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.
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.
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.
U.S. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt's expected recommendation to
designate the Hanford Reach a national monument brought criticism from
Washington Republican lawmakers before and after his visit to the area
this week.
Lawyers for fishing and conservation groups asked a federal judge on
Friday to order the Bureau of Reclamation to stop delivering irrigation
water to unauthorized farmland in the Northwest.
A Northwest congressman has won subcommittee approval for barring
federal agencies from implementing the $56 million Interior Columbia
Basin Ecosystem Management Plan until they evaluate the impact on small
businesses and provide for mitigation.
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.
Northwest politicians, speaking from pulpits at home and in Washington,
D.C., said this week that their constituents deserve to hear Democratic
presidential hopeful Al Gore's opinion on a divisive regional issue --
whether four Lower Snake River dams should be breached as part of the
effort to restore depleted salmon stocks.
Oregon and Washington politicians are opposing a proposal to remove
Clean Water Act permitting exemptions for silviculture operations.
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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of what to do with four lower Snake
River dams does not adequately address the water quality impacts of the
study's four alternatives, nor does it offer a strategy to comply with
water quality standards.
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.
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.
While Caspian terns are arriving in the Columbia River estuary in larger
numbers to begin their annual nesting, humans continue to argue in court
whether the birds should be moved from one island to another.
The Senate last week passed two bills by Northwest members to create or
expand programs dealing with salmon recovery projects.
Two Northwest Republican senators this week said they suspect the delay
of federal agencies' recommendation for modifying or removing lower
Snake River dams to improve salmon recovery is aimed at helping Vice
President Al Gore's presidential campaign.
Harassment of Caspian terns in the lower Columbia River estuary ran into
a roadblock this week when environmental groups filed for an injunction against hazing the birds on Rice Island. The filing resulted in a
temporary restraining order. More to follow.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, on Thursday introduced a bill to place a
moratorium on the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed regulations
for reducing water pollution from runoff.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must comply with the Clean Water Act
when operating the four lower Snake River dams, U.S. District Court
Judge Helen Frye ruled recently.
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt this week said a regional Fish and
Wildlife Service official's comments in support of breaching four lower
Snake River dams does not reflect his views.
The Bonneville Power Administration's top official admitted Tuesday that
ESA-spawned mandates may increase immediate Columbia Basin fish and
wildlife program needs, but she showed a reluctance to juggle funds from
one account to another to answer those needs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked Oregon Gov. John
Kitzhaber this week for his concurrence to list the Portland harbor as a Superfund site. The state missed its deadline last week to
get a state deferral and avoid the listing. More to follow.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
