Idaho Department of Fish and Game has asked the National Marine Fisheries
Service to "clarify" its plans for wild steelhead harvest rates
during the 1998 mainstem fisheries and include Idaho in any negotiations
impacting the numbers of steelhead returning to the state's waters.

"Earlier this year you sent a letter to the Columbia River Treaty
Tribes detailing the rationale for harvest rates of 5 percent to 7 percent
for Group B wild steelhead in 1998 fisheries," says

HELENA-Funding for six deferred watershed projects, including $1.5 million
for ongoing plans to improve passage for steelhead and bull trout in the
Walla Walla Basin, won the approval of the Northwest Power Planning Council
Wednesday.

The funding recommendations, now forwarded to the Bonneville Power Administration,
brought to a close the fiscal year 1998 watershed project funding process.
The projects were among a group of 14 submitted to the Council last summer
for funding that ...

A coordinated, regional, watershed approach that builds cooperation
among both public and private landowners will be necessary in order achieve
fish recovery in the Portland metropolitan area.

That was one of the messages at an all-day forum Tuesday co-hosted by
the City of Portland and the Metro regional council. About 300 community
leaders attended the forum to learn more about the impacts of the Lower
Columbia steelhead listing on the metropolitan area. Participants ...

Last year's Independent Scientific Review Panel analysis of the proposed
FY 1998 Fish and Wildlife Program work plan brought criticism and change
to the way the Northwest Power Planning Council and Bonneville Power Administration
choose projects for funding.

The latest edition, a review of the 1999 work plan, contains every bit
as much criticism of the fish and wildlife restoration project selection
process. But it mixes in, again, plenty of suggestions for improvement
and a few, ...

Interim subcommittees of the Three Sovereigns process are pulling together
budget, mission statement, and leadership for the "multi-species framework"
requested by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Northwest Power
Planning Council.

An interim team made up of Danny Consenstein, representing NMFS, John
Brogoitti, Oregon member of the Council, and Roy Sampsel, consultant representing
the tribes, met June 15 and will meet again June 22, at which time they
expect ...