A self-described "five-year blueprint for fish recovery actions by the
three (action) agencies" was released this week in draft form --
detailing how Federal Columbia River Power System operators aim to meet
survival goals for salmon, steelhead and resident fish species listed
under the Endangered Species Act.
The number of endangered sockeye salmon swimming toward central Idaho's
Stanley Basin is a trickle compared to the relative gusher of adults
that made the trip up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers last year.
But researchers involved in the captive broodstock program -- attempting
to revive a population that counted zero returning adults in 1997 and
one in 1998 -- remain optimistic.
A "first-cut" review of proposed fiscal 2002 hydrosystem fish passage
and research projects Wednesday served to shoehorn $100 million in
originally estimated needs into what is expected to be about an $80
million Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project budget.
The Columbia Basin's four governors received assurances last week that
the Bush administration is committed to implementing federal salmon
recovery strategies completed last year, and that it will do it
hand-in-hand with the states.
The Senate on Thursday passed a spending bill that would authorize $2
billion in new borrowing by the Bonneville Power Administration.
The energy and water development appropriation bill for fiscal 2002 also
provides funds for ecosystem restoration, riparian protection, and fish mitigation on the Columbia River.
A recently published research paper concludes that young steelhead are
the favored targets of avian predators circling the Columbia River
estuary, a phenomenon the authors say could have dire implications for
some of the basin's most imperiled stocks.
The Bonneville Power Administration announced Thursday that it will fund
approximately $10 million worth of projects aimed at helping fish
affected by this year's power emergency operations at federal
hydroelectric projects in the Columbia Basin.
A long-running difference of opinion about how, when or even if
supplementation should be used in Columbia Basin salmon recovery efforts
continues to simmer this summer, with an independent scientific report
on the practice again the focus.
In a June 29 letter, the heads of the two entities that sponsor the
11-member Independent Scientific Advisory Board defended the panel and
the conclusions made in a recently published review of "surplus"
hatchery salmon issues.
The clock began ticking today (June 22) on a process that will allow the
Bonneville Power Administration and its administrator better take a
"comprehensive, consistent and unified approach" toward its
responsibility to fund the multiple Columbia Basin fish and wildlife
recovery efforts.
A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order has cleared the way for a
proposed Columbia Basin "spill exchange" the agency says will both
assure flexibility and reliability" in the regional power grid and
protect fish species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
A research project on Caspian terns in Commencement Bay has been cut
short due to concerns raised by tribal fisheries co-managers about the
birds' consumption of area salmon, according to the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that federal
"biological opinions" sanctioning certain federal timber sales in the
Pacific Northwest did not adequately protect habitat for salmon stocks
listed under the Endangered Species Act.
An independent scientific panel this week urged regional entities to
learn as much as they can from this good news-bad news year for Columbia
Basin salmon recovery efforts.
The good news is that many of the basin's salmon stocks are returning
this year in larger, and sometimes record, numbers to spawn naturally or
revisit the hatchery of their origin.
The term "surplus hatchery fish" has, at least for this year, has been
erased from the Methow Basin salmon management dictionary following a
landmark agreement that focuses on the collection of local, naturally
spawning spring chinook to replenish hatchery egg banks and lets
unneeded hatchery stocks seek a spawning niche in the river's mainstem.
A bill that sponsors say would allow more hatchery salmon to spawn
naturally and require the state to use hatchery salmon eggs to replenish
fish runs was signed into law late Tuesday by Washington Gov. Gary Locke
over the protestations of the federal agency charged with protecting and
rebuilding "wild" salmon and steelhead runs.
Two Oregon leaders are supporting a plan by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to
make Northwest salmon recovery a national priority and boost federal
funding by $400 million next year.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., this week gave his endorsement, and Gov. John
Kitzhaber praised the overall $688 million plan, which Crapo announced
on May 3.
A lawsuit filed Thursday asks the U.S. District Court to order the
federal government to rethink a Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan that
the plaintiffs say is rife with faulty scientific assumptions and doomed
to failure because of a lack of Bush Administration support for
implementation funding.
An independent scientific panel has advised regional fisheries managers
to proceed cautiously as they decide what to do with an expected tidal
wave of upriver spring chinook salmon arriving at Columbia and Snake
river hatcheries during the next few months.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
President George Bush's first budget maintains current funding levels
for Pacific salmon recovery programs, but they are more than $400
million below the amount estimated to be needed to implement the
Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
In February, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber asked Bush administration
officials for an increase of $566 million - $438 million in FY02 and
$128 million as a supplemental add-on in FY01.
A coalition of fishing and conservation groups on Thursday gave notice of their intent to file a series of lawsuits unless the federal agencies act immediately wring water from the upper Snake River to help migrating salmon in what is shaping up to be a drought year.
Northwest House members have come to the defense of an expected $500
million-plus fish credit for the Bonneville Power Administration this
year.
"We believe that the law, sound policy and simple fairness dictate that
Northwest ratepayers are entitled to commensurate reimbursement for
paying fish and wildlife mitigation costs throughout the fiscal year,"
16 members from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana said in a letter
to Bush administration officials on Monday.
More than 200 people turned out in Wenatchee, Wash., Tuesday night to
hear a scientific debate over a key question: Can hatchery stocks be
used successfully to revive naturally spawning Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead populations?
The forum, and one held Wednesday in Winthrop, were intended to air two disparate positions on the issue.
The Oregon Legislature is attempting to define what constitutes a wild
fish in a variety of bills now before the House Committee on Stream
Restoration and Species Recovery.
The most far reaching of the proposed laws blurs the distinction between
wild and hatchery fish, while others simply define the relationship
between fish produced by hatcheries and those that spawn and rear in
streams.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
