Tell NOAA Not to Compromise on Wild Steelhead Protection

Submit your comments: Tell NOAA you will not stand for them undermining federal environmental protections for threatened steelhead

Steelhead are a wonder of nature. Their daunting journey from the river of their birth to the ocean and back is awe-inspiring. Their sheer strength and ability to traverse seemingly impassable waters is nothing short of remarkable. And they have exceptional power, size, and beauty. These attributes as well as their indelible mystique combine to make steelhead the pinnacle of freshwater fishing.
 
Legend has it that there were once so many steelhead and salmon in Washington’s rivers that you could walk across the water on the backs of fish. But gross mismanagement of these rivers for the last century has decimated these steelhead and salmon populations, relegating the stirring images of rivers full of fish to a distant memory. Now wild steelhead populations represent a dismal 3% of their historic numbers in Puget Sound, yet 66% of their historical habitat remains. As a result, these fish are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
 
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the federal agency charged with protecting these imperiled fish – government-operated steelhead hatcheries are one of the four known causes for the precipitous decline of wild steelhead populations. Despite this understanding, NOAA is currently undermining critical federal regulations in a politically motivated effort to expedite approval of Puget Sound hatchery programs.  
 
This undercutting of federal procedures represents a significant departure for NOAA, which spent the last 11 years rigorously developing a comprehensive environmental review of hatchery program’s impact in Puget Sound. NOAA was expected to release the review’s findings this spring but at the last minute suddenly abandoned this 11-year comprehensive review. In its place, NOAA is now conducting a cursory environmental assessment for three hatcheries in three different watersheds.
 
NOAA is trying to justify this approach as simply a strategy adjustment. However, this dramatic reversal is much more than that. In reality, it is a precedent setting approach that has the potential to undercut critical protections for not just steelhead but all endangered species, including orca whales, wolves, and salmon. Left unchecked, this decision could have far-reaching implications as it could make federal approval easier for destructive projects across the United States.
 
Time is running out, but we still have the potential to stop NOAA from setting this dangerous precedent that will imperil threatened steelhead populations and all ESA-listed species. Please submit a comment below and tell NOAA you will not stand for them undermining federal environmental protections for threatened steelhead.
 
To learn more about the environmental protections NOAA is undermining and the specifics of this environmental review process, please see below:
 
1. NOAA’s proposed Environmental Assessment (EA) is insufficient and violates the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA)

• An environmental impact statement (EIS) is needed to fully evaluate the cumulative effects of all Puget Sound hatchery programs on threatened & endangered species—including steelhead—throughout Puget Sound.
• Puget Sound hatchery programs can have significant adverse impacts on ESA-listed wild salmon and steelhead, making the proposed approval of the three steelhead hatcheries controversial, thus meeting two of NEPA’s thresholds for an EIS.
 
2. NOAA has not provided adequate time to review the EA and associated technical documents

• NOAA released the EA on 3/26 with a due date for comments on 4/27, which amounted to 33 days.  According to NOAA, all comments submitted from 3/26-4/13 were lost because of NOAA technical difficulties, with no way to contact those that submitted comments.  A new due date was set for 5/4.  This new due date results in a total of only 21 days to submit comments on over 1,400 pages included in the EA, Hatchery & Genetic Management Plans, and referenced literature.
 
3. NOAA has not completed a Puget Sound Steelhead Recovery Plan

• A recovery plan is required by law under the ESA; Puget Sound steelhead were ESA-listed eight years ago in 2007.
• A recovery plan is fundamental to an appropriate EA or EIS.  It is needed in order to determine what levels of hatchery impacts to each Puget Sound steelhead population, if any, are compatible with recovery.
 
Submit your comments: Tell NOAA you will not stand for them undermining federal environmental protections for threatened steelhead

Please submit your comments no later than 5:00 p.m. Pacific time on May 4, 2015.

TAKE ACTION: Tell NOAA Not to Compromise on Wild Steelhead Protection

A VERY important action alert from the Wild Fish Conservancy.

After 11 years of NOAA promising an environmental impact statement (EIS) rigorously evaluating Puget Sound steelhead hatcheries, NOAA has suddenly withdrawn its draft EIS and opted for a cursory environmental assessment (EA), with only 30 days for public comment. This reversal of course comes at the request of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and would support its proposed annual release of 290,000 Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead into three Puget Sound watersheds—the Nooksack, Stillaguamish, and Dungeness.  The low bar of an EA does not fulfill the requirements or purposes of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act).  An EIS is needed to fully evaluate the cumulative effects of all Puget Sound hatchery programs on threatened species, including Puget Sound steelhead.

If you care about wild steelhead, please take a few minutes and tell NOAA that they need to require an EIS or at least add another 30-60 days onto the comment period for the EA. Hit the TAKE ACTION link below and simply fill in the pertinent contact info, click the "Submit" button, and your message will be sent to the appropriate recipients.

TAKE ACTION!

Comments must be received no later than 5p.m. Pacific time on April 27, 2015.

The Montana Story: Forty Years of Success

In 1974, Montana did something that stunned anglers across the state and the nation: it stopped stocking trout in streams and rivers that supported wild trout populations. After decades of use and millions of dollars invested, hatchery production was not helping, and in fact was the leading cause of the collapse of the fishery. Ground-breaking research on the Madison River in the late 1960s and early '70s organized by fisheries biologist Richard Vincent led to that decision. His study results showed that as hatchery production increased, trout abundance decreased, and native stocks were displaced.

Nearly forty years after Richard Vincent's study, Montana is one of America's premier trout fishing destinations. Focusing on habitat and discontinuing river hatchery stocking, trout fisheries have recovered and wild populations are self-sustaining.

On the anniversary of this monumental decision, Wild Fish Conservancy presents The Montana Story: Forty Years of Success. This is the first volume in a series of short videos called the Wild Fish Video Journal. This educational collection is an extension of our printed Wild Fish Journal.

We've lost 97% of the abundance of our wild steelhead in Puget Sound

Testimony from Jamie Glasgow of the Wild Fish Conservancy before the Washington State Natural Resources and Park Committee hearing on the Puget Sound hatchery settlment.

Come on in, the water is fine!

Yes Virginia, steelhead are trout too.

Today is the launch day for Wild Steelheaders United.

From TU:

Wild Steelheaders United was established to educate and mobilize the numerous wild steelhead advocates wanting to engage in the Initiative. It is a place where anglers can become more informed about wild steelhead biology and ecology, keep abreast policy issues, and learn about Trout Unlimited's conservation work.

We may not always agree. We may not always have the answers. But we steelheaders share a common vision and for the future of wild steelhead. Together, we are a community with strength.

With millions of dollars invested on the ground, Trout Unlimited supports this vision through the Wild Steelhead Initiative.

Learn more at wildsteelheaders.org and tu.org

TU's commitment to putting some real skin in the steelhead conservation game is a very good thing.

That said, this launch is also a great opportunity to recognize and celebrate the tireless work of the organizations and individuals, many of them just volunteers who, have for decades been on the front lines fighting on behalf of wild steelhead. The work at times has been frustrating, and there have been disagreements along the way. But there has always been one singular focus; it's about the fish. Even more importantly those same individuals and the groups they represent have inspired many like myself to also take up the cause. I'd hate to think what the state of wild steelhead would be today as TU officially enters the fray without all of their efforts.

I look forward to seeing my fellow wild steelhead advocates both past and future at Earl's place in Seattle this evening. The water is indeed fine.

Lawsuit Settlement Big Advance For Wild Steelhead Recovery

Some huge news courtesy of the Wild Fish Conservancy.

Wild Fish Conservancy and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have settled the lawsuit filed by the Conservancy March 31, 2014 seeking Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance for WDFW’s “Chambers Creek” hatchery winter steelhead programs.  Since the first listing of Puget Sound salmon under the ESA in 1999, almost all of WDFW’s hatchery programs in the region have continued to produce and release hatchery salmonids without the evaluation and legal permission required under the ESA.  Under the settlement, WDFW will cease planting Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead in all Puget Sound rivers but one, until NOAA approves each specific hatchery program.  The settlement also establishes a twelve-year moratorium of such hatchery plants in the Skagit River system, Puget Sound’s largest tributary and most important wild steelhead river.

LINK