The department made significant progress in 1997 on the overall condition of Washington’s fish and wildlife resources. Much remains to be done, however. Each year the state gains 10,000 new citizens and converts 30,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat to alternative uses. The following are just some of the department’s accomplishments in 1997 benefiting fish and wildlife and their habitat:

• The Hatcheries Program in 1997 released more than 1.7 million juvenile chinook into the Dungeness River system in an effort to save natural runs from near extinction. By the year 2000, the program expects 600 adult chinook will return with a final goal of 1,000 returning adults by 2010. The effort mimics another recovery program begun a decade earlier in the White River system. That project is considered a success and populations have stabilized, with more than 1,000 adult chinook returning annually.

• A research project is tracking the movements of bald eagles that gather each winter along the Skagit River. Fifteen of approximately 500 bald eagles – the largest concentration in the lower 48 states – are fitted with satellite radio collars to help biologists identify and evaluate the quality of their non-winter habitat.

• Thirteen mountain caribou were transplanted from British Columbia to northeast Washington in 1997 to rebuild the Selkirk Mountain population. The existing population of caribou in the Selkirks of northeast Washington, northern Idaho and southern British Columbia is estimated at fewer than 50. The mountain caribou is the most endangered large mammal in the United States.

• WDFW in 1997 established the Lands and Restoration Program. The program manages state and federal land and works cooperatively with private landowners statewide to protect 2 million acres for habitat and recreation. The program was established with existing resources with the goal of becoming better stewards of our own lands.

• Because of protections and habitat improvements, the gray whale and Aleutian Canada goose were downlisted in 1997. The gray whale moved from the state’s endangered list to its sensitive list, and the Aleutian Canada goose was downlisted from endangered to threatened.

• The department made it to illegal to kill, harm or possess the California mountain kingsnake, Washington ground squirrel or any bats. Prior to agency action, a loophole allowed such acts to go unpunished. Bats found in homes and buildings are exempted under the new law.