1. NMFS RELEASES DRAFT INTERIM BIOP FOR POWER SYSTEM

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The National Marine Fisheries Service has released a draft of a supplemental
biological opinion on operation of the Columbia River federal power system
to federal and state agencies, along with tribes, for quick review. It
hopes to complete the BiOp by the spring 2000 juvenile migration.
The draft biological opinion, which is a supplement to similar BiOps
released in 1995 and 1998 for the Columbia River hydroelectric projects,
addresses the addition of six species of salmon and ...

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4. PAPERS PROFILE FISH POLICY CONUNDRUM

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Basing the region's salmon recovery efforts on "the best available science,"
-- a phrase included in nearly every salmon-related state, federal or tribal
document these days -- is easier said than done, according to a federal
researcher.
In a pair of papers published recently, Robert T. Lackey urges the Columbia
Basin's fishery biologists to be true to their science and says both scientists
and policy makers must infuse their judgments with a greater touch of reality.
The first ...

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6. NMFS ISSUES UPPER SNAKE BIOP ON FLOWS

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A supplemental biological opinion completed last month blesses a plan
to continue federal operations which times the release of 427,000 acre
feet of reservoir water in Idaho to coincide, primarily, with the migration
of Snake River fall chinook salmon listed Endangered Species Act.
That National Marine Fisheries Services decision was made to the chagrin
of the state of Idaho, which maintains that it has sovereignty over water
uses within its bounds. The Bureau of Reclamations principle ...

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8. NMFS COUNTERS A-FISH CRITICISMS

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The National Marine Fisheries Service counters some criticisms, agrees
with others and essentially says, "we'll get back to you" regarding other
perceived shortfalls in its Anadromous Fish Appendix and a late-produced
addendum to that document.
Among the incomplete tasks are rationalizations for differing conclusions
reached by the two analytical methods being used to judge the effects of
alternative Lower Snake River dam operations' on fish.
The federal agency in a Nov. 16 document ...

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11. ODFW, TRIBES CRAFT SUBBASIN MOU

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A memorandum of understanding signed by the state of Oregon and soon
to be signed by tribal authorities will guide the way subbasin recovery
plans are developed in the future under Oregon House Bill 3609.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and three central and eastern
Oregon tribes negotiated the MOU in a government-to-government consultation
in November and December 1999. The MOU applies to Columbia River tributaries
upstream from Bonneville Dam, but its template may influence ...

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12. NMFS SETS HEARINGS ON PROPOSED 4D RULES

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The National Marine Fisheries Service next week begins gathering public
comments on three proposed "4(d)" rules intended to help efforts to conserve
14 "evolutionary significant units" (ESUs) of West Coast salmon and steelhead
populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Fifteen public hearings are scheduled in Washington, Oregon and Idaho
during January and February on three proposed rules directed at state and
local government and tribal land-use and other activities that

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13. FORESTRY BOARD MULLS FISH RECOMMENDATIONS

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Oregon Board of Forestry members expressed the feeling they, perhaps
unfairly, had been "put at the point" of the effort to bring state agencies
into conformance with standards aimed at aiding the recovery of wild salmon
and steelhead.
The board heard first-hand the rationalization for 19 recommendations
for changes to state forest practices regulations offered by the Independent
Multidisciplinary Science Team. Those recommendations, documented in an
September 1999 report, are now ...

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14. LANDSLIDE CAUSES TROUBLES FOR HATCHERY

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No one is ready to lay the total blame for a southeast Washington landslide
on a logging
clear-cut, but state fish and wildlife officials are sure of one thing
-- the silt flushed into the Lewis River has caused troubles at a downstream
hatchery.
And the resulting silt load in the river could cause problems for Endangered
Species Act-listed fall chinook salmon that spawn in the river.
The slide occurred Dec. 16 on Colvin Creek about two miles upstream
of a state-run hatchery on the North

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15. NMFS SAYS COLUMBIA COHO A LOWER PRIORITY

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The National Marine Fisheries Service will re-evaluate the endangered
species listing status of lower Columbia River coho salmon, but will not
commit to a timeline for finishing its evaluation.
"[T]his re-evaluation is -- and will continue to be -- a lower priority
activity for NMFS," wrote Will Stelle, regional administrator for NMFS,
in a letter to Jim Myron, Oregon Trout conservation director.
Stelle said that actions with a higher priority at NMFS are: developing
protective ...

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1. FEDS RELEASE SALMON RECOVERY DOCUMENTS

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Federal agencies released a pair of documents today that they say represent
a first step toward resolving scientific uncertainties and contradictions,
and providing the economic analysis necessary to build a Columbia Basin
fish and wildlife recovery plan.
The documents include a study of options for improving conditions for
salmon and steelhead in the Lower Snake River and a Basinwide recovery
analysis that reveals serious extinction risks for Upper Columbia and Snake
River ...

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2. CORPS EXPANDS ECONOMIC INFORMATION

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Breaching the four lower Snake River dams would increase the cost of
power, the cost to transport goods downriver from eastern Washington and
western Idaho and impact irrigators.  The costs would outweigh the
benefits, according to information released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
this morning.
However, other alternatives to breaching that call for maximum transportation
of juvenile fish or adding major system improvements come with more benefits
than costs.  System ...

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3. CONGRESS TO HOLD HEARINGS ON ALL HS

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In response to the release of two major federal reports on salmon recovery
options, two Northwest senators said they plan to hold hearings next year
and seek a regional consensus.
But one of them, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, questioned the science used
by federal agencies to develop their "All-H Paper" on salmon recovery options
and the apparently inconsistent positions on dam removal among their scientists.
"I seriously question the science they have used," Crapo, who chairs
the fisheries,

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8. SEATTLE SEMINAR CALLS FOR BASIN DECISIONS

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Agency, tribal and interest group representatives and others gathered
at a Seattle legal seminar on Dec. 9 and 10 to discuss solutions to Columbia
River environmental issues, focusing on the restoration of salmon and steelhead
runs.
There was a consensus that a shift from the seemingly endless information
gathering and studying processes to taking decisive action is critical
to saving salmon and steelhead from extinction and maintaining the regions
control over management of the ...

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9. NMFS ANNOUNCES PROPOSED 4(D) RULES

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The National Marine Fisheries Service Tuesday took a step forward in
its efforts to conserve 14 evolutionary significant units (ESUs) of West
Coast salmon and steelhead populations listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act by announcing proposed 4(d)  rules for those populations.
NMFS will publish three proposed 4(d) rules in the Federal Register
in about two weeks.  One proposed rule will cover seven threatened
steelhead ESUs: Central California Coast, ...

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10. CBB INTERVIEW: GARY JAMES, CBFWA

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EDITORS NOTE: On a regular basis the CBB will be interviewing key participants
in efforts to protect and restore Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife
populations.
 
Fish and wildlife managers need to stop bickering and unify their stand
as they embark on the monumental task of subbasin planning, says Gary James,
new chairman of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authoritys Anadromous
Fish Managers Caucus.
CBFWA is a consortium of 13 basin tribes, the four state fish ...

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11. FEDS EXPLAIN ALL-H PROCESS AT SPOKANE MEETING

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The federal caucus members have not yet named a preferred alternative
in any of its fish and wildlife recovery planning processes.
Thats not the case for an audience that gathered Wednesday in Spokane
for an update on the caucus' "All-H's" working paper and other federal
works in progress. Most of those who spoke out said "save the dams."
Drafts of the federal caucus' All Hs (formerly 4-H) paper and the Corps
of Engineers Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Passage feasibility study
and ...

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13. THE STATES NWPPC: YEAR IN REVIEW

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Key dates and data rest in the new millennium for a number of planning
processes intended to propel the regions Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife
program down a new path.
The bulk of the Northwest Power Planning Council's 1999 effort was focused
in three separate but related areas -- providing more scientific and financial
accountability in its fish and wildlife project selection process; building
a scientific framework on which to base an amended program; and then reshaping
the ...

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14. FEDS AND FISH: YEAR IN REVIEW

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Though deadlines kept getting pushed further into the future, federal
agencies worked intently through much of 1999 to devise a long-term Columbia
Basin fish and wildlife recovery strategy, and a plan to pay for it.
While a strictly defined federal "1999 decision" is not imminent as
the year comes to a close, key elements were coming into public focus.
That decision process has been driven in large part by a 1995 biological
opinion which said Columbia-Snake river federal hydrosystem ...

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15. FEEDBACK

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:
On p. 5, the Friday, Dec 10,1999 CBB says "'Ever increasing populations
that allow ever-increasing harvests -- that's success,' Chapman said."
I said nothing of the kind.  As a matter of fact, my statement
was, when
asked what should be the measure of success for supplementation in
the
Hanford Reach, "Don't screw up the robust naturally-spawning
population."
Al Wright said that increased harvest and increased hatchery and natural
populations pointed to a successful hatchery ...

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4. COUNCIL APPROVES ANOTHER $18 MILLION IN PROJECTS

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The Northwest Power Planning Council this week recommended that $18.6
million worth of Columbia Basin fish and wildlife restoration projects
be funded with Bonneville Power Administration revenues, adding to the
$119 million previously approved.
Hatchery projects and phase-out funding for the scientific analytical
team PATH (See story No. 5 below) received the Council's blessing Tuesday,
pushing planned "direct program spending" to about $137.6 million for the
fiscal year that began ...

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6. ISAB PREFERS NMFS NEW MODEL OVER PATH

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The National Marine Fisheries Service has reached a fork in the road
as it prepares a biological assessment of alternatives for Lower Snake
River hydrosystem configuration.
And it appears at first blush that NMFS should follow the road its own
scientists are building rather than one created by PATH, according to a
panel of scientists.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Board was called on this summer
to review the analytical methods on which NMFS based its draft Anadromous
Fish Appendix

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8. STANDING QUESTIONS OVER SUPPLEMENTATION DISCUSSED

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A group of experts Wednesday agreed to disagree in the long-running
debate over the role of hatchery "supplementation" in Columbia Basin fish
recovery efforts.
But most of the panelists called together by the Northwest Power Planning
Council did agree on the need to focus research efforts to validate claims
of supplementation's benefits or risks.
Dr. Brian Riddell of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans concluded
the two-hour discussion of supplementation by noting literally ...

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10. GROUPS ASK NMFS TO LIST LOWER COLUMBIA COHO

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Two Oregon conservation groups asked the National Marine Fisheries Service
to take another look at listing as endangered lower Columbia River coho
salmon resident in the Sandy and Clackamas rivers near Portland.
After learning from NMFS staff in Portland that they did not have enough
time or staff to do the work required to consider listing the species under
the federal Endangered Species Act, Oregon Trout and the Native Fish Society
both sent letters to NMFS asking the agency to ...

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5. GORTON, SMITH ASSURE IRRIGATORS ON BREACHING

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Two Northwest senators, adamant and inflexible opponents of dam breaching,
assured irrigators Nov. 23 that they will make a stand together against
any national affront to the magnificent and prosperous society that hydropower
has created in the Columbia Basin.
Flexing their political muscle, Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Gordon
Smith, R-Ore., said any authorization for dam removal would have to first
get through subcommittees they chair.
To take them (dams) out, they gotta take us ...

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6. MITCHELL ACT CUTS REDUCES HATCHERY PRODUCTION

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A reduction in the congressional appropriation for Mitchell Act activities
has prompted quick action from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife,
which on Tuesday announced the immediate closure of one hatchery and reduced
fish production at other facilities.
Recently concluded budget negotiations resulted in a Mitchell Act appropriation
of $15.43 million or $2.645 million less than was available in fiscal year
1999, according to R.Z. Smith of the National Marine Fisheries ...

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