A hatchery called critical to the recovery of North Olympic Peninsula wild salmon stocks was saved — at least for now — by the state Legislature earlier this month.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Hurd Creek Hatchery is slated for full funding of $205,000 for the first half of the 2003-2005 biennium in the budget released by the Legislature on June 5.
That budget has yet to be signed by Gov. Gary Locke, who could make changes.
“As it stands right now, Hurd Creek is still slated for a partial reduction in the second year of the biennium,” Ron Warren, the WDFW’s Region 6 fish program manager, told me Tuesday.
He would not release the amount of that second-year funding, saying only that the WDFW will work to form community partnerships to increase the level.
State Rep. Jim Buck (R-Joyce) told me Wednesday that the regular three-month state revenue forecast of January 2004 could also lead to additional funding for Hurd Creek — perhaps total funding — if revenue improves by then.
A revenue forecast is also due out today, Buck said. Those predictions are assembled by the Office of Financial Management, in the state government’s executive branch.
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