Red, if it makes you feel any better, most people feel the same way about their state resource management people. The problem I run into with governmental regulatory folks in the environmental consulting business is, well, there are several: lack of experience/competence, lack of funding, lack of personnel, lack of time, i.e., not enough of anything they really need to do their jobs really well. Except, for, perhaps the Missouri Dept. of Conservation back in the 90's (MO natives can tell me if they're still that good), who had solid funding and plenty of resources and personnel, and did lots of good science and conservation work. Like the linebacker-looking dude with the 9 mm on his hip who had Crane creek as his local beat - I swear this guy must have had some remote sensors out there because he would show up within 5 minutes or less no matter where I went on that creek!
But I digress...they mean well in some (maybe most) cases, operate on incomplete information in some, and generally incur the wrath of some part of the public or the other no matter what they do...
I do support restoration of native trout diversity wherever possible, and certainly out west there is a LOT of diversity. Rough habitat for trout, much of the West is with all the dry areas and lack of tree canopy, yet it is the very harshness of that habitat that creates the diversity through isolation. The trout know what they are doing, at least in an evolutionary sense, and we have been generally pretty clumsy in our attempts to understand them.
Tight lines to all in this discussion, and please don't kill anything you don't have to...and that which you do, give as much respect as possible.
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...