Turning the Page on 2020: An End of the Year Note from WSC Board Chair Greg Topf

Dear WSC Members, 

There is no way to sugarcoat it, 2020 has been a brutal year for everyone, and to be honest it feels like the gift that keeps on taking.

As tough as it has been for humanity, it has also been another rough year for wild steelhead, which continue to slip ever closer to extinction. The declining runs on the Olympic Peninsula, which just ignited early closures and some much-needed rule changes to reduce the angling community’s collective impact, are yet another powerful and harsh reminder of the tightrope we are walking when it comes to protecting wild steelhead while maintaining our ability to chase them.

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In normal times, the passion of the steelhead community buoys our collective spirits and inspires us to continue to fight for wild steelhead. Gatherings at fly shops, sportsmen’s expos, movie theaters, and breweries across Steelhead Country enable us to come together, drink beer, and celebrate steelhead. Fishing trips with friends and family remind us of the majesty of these mystical fish and instill us with the perseverance to keep fighting for a better steelhead future. These invigorating events make us know we are part of something greater than ourselves. But as we know all too well, they simply weren’t possible this year.

Like you, I have been forced to look for hope in other places, and much like the last steelhead I connected with, I ended up stumbling into something truly inspiring. Despite the difficulties of 2020, this year demonstrated the collective power we all yield when we come together to fight for wild steelhead. Amidst the doom and gloom, it was easy to miss example after example of the steelhead community steeling our spine to forge major progress throughout Steelhead Country. No doubt 2020 was tough, but I am deeply inspired by the tremendous strides our community took this year.

In the Chehalis Basin, which most years boasts a run of wild steelhead larger than any river in Washington state, the steelhead community was instrumental in convincing Governor Inslee to halt planning for a proposed destructive dam on the Upper Chehalis River. On the Olympic Peninsula, the steelhead community equipped enforcement officers with much-needed tools that are helping them catch poachers and protect wild fish. On the Lower Grande Ronde, the steelhead community united and raised tens of thousands of dollars to permanently protect eight acres of critical public fishing access. And from the Klamath River in Northern California to the Nooksack River in Washington, the steelhead community took historic strides in the fight to tear down dams and restore hundreds of miles of quality steelhead habitat. These wins are just a few examples of the many victories the steelhead community was able to forge this year.  

When the WSC was launched in 2001, it was founded on the guiding principle that the steelhead community has the power to work together to increase the return of wild steelhead to the waters of the West Coast. Over the last twenty years, that guiding principle has been proven true time and again. Two decades of experience has made it abundantly clear that when we come together and fight for our steelhead, we can eliminate the threats facing them and put these wild fish on the path to recovery.

As we close out this difficult year and start looking to 2021, I am filled with optimism about what we will be able to accomplish together. For us at the Wild Steelhead Coalition, it will be an historic year as we celebrate our 20th anniversary and launch a number of exciting initiatives that will have a transformative impact and further empower our community to fight for wild steelhead. And for us all, I am more convinced than ever that our community will enter 2021 with rolled-up sleeves, eagerness, and grit to do the hard work all steelheaders must do to stem the tide of decline and chart a brighter future for wild steelhead.  

Join the fight for wild steelhead and make your donation today!

Thank you for all you have done this year for wild steelhead and for all we will do together next year. I am hopeful that this time next year, we can gather in person - we all need that - to toast to our successes and to inspire each other to dig deeper and fight harder for a more steelhead abundant future. 

Happy Holidays,

Greg Topf

WSC Board Chair