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Methow Valley News June 10, 1999 Endangered Species Coverage Watershorts Compiled by Lee Hicks In the silver lining category: Not all is on the downside for the Northwest economy with endangered species recovery mandates here. Fisheries biologists are suddenly in high demand, much like computer programmers who have ruled the job roost in Washington during the last decade of economic expansion. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that private and public developers, such as transportation utilities, are clamoring for help in completing ESA required "biological assessments." "There’s never been a better time to be a fisheries biologist in my lifetime," says a veteran of a large Seattle-area environmental planning company. That’s a familiar name: Some veterans of the Methow Valley’s big land use issues of past decades did a double take during the conference call with top NMFS officials May 20. The woman attorney identified herself as Melanie Rowland. Yep, the same Rowland that once worked for the Washington Environmental Council and was an activist with Friends of the Methow which has oppposed Arrowleaf resort in the upper Methow Valley. Might Ms. Rowland have a conflict of interest, asked some attorneys and local veterans of water planning and development issues in the Methow Valley? Get off my line: With ESA penalties for "taking" listed fish species running from $500 to a whopping $50,000, anglers may try to shake suspect fish off before they land them, anglers claim to know when a big steelhead’s on the line because of the extra fight of the ocean migrating rainbow trout. Taking no chances, most anglers rid their tackle and fly boxes of steelhead and salmon-friendly gear. If the fish guy comes by, they can at least show no intent to "target" the protected fish and court economic disaster. Tasty steelhead: Columbia River steelhead remains one of the more popular menu items at the Sun Mountain Lodge dining room. But the tasty trout species is not being illegally poached (it's grilled, in fact). Chef Jeff James' supply comes from farm-raised facilities in the lower Columbia region. Busy man: Joe Molano, a state Fish and Wildlife fish screen and ladder inspector, makes weekly visits from his Yakima base to nearly 80 federal and state screen sites a week in eastern Washington. Molano and two crew members, David Lloyd and Josh Zimmerman, recently installed the new screens below the Early Winters ditch headgate. Molano says he has about 30 screens to inspect in the Methow basin watersheds. No bull??: Taking something of a backseat in current fish discussions, the bull trout--also known as Dolly Varden--could be a bigger factor in the future. Forest Service biologist Jennifer Molesworth says the bull trout is found in the upper reaches of Wolf Creek near the headgates of the irrigation diversion on which Sun Mountain Lodge and several large ranches depend.
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