FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 6, 2008
CONTACT: Ted Venker, 1-800-201-FISH
CCA Adds Advocacy Expertise in the Pacific Northwest

PACIFIC NORTHWEST - Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) is pleased to announce that Heath Heikkila has joined its advocacy team to provide strategic guidance and counsel to CCA chapters in Washington and Oregon. He joins a veteran CCA national advocacy team that includes Robert G. Hayes, general counsel, Richen Brame, Atlantic States Fisheries Director, Dr. Russell Nelson, Gulf Fisheries Consultant, and Matt Paxton, federal lobbyist.
"The combination of spectacular membership growth and a highly successful inaugural banquet season has allowed us to achieve yet another milestone in our development: the hiring of Heath Heikkila as the Pacific States Fisheries Director," said Angela Hult, chairman of the CCA Regional Government Relations Committee. "Throughout his career, Heath has worked on some of the toughest fisheries management issues the region has to offer and has maintained good working relationships within the Northwest Congressional delegation, agency staff, and state and local elected officials. His insight and guidance will be tremendous assets for CCA."
In 2004, Heikkila joined the Washington, D.C. office of Ball Janik LLP, a Portland-based law and government relations firm. During his time with Ball Janik, he represented several Pacific Northwest clients on natural resource, environmental and public land matters before the Congress and the Executive Branch.
"This hire is a logical and critical next step for CCA in the region," said Gary Loomis, chairman of CCA in the Northwest. "More than 6,000 conservationists joined the Washington and Oregon chapters in their first year of existence. The first CCA banquets held in the region this year were a success by every measure. Heath's knowledge and experience are a perfect complement to the enthusiasm of our grassroots network here."
Prior to joining Ball Janik, Heikkila served as a policy advisor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where he focused on endangered salmon recovery efforts on the West Coast. With 27 stocks of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a wide range of public land management, hydroelectric energy, irrigation and transportation activities in the Pacific Northwest and California were subject to agency consultation and review. He had direct involvement in legislative, public affairs and policy development aspects of agency recovery efforts.
"CCA has always prided itself on the strength of its advocacy team, and we are a stronger organization with the addition of Heath Heikkila to that team," said David Cummins, president of CCA. "There is a lot of work to do in the Pacific Northwest, and CCA PNW is gearing up for the challenge."

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One small step of what I hope will be many more......

Exciting stuff!

That is super exciting news for CCA to get someone of this caliber.....

Restores my faith in my own judgement, good move.

Here you go.

http://www.balljanik.com/professionals/bio.aspx?id=22&number=s0

Have any of you guys researched who this guy has lobbied for in the past, or are you basing your excitement on a CCA press release?

Oregon Citizens for a Sound Economy

These are the same guys who were one of the parties suing to remove ESA protection from Oregon Coho, and the same guys who lobbied for the water withdrawals on the Klamath that not only killed 70,000 Chinook, but is part of the reason why the entire states of Oregon and California have no saltwater fishing this year.

Just some food for thought...

Fish on...

Todd

Lobbyists lobby.

It's what they do....

Thank goodness he's on our side. A real powerhouse.

True...some lobby for fish, and some lobby for property rights advocates who think hatchery fish should be counted so that fish are delisted from the ESA, and some lobby for water withdrawals that destroy sportfishing in the salt from San Diego to Portland...

I guess a "win is a win"...

Fish on...

Todd

Some lobby for what ever "cause" pays them the most.

I just wouldn't get too excited when the press release says...

"he represented several Pacific Northwest clients on natural resource, environmental and public land matters before the Congress and the Executive Branch."

...when those clients were the ones killing salmon and salmon fishing on the west coast...

Fish on...

Todd

Yep.

Wow...that says it all.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd -

I can respect the skepticism you have about the CCA. Some of the concerns you've voiced are the same reason why I haven't joined the CCA -- mainly because they dont seem to have a clear position on the issues.

However, I really dont understand how you can jump to so many conclusions about this new guy. I'm just finishing my second year of law school, so I wont even pretend to know as much as you do about ethics, advocacy and conflicts of interest, but does it necessarily matter who some of his former clients are? Doesn't he have have a duty to be a zealous advocate for his current client?

If anything, I'd think that if he's been at both sides of the table, he'd know how to advise a group that represents sportfisherman better than some elitist wild fish advocate who thinks industry has no legitimate positions in the law.

Frankly, i would think that someone who has experience on both sides of the table would be in a great position to serve as an advocate and advisor for a group like CCA. You dont have to be a card-carrying, anti-establishment liberal to be a fish advocate. BTW, I'm not suggesting that you are either. But I just dont see the issue to be nearly as B/W as you do.

Dom

I don't necessarily think that a lobbyist is an automatically bad choice because they have been on both sides of the table, but it does provide food for thought.

Was this guy hired by CCA-PNW, or by CCA National? What I mean by that, is who did the interviewing? Who selected the candidates...and most importantly, who decided on Heikkila?

Did you guys here in CCAPNW even know that this process was taking place, or did you find out in a press release?

National's ties to Big Energy, and big users of electricity from the Columbia River dams, is troublesome enough to me...it's why I think you'll never get the go ahead from National CCA to go after dams or dam operators around here, not if it makes electricity one cent more expensive.

Now a lobbyist is hired who has a track record of lobbying for "hatchery fish are the same as wild" and for groups who applauded the Klamath River water withdrawals as "responsible"...the withdrawals that shut down the coastal sportfishing industry in 4/5 of the west coast.

Sooner or later something has to happen that doesn't tie back into the same people and places...sooner or later there has to be someone who advocates for the fish, rather than just advocates against other users of the fish and the habitat.

Fish on...

Todd

Give it a rest Todd. Your starting to remind me of CFM. Let the people get their own education.

WHAT??

...It's just getting interesting!



Don't tell me you'd rather see endless pages full of one sentence (or less) stroke-offs?

I wish it were that simple, JG...most folks evidently prefer to not do it, though...

Fish on...

Todd

My parents couldn't afford law school.

Todd you are sounding a little "my way or the highway"....The jury is still out on CCA and I see no useful purpose to constantly find fault with a group that hasn't done anything but get organized and raise money so far. Even you might have to admit that a bunch of volunteer activists like yourself have achieved next to nothing you can honestly call a "win". Why not let the new kid on the block give it a go? One thing they are doing right in my opinion is hiring people instead of relying on volunteers. Who cares if the national folks did the hiring or not? Maybe they plan to spread the wealth and use this guy in a number of ways and in a number of venues?

One of the main problems with past fisheries crusades is that all the different groups are so narrowly focused and myopic that they tend to compete with each other in too many ways as to be totally ineffective.

No offense but so many of your opinions are facts..in your own mind. Open up a bit and try to understand where others are coming from. The discussion of CCA should not continually end up with personal insults.