I’ve got to say, you guys are pretty amazing.

In my 12 years at The News Tribune I’ve written hundreds of stories about hundreds of interesting people and received all kinds of feedback from the readers – some of it even good.

But I’ve never seen reaction like what followed Monday’s feature on John Kircher. Kircher runs Crystal Mountain and the Summit at Snoqualmie and is battling liver disease. He needs a liver transplant.

Two readers, neither of whom have ever met Kircher, called me to say they’d like to donate a portion of their liver to Kircher.

Amazing.

I’ve passed along their contact info to John Kircher.

According to a source at Crystal, Kircher was back in the hospital earlier this week. Kircher hopes to get a liver transplant from his brother-in-law in the next few weeks.

UPDATE
A Seattle TV station read this post today and called saying they wanted to do a story on the people who offered donate a portion of their livers to Kircher. I passed the message on to both.

The first was not home. The second declined saying he's not trying to get attention. "I just felt the urge to do something when I read the article and saw the picture of him with his kid," he said. "We are suppose to act on those urges."

Photo by Peter Haley

The state just announced that because of low returns of steelhead this year to the Skagit River basin, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is adjusting recreational fishing seasons on the Cascade, Sauk and Skagit rivers and Fisher Slough to protect wild steelhead.

Beginning Saturday, anglers fishing the Cascade, Sauk and Skagit rivers and Fisher Slough must follow selective gear rules. Those rules require anglers to use unscented artificial flies or lures with single-point barbless hooks and knotless nets.

Those and other selective gear rules scheduled to take effect on those waters are listed on page 26 of WDFW’s Fishing in Washington regulation pamphlet. There will be some exceptions, however, for the use of motorized vessels on the Skagit River.

Click here to see the selective rules.

=> Read more!

"They're here!" was the message this afternoon from Joe Hymer of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Test dipping today confirmed smelt are present in the lower Cowlitz. Bank dipping near the Longview Bridge produced about 15 fish in a dozen dips, with up to three fish per dip. There was a mix sizes, including some large specimens.

Hymer reported later today that commercial fishermen in the mainsteam of the Columbia landed more smelt on Monday night (3,411 pounds) than the entire season to date through last week (2,444 pounds).

As a reminder, sport dipping is only allowed on the Cowlitz River, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays through March 31. The daily limit is 10 pounds per person per day.

Road crews have been able to punch their way through the snow -- 15 feet deep in some spots -- to reach the Paradise area at Mount Rainier National Park.

Whether that means you can go sledding, skiing, snowshoeing or snowboarding this weekend at Paradise has not been decided.

There is still plenty of snow to be removed before the road can be reopened, said park spokeswoman Donna Rahier.

We'll keep you posted when we learn something new.

Click here for a Webcam shot of the snow blanketing the area at the new visitor center at Paradise.