THANK YOU FOR reading this. Sometimes I think if you didn’t read this ,no one would, but you do. I know this from all of the wonderful cards, letters and emails you send.
Lately, much of this correspondence has to do with the removal of barriers to salmon migration. Who could be against that? Not me. As a fishing guide, I would support effective salmon restoration.
In 2013, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez ordered Washington to fix or replace more than 1,000 culverts blocking access to 1,600 miles of salmon habitat. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Washington state must continue spending billions to remove fish barriers.
So what happened? How did Washington state end up spending an estimated million dollars a day removing barriers to salmon migration on streams with no salmon?
The examples, as readers of this column point out, are legion.
It does not seem to matter that streams that have never had salmon are treated the same as streams that once had salmon. Even more disappointing is the fact that once a barrier to salmon migration is removed from a salmon stream, community groups and individuals are not allowed to restore salmon to the stream through the practice of introducing fertilized salmon eggs from local brood-stock into the spawning beds. But I digress.
Replacing fish-blocking culverts is expensive. As of June of this year, Washington state has a $15 billion operating budget deficit and a $1 billion transportation budget shortfall over four years. So it’s not surprising Washington, a state with some of the most expensive gasoline in the country, increased the gas tax from 49.4 cents to 55.4 cents for every gallon you pump. It would be nice to think this increased tax would go to a good cause. Dream on.
Instead, we see millions of dollars being spent on building new bridges on streams that have never seen a salmon because they run off of cliffs. Then there is the blatant example on U.S. Highway 101 south of Forks where a bridge was built to replace a culvert in a stream with no salmon. A culvert was put in the creek just downstream for the detour during the project.
When the bridge was completed, the culvert in the detour remained, so what was the point of building the bridge if we’re just going to put in another culvert?
The most egregious example of misplaced salmon restoration funds is currently being bulldozed through the Upper Hoh Road in West Jefferson County. According to a Peninsula Daily News story, in 2024, the Hoh Rainforest fee station saw 175,000 vehicle trips with an estimated 450,000 visitors that spent $444 million in Clallam and Jefferson counties, generating $39 million in state and federal taxes.
Then the Upper Hoh Road was washed out in December.
The locals started a GoFundMe account to fix the road, raising $23,000 in 24 hours. Washington state chipped in $623,000, and the road was fixed in May.
This year’s tourist traffic is even heavier than last year. Then disaster struck. A non-governmental organization smelled money and decided to rip out a culvert in the middle of tourist season.
It should be noted there are no salmon in this stream. Only tadpoles. That’s why we call the NGO “Tadpoles Unlimited” or T.U.
They don’t care if they are blocking the access to the most popular entrance to Olympic National Park. There is money to be made. All of which reminds one of the carpetbaggers of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era.
T.U. is a modern-day example of the new carpetbaggers, profiteering opportunists that exploit a region despite their lack of familiarity with it.
Do you know the difference between the carpetbaggers and the salmon restoration industry? The carpetbaggers never said they would restore salmon.
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Pat Neal is a Hoh River fishing and rafting guide and “wilderness gossip columnist” whose column appears here every Wednesday.
He can be reached at 360-683-9867 or by email via patnealproductions@gmail.com.
