Thx Fumio,

I had a chance to talk with Curtis yesterday at length. Like you pointed out, the people at DFG are incredible in terms of spending time to answer questions from the public.

Curtis is coordinating this whole pre-stocking thing for DFG. Most of what he said echoed what you just posted. They're trying to stock the "easy ones" right away, but in the areas where there are decision species that could be affected by trout it may take considerable time to evaluate.

It's important for DFG to be consistent in their evaluation methods across all of the regions. From what I gather, the Center for Biological Diversity is not pleased with the outcome of the EIR and these pre-stocking assessment protocols. It seems very likely (from my point of view) that they will sue again.

So DFG has to be scientific and consistent in their methods. As fishermen that means we will probably have to wait a while, maybe a long while for evaluations and mitigation plans to be developed.

One thing that left me feeling good after yesterday's conversations is that Curtis understands this issue perfectly. He's spent years studying trout effects on yellow-leg frogs in the Sierras. He gets it that environments are complex and that one species can have effects (both good and bad) that go well beyond the obvious. I feel like right person is in charge of this to strike a balance between recreation and nature.