We have good reason to be thankful this year -

• Fourth good salmon run in a row

• Anglers are just finishing up another good season on the coast, and large numbers of Chinook and Coho salmon are now moving into Puget Sound.

• Meanwhile, 85% of listed wild stocks have gained strength - many significantly - since the mid-1990s.

But we know salmon returns are cyclical

• Ocean conditions change and scientists are predicting another mild El Nino - yet overall ocean conditions are changing to increase salmon runs.

• That's why everyone is working so hard to build the foundation for sustainable runs in the future.

• When I say "everyone," I mean the treaty tribes, WDFW, known as co-managers, local volunteers, landowners and decision makers from city councils and county commissions to the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

Working both individually and together we've made real progress on all 4H's of salmon recovery:

• Harvest management, including a wide range of measures to protect weak, wild stocks.

• Hatchery reform, which includes ongoing efforts to ensure our facilities assist in rebuilding native runs and provide sustainable fisheries

• Agreements with Hydropower operators to reduce the impact of large to small dams on salmon runs throughout the state (I'll say more about that in a minute)

• And Habitat improvements, which just about everyone recognizes are the key to healthy salmon runs in the future.

  State, tribal and local organizations have completed hundreds of habitat-restoration projects throughout the state in the past 5 years alone.

Many of those initiatives would have been inconceivable without "cooperation" between everyone involved - particularly the state and the treaty tribes.

• Now, whether the issue is joint harvest or hatchery guidelines or new scientific tools that maximize recovery efforts, state and tribal biologists are working together like never before.

• In fact, sometimes it's hard to tell who's biologist is working for whom . . .

• Because, at the end of the day, we're all working for the salmon

It's no secret that state-tribal relations haven't always been this way.

• It's been 30 years since the Boldt decision brought a new order to salmon management in Washington State. And it took some time to adjust to a new way of doing business.

• But, as Billy Frank of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission used to tell anybody who would listen, it makes no sense to "fight over the last fish."

• Sure, we co-managers still have disagreements from time to time. But we are all working for the same boss now - the salmon - and we have accomplished some great things as a result.

• We have moved the co-management process from reactive and combative, to proactive and cooperative - a huge change!

The state's partnership with the treaty tribes really started to come together in the mid-80s with 3 milestone events:

• North of Falcon process
  In 1984, state and tribal fisheries managers created a new forum to jointly manage fisheries for salmon and other species in "inside" waters. It was tough at first, but now North of Falcon is recognized as a cornerstone of co-management.

• Puget Sound Salmon Harvest Management Plan
  The Boldt Decision told us WHAT to do, but it didn't really tell us HOW to do it. In 1985, the rules for co-managing salmon in Puget Sound were memorialized in the Puget Sound Salmon Management Plan. Negotiations were intense, but the agreement reached by the state and the treaty tribes remains the foundation for salmon management in the Sound.

• US-Canada Treaty
  Also in 1985, the state and the treaty tribes joined forces during negotiations over the original U.S.-Canada salmon treaty. The first agreement, which focused on Columbia River Chinook, was renegotiated in 1999 to include a new agreement on Fraser River sockeye and coastal Coho. First Nations in Canada also participated in these negotiations for the first time. If not for the evolving relationship between the state and the tributes, neither agreement would have been possible.

Since then, WDFW and the tribes have collaborated on a broad array of other initiatives designed to restore wild salmon runs and improve fishery management, including:

• Comprehensive management plans for Puget Sound Chinook and Hood Canal chum salmon, which lay out a recovery strategy for salmon populations listed under the ESA.

• Participation in Shared Strategy for Puget Sound Salmon Recovery, which involves local governments, landowners and others in that coordinated and cooperative effort.

• The Forests and Fish Agreement of 1997, which set the stage for improved logging practices and road maintenance on private forestlands over the next 50 years.

• New scientific tools such as computerized fish and habitat databases, which provide a common inventory of wild stock populations and habitat conditions.

  SSHIAP, a map-based databank of habitat conditions, is a prime example of the type of collaboration I'm talking about.

  The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission got the ball rolling, WDFW joined the effort, and we ultimately designed the web-based system that allows people to access that information on their PCs.

• Shellfish management plans, which jointly establish catch allocations, harvest regulations and other parameters for fisheries in 25 areas of western Washington each year.

• Hatchery reform, an unprecedented effort by the tribes, the state, and others to work side-by-side with a group of independent scientists and carve out comprehensive guidelines for hatchery operations, guidelines that insure our hatcheries, indispensable for wild salmon recovery and sustainable fisheries, are compatible with the local watersheds in which they exist.

• With regard to Hydro Projects, we've worked together to improve conditions for salmon on a lot of rivers over the years.

  The agreement with Seattle City Light in 1991 is still held up as a prime example of a fish-friendly mitigation agreement. Speaking with one voice, the state and the Skagit River tribes successfully argued for improved flows and $26 million in fish and wildlife mitigation on the Skagit.

  Since then, we've won major concessions on rivers such as the Nisqually and the Elwha, - and perhaps soon - the Baker and the Lewis.

Having said this, I don't want to suggest that the state and the tribes have become indistinguishable.

• The simple fact is that we serve different constituencies. We represent different types of fisheries and we share some - but not all - of the same cultural associations with salmon.

But our shared interest in the future of our salmon resource is a lot stronger than the things that separate us.

• Working together - and with others throughout the state - we are now on the road to real, long-term salmon recovery.

• But the fact remains that we still have a long way to go before the future of this invaluable native resource is secure.

• The next El Nino event may test the work we've done so far. For now, the important thing is to keep working together and gain every advantage we can for the future of Northwest salmon.