The Panel
letter: SSB5637

letter: SSB5637
in printer-friendly Adobe PDF format

Site Updated
June 18, 2001
by tza

Letter sent to panel members noting passage of SSB5637
(Washington Statewide Monitoring Strategy and Action Plan)

"May 21, 2001     

Validation Monitoring Panel Members

Dear ___   ,

Our report, “The Scientific Basis for Validation Monitoring of Salmon for Conservation and Restoration Plans,” continues to influence salmon conservation policies in the Pacific Northwest.  Last week Washington State Governor Locke singed into law SSB5637, a summary of which I have enclosed.

The prime sponsor of this bill was Senator Ken Jacobson, who was impressed with the conclusions made by our report and by those made by the Washington State Independent Science panel.  The two reports were released in December of last year.  The scientists that authored these reports independently came to the same conclusion; salmon conservation efforts are not likely to succeed unless more effort is applied to monitoring results.  In March of this year, Dan Botkin and I sent a letter to Governor Locke, with copies to key legislators, calling attention to the mutually supporting conclusions in these two reports.

SSB5637 is recognition by the Washington State Legislature that comprehensive monitoring, including validation monitoring, is necessary in order to achieve societal goals regarding salmon conservation.  Senator Jacobson was directly influenced by the scientific consensus expressed in these reports. 

I want to again thank you for your work on the validation monitoring report and hope you appreciate this positive response from the Washington State Legislature as much as I do.

Sincerely,

John M. Calhoun, Director
Olympic Natural Resources Center 

cc:
Dean Vogt
Policy Advisory Board"

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