Rumors have it that Director K of WDFW has signed a document with some power company and NMFS to make the Cowlitz wild fish only. Shut down steelhead and salmon hatchery production. That in my mind kills all fishing on the Cowlitz. Guess where those sleds will be headed now, Satsop -- Wynoochee --- Humptulips, and up the coast with no fishing on the Cowlitz. Thought the fishing was crowded on the Sol Duc and Hoh this year wait till the Cowlitz is closed to sport fishing. Anyone have more on this and is it at a stage that we can still have input????

Tacoma city Light when they put up the dams had to put in the hatcherys as part of the deal. They are required by the State to have x amount of fish returning to the river. They have not met their escapement goals for years but that is besides the fact. I believe there are very few if any wild fish left in the Cowlitz. The unclipped steelhead you see once in a while are most of the time escaped hatchery brats I know a guy who works for the hatchery and he told me they once accidently pulled the wrong lever and released thousands of yet unclipped hatchery steelhead into the river. The only way to let that river go back to wild only, would be to remove the dams and stop all fishing for years so I believe that rumor is just that a rumor.
tight lines
RAMPRAT

Its just a rumor. I have family involved in the hatcheries down there and they havent heard anything about that.

Though I hate to admit it, Fishing and hunting lies has the scenario laid out in it's most recent issue.The direction of their editorial suggests that it can be fought. I don't even want to begin to think of the added pressure other rivers are going to get if this scene plays out.

Reduced hatchery funding(state and federal), fewer plants in fewer rivers, giving the columbia to the tribes, less opportunity with more crowds on the rivers that are open.......and now this?

Sorry, but I am fast becoming convinced that the state and feds. REALLY DO want to eliminate any meaningful sportfishing in Washington. I am all for helping wild fish but this plan is insane....especially in light of the 3 dams on the cowlitz.

Better enjoy it while you can guys, this appears to be a losing battle year by year. I'm not giving up but I also see the writing on the wall. I hope I'm wrong.

When was the last time we had a new, quality salmon/steelhead opportunity given to us by the state with dollars we provide? For that matter, increased opportunity on an existing fishery?


It's been awhile.

This is just one more example where the sportfishers of this state MUST band together at the most basic level-to fight for the opportunity to even fish! But then again, based on past performance, this is about as likely as any of us winning the lottery.

Yeah, I'm a little fed up.

When are they going to stock Walleyes and Smallmouths and maybe some Channelcats and crappie in the Cowlitz. Would we have to sell our jets and buy john boats.

Yes Tacoma City Light Would like to reduce production at both hactherys as part of there relicaning for the Dams and restore wild runs and many plan have been proposed but it is ture that the fish in that river are 98% hacthery that was from DNA testing so to restore a wild run of fish they have to build one the only way to do that is to increce production luky us After the last report I saw in the TNT I went and talk to someone on the relicancing commite and was told that before they can reduce production they will have to remodel the hacthary so any reduced production will be a long way off

I hate to say it, but there is truth to this rumor. Apparently, Koenings signed off on a document that is an "Agreement in Principal" that would basically end summer-run and early winter-run hatchery production on the Cowlitz. From what I've heard, he did it without the knowledge of the regional biologists and hatchery managers.

The document is long and very convoluted but I'll put a link to it below. I've only given it a cursory look but the plans goals seem to be boosting spring and fall chinook, cutthroat, coho and late winter-run steelhead at the expense of current hatchery practices. And the methods for boosting those other stocks seem suspect. It reads more like a pie in the sky wishlist for remaking the Cowlitz into a river full of wild fish. But I'm no expert.

I don't know all the ins and outs of the negotiations between everyone mentioned in this document. Hopefully, someone else will have a look and let us know what to make of it. It's a shame this is the first time anybody has really had a look at it.

Click here to goto a page within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that will show a summary of the document. At the bottom of the page you'll see a link that says "35 Pages." Click on it to read the entire document.

The document is asking for an extension to July 15th to finalize it. That time might also be well spent letting Director Koenings know what you think of this plan. Drop him a line at director@dfw.wa.gov and ask why this proposal is just now being made public and what it really means.

Bruce



[This message has been edited by B. Gray (edited 05-31-2000).]

I just wanted to follow up and post a reply I got back from one of Koenings people. Read their reply and read my original email. The question about early summer-run and early winter-run steelhead was never answered. They also say that this agreement was put together with the help of Cowlitz guide associations. The guides I've talked to say the discussions they were involved with never mentioned most of what's in the agreement. Anybody out there from "Friends of the Cowlitz"? It says you were also involved in getting this agreement.


----------------------
Thank you for your recent Email to Director Koenings; the Director has asked me to respond to your inquiry.

The Agreement in Principal (AIP) that you refer to is not a recent document. It has been under negotiation and discussion for nearly two years. Parties participating in the negotiations/discussions range from Tacoma Power to NMFS, WDFW, USFWS, FERC, Friends of the Cowlitz (a recreational fishery and Cowlitz River advocacy group) , Washington Trout (a Wild Fish and Conservation advocacy group), American Rivers (a Wild Fish and Conservation advocacy group), Cowlitz River guide associations and numerous other interested parties representing a broad spectrum of folks with various and diverse interests relative to the Cowlitz River and the fishery resource dependant upon that system.

Simply said, this has been a widely attended, long, first-step taken in a process designed to get a final settlement agreement that nails down the legal requirements associated with Tacoma Power securing a 40 year license for the project.

Allow me emphasize, the AIP is not that document, it is only a first step.

The Director inserted himself into the AIP process near the end to bring to resolution several draft proposals in the AIP which he felt threatened the fishery resource, recreational fishing and recovery efforts on the Cowlitz River; he was able to resolve these issues with Tacoma Power, thus allowing the next step to begin.

The next step in this process is to work out the legal settlement. That legal settlement will take the general intent/principals outlined in the AIP, the Agreement in Principal, and convert them into a legal structure based on what is best for the resource in the Cowlitz basin.

During the AIP process, technical staff, primarily biologists and hatchery specialists were involved at the level necessary to achieve, again, an Agreement in Principal. During the next step which has begun, the legal settlement process, biologists and attorneys will be intimately involved to hammer out the immense amount of technical detail that will go into assuring the final settlement agreement protects the fishery resource and the fisheries that rely upon it.

I trust this answers your questions and clears up most of the misconceptions that may be out there.

Thank you for your continued interest and concern for the resource; it is only through our joint attentiveness that the fishery resource will be protected.

Sincerely,


Lew Atkins, Assistant Director
Fish Program, WDFW


>>> Bruce Gray <bgray@Adobe.COM> 05/31 10:33 AM >>>
Director Koenings,

Can you explain what effect the Cowlitz River Project Agreement in
Principal will have on early summer-run and early winter-run hatchery
steelhead production and management. Also, why did the public have to find
out about this plan through Fishing and Hunting News and various internet
bulletin boards? Is it true that the region five biologists didn't know you
had signed this plan? There are lots of rumors flying around about this
plan that deserve to be cleared up.

Regards,
Bruce Gray
Seattle

It is true that the state and federal agencies have signed a fishery agreement, as Bruce provided in his link, with Tacoma regarding their hydropower license. It is also true that this "agreement in principle" is just that; it lays out the sideboards within which an offer of settlement will be drafted and sent to FERC. This is a big deal. It will have the major influence on fish management and hatchery production for the next 40 years.

There are changes afoot. The ESA requires recovery efforts for wild chinook and steelhead. We all know that nearly all salmon and steelhead in the Cowlitz are of hatchery origin, so wild runs of spring chinook and late winter run steelhead are already in the process of being restored to the upper Cowlitz upstream of the dams. (Coho, too, for that matter, but they are not listed under ESA.) I think that's good news; I hope you do too.

These changes will affect our fishing opportunities on the Cowlitz, just as it has on other river systems with fish listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA. Hatchery production will be changing, for three reasons I've heard of: 1) ESA restrictions on the production of hatchery coho (coho smolts eat wild fall chinook smolts); 2) hatchery fish management, along with the presence of the dams, is one of the factors for the decline of the runs that have been listed under ESA; 3) the hatchery is going to be renovated, and there won't be space to raise all the hatchery fish that they presently do during the re-construction.

The agencies and Tacoma have to work out a ton of details for the settlement offer by mid July. Sounds like some of you think that's a bad deal. Consider the alternative. The old license expires next year, and the Federal Power Act requires that Tacoma get a new license. The settlement agreement is one way to go. Another is for the stakeholders to send their suggestions to FERC. Then the guys at FERC in Washington D.C. decide what goes in the new license, how big a hatchery, what sort of fish passage provisions, and so on. The only leverage is that the federal fish agencies can require fish passage and ESA compliance. The hatchery is discretionary.

I think Koenings should get the best settlement he can. The hatchery is essential both for ESA recovery and any near term fishing opportunity for us.

There will be other changes in production, but they are a long way from being firmed up. The late winter steelhead are derived from the native Cowlitz stock and will have increased emphasis. The early winter runs are basic Chambers Creek brats and will be de-emphasized. One reason I heard is that early winter fishing conditions - high water from power generation - are not as favorable as late winter fishing conditions, when the river is usually more fishable. Personally, I relish the thought of hooking late winter wild steelhead in the Cowlitz. I've got an ancient black and white photo of a couple large bucks caught in the Tilton back before Mayfield Dam was built. Maybe I can re-create some history. Hope so. And I'm not so naive that I think I'll be able to keep wild steelhead; can't most places, and I release the wild ones anywhere anyway.

Summer steelhead may be decreased also. Like the Chambers, they are considered an exotic, but not as exotic since they're from Skamania. And summer water conditions are favorable for sport fishing.

There will be an emphasis on restoring wild fall chinook downstream of the barrier dam. I haven't a clue how they're going to do that.

I agree that there will likely be some near term impacts as Cowlitz guides shift their efforts elsewhere during the transition. But try to maintain a longer term outlook. The future Cowlitz should contain a mix of wild and hatchery salmon and steelhead and be a healthier ecosystem by restoring fish production in the upper river basin and replacing outdated hatchery facilities. This might be a little over the edge, but I'd like to believe that the listed fish could even be delisted. If Tacoma lives up to its commitments, and the agencies live up to theirs, then it really should be possible.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.