Mossyrock Trout Hatchery to CLOSE!

next on the "Hit List"???

• SKAMANIA Hatchery
• TOUTLE Hatchery
• ELOCHOMAN Hatchery
  

Read Our Letter to the Wild Life Commissission below!

Friends of the Cowlitz
PO Box 248
Salkum, WA 98582

August 5, 2008

Fish and Wildlife Commission
600 Capitol Way North
Olympia, WA 98501-1091
Phone: 360-902-2267
FAX: 360-902-2448

Dear Commissioners:
I am the President of Friends of the Cowlitz, a non profit organization dedicated to restoring fish and habitat to the Cowlitz River Basin.

We have grave concerns regarding the closure of Mossyrock Trout Hatchery. As the Supervising body for the Dept., we implore you to prevent the Dept from closing the Mossyrock Trout Hatchery located at: 249 FISH HATCHERY RD, MOSSYROCK, WA, 98564

Friends of the Cowlitz members as well as the general public see no advantage to the closure of the Mossyrock Trout Hatchery, which in turn would close the Mayfield lake Trout program, as we know it. It would also eliminate or greatly hinder the state stocking programs listed here:
Borst Park Lake (Centralia) ~ Carlisle Lake (Onalaska) ~ Plummer Lake (Centralia) ~ Swofford Pond (Mossyrock) ~ Mineral Lake (Elbe) ~ Dog Lake (Top of White Pass) ~ South County Park (Toledo) ~ Krest Lake ( Longview area) ~ Lake Sacajawea (Longview) as well as a handful of highland lakes. It would also end or hinder the Triploid program which is hauled by Mossyrock Trout Hatchery staff.

The Dept. also has a program which Friends of the Cowlitz has been exclusively involved in for the last 8 years. The mobile trout pond, which is owned by Friends of the Cowlitz, travels all of Western Washington, with trout from Mossyrock Trout Hatchery. This mobile trout pond visits numerous cities, from Black Diamond to Longview, with numerous events in the Olympia area, taking fishing opportunities to children as well as adults, who normally would not have the opportunity to experience this recreation. This Wednesday we are actually going to a retirement center, and for the first time in many years, these people will have the joy of fishing. No member of Friends of the Cowlitz is paid for these efforts, it is entirely donated, and our members do it gladly.

As we are sure you are aware, Friends of the Cowlitz in conjunction with WDFW (Mossyrock Hatchery staff) have reared and released 25,000 lbs of mitigated trout each year for the past 15 years, producing a quality fish, for a total of 375,000 pounds. This garners the Dept. untold compliments and praise by the general public, and thus proving that Friends of the Cowlitz has a good working relationship with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

We fear that the Nisqually Trout Farm has not proven that they can work with the WDFW to provide quality trout. We have heard that the Dept is involved in an investigation at this time involving Nisqually Trout Farm and a release which was supposed to take place at Skate Creek, apparently this release was not successful, with only one {1} live fish being seen in the area. We were told this by local fishermen in that area, and when we asked the Dept about it, they did tell us that they had some concerns and were looking into this matter.

We have seen that Nisqually Trout Farm does not have the means to make sure that the fish they have reared, arrive safely at any extended destination.

As you can see, the closure of Mossyrock Trout Hatchery will have a far reaching affect on numerous state programs, most involving young children, many of them underprivileged. We request that you stop the Department from moving forward with the closing of Mossyrock Trout Hatchery.

We do not want to see the quality trout program which the Department has developed at Mayfield Lake as well as other lakes deteriorate. Nor do we want to see the Dept.'s outreach program to inner city children, come to an end or be lessened in the quality.

We appreciate your handling of this matter and request that you keep us updated as to what is being done. You may contact me at 360-985-2495, which is my home number.


Sincerely,

Don Glaser, President
Friends of the Cowlitz

cc: file

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