Coming Events - Bill McMillian to Speak at February 4 Meeting February 2004
Guest Speaker: Bill McMillan
Presentation Title: The Situk and Skagit Rivers: A Comparison of Steelhead, Past and Present
When: Wednesday February 4th
Time: 6:30-7 Social come and have a beer or two and get caught up
with old and new friends. 7 Official meeting begins
Where: Bothell American Legion Post
19213 Bothell Way NE, Bothell, WA


For half a century Bill McMillan has fished Northwest steelhead rivers and observed both abundance and depletion. In early May 2003 Bill had his first experience fishing and observing Southeast Alaska's famed Situk River, well known for it's spectacular steelhead fishing. "It was to be my first experience of seeing steelhead abundance rivaling that of Pacific salmon such as chum. But the fact is, I have since found that it was but a reduced level of depletion. Nevertheless, the experience is one that has suggested how far off the target we may be in setting goals for steelhead restoration in the Pacific Northwest of the Lower 48." In this presentation Bill will compare and contrast Alaska's Situk River with our own Skagit River, and how the history of steelhead abundance and depletion has played out in both systems.

Bill McMillan started fishing at age 5. In 1965-66 he began fisheries studies at the UW but found fish conservation subordinate to hatchery propagation. With Haig-Brown's writings as guide, fishing became his means for data collection and fishery activism outside the system. In 1983 he initiated snorkel surveys that documented wild steelhead declines in southwest Washington. In 1995-96 he was American director of a Russian/American research camp on the Kamchatka Peninsula funded by the Wild Salmon Center. Bill is currently president of Washington Trout and remains active in conservation efforts statewide. In November 2002 Bill was the WSC's guest speaker on the topic of "Hatchery Impacts on Wild Steelhead Populations".