Issues dealing with Forks area rivers are coming in focus this month.

On Thursday, June 9 a public forum is being held by the City of Forks and Clallam County, at the mandate of the state Department of Ecology, on the WRIA 20 Shoreline Management Plan.

The public will have an opportunity to hear a presentation and voice their views and make comments on the WRIA 20 area maps and the draft WRIA 20 Inventory and Characterization Report (ICR).

The meeting is taking place at the state Department of Natural Resources Building Meeting Rooms, 411 Tillicum Lane at 1:00-3:30 p.m. and at 5:30-8:00 p.m.

Hard copies of the WRIA 20 draft ICR are currently available at the: Forks Public Library; Forks City Hall; Olympic Natural Resources Center; or the ICR report can be viewed on-line www.clallam.net/RealEstate/assets/applets/COMPLETE_FINAL_WRIA_20_ICR.pdf.

Additional Clallam County-wide forums on the WRIA 20 plan are being planned for July.

Potential changes to shoreline uses on the West End include these areas: Sol Duc River, Lake Creek, Bogachiel River, Elk Creek, Calawah River, Colby Creek, Sitkum, Sitkum North Fork, Rainbow Creek, Lost Creek and Shuwah.

Snider Creek Hatchery

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is accepting public comments through June 30 on proposed management options for the hatchery steelhead program at Snider Creek.

The WDFW held a meeting on the issue of continuing a long-time program of having volunteers rear steelhead at the Snider Creek Hatchery to boost the number of steelhead available for anglers in local rivers.

The WDFW is reporting that their staff has developed an analysis of the program and is offering a range of management options that “could include the establishment of wild steelhead gene banks – waters where no hatchery steelhead would be released.”

Go to the WDFW’s Web site at wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/fisheries/snider_creek/ for more information, or call (360) 249-4628.