7. NMFS REGIONAL CHIEF URGES CONSENSUS BUILDING

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By presenting a united front, the region increases the chances that
its voice will be heard when it comes time to make key decisions regarding
management of the Columbia River Basin, says Will Stelle, Northwest regional
administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. NMFS, in a 1995
biological opinion, specified that changes in operations for the federal
Columbia-Snake river hydroelectric system are necessary to improve in-river
survival of Snake River salmon species listed ...

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10. DUNCAN TO HEAD NEW ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATION

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Former Northwest Power Planning Council chairman Angus Duncan has been
named executive director of the fledgling Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

The Foundation was created last summer under a cooperative venture involving
conservation organizations -- Renewable Northwest Project, Natural Resources
Defense Council, and Northwest Energy Coalition -- and the Bonneville Power
Administration.

The three environmental groups endorse select, environmentally preferred
resources. ...

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12. FEEDBACK

/in ,

of Washington Department of Fish and Game regarding
the story in Oct. 23 CBB on Ives Island flow augmentation proposal:

In the article, I was quoted as saying that the proposal put forward
by Washington, Oregon and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide augmented
flows for fall chinook spawning below Bonneville would pose zero added
impact to the power system and Biological Opinion. What I meant was that
the action taken by NMFS and BPA (intentionally reducing flows to ...

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9. PATH 1998 REPORT DUE OUT IN DECEMBER

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The scientific group called PATH (Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses),
will release its final report for Fiscal Year 1998 this December. The report
will cover hypotheses concerning recovery of endangered and threatened
stocks of Snake River spring/summer chinook, as well as preliminary analyses
for Snake River fall chinook and steelhead.

PATH organizers this week have been discussing how best to release the
report. Options now include first presenting the report to the ...

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2. FEDS REJECT PROPOSAL TO AID SPAWNERS BELOW BONNEVILLE

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After weeks of talks, the Bonneville Power Administration and National
Marine Fisheries Service rejected a proposal to provide minimum flows to
protect a naturally spawning population of fall chinook below Bonneville
Dam.

State and federal fish managers say Bonneville, with the National Marine
Fisheries Service's agreement, is actually shaping operations to eliminate
the spawners from the area around Ives, Pierce, and Hamilton Islands in
the mainstem Columbia.

Although the issue was

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13. CULVERT REPLACEMENT IMPROVES ACCESS FOR SPAWNING

/in

Montana fisheries biologists say a BPA-funded culvert replacement project
at Hungry Horse Reservoir has been a hit with spawning trout.

Before-and-after surveys show an obvious increase in spawners using
previously inaccessible streams that flow into the reservoir, said Ladd
Knotek, a fisheries biologist with the state Department of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks.

Before, several of the streams presented nearly insurmountable obstacles
for fish aiming to swim upstream. One, called Felix ...

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15. NEW APPOINTMENTS AT ODFW

/in

George Buckner and Jack Graham were appointed to executive positions
at the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.

Jim Greer, Director of ODFW, announced the appointments Oct. 12.

George Buckner was appointed Assistant Wildlife Division Chief. In that
position, he'll manage ODFW's habitat, game and wildlife diversity activities,
including moving the agency toward a watershed based approach to resource
management and addressing state and federal funding. Most recently, Buckner
held a ...

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10. NW SPORTFISHING INDUSTRY ENDORSES BREACHING

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The Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Thursday announced its
endorsement of partially removing four federal dams on the lower Snake
River to restore Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead.

"This wasn't an easy decision for us. But after years of declining
salmon runs and the failure of fish barging and other expensive 'techno-fixes',
it is clear that restoring more natural river conditions is the only hope
for our salmon and steelhead," said Liz Hamilton, Executive ...

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9. NUMBERS UP FOR SNAKE RIVER FALL CHINOOK

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Threatened Snake River fall chinook appear "headed for a record
high" return to their spawning grounds above Lower Granite Dam since
tallies were begun in 1975.

The population remains a small fraction of its historic levels, but
appears to be responding to measures taken since the Snake River wild population
was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1992, said Steven King,
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's salmon fishery manager.

The current projection is for

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4. COUNCIL APPROVES $131 MILLION IN PROJECTS

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The Northwest Power Planning Council this week recommended that the
Bonneville Power Administration use $131.4 million in 1999 to fund 275
Columbia River basin fish and wildlife restoration projects.

The action came during its meeting Tuesday and Wednesday at Grouse Mountain
Lodge in Whitefish, Montana.

The budget figure was nearly $5 million higher than this year thanks
to an agreement which allowed the use of money from a contingency reserve
and carryover and interest from the ...

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5. TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNDING REJECTED

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Funding requests for tribal law enforcement projects were rejected Wednesday
as the Northwest Power Planning Council stressed the need to better define
how the proposed activities would to help achieve the goals of its direct
fish and wildlife program.

The Council followed the advice of its Fish and Wildlife Committee in
deciding not to reserve funding for law enforcement in the $131.4 million
1999 direct program budget.

The decision on the law enforcement portion of the budget ...

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7. WASHINGTON ADOPTS EMERGENCY LOGGING RULES

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Partly in response to the National Marine Fisheries Service's determination
that Washington's current "Forest Practice Rules" jeopardize
salmonids, the state's Forest Practices Board this week approved a new
emergency rule designed to protect endangered steelhead in the Columbia
River Basin.

The new emergency rule, approved on a divided voice vote, is aimed at
protecting Washington's Upper Columbia steelhead, Snake River steelhead
and Lower Columbia steelhead, all of which ...

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3. TRANSITION BOARD EXPLORES STRANDED COST RECOVERY

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A final shaping of Transition Board recommendations on "stranded
cost" recovery mechanisms for the Bonneville Power Administration
will await specifics from the power agency's own proposal for covering
its costs during the 2002-2006 rate period.

"We're just going to sit tight," said Dick Watson, director
of the Northwest Power Planning Council's power planning division. Watson
and other staff members presented a revised version of a "contingent
cost recovery ...

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10. COUNCIL POISED TO DECIDE PROJECT FUNDING

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The Northwest Power Planning Council will consider last-minute arguments
and staff recommendations next week before making its own recommendations
on 1999 fish and wildlife direct program project funding.

The Council convenes Tuesday and Wednesday in Whitefish, Mont. Chief
among the agenda items will be consideration of a final list of projects
it will request the Bonneville Power Administration to fund.

According to a federal Memorandum of Agreement that runs through 2001,
$127 ...

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1. STEELHEAD BIOP SETS HARVEST THRESHOLD

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A biological opinion issued late Thursday (Sept. 10) indicates that
Columbia River fish harvest levels have not yet reached a threshold that
would "jeopardize" threatened steelhead stocks.

It does say that threshold would be surpassed if tribal fishers, who
are pursuing primarily fall chinook, stick strictly to the terms of a harvest
agreement reached in negotiations with federal agencies.

The biological opinion drafted by the National Marine Fisheries Service
addresses ...

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1. MARSH REJECTS TRIBES-NMFS HARVEST AGREEMENT

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An attempt to gain court approval for a tribal commercial harvest of
fall chinook on the Columbia River was shot down Thursday over concerns
about the impact on steelhead listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act.

In denying his approval of a "stipulated agreement" for harvests
to begin Sept. 7, U.S. District Court Malcolm F. Marsh chastised the federal
government for what he called an attempt to circumvent the mandate of the
ESA.

Attorneys for the states of ...

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2. NMFS TAKES HEAT OVER WATER POLICIES

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The National Marine Fisheries Service's flow augmentation and water
withdrawal policies for the Columbia and lower Snake Rivers do not contribute
to salmon survival and pose a threat to state water rights and local property
rights.

That was the primary criticism leveled against NMFS during a four-hour
congressional hearing Wednesday in Pasco.

State legislators, irrigators, researchers, and members of Congress
expressed concern that NMFS's "zero net water loss" for the ...

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8. COUNTIES DISCUSS DAM BREACHING WITH LOCKE

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County commissioners representing 13 Eastern Washington counties visited
Washington Gov. Gary Locke on Aug. 21 to ask him to publicly oppose dam
breaching and drawdown.

"We are asking you to declare unequivocally to the Clinton Administration
that dam removal and deep-river draw downs are unacceptable options for
addressing declining salmon runs," Benton County Commissioner Max
Benitz, Jr. told the governor.

"Modifications to the dams can be made to improve fish ...

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9. THREE SOVEREIGNS GETS NEW NAME, REVISED MOA

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Staff for the Three Sovereigns process last week finally sent to governors,
tribal leaders and the Clinton Administration a Memorandum of Agreement
intended to better focus Columbia River governance.

The Three Sovereigns process was launched a little more than a year
ago with the goal of improving fish and wildlife management in the basin.
Attempts to gain consensus on a memorandum of agreement to direct state,
federal and tribal energies have languished in the draft stage.

The latest

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14. JUVENILE WILD FALL CHINOOK SHOW INCREASE

/in

This year's run of juvenile Snake River fall chinook looks good, according
to National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries biologist Paul Wagner.

"Assuming the ocean is friendly, things could go well," Wagner
said.

The fish passage index for wild fall chinook subyearlings at Lower Granite
Dam was five times as high as expected, according to cumulative data from
the Columbia River Fish Passage Center.

The fish passage index, however, is not a measurement of actual ...

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15. USFWS TAKES COMMENT ON LYNX LISTING

/in

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold four public hearings in
the Columbia Basin next month to receive public comments on its proposal
to list the Canada lynx as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The proposal to list the lynx is part of a legal settlement between
USFWS and 15 non-governmental organizations.

USFWS says the reasons for the lynx's decline include loss of habitat,
over-trapping, increased human access to suitable habitat and human-induced
changes in ...

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10. FUTURE FISH COSTS WILL BE ‘RANGE OF UNCERTAINTY’

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The Bonneville Power Administration is prepared to offer a range of
potential Fish and Wildlife Program costs, instead of a specific number,
when it presents its rate case for the period 2002 to 2006.

BPA has been assembling what its describes as planning assumptions-estimated
costs that drive its rate requirements-in preparation for a mid-September
presentation to the Administration, according to Bob Lohn, BPA manager's
for fish and wildlife.

The unsettled direction of the region's

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11. BONNEVILLE ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATION LAUNCHED

/in ,

Dams in Washington and Idaho and a wind-power project in Wyoming have
been selected as the first "environmentally preferred" resources
for the new and novel Bonneville Environmental Foundation, according to
organizers.

The foundation was formed this summer as a collaboration between the
Bonneville Power Administration, the Renewable Northwest Project, the Natural
Resources Defense Council and the Northwest Energy Coalition. The independent,
non-profit charitable ...

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6. THREE SOVEREIGNS PREPARE MOA, BUDGET

/in

The Three Sovereigns Process took a step toward reality Thursday when
an "interim" committee met, selected a chairman, discussed budget
alternatives and set a date for launching its ratification process.

The first task of the interim committee-composed of four state, four
federal and four tribal representatives -- is a final, fine-tuning of the
document that will guide its actions. That "Memorandum of Agreement
for Three Sovereigns' Governance of the Columbia River ...

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1. BONNEVILLE TAKES FISH FUNDING PACKAGE TO PUBLIC

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The Bonneville Power Administration this week is taking
a post-2001 fish and wildlife funding proposal to the public that includes
both future fish costs and revenue-raising strategies the agency could
employ to meet all of its financial obligations for the 2002-2006 rate
period.

BPA's fish costs are now capped at an average $435 million a year for
the 1996-2001 period. Fish costs for 2002-2006 are estimated to range from
$438 million to $727 million a year. The final number will ...

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