severely strained the goodwill of adjacent private landowners. Many of them have expressed frustration, and understandably so.

We are actively working with the community and county partners to address these issues. Part of that effort includes clearly notifying the public about what is and is not permitted on this WDFW-managed access area such as is expressed on the sign in your picture. While we remain committed to providing recreational access to the public, we must also balance that with the responsibility of protecting the resource and maintaining respectful relationships with surrounding landowners.

Thank you again for your long-standing connection to this area and for advocating for recreation. We appreciate the dialogue and are happy to continue working toward better, more sustainable access for everyone.

¬¬¬¬¬¬

Matt Blankenship
Assistant Regional Wildlife Program Manager, Region 6
564-233-8438
PO Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98504
matthew.blankenship@dfw.wa.gov

You know, I am 100% in favor of functional fish passage wherever the fish are being blocked.

But there ought to be a couple of fundamental ground rules as to how they go about it... a new paradigm for ALL of these multi-million dollar projects funded by we the taxpayers.

1) Prioritize fish passage projects to fix the ones most likely to realize the most bang for the buck.

2) Show us exactly how much bang they expect for each project... for example, an extra 75 chinook, 200 coho, 500 chum gaining access to the newly accessible/reclaimed habitat... then add that to the damn escapement goal... and manage for it!

It's pointless to create passage and free up "new" habitat if you never let enough fish escape past fisheries to actually use it.

It's not pointless, Doc. It looks wonderful to show the "public" that we have made x more miles accessible. It's the marine conditions and climate change that are preventing the fish from coming back.

Plus, most of the culvert replacements can't/don't'won't benefit Chinook. The water is too skinny for Chinook unless we keep shrinking them down to about 10 pound adults. Then, we've opened all those creeks for Chinook and they can go there.;

Chinook salmon will and do inhabit thin feeder creeks and backponding waters way less accessible to Adult Chinook Salmon due to size requirements. Its not when they are adults, and spawning. Its when they’re at thier smallest, not super strong returning adults. During high water events in the spring, the young Chinook seek those environments around small feeder creeks, and beaver ponding as soon as they can for current escapement as well as food and hiding from predators. As soon as the water recedes, the young will slowly move back into the mainstems.

Non of those young king salmon fry were spawned in these creeks and backwater environments. But they do need access to them certain times of the year, or a lot of fry / pre smolts die...

I don't doubt that juveniles will use the smaller water but how far will they need to swim upstream from a spawnable mainstem? I know that coho migrate miles downstream to later move into an off-channel pond but I am leery about a very young Chinook moving very far against the current.

That's interesting, I had a guide tell me the land owners closed it. Good to know there's a right of way and it's open to launch boats.

In the case of our current residence on one the middle Green’s smaller feeder creeks, they move up into the creek and then back down to the main stem from the creek and restoration ponding , escaping from the hi water flows and predators in the spring. We see young Chinook fry and pre smolts in the feeder stream system from February through March, April and into May. They show up in our creek shock surveys upstream from the main stem , as far as a mile from the main stem. By June, they have moved back into the Green, and no longer show.

The coho, Cutthroat, and Chum, remain in the creek and restoration environments year round until smoltng.


Amazing actually...

Here is the thing about fish and people ..... people are not compatable in the natural enviroment with the urban areas and harvest the most destructive. To try and undo all the things that harm fish and wildlife humans have done is not possible. That the culverts replacement is helpfull is correct but to what degree and are the results measureable is something else all together. Without changes that allow for a larger escapement the additional habitat only increases the survival to some unmeasureable degree. It is a feel good thing that in the end will fail because we lack the will to do the things such as urban growth management, harvest reform, proper rural timberland management. So we throw money at things that are politically acceptable but do not stop the downward trend.

Good news for fishers!


Port of Grays Harbor grant awarded: $650,000

Renovating the Friends Landing Boat Launch


The Port of Grays Harbor will use this grant to renovate the upland boat launch amenities at Friends Landing on the Chehalis River, to make it safer and easier to access.

The Port will pave the boat launch parking lot and repave the entryway, build a loading ramp and parking spaces for people with disabilities, add more than 300 feet of paths around the parking lot, update the parking and safety lines for pedestrians, and install a payment station, information kiosk, and a portable restroom, all of which will accommodate people with disabilities.

The Port of Grays Harbor’s sponsor match is $230,000. This grant is from the Boating Facilities Program.



WDFW grant awarded: $325,000

Redeveloping the White Bridge Boat Ramp

The Department of Fish and Wildlife will use this grant to redevelop the closed boat ramp at its White Bridge Water Access area on the Wynoochee River.

The department will remove the ramp, replace the planks and base concrete armoring, and then reinstall the improved ramp. The new design will reduce the ramp slope, significantly reducing the force of the water and erosion. The boat launch is important for fishing and floating on the Wynoochee River and Black Creek. Steelhead fishing on the Wynoochee is one of the most popular types of fishing on the Olympic Peninsula.

This grant is from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.

https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/

I know most do not follow this type of thing but the Chehalis at Porter is below record lows and forecasted in the next week to be around 250 cfs. Olympic streams still above record lows but the Upper Chehalis is struggling at the moment.

Wasn't this whole culvert mess forced on WA?
https://nwtreatytribes.org/federal-judge-issues-permanent-injunction-in-culvert-case/
Seems the state had no choice other than defying the court order, which in this current political climate might work? Since the tribes started this mess, seems they would/should be working directly with state on prioritizing which to invest in, for the biggest bang for the buck? If I were a finger pointer, I would be pointing at them. Everyone is affraid to do that any more.

The Treaties have held, since about the very beginning of cases, that the Tribes' right is too dead fish in the boat. The right is meaningless if all one does is drag a net or hook through fishless water. The State, and probably the Feds, have a responsibility to protect the habitat to produce fish for them to kill.

As with all things WA, the state drug its feet in doing anything. Finally, as runs dwindled even more, the Tribes went to court and won. The state continued to drag its feet and went to the Supremes, where the State argued that it had the right to simply blow away runs of fish for "progress". Oddly, that didn't fly.

The State and Tribes jointly developed the plan of action, which the state continued to drag its feet on until recently when they finally realized that to meet the deadline they agreed to it would cost billions more than they wanted to spend.

I wont;t disagree with those who say better choices could be made when planning removals or that they are spending a lot of money to get damn few fish back. But, the best minds that the state allowed to negotiate came up with this and are now whining about meeting their agreements.

This is rich,

“ But, the best minds that the state allowed to negotiate came up with this “

This state selected the best minds, for sure, and the eventual fisheries outcome of these brainiac led negotiations , since the early 70’s, has led us to these very obvious outcomes. The reality of their agenda driven solutions is right before our eyes, and we still allow it to continue. All salmon and fisheries to the tribes, restoration habitats paid for by NT taxation, hunting access and privileges to the tribes, ( can you say White River), allowing the drug camps into the habitat restorations , describing it as “solving homelessness”, shutting down fishing and boating in PS to protect the orca, while closing down boating ramps and recreational access to the NT folks around the sound.

Ya great minds indeed...