The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife held a meeting Thursday, November 20 in Cathlamet to inform residents of an opportunity to join a workgroup that will give input towards the development of a management plan for steelhead in the Lower Columbia region.

This workgroup will be focusing on the steelhead management plan for the Grays and Chinook Rivers, the Elochoman River and Skamokawa Creek and the Mill, Abernathy and Germany Creeks.

“These plans are designed to help guide the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as we work to implement fishing opportunities down in this region that are consistent with recovery of wild steelhead populations,” Bryce Glaser, ESA Anadromous Fish Investigation Manager for WDFW said.

The state’s goal is to “restore and maintain the abundance, distribution, diversity and long term productivity of Washington’s wild steelhead and their habitats to assure healthy stocks,” according to Glaser, and they are looking for ways to make this happen, including meeting with locals to hear what they have to say.

Some of the things the group will talk about include but are not limited to: natural populations of steelhead, identifying gene bank opportunities in this section of the river, the kinds of fishery management that can be done, hatchery program options, how to monitor and evaluate fisheries and wild populations and how to better engage the community in the steelhead management process.

The WDFW is looking for 10-15 people who would be willing to commit to one meeting a month for six months to work on this process.

To get involved, check out their website http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/about/advisory/swpw/nominations.html or send an email to teamvancouver@dfw.wa.gov.