Confessions of a Cynic

Am I a cynic? Do I take a negative view of what is happening to our wild salmon and trout? Do I see the proverbial glass as half empty?
Yes to all of the above!
I don't enjoy being a cynic. I wish that we didn't have a state agency that cares little about our wild salmonids and I wish I could become a fan of ODFW... I really do!
Thing is the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is an agency out of control with an agenda that does not bode well for wild fish.Here is an example of what I'm talking about.
Do you realize that ODFW has it's greedy eyes on perhaps the last remaining decent population of wild winter steelhead? The North Umpqua runs of wild winter steelhead have long been a target of just about everyone who just cannot stand to not be able to kill a wild fish in order to sate their ego.
Then there is the steelhead broodstock programs that put the coastal wild winter steelhead into a tailspin. The recovering populations had the rug pulled out from under them with this program. All one has to do is talk to a river guide and they will tell you how few spawning redds there were the last few seasons. By river guides I'm talking about those that have nothing to lose by telling the truth! There are plenty of bait guides on the north coast who will exaggerate their catch reports to the local ODFW office in order in order to keep these wild fish raping programs going. These are the same guides that run trips that fish over spawning fish in order to get their clients a hook up or two.
I could right volumes about the coastal cutthroat trout mess that was foisted on the rivers of the northern coast.
So yes I am a cynic and will continue to be as long as this states self proclaimed stewards of the resource change course and actually live up to their mission.
When will that happen? Cynically I do not see it happening until there is some visionary leadership in place that will clean house. As long as the addiction to hatchery programs and bait guide welfare still influence policy then I guess I will remain the grumpy old complainer that I am.