Samish unit/ West 90. Is this the beginning of the end?

[ghosthunter]

Today in Skagit Valley Herald front page. Article about the Samish unit and a water gate project being applauded by Ducks Unlimited.

The project would add water when needed it says.

Now I admit I am not up to speed on this. But I have a sick feeling we are going to loose one of the best public hunting areas to walk in hunters.
The game department has been giving up hunting areas for fish flooding.

Reading some of the partners involved in this project scares me.

Any body know any thing more detailed?

[ghosthunter]

http://idahostatejournal.com/outdoors/northwest/drainage-project-to-improve-popular-duck-hunt-destination/article_2332db72-2811-5ace-b017-8612906ab442.html

[JJD]

Sure hope you don't lose the spot, but it would not surprise me if you did.

[NW-GSP]

I'm interested in how the land was bought in the first place.

 Why would they be dumping over a half a million dollars on a chunk of land instead of buying more land for public hunting.

[kodiak 907]

The days are numbered for the samish. Critical habitat for " native steelhead and kings". 

[ghosthunter]

I am getting real sick of losing good walk in hunting areas to Salmon that just get gobbled up by nets.

[NW-GSP]

I am getting real sick of losing good walk in hunting areas to Salmon that just get gobbled up by nets.

I agree. Look into how the land was acquired, there might be requirements on land access depending on how it wad aquired.

[Man Tracker]

Unless something has changed in the last year, the Samish has little to offer in the way of restoration.  DFW has earmarked the Skagit/Stilly/Snohomish basins due to Chinook concerns.  The Samish doesn't have the same issues since the fish are all hatchery.  ESA "concerns" seem to drive all decisions, even when they make no sense.  So lets hope the work on the Samish/West 90 unit is really to enable DFW to better control water levels for duck hunting!

[Special T]

Is this in reference to the "samish" unit bording padilla bay, or the smaller piece that borders the river?
I dont think either are a great idea but a clarification is needed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

[ghosthunter]

Hunting, Wildlife Recreation, Agriculture, and Restoration Communities,
 
 
 
Please find two documents attached to this email that describe a new Initiative from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Region 4.  The documents relate to ongoing estuary restoration projects on WDFW lands and the needs of WDFW to continue to provide walk-in hunting, waterfowl forage, and other recreational opportunities.  Our Region’s goal is to continue to support all of these causes, and we hope that implementing this Initiative will allow us to do so.
 
 
 
The memo document explains the broader Initiative that encompasses all of Region 4, and the other document is a plan specific to the Skagit and Samish deltas that will be used to implement the Initiative in that area. 

 
 
Please feel free to pass this email on to others who may be interested.  If you would like any additional information, please contact Project Coordinator Loren Brokaw at Loren.Brokaw@dfw.wa.gov or (425) 775 – 1311 ext. 105.
 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Bob Everitt
 
 
WDFW Skagit/Samish Replacement Land Plan Summary
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) owns lands in the Skagit and Samish River deltas that have historically functioned as a stronghold for Pacific flyway waterfowl management and high quality waterfowl hunting. Some of these lands were acquired during the 1950s with Pittman Robertson Act funding; later land was acquired with North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) funding. These lands were acquired for the purposes of farming and freshwater wetland enhancements for waterfowl management, and WDFW has contractual and programmatic obligations to continue to provide these functions. Much of the lands purchased using these funds include lowland farm parcels.
Puget Sound Chinook salmon have been listed under the Endangered Species Act. As a co-author of the 2005 Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan; WDFW has an obligation to lead recovery actions. Additionally, due to state legislation enacted over the past decade, salmon recovery efforts have been strongly directed at publically owned lands.
The 2005 Skagit Chinook recovery plan identifies restoration of estuary habitat as the highest priority for Chinook recovery. The recovery plan established a goal of 1.35 million new smolts, which is associated with a need to restore approximately 2,700 acres of estuary habitat. Lowland parcels, particularly those adjacent to marine dikes, have the highest potential for re-establishing estuary habitat and subsequently supporting Chinook recovery. Although much of this land is privately held, WDFW owns several parcels; these have become of significant interest for estuary restoration.
WDFW proposes to balance salmon recovery and estuary restoration efforts with waterfowl management obligations under NAWCA (North American Wetlands Act) and upland waterfowl hunting and farmed forage program objectives. To that end, WDFW has developed a replacement land plan for the Skagit and Samish River deltas (Map 1). The purposes of the replacement land plan are to:
 Describe the contractual and programmatic obligations WDFW has on existing lands;
 Document the need for replacement land on a site by site basis; and
 Describe the strategies WDFW has for meeting contractual and programmatic obligations.
WDFW is actively engaged in salmon habitat restoration and restoration planning projects. To date, WDFW has collaborated to restore estuarine habitat at Wiley Slough (Headquarters Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area) and Deepwater Slough Phase 1 (Island Unit) and is planning to restore habitat at the Fir Island Farm Reserve in 2015/2016. WDFW is also considering restoration of additional habitat at Deepwater Slough Phase 2. However, as shown in Table 1, restoration of estuary habitat results in a loss of farmed waterfowl forage and upland waterfowl hunting access.
Table 2. Summary of farmed winter forage area and upland waterfowl hunting opportunities potentially lost due to salmon recovery efforts on state lands. WDFW Management Unit1 Salmon Recovery Project Winter Forage Area (acres) Upland Hunter Units2 Total NAWCA Displaced Total Displaced
Headquarters (pre-2009)
Wiley Slough (constructed)
100
--
100
10
10
Fir Island Farm
Fir Island Farm (2016)
215
X
130
0
0
Island Unit
Deepwater Slough 2 (proposed)
100
--
100
10
10 Total 415 330 20 20
1. Does not apply to Milltown Island or Telegraph Slough; these projects, as currently proposed, do not displace traditional waterfowl management programs or upland waterfowl hunting.
2. Hunter units estimated by WDFW staff as of June 2014. A Hunter Unit is a metric of the number of hunting parties that a property can safely and effectively support at any single time.
Because salmon recovery projects result in displacement of farmed winter forage and upland waterfowl hunting opportunities as identified in the table, WDFW has established the following goals for replacement lands:
Farmed Winter Forage: Replace 130 acres of farmed winter forage to meet contractual obligations under NAWCA and an additional 200 acres to meet programmatic forage objectives.
Upland Waterfowl Hunting: Provide 20 new hunter units to meet programmatic objectives for upland waterfowl hunting opportunities.
As part of a balanced approach to salmon recovery, WDFW is committed to replacing waterfowl forage and hunting opportunities and has considered several strategies to meet these goals for replacement lands. These strategies include:
 Change Management of Existing WDFW Land
 Secured Lands



Everitt

[NW-GSP]

Sounds great but I will believe it when I see it

[addicted2hunting]

I like the Samish spot for walk in public land hunting too... I do however think that it will improve the early season hunting on that spot due to lack of water... I don't like how it has been sooo packed in the later part of the season due to the water levels not being optimal till then... lets see how this actually works out.

[johnsc6]

 :bdid:Bye , bye field hunting hello marsh hunting......headquarters all over again.

[kodiak 907]

 

[h2ofowlr]

They probably replace it with additional QH units, which are a joke.  Especially the reservation aspect as it displaces all the local hunters.  If they start in on the Samish unit a lot of people will be screwed.  The other habitat restoration projects have drastically changed the hunting we used to see.  Went from great hunting to poor at best in those location.

You want to fix the issues, start removing nets from spawning rivers and streams.  Quickest way to fix the issue.  They know it, but they won't challenge the NA.