Seattle PI article

[Sean M]

Has anyone seen this article?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/375590_highlakes21.html

What is being done to preserve the volunteer efforts done to date to populate these lake with beautiful cutthroat trout?

[Brian Curtis]

Thanks for posting the link, Sean. That’s me in the top photo.

The bill to clarify the NCNP enabling legislation passed the House so the big thing that we need to do now is get it through the Senate. That needs to happen right away or we’re not going to be stocking in the park until it does. If we can get that legislation passed stocking will continue

[Sean M]

Brian – regarding the North Cascade Lakes – is there any lobbying we can do with our Senate representatives to help them understand what an importan effort this is?

Thanks for you replying – great picture of you!

[Brian Curtis]

There is definitely lobbying we can do. Letters and phone calls to your senator would be a huge help. I’ll see if I can come up with some more specifics and post that here.

[Sandy McKean]

I’m the “other guy” in the article. I serve as a sort of citizen focal point for the political side of the NCNP fish stocking issue.

There is no question that personal letters to legislators help a great deal. At this time the best folks to write are the US Senators from our state (Murray and Cantwell). But perhaps even more effective would be a letter to your STATE legislators (your state representative and/or your state senator). A letter to state legislators ought to include: first, your statement supporting continued fish stocking in the NCNP; and second, and most importantly, a statement that it is your understanding that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) does not agree to the language in the current version before the Senate (HR 3227 RFS). Furthermore that although it is your understanding that the WDFW has expressed its desire for amendments to HR 3227 RFS, that you would appreciate it if your legislator contacted Jeff Koenings, WDFW Director, to insure that the State of Washington is bringing sufficient priority and resources to bear in **WASHINGTON DC** to insure that the WDFW amendments are adopted in the Senate version of the bill, and that the modified bill then passes the Senate.

There are several issues involved in the lannguage of the bill, but the most important is that the original bill said in essense that the fish to be stocked had to be:

(A) native to the slope of the Cascade Range on which the lake to be stocked is located; or

(B) functionally sterile.

The word “or” in this original text was changed under lobbying pressure from the National Park Service (NPS) to be the word “and”. This change RADICALLY changes the options the state and federal biologists can use to manage the fishery. The change of “or” to “and” even creates a set of options that are contradictory to the science found in the NPS’s own nearly 1000 page EIS which took scientists 4 years to produce.

To learn more about the background of the fish stocking issue in the NCNP, go to this link and read the historical document you will find there.

http://www.watrailblazers.org/issues/historical.pdf

[Hans Helm]

Hey Brian, did you post in this forum any info pertaining to the PI article
before you guys went on your trip?

Thanks, Hans

[Tom Bentzen]

I posted this in another thread, but Id like to post it here as well. God bless Doc Hastings and his attempt to curtail this current direction of not only disallowing the planting of fish but for goodness sakes KILLING the existing stock! How the hell can they say with a straight face they want to stop the stocking of fish for environmental reasons and in the same voice say that they will be killing the fish with pestisides? 😯

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