Haiku

1st Place

Creek smells of autumn
Why do we talk today?
The stink in the fall
—Bob Warinner

2nd Place

Washington the place
Salmon chose their precious space
Humans share wee trace
—Craig Smith

3rd Place

6 steps to success
4 Hs, 16 watersheds
More salmon…priceless
—Anonymous

Limerick

1st Place

There once was a Chinook on the Green
Who’d returned from wherever he’d been
Far he had traveled
In search of some gravel
To deposit his sample of genes
—Gordon Thomson

2nd Place

“Hope springs eternal” they say
Thinking and planning’s okay
But it’s more than a wish
To recover the fish
Implementation’s the way!
—Tom Kantz

3rd Place

We thought it was H out at sea
Redd counts and large woody debris
But when the salmon come back
Some things they don’t lack
Lead, mercury, EDCs, PCBs
—Jonathan Frodge

Other Haiku Contributions

Recovery isn’t
Billy, Jeff, Lorraine, or Ron
It’s you, me and all
—Bob Hayman

Amazing salmon
Recovery involves all
Integration key
—Anonymous

“Random Haiku Thoughts on the Next Steps”
Challenge is not new
All-H may be hard to do
Salmon are worth it
—Cathy Lear

Two days completed
Many years of work ahead
Salmon forever
—Anonymous

Bears, eagles, people
Eat salmon grown from rivers
Of water, bugs, trees, and rocks.
—Sayre Hodgson

Haiku’s by Kathy Taylor

Salmon are calling
Spirits past and future hopes
Salmon. Our Calling.

Stream, nearshore, ocean
Clear passage, habitat, food
Salmon need all these

Clean water, land, air
A healthy ecosystem
Is needed by all.

Puget Sound needs true
Cooperation. Please help
Our children’s future.

Abundant life. Death.
Blood-backed salmon choked the creek.
Life, death gone. Sterile.
—Tom Kantz

All are important
Salmon, people, land, rivers
We work to help all.
—Kathy Taylor and Tom Kantz (another fine example of state and local cooperation!)

Haiku’s by Craig Smith

I want to win prize
Salmon want to swim freely
Pick my haiku please.

Salmon super cool
Humans not super duper
Humans must change now

Salmon taste super
Too bad humans don’t also
Let us change taste buds

Intergalactic
Cooperating people
Produce great results

Washington the place
Salmon chose their precious space
Humans share, we trace

Salmon swim against
Dams, hooks, nets, trash, teeth, droughts, floods,
Politics!/nature

Whole lot of talking
Salmon are still dying now
Let’s see some action

Donuts and coffee
Produce results on paper
Rubber boots and dirty hands

Haikus by Margaret Duncan

Integration First
Adaptive management next?
Eggs are best scrambled

Integration here
Adaptive management there
H with M – H-I-AMM!!

The fish show something new
In the VSPs
The H-I-AMM Teams making change

Here come AMM and more—
H integration
To bring to the fore!

Sacred Sentinel
Teach us to listen, not speak
Unite us stream to sea
—P. Chambers

Limericks

There are a lot of people who love to eat salmon
Not chickens, or beef steak, or gammon
So let’s make some salmon come back
Or our diet will lack
So at Bar-B-Ques we won’t hear that lamb’s on
—Paul Crane

We met to get the Hs integrated
We made new combined actions that have us elated
Like habichery maximum restharcation
And hatchvest complete sustainavation
Plus a new harvitat program has just been created
—Sayre Hodgson

In the Puget Sound of the past
We thought salmon abundance would last
There’s a lot to think through
And much more work to do
To ensure salmon recovery works fast
—Unknown

There once were some people so brave
Who thought that some salmon they’d save
They need to build trust
So their plans don’t combust
And cooperate, not hide in a cave
—Same unknown as above

I think that we all could agree
We rely too much on the TRT
When it all comes around it will be the work on the ground
From the forests through the farms to the sea
—Unknown

Our esteemed moderator named Jagoda
When asked about integration said, “Ya gotta”
It took us six steps, with all the H reps
And now we are all singing “Kumbaya”
—Unknown

Honorable mention – The Aquatic Tour
There once was a fish from the Sound
Who traveled the Pacific route ‘round
Thanks to the Hs she’s here
Swimming waters cool and clear
Headed home to her own spawning ground
—Cathy Lear

Miscellaneous Creative Writing

Two Cheers

Let’s integrate those H’s
VSP AHA…VSP AHA…VSP AHA AHA

Let’s challenge the STATUS QUO
VSP AHA…VSP AHA…VSP AHA AHA

Let’s keep the salmon swimming
AHA AHA
—Steve Seymour

Let’s integrate those H’s
Quickly through…
The planet is warming
—Steve Seymour

Irish Blessing

May you have the health
Of a salmon
A strong heart and a wet mouth