TAKE ACTION: Two minutes can help protect 14,000 miles of Oregon streams.

Photo: Shane Anderson

An important call to action from TU.

The Oregon Board of Forestry (BOF) will soon decide whether to increase Oregon’s riparian buffers. These buffers supply cool water in the heat of summer, water necessary for steelhead, trout, salmon and other organisms important to Oregon rivers and streams.

Currently, Oregon requires only a 20 foot buffer -- far smaller than neighboring states, and according to the science, woefully inadequate as a means of providing the necessary cool water on which these species depend.

LINK

Tell the WDFW to designate the entire Skagit, Puyallup, and Elwha watersheds as Wild Steelhead Gene Banks

If you’re a long-time Chum reader you’re properly well aware of our disdain for the genetic miscreants dubbed hatchery steelhead. You might even own one of our limited edition bonk hatchery steelhead shirts. Or you may have shared our post about Chuck Norris taking out hatchery fish with a grenade.

For those less informed about our decade-long slugfest against hatchery fish and their proponents, here’s a cursory rundown. Hatchery fish are an environmental disaster. They were intended to cover up the loss of wild steelhead but have only made the problem worse because they have a negative impact (both ecological and genetic) on wild steelhead and are a major hindrance to the recovery of wild steelhead – a federally listed threatened species in the Chum’s Puget Sound homewaters. Plus, they’re a huge economic boondoggle with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent every year to return fewer and fewer fish.

In all of our years waging war against hatchery steelhead, we’ve never had an opportunity like this to effect positive change for wild steelhead in Puget Sound. But we need your help to make it happen. Please take a minute to submit your comment to the WDFW telling them to create strong, effective gene banks in the Skagit/Sauk, Elwha, and the Puyallup/Carbon/White watersheds.

It's fairly easy to comment but according to the latest from the WDFW you must use their online comment form for your vote to actually count.

Here is the link to the WDFW page where you can vote for the Skagit/Sauk, Elwha and Puyallup/Carbon/White.

Be sure to hit the "comment on another population" link below the first comment box to add additional boxes so you can comment on the selection of all the population groups called out above.

You will also be required to "briefly" explain your rationale for selecting a particular watershed. You can use the talking points from the info-graphic below to fullfill that requirement, if you click on the image you can view it full size for easier reading.

Vote for the Skagit/Sauk, Elwha and Puyallup/Carbon/White.

Frank Moore lends his voice to the wild steelhead gene bank conversation

Legendary steelhead conservationist and Wild Steelhead Coalition Honorary Member Frank Moore weighs in on Wild Steelhead Gene Banks and urges WDFW to take a sophisticated, science-based approach.

TAKE ACTION HERE

Take Action for Wild Steelhead

Runs were so depleted, Brian O'Keefe convinced his Mom to move the family to Oregon.

TAKE ACTION HERE

TAKE ACTION: Vote for Puget Sound wild steelhead gene banks

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is currently accepting comments on selecting “Wild Steelhead Gene Banks” in three Puget Sound Regions: (1) North Cascades, (2) Central/South Puget Sound and (3) Hood Canal and Strait of Juan de Fuca.

If you care about wild steelhead, please vote today.

Comments must be received no later than 5p.m. Pacific time on August 13, 2015.

Please help support the Puget Sound wild steelhead gene bank election process

Click to see image full size

On Tuesday night a coalition of wild fish advocates testified in front of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in support of a strategy to conserve and recover wild steelhead by establishing a network of wild stock gene banks across the state. Of all the watersheds under consideration the overwhelming percentage of attendees testified in favor of designating the three watersheds shown above.

For those of you who are unable to attend the remaining public hearings, and those of you who from outside the region who care about wild steelhead, please submit your comments in support of the same three watersheds.

Submit your comments HERE.