The Fight for Willow Beach

[ihuntforfish]

Don't give it up. This is a battle of interest between the decision makers, and those who influence the decision--that's all of us fishermen. Instead of posting a report, or scanning through posts, copy and paste these e-mail addresses into an e-mail and detail in your own unique way why the historic Willow Beach Fish Hatchery's trout program is important to you, Nevada, and the Southwest Region. I hear people talking about the program as though it's dead; it sure is on the chopping block, even at the bottom of the barrel--but it isn't over. Inundate the inbox's of all the contributors, bureaucrats, and lawmakers until it's understood that what is at stake is more than a simple trout program, but a source of income and economy, a lifestyle, a culture, memories, an irreplaceable fishing mecca.

Fight for Willow Beach PUBLICLY on the official Arizona Fish and Wildlife Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AZFWCO?ref=br_tf

Scan through the list below. These are the ears to start filling and minds to begin changing. Keep in mind that the best medicine is to copy and paste every e-mail address, and send a mass-message with your pricelessly valuable opinion and voice.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - SW Region

- RDTuggle@fws.gov - Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director
- Stewart_Jacks@fws.gov - Stewart Jacks, Asst. Regional Director
- Denise_Jennings@fws.gov - Denise Jennings, BUDGET ANALYST
- Karin_Eldridge@fws.gov - Karin Eldridge, Fisheries Program Biologist
- Jennifer_FowlerPropst@fws.gov - Jennifer Fowler-Propst
- Jae_Ahn@fws.gov - Jae Ahn, Facilities Operation Specialist
- Melanie_Dabovich@fws.gov - Melanie Dabovich, Executive Assistant
- David_Britton@fws.gov - Dave Britton, Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator


Copy and Paste this list of the above mentioned people into your e-mail recipient box so that every one of them receive your message.

David_Britton@fws.gov, Melanie_Dabovich@fws.gov, Jae_Ahn@fws.gov, Jennifer_FowlerPropst@fws.gov, Karin_Eldridge@fws.gov, Denise_Jennings@fws.gov, Stewart_Jacks@fws.gov, RDTuggle@fws.gov
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[ihuntforfish]

Have Facebook? Fight for Willow Beach on the official Arizona Fish and Wildlife Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/AZFWCO?ref=br_tf
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[monsterfishgame]

I just emailed everyone of them asking where all the money from the trout stamp program has gone. Let's not forget the huge amount of money generated every year from all us suckers who pay for the trout stamp that should be going directly to this program.

If the program is dead, who can they still be charging people for a trout stamp? Seems like another case of government fraud to me.
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[ihuntforfish]

WOW, I truthfully never thought about that--I wonder where all of our fishing license/stamp funds allocate to--or have been allocating to. Thanks for doing your part brother, this program is coming back. The WBFH is the second largest in hatchery in the country, I'll bet that there is a lot of internal conflict about the trout program closing...we're pushing back, and I know we can get the program to be resumed. Keep pushing, keep e-mailing, keep howling. the wound is fresh, don't let it heal--or the thieves in power win another battle.
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[fishrdan]

Good to see the guys on BFT supporting the effort to get Willow Beach NFH raising/stocking trout again. I haven't seen much traffic on this site as to what actually happened at Willow Beach NFH, so here's a bunch of information you should be aware of.

- In 1959 a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bureau of Reclamation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service created the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery, for the express purpose of raising Rainbow Trout for fishermen.

- 1962, Willow Beach NFH started stocking Rainbow Trout into the Colorado River, Lake Mohave and other Arizona and Nevada waters in the following years.

-1973, Congress signs the Endangered Species Act into law. In the following years Willow Beach NFH starts raising endangered species; razorback suckers, bonytail chub, frogs.

(Life is good and everyone is happy, fishermen have plenty of trout to catch and the environmentalists have their endangered species being raised,,, in the "trout hatchery".)

- March of 2013 the USF&WS released a report "[url "http://www.fws.gov/fisheries/pdf_files/NFHSReviewCoverPageandReport.pdf?ID=5D0344A9-A2BD-B6DB-CA74C6A63F30B70D"]National Fish Hatchery System Strategic Hatchery and Workforce Planning Report[/url]" that in short says; endangered species (razorback suckers, bonytail chub, frogs, etc) are the USF&WS's top priority, while non-native, non-mitigation, unfunded fish (TROUT) are their lowest priority. See pages 8-9 of the report.

- May of 2013 [url "http://www.fws.gov/southwest/fisheries/willow_beach/documents/May_2013_Final.pdf"]Willow Beach NFH dumped almost 100,000 trout[/url] that would be needed to sustain hatchery operations into the future. These trout were very small, 99,885 trout only weighed 2184 pounds, fingerling sized. Also, WBNFH permanently sealed off the deep water intake for the trout hatchery, instead of repairing it.

- August of 2013 [url "http://www.fws.gov/southwest/fisheries/willow_beach/documents/August_2013_MR.pdf"]Willow Beach NFH had a 40,000 trout die-off[/url] due to the shallow water intake becoming clogged with weeds.

- November of 2013 [url "http://www.fws.gov/southwest/fisheries/willow_beach/documents/November_2013_MR.pdf"]Willow Beach NFH had a 22,000 trout die-off[/url] due to the hatcheries shallow water intake being uncovered by low water levels on the river. The lowering of Lake Mohave and the river was requested by the USF&WS to support their endangered species program... All remaining live trout in the hatchery were dumped into the river, all dead trout were buried, leaving the hatchery empty of trout. The USF&SW states that they have no money to fix the Willow Beach NFH and are stopping trout stocking.

- February of 2014, In the [url "http://new.livestream.com/mohavecountyus/bos"]Mohave County Board of Supervisors meeting of February 13th 2014[/url] , Stewart Jacks of the USF&WS states that the Willow Beach NFH is no longer considered a "mitigation hatchery" and also cites that the USF&WS is reprioritizing their agenda due to the USF&WS March 2013 report I mentioned above.

My perception of Mr Jacks statements in view of the other facts cited above, since "TROUT" are no longer considered "mitigation fish" at the Willow Beach NFH and under direction of the USF&WS's new priorities of only raising endangered species as a top priority, the trout program at Willow Beach NFH was put on the chopping block.

So my friends, the USF&WS "ending" their 50 year trout stocking program at Willow Beach NFH was not due to clogged pipes, low water levels or the lack of funding as they claim. The USF&WS had an agenda to slowly kill the trout stocking program by not maintaining the facility, then claiming they didn't have funds to repair the facility for future trout stocking.

The following hatcheries/facilities are raising razorback suckers, bonytail chub, frogs and other endangered species out west.

1- Achii Hanyo Native Fish Recovery Facility - AZ
2- Bubbling Ponds Native Fish Research Facility- AZ
3- Grand Valley Propogation Facility - CO
4- Horsetheif Canyon Native Fish Facility - CO
5- Hualapia Ponds - AZ
6- John W. Mumma Native Aquatic Species Restoration Facility - CO
7- Lake Mead Fish Hatchery - NV
8- Ouray NFH -UT
9- Southwest (Dexter) Native Aquatic Reserve - NM
10- Uvalde National Fish Hatchery - TX
11- Willow Beach NFH - AZ

With all of these facilities raising endangered species, why does the USF&WS have to kill the trout program at Willow Beach NFH?
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