@Curt
so I went and looked at numbers on Sunset falls. I couldn't find a budget number, maybe you can help there.
after review I think I found a way to think about this that works for my brain and morals at least.
the south fork Skykomish above sunset falls, will from now on in my mind be classified a hatchery. a 50 year old experimental hatchery.
hows it doing, I don't know. last year it produced 500 Chinook, 600 summer run steelhead, and (gulp) 20 000 coho.
those numbers work out to more summer steelhead than reiter ponds did last year, double (you read that correct) the number of coho that wallace river hatchery did, but it failed miserably in Chinook, producing about 1/12th the fish the "traditional hatchery" did.
now that's one year. I am sure it had its ups and downs over its past. but depending on the budget that's an impressive year.
while I am a nature first type person, that understands hatcheries are needed currently, I have been looking for a better hatchery for a long time. it warrants more research. but I may have found a cause.
it kind of sucks because I hated the truck around the damn policy on the cowlitz. I was dead set against it.... maybe its not so bad after all. I would even be willing to bet the influx of nutrients from the sea helps the native trout population... I hate being wrong....
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