The governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington on Thursday banded together to proclaim their support for a federal Columbia River salmon and steelhead recovery plan that has been judged inadequate by a federal court.

The federal strategy is working, the governors said, and should be left in place while the federal agencies address concerns about it expressed by U.S. District Court Judge James L. Redden in a May 7 order.

A NOAA Fisheries "findings letter" generally gives good grades to the three action agencies charged with implementing actions designed to avoid jeopardizing the survival of salmon and steelhead stocks passing through the Federal Columbia River Power System.

A federal judge, and the lead attorneys for those involved in the lawsuit, agreed today (May 16) that the federal government should be allowed a year to recast a Columbia River Basin salmon recovery plan that was judged by the court last week to be legally flawed.

A federal court decision this week that sends federal salmon recovery strategists back to the drawing board is seen by some that are party to the lawsuit as vindication.

Others see it as an opportunity for a mid-course correction of what is essentially, they say, a sound Columbia River basin salmon recovery plan.

A federal judge who has said he is predisposed toward overturning the federal government's plan for Columbia River basin salmon recovery said Monday he gained "food for thought" from hearing oral arguments in the lawsuit pressed by conservation groups.

The federal judge presiding in a lawsuit that challenges federal salmon recovery strategies in the Columbia Basin this week issued a "draft opinion" that would -- if it were his final call -- force the agencies involved to rework the plan commonly referred to as the Biological Opinion, or "BiOp."

Hard work, experimentation and compromise were the words uttered most often Thursday as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council caught its collective breath, and approved unanimously amendments to the Columbia/Snake river mainstem portion of its fish and wildlife program.