Thanks to CVN for calling attention to the dire straits of Kelsall River king
salmon. Lynn Canal Conservation has attempted to bring this issue to the attention of the Division of Forestry, commercial fishing interests, Haines Sportsman’s Association, and the public for nearly two decades. In 1998, Fish and Game’s Habitat Division requested a moratorium on timber sales in the Kelsall. Global economic factors, rather than cautionary policy changes, put a stop to large sales in the late 1990s, but sales will resume if buyers appear. In the meantime, the only available data indicate a 91.5 percent decline in spawning kings over the last 20 years. While further studies and data are
usually helpful, at the existing rate of decline, there will be no fish to study in two years.
Foresters are probably correct in attributing some of the habitat
degradation to severe floods in 2005. Strangely, they fail to mention that extensive clear-cutting and road-building dramatically increase the damage caused by floods. Forester Greg Palmieri states, “If fish couldn’t adapt to changing conditions, they wouldn’t be around today.” Apparently, the many extinct or endangered runs of salmon on the west coast of North America could not adapt, even as “experts” assured the public that there was no cause for alarm.
Our intention is not to point fingers for damage from bad logging practices decades ago. What is needed is acknowledgment of the problem, large-scale restoration efforts, and increased cooperation between state agencies and conservationists.
Eric Holle
Lynn Canal Conservation