Yes, we've been awfully harsh on them at times.

And rightfully so in many cases, maybe not so rightfully in a few others.

But I'll give credit where credit is due.

Sent the following letter off a few weeks back:

312 Steelhead Ave.
Forks, WA 98331


February 18, 2005
Mike Gross
48 Devonshire Rd.
Montesano, Washington 98563
Dear Mike:
On behalf of the Olympic Peninsula Guides’ Association, I would like to extend a welcome and a note of congratulations on your new position with the WDFW’s Montesano office.
Our membership is comprised of roughly 25 guides, most of whom live in Forks and work primarily on the Quillayute and Hoh watersheds. We believe that given the thousands of hours that we spend on these rivers each year might be of benefit to department management and biologists through our observations of fish stocks and the surrounding environment. We hope to build a strong and productive working relationship with you and your office over the years to come.
We would like to extend an invitation to you to attend one of our bi-monthly Association meetings in the near future. Our meetings are normally held on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:00 in Room 101 of the Forks Motel located on Highway 101 in Forks.
Brian Fairbanks, our local WDFW Enforcement Officer, has said that he would be happy to attend the meeting with you should you be able to come.
We would like to make this an opportunity for us all to meet in person and perhaps share some information and insight regarding the fisheries on these river systems.
If you would be interested in meeting with our group, please contact our Associations’ president, George Wing at 360-374-3175.
Please see the attached sheet with a short list of questions brought forth by our membership regarding our local watersheds. Perhaps you would be kind enough to address some / all of these at one of our meetings.
Thank you; we look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Regards,

Bob Ball
Vice-President
Olympic Peninsula Guides' Association
Enclosure (1)


Questions / Issues from the Olympic Peninsula Guides’ Association


· What is the primary role of the Region 6 office? In your new position, what do you do for the sportsmen of the region?


· What is the current assessment of fall king stocks on the Quillayute and Hoh watersheds? Can we obtain a copy of spawning goals for the rivers / tributaries and past spawning escapements?


· Would the state support a bag limit reduction of fall king salmon to one fish daily and perhaps consider an annual limit of five fish?


· What are the projections for spring / summer 2005 king returns to both the Quillayute and Hoh?


· Are there any changes to regulations looming for the upcoming 2005 spring / summer king fishery on either the Hoh or Quillayute system?


· Can you pass along any details of the new steelhead management plan(s) that the state is currently working on? Is there any legal or otherwise limiting reason that these runs are managed via MSY models rather than OY or other models that might benefit angling opportunity?


· Does the state have final steelhead spawning escapement numbers available for Hoh and Quillayute watersheds for the winter / spring of 2003-2004?


· Is there any reason that WDFW is not able to keep river opening / closing times the same for all major area streams?


· What are the Departments’ thoughts regarding the Snider Creek broodstock program? How does the state evaluate the program’s impacts / success? Does the state have a way of extrapolating harvested Snider Creek stock numbers from punchcard data?


Sure enough, he accepted and came to our meeting last Thursday night (thus all the "late night" references from Todd since our meeting pushed well last 10 PM).

I'll give him plenty of credit for coming into what might be a pretty hostile crowd. We had previously agreed not to ask any additional questions, but once he invited a few ... the flood gates opened.

I can't say that I agreed with all the philosphies / observations that he put forth ... but I'd like to extend a public thanks to Mike for at least listening to what we had to say and covering most of what we asked to have covered.

Okay, nice time is over Just kidding!

Sounds like a good start! Hopefully the relationship will grow in a positive direction.

I'll be the first to vouch for Mike Gross.... a stand up guy, great family man, someone to look up to.

He's the real deal, folks.

I don't know Mike Gross but I personally know quite a few folks who work for WDFW. They're not perfect but all of them fit the description of Mike Gross. Hard working, highly capable, very knowledgable, dedicated to protecting fish and wildlife resources, good listeners, and they all make a positive contribution to their communities and to their profession.

So why is it that WDFW gets routinely "burned at the stake" on this BB, but the individuals who work for WDFW are okay?
Could it be that we all relate to an individual struggling under difficult circumstances but we don't always understand a large organization (WDFW) that has conflicting mandates and difficult responsibilities? Hummm.........

I'll throw in a for Mike as well.

I used to live right next to him and many a night, I would interupt his walk up the street with his kids so we could talk fish. He's as passionate about the resource as we are and even shared some ideas that lead me to think we do have a few friends in WDFW. But he, like many others within the dept. are bound by legal directives and statutes from all the beureacratic crap from above hence, the appearance of having different philosophies sometimes on resource management issues.

I worked for the dept. for awhile on the construction crew about 10 years ago. Got to meet a lot od WA managers all over the state. The guys I worked with, for the most part, were the same way, hard working and gave a damn about what was going on... It seemed to me that most of the working folk were that way, and a good majority or the supervisors too. The observation I came away with was that the higher up the person was the more they were concerned with personel changes, appointments to different echelons, and budget cut backs! When I worked for fisheries in the early '90s it was the same way( or so it seemed to me). I was always amazed at the information that the hatchery level biologist would send up the chain of command, and the decisions that came back down. Made for a lot of very interesting conversations and fustrated biologists and hatchery managers.

Having worked side by side with a lot of very intelligent biologists (wich I am not(insert joke here)) with reams of accurate data, I have always figured nothing could ever get done just because of the political infighting that goes on in the upper levels! And from what I see with the states bias towards the commercial boys, it kind of makes sense! The upper level managers have to cater to the money to keep their jobs, and commercial licenses are revenue AND political power. Recreational revenue is just revenue and they can abuse the hell out of us and we will keep right on buying licenses and permits, and catch cards, and....... That is the one difference that I see with recreational fishing revenues vs commercial revenues. If we tax ourselves the dept. can re-apropriate that money to just about anything and while a few of us get pissed, they are not really held accountable to any degree, We all know what happens when they try to do anything with any money or earning potention of the commercials...you'd think hell froze over!
Sorry didn't mean to rant, I think most of the folks doing the work are good folks...and the fish rots from the head back!

And while I was pounding this diatribe out Eric posted it in a much more concise way...I don't think I know Mike personaly, but he sounds like many guys I do know!