Northwest Power Planning Council members from Idaho and Montana say they are willing to accept -- with qualifications -- a federal document's prescriptions for running the Columbia-Snake federal hydrosystem as a baseline for the Council's own fish and wildlife program mainstem strategy.
A list of 104 systemwide and mainstem fish and wildlife project proposals have started down the final gauntlet in the Northwest Power Planning Council' "rolling provincial review" funding approval process, with only 14 passing muster in an initial technical review by the Independent Scientific Review Panel.
Already behind schedule, implementation of the Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan would slip further under an annual federal funding bill recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Plans and actions taken by key federal agencies to implement a 10-year Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead recovery program are -- for the most part -- on schedule to meet the first major benchmark in the plan -- a major 2003 evaluation, the National Marine Fisheries Services announced Tuesday.
Oregon Northwest Power Planning Council member John Brogoitti lashed out this week -- saying agriculture and other natural resource industries in the state are suffering as a result of Gov. John Kitzhaber's agenda.
The outburst -- delivered in a Monday press release -- earned Brogoitti more than a censure from the man that appointed him to the Council. The governor's top natural resource adviser, Louise Solliday, on Tuesday asked Brogoitti to deliver his resignation by the end of the day.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week the makeup of two panels of economists who will evaluate the Corps' economic conclusions of a project to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel by three feet.
Market and natural forces, and an overextended power load commitment, have thrown the Bonneville Power Administration into a tenuous financial situation -- one that has the federal power marketing agency's chief out looking for help to make ends meet.
A six-month lobbying effort produced no converts Wednesday when an Oregon proposal to rotate Northwest Power Planning Council leadership positions on a fixed schedule among the member states was voted down 6-2.
The Northwest Power Planning Council on Wednesday recommended the expenditure of $462,000 to have its artificial production review process complete draft documents that are necessary for Columbia Basin salmon hatcheries to gain "coverage" under the Endangered Species Act.
A panel of independent economists this week outlined its conclusions and recommendations based on an analysis of the costs of rearing and releasing fish at eight Columbia Basin hatcheries.
Some called the process rigged. Others -- including attorneys hired by two Washington counties -- said any approval of a water quality certification application related to the removal of Condit Dam would almost certainly be illegal.
Rod Sando, the new executive director of the Portland-based Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, has stepped into his new position amid a world of change -- for the organization, and for the basin's recovery and enhancement effort as a whole.
A final supplemental environmental impact statement issued this week recommends that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allow the surrender of the federal hydroelectric license for southwest Washington's Condit Dam and a one-year dismantling of the structure that would begin late in 2006.
With the approval of the Flathead River "subbasin plan work plan," the Northwest Power Planning Council has set in motion an envisioned grass-roots effort to develop strategies that meet the fish and wildlife needs in each of the Columbia River Basin's subbasins.
An abundant Methow River Basin spring chinook salmon return has allowed federal, state and tribal fishery officials to again implement a plan that involves the capture of naturally spawning fish to reinvigorate hatchery programs and allows any "surplus" hatchery returns to find spawning grounds in the wild.
The premises underlying three controversial fish passage strategies employed in the Columbia-Snake mainstem hydrosystem have not, in many cases, been scientifically justified.
Five of 12 Columbia Basin "provinces" are coming down the "rolling review" home stretch this summer with the Northwest Power Planning Council again facing tough decisions on which fish and wildlife projects it would like to see funded.
An envisioned 10-year plan for managing the federal Klamath Project failed to clear its final hurdle this week with the Bureau of Reclamation's regional chief criticizing federal fish agencies' strategies for protecting fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's suggested changes to Northwest Power Planning Council bylaws -- to establish term limits for the chairmanship and "formalize" the compact's relationship with Columbia Basin tribes -- have been rebuffed by his peers in Montana and Washington.
A recently released draft Methow River Basin spring chinook genetic analysis says that it is too late to segregate an Upper Columbia salmon melting pot by phasing out the so-called "Carson" bloodlines in favor of "Methow composite" stock in hatchery operations.
A draft report now out for technical review likens the impact of predatory Caspian terns on migrating Columbia Basin juvenile salmon and steelhead to those brought by human activities that increase fish mortality.
The federal action agencies say they are "right on track" in implementing measures called for in a December 2000 federal fish recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
Critics call that assertion a "fairy tale."
The Idaho Power Company says that water from its Brownlee Reservoir on the
Snake River will be unavailable before August to augment flows in the river
unless the Bonneville Power Administration pays the company for the water.
The 2002 spring chinook salmon return to the Columbia River has been a forecaster's nightmare, but it remains a fisherman's dream because the very worst scenario described to date still amounts to one of the biggest upriver counts on record.
Oregon's governor on Tuesday again challenged the Northwest and country as a whole to attack the salmon recovery issue at full power or be turned down a road of social, economic and legal chaos that leads ultimately to dam breaching.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
