Four environmental groups and a fishing group have given notice to the
National Marine Fisheries Service that they intend to sue because they
say NMFS' 4(d) rules released this week will not protect endangered
salmon and steelhead from the harmful effects of logging and urban
development.
Irrigator associations from Oregon and Washington have issued a policy
statement supporting the positions of Columbia River treaty tribes on
salmon spawning, hatchery supplementation and harvest practices.
A self-described "odd coalition" of tribal, utility district,
agricultural and other local interests got together this past week to
demand that federal and state agencies rethink a federal salmon recovery
strategy that results in the "destruction" of surplus returning adult
hatchery fish.
Those charged with recovering salmon and steelhead stocks listed under
Endangered Species Act say the significance of this year's high fish
counts at Bonneville Dam has yet to be determined.
About 75,000 soon-to-be smolted Snake River fall chinook salmon treaded
hatchery water this past week while the agencies and tribes debated the
merits of using the little fish in proposed research aimed at gauging
survival.
Tribal leaders are frustrated by an Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife plan to destroy an estimated 1,000 surplus hatchery steelhead
returning to the Grande Ronde River basin in Northeast Oregon.
The slippery schedule for completing a draft biological opinion
governing operations of Columbia River hydroelectric projects slid
again, this time to June 30. Once coined the 1999 BiOp by the National
Marine Fisheries Service, it is now the 2000 BiOp and was last scheduled
for release in draft form May 22.
Attempts to bring agreement on the division of a limited amount of
Methow Valley water among competing uses has been greatly complicated
with the Endangered Species Act listing of spring chinook salmon in 1999
and steelhead in 1997 as endangered, according to federal, state and
local officials.
Heaps of praise and pointed criticisms followed Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt's recommendation Wednesday that President Clinton consider 200,000 acres of the Columbia River's Hanford Reach for federal protection under the Antiquities Act.
White House officials have assured state representatives that two federally-instigated Northwest salmon recovery plans would soon be ready for review. While those studies do not immediately recommend removing four lower Snake River dams, they do set performance standards, which if not met, could trigger removal of the dams within five or ten years.
The preliminary head count of upriver Columbia-Snake spring chinook at Bonneville Dam has provided a double blessing -- ample numbers to revive long foregone fishing opportunities and signs that next year's run will be even better.
Ninety percent of Caspian terns in the lower Columbia River estuary have chosen to nest at East Sand Island near the ocean, rather than at Rice Island where their diets consist of nearly 100 percent juvenile salmon, some of which are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
By the May 12 deadline, the Northwest Power Planning Council had
received 55 submissions recommending amendments to the Council's
regional fish and wildlife management program, last revised in 1994.
Caspian terns are favoring by more than an eight to one ratio East Sand
Island to Rice Island, which is exactly where a multi-agency Caspian
Tern Working Group had planned for them to nest before an ill-fated
hazing plan was halted in court.
A flood of comments -- many of them raising "significant issues" -- may
push a Corps of Engineers recommendation on lower Snake River dam
breaching into year 2001.
Nearly 600 adult Pacific lamprey were released into the upper Umatilla
River and its tributaries May 8 and 9 as part of an experimental
restoration effort by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
The most bountiful adult return since 1972 has enabled the first
commercial treaty fishery on Columbia-Snake river spring chinook salmon
in more than two decades as well as a relatively rare sport fishing
season in Idaho.
Caspian terns in the Columbia River estuary will remain largely
unmolested this year as a plan to move North America's largest colony
was stopped by a federal court this week.
A planned summer National Marine Fisheries Service pilot study to
evaluate the survival of subyearling fall chinook transported from the
Snake River remains somewhat in limbo because of criticisms from other
agencies and tribes about the study's design.
A Nez Perce tribal hatchery supplementation plan -- 18 years and $13.7
million in the making -- could get the green light May 17 when the
Northwest Power Planning Council considers a $16 million construction
spending proposal.
Federal agencies' lack of progress in sorting out conflicting mandates,
and a meddlesome Clinton Administration, have brought into question the
agencies' ability to make sound salmon recovery decisions, according to
Northwest members of the U.S. House of Representatives Resources
committee.
Wide ranging suggestions on the near-term direction of Columbia Basin
salmon recovery efforts were offered Thursday by witnesses called to
testify at a U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee hearing
in Pasco. All but a few said dam breaching should be dropped from
consideration.
The smolt-to-adult return rate of Columbia Basin hatchery salmon and
steelhead have been declining during the 1990s, along with the adult
fish's value to fishers, according to natural resource economist Hans
Radtke.
Harvest of salmon in the Columbia River is at the lowest allowed level
ever. Further changes to harvest rates would not add significantly to
salmon recovery.
Breaching four Lower Snake River dams is not the answer for reviving
Columbia Basin salmon populations, a trio of Northwest lawmakers said
Tuesday at a Senate hearing at Bonneville Dam.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
