An alternative plan to boost kokanee populations
in Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille can’t be put on a
funding fast track, but the Northwest Power
Planning Council will investigate how the proposal
compares with an ongoing recovery strategy.
The Pend Oreille Public Utility District and
Kalispel Tribe, in a May 27 letter to the
Northwest Power Planning Council, called current
efforts “devastating to interests downstream” from
the lake. It asked for scientific and economic
analysis of both …

A stepped up schedule of “site reviews”
has been suggested as an attempt
to settle major differences of opinion
between Columbia Basin fish and
wildlife managers and the group
of scientists charged with reviewing
Columbia Basin project funding proposals
for fiscal year 2000.
But it is uncertain whether such
reviews could be completed in time to
answer questions the 11-member Independent
Scientific Review Panel has
about the artificial production
practice known as …

A panel of scientists gathered July
1 agreed that climatic and ocean
conditions can greatly affect the
numbers of salmon that return to the
Columbia River Basin to spawn and
complete their life cycle.
But they also warned that information
is still limited about specific
ocean survival cause-and-effects,
and that salmon recovery hopes can’t
be pinned solely on a predicted
return to more favorable ocean
conditions.
Fisheries scientists gathered in
Portland last week to explain …

Dave Letterman move over. Instead of a top ten list, Sen. Larry Craig
has compiled a list of more than 20 active Northwest salmon recovery programs
that he calls “the bureaucracy of salmon.”
The Idaho Republican disclosed his research on Thursday at a hearing
on salmon recovery by the Senate water and power subcommittee. He said
he counted 20 major initiatives and five smaller ones, which have spent
billions of dollars, some without effective coordination, in the search
for a solution …

Two of the region’s newly seated leaders expressed contrasting views
on two Columbia Basin hydrosystem issues last week in presentations to
the Northwest Power Planning Council in Boise.

Both Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission executive director Don Sampson stressed that the region needs
to reach a collaborative decision on fish and wildlife recovery strategy.
But they also pointed out potential obstacles to a consensus plan.

Kempthorne employed

The Snake River sockeye salmon no longer holds the lonely distinction
of being the only Columbia Basin salmon species listed under the Endangered
Species Act.

Since that listing has come a trickle — the Snake River fall chinook
and spring/summer chinook runs in 1992, the Upper Columbia River and Snake
River Basin steelhead runs in 1997 and the Lower Columbia River steelhead
in 1998.

Now comes the flood. This week the National Marine Fisheries Service
officially gave Endangered …

The most complex, expensive elements of Columbia Basin fish and wildlife
restoration efforts are also the areas that carry the most unsettled scientific
arguments, according to a report released this week.

"Looking for Common Ground" is an attempt to identify areas
of agreement and of disagreement in five major scientific reports released
in recent years. A briefing on the Independent Scientific Advisory Board
"work-in-progress report" was presented to the …

Through a sometimes contentious two-day workshop, the Northwest Power
Planning Council this week gathered comments from hatchery managers, agencies
and salmon advocates regarding future hatchery policies for the Columbia
River Basin.

The Council will incorporate the comments — expressed at the Council-sponsored
Artificial Production Workshop in Portland Tuesday and Wednesday — into
a document that will be submitted to Congress in May.

While the purpose of the workshop was to …

 Fishery managers are hoping a new, high-tech process for fish
marking will serve the dual purpose of aiding the recovery of Oregons
Willamette River Basin wild spring chinook salmon and allowing economy-boosting
sport fisheries.

 That new computerized process, which can insert coded wire tags
in and clip the adipose fins of 50,000 fish during an eight-hour human
work shift, appears ready for use. The Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife, which owns the prototype …

 Two of the federal governments top regionally based officials
stressed the need Wednesday for unified plans, one for restoration of
fish and wildlife stocks and the other to bring focus to agencies engaged
in related federal tasks in the region.

 Charles Clarke, administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agencys Region 10, and Jack Robertson, deputy administrator for the Bonneville
Power Administration, were asked to address a common theme — Federal
Coordination: …