Dear Editor,

2 December 2019

We are finding increasing support for the Wild Steelhead Review. Its purpose is to offer presentations about wild steelhead so that we can learn the status of all wild steelhead stocks in their native spawning areas. We plan to collect and organize data. We will convene stakeholders and interested parties. They will establish study teams to conduct data gap analysis. We will collaboratively design research and data collection activities using citizen scientists, students and volunteers working with scientists to collect and report necessary data. This will create a comprehensive foundation for knowing and understanding the status of wild steelhead stocks on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Pacific Northwest.

This initial work on the Olympic Peninsula will be based at the Olympic Natural Resource Center in Forks. Efforts are underway to connect and coordinate with others doing similar work on the Oregon and California coasts, the Columbia/Snake Rivers systems, Puget Sound, Vancouver, B.C. and Alaska. It is our hope to produce an annual Wild Steelhead Review Symposium in Forks, Washington with the Olympic Natural Resource Center, University of Washington and others.

This effort will not only produce quality information and improve our understanding of the status of wild steelhead, but also increase employment, training for quality jobs for local folks, invite contributing voluntourists, citizen scientists, scientists, and guests to our Olympic Peninsula. Every effort will be made to create an inclusive and collaborative process. Shared power is increased power and many hands make a load lighter. All working together will be needed to ensure the survival of our wild steelhead here on the Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere.

Please consider this initiative, talk with others, find ways to participate and contribute. Look forward to future letters and a schedule for the 2020 Wild Steelhead Review series at the Olympic Natural Resource Center.

Contact Frank Hanson (fsh2@uw.edu) at the Olympic Natural Resource Center and/or Roy Morris (able@olypen.com). Co-producers of the Wild Steelhead Review.

Roy Morris

Sekiu, WA.