Grant County Public Utility District this week delivered to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) 39 volumes of documents to relicense its two mid-Columbia River dams. Licensed since the 1950s, the dams’ current 50-year license is up for renewal by October 31, 2005.
David Mabe, administrator of Idaho’s water quality programs at the state Department of Environmental Quality and an experienced hand with the state’s natural resource industries and the Legislature, has been named to head the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Idaho branch.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Oct. 17 that it is seeking public comment on a recently drafted document intended to offer guidance for those developing salmon recovery plans or strategies.
In 2002, the Western Division-AFS (WDAFS) and its partners convened a major international conference in Spokane, Wash., to foster a transition toward ecosystem-based management in the Columbia River and beyond.
A Washington environmental organization, an irrigation district and farmers forged an agreement to provide fish passage to areas of Manastash Creek, a Yakima River tributary blocked to endangered steelhead for years.
A coalition of conservation organizations and resource professionals has administratively appealed portions of the U.S. Forest Service’s official “Record of Decision” on the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Comprehensive Management Plan.
Several non-profit groups in Idaho and western Montana have received a $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural “Watershed Initiative” program.
Two internationally recognized scientific consulting firms will help conduct reviews of the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet to see how they have fared since being listed for protection more than a decade ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday. Both species are listed as threatened and are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in comments on the Corps’
draft Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Report
and
Environmental Impact Statement that the study is inadequate because
it
doesn’t evaluate the impacts …
Ice
Harbor dam, and seven of 20 years at Lower Granite Dam. The scroll
case
data showed exceedences like that in only three of the 20 years at
each
dam.
“The dams have resulted in significant change in the energy budget of
the lower Snake River,” EPA says. “The instantaneous daily water
temperatures may be greater under some conditions in the natural river
than in the impounded river, but high water temperatures in the natural
river don’t last as long seasonally as the high water …
The EPA also accused the Corps of manipulating data when it came to
the
conclusion that the lower Snake River is cooler now than before the
dams
were built.
“We believe this conclusion results from selective use of data and
selective use of modeling results,” Clarke wrote. “EPA water temperature
modeling clearly demonstrates that the dams cause water quality standard
exceedances almost on a daily basis during the hot part of the summer
by
inhibiting the diurnal water temperature …
A National Marine Fisheries Service study to determine the benefits
for
rearing salmon and steelhead from nutrients deposited via carcasses
of
spawned out adults has earned a funding green light.
The Northwest Power Planning Council on Wednesday recommended that the
Bonneville Power Administration allocate $105,000 to complete a nutrient
utilization study begun by NMFS last year. The approval came despite
reservations that the project’s study design had not been …
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.
During a press conference in December in Portland by members of the
Federal Caucus to unveil their All-H Paper on salmon recovery options,
Fish and Wildlife Service Northwest regional director Ann Badgley said
the “bottom-line, biological conclusion is really a no-brainer. For
native fish and wildlife, a
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 letter from EPA Region 10 Director Chuck Clarke
was
sent to the governor after the state missed its deadline last week
to
get a state deferral and avoid the listing.
Polluters, government and tribes were unable to arrive at an agreement
by the March 31, 2000 deadline on how to clean up 5.5 miles of the
Willamette River in the …
Biologists at the Bonneville Dam in March began monitoring passage of
juvenile salmon and steelhead from a modern new facility near North
Bonneville, Wash. From the facility, biologists will be able to rate
the
success of fish passage improvements at the dam as well as changes
in
river operations on downstream migrants.
The juvenile fish monitoring facilitys completion follows changes to
bypass and outfall facilities at the dams second powerhouse. The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers …
Fish passage was considered poor at the dams second powerhouse. One
improvement recommended by the National Marine Fisheries Service in
its
The Forest Service’s rulemaking process to protect 40 million to 54
million acres of roadless areas is “fatally tainted,” according to
Sen.
Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Forests and Public Land Management
Subcommittee.
“I fear you have a rogue agency on your hands,” Craig told President
Clinton’s chief environmental advisor, George Frampton, at a March
30
hearing on the issue.
Craig predicted the administration ultimately will have to defend the
rulemaking, which Clinton …
be
no surprise to anybody.”
Also, Rait said public still has a chance to influence critical details
of the roadless area protection plan that remain to be fleshed out
in
the Forest Service EIS. “Protecting roadless areas can mean a thousand
different things to a thousand different people,” he said.
Among the decisions to be made are whether to ban helicopter and other
logging, mining and off-road recreational vehicle use and whether to
exempt certain national forests from the …
the
subbasin assessment-planning process.
The funding will be used in part to organize meetings in each of the
10
geographical “provinces” defined during the Multi-Species Framework
process. Those meetings will be used to collect subbasin data specified
in the subbasin template now being developed by the states, federal
agencies and tribes. A draft is now being reviewed.
The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Elizabeth Gaar pointed out that
other analytical methods should be …
, Director of Public Relations, Washington Farm Bureau:
The latest Columbia Basin Bulletin repeats a fraud perpetrated on the
public by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
According to the newsletter, “A court-ordered settlement requires NMFS
to issue a final 4(d) rule for steelhead no later than June 19, 2000.”
There is no court order directing NMFS to adopt any rules by June 19.
A year ago, NMFS was sued by four environmental groups for not having
adopted 4(d) rules for …
services to grocery stories to outfitters – that depend upon remaining
steelhead runs.
He said while people talk about losses to the farming and shipping
industries if the dams are breached, nobody seems to care about the
2,700 jobs in Idaho that will be lost if the steelhead go extinct.
“Idaho salmon and steelhead fishermen have shouldered the devastation
that these dams have given us,” he said. “We don’t see these dams as
valuable … but as mistakes.”
Vern Johnson, who caught his …
AND RESTORATION?
Fax press releases to The Columbia Basin Bulletin at
541-312-2806, e-mail to intercom@ucinet.com or call Editor Bill Crampton
at 541-312-8860
— Federal Forest Road Policy Proposed
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on Thursday
proposed a new USDA Forest Service road management policy for the
380,000 miles of forest roads.
The new policy is designed to help USDA’s Forest Service and forest
dependent communities prioritize road maintenance and …
Bonneville Dam on their way upriver in 1996 and 1997. Ongoing NMFS
and
University of Idaho research is addressing mainstem passage.
The fiscal year 2000 plan calls for capturing 500 adults from the John
Day River at Tumwater Falls and from the John Day Dam fish ladder for
outplanting in the Umatilla river. The resulting increase in “larval
densities” is expected to draw natural spawners, which are attracted
to
streams by the presence of larvae.
Link information:
NWPPC: …
The City Council of Astoria, Ore., went on record in support of
breaching four lower Snake River dams as one way to restore wild runs
of
salmon in the Snake River.
All members present at the Tuesday evening Astoria City Council meeting
voted to support a resolution asking for removal of the dams. The City
will send a letter to Vice President Al Gore, telling him of the
Council’s concerns about the loss of salmon and how that has affected
lower Columbia River estuary residents both …
Clinton administration officials and Western Republican senators this
week sharply disagreed over whether the Forest Service has complied
with
environmental and administrative laws in developing its roadless area
initiative.
The procedural assault on the administration’s effort to protect 54
million acres of undeveloped national forest land that remains outside
designated wilderness areas came at a hearing of the Senate forests
and
public lands subcommittee on Tuesday.
About 38 percent
A city with a heritage of commercial salmon fishing at one end of the
Columbia River may officially come out in favor of breaching dams at the
other end of the river. The City Council of Astoria is considering a resolution
in favor of removing four dams on the Snake River as one step toward salmon
recovery.
City Councilor Doug Thompson introduced a resolution to remove the dams
at the Feb. 7, 2000 City Council meeting. At that meeting, the Council
chose to take public input and then think
Those who support removing the four lower Snake River Dams to recover
threatened and endangered fish made a surprisingly strong showing at public
meetings in Clarkston, Wash., on salmon and steelhead recovery Thursday.
Buoyed by support from Nez Perce tribal members, fishing and rafting
guides from Riggins and residents of the more environmentally minded university
towns of Moscow and Pullman breaching supports outnumbered those opposed
to removing the dams.
Breaching supporters told …
Two bills dealing with federal funding of Columbia Basin salmon recovery
projects won approval from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
on Thursday.
A measure by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would
create a $25 million per year federal grant program to help irrigators
install and improve fish screens on water diversion facilities. A similar
bill passed the House last year.
The Senate committee also approved a bill by Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.,
to …
Potlatch Corp. employees packed a meeting in Lewiston last week to protest
the temperature standard included in a draft pollution permit governing
the company’s wastewater discharge in the Snake River.
About 1,500 people crowded into Warrior Gym at Lewis Clark State College,
where the Environmental Protection Agency took public comment on the draft
permit. Strict temperature standards in the draft may require Potlatch
to spend $25 million on a refrigeration plant to cool its wastewater …
Final legal briefs have been filed in a lawsuit that pits environmental
groups against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and could decide whether
Corps operations are the cause of water temperatures and dissolved gas
levels in the lower Snake River that exceed Washingtons water quality
standards.
Environmentalists say they want the Corps to operate the dams in a way
that would result in compliance with the Clean Water Act, but James Buchal,
attorney for the Columbia River Alliance, …
Funding approvals were granted Tuesday for 11 of 42 fiscal year 2000
“innovative” projects, a $1.6 million project cost overrun and for an extension
of a Hanford Reach juvenile salmon stranding study.
In approving a fiscal year 2000 decision document, the Northwest Power
Council closed the door on five projects proposed for funding by the Shoshone-Paiute
Tribes, but left the door ajar for much-debated dissolved gas and conservation
enforcement projects supported by the Columbia River …
A former director of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was
named this week director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The
appointment came after the post had been empty since last year.
Rodney Sando was unanimously selected by the seven Idaho Fish and Game
Commissioners Thursday, completing a nationwide search which began in October
1999. He will begin work in early April.
The Commission had been united in its determination to hire someone
who has successfully led …
Changes to guidelines on how the regions Technical Management Team
will operate in the future are designed to protect proprietary or market-sensitive
information. Those guidelines were all but approved at this weeks TMT
meeting.
The Bonneville Power Administration had asked for some change in procedure,
whether restricting portions of meetings to TMT members only or restricting
access to proposed system operations requests, according to notes from
TMTs Dec. 15, 1999 meeting. SORs, …
— March 1
Kalispell, Mont.
Outlaw Inn
Seattle Center Pavilion
(206) 684-8582
Medallion 1 & 2
(509) 544-3934
Grand Ballroom
(509) 455-9600
Separate sessions beginning at 12 noon and 6:30 p.m.
(503) 256-5000
— Feb. 8
Spokane, Wash.
DoubleTree Hotel
The Summit & Flying Hawk Eyrie
(208) 336-8900
Multi-Purpose Arena/Exhibit Hall
(503) 325-4600
5 p.m.
— Feb. 17
Tri-Cities (Pasco), Washington
DoubleTree Hotel
Blackfoot Room & Bitterroot Room
(406) 728-3100
6 p.m.
— March 7
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Shilo Inn
Sheffield Ballroom 1, 2
(907) 586-0485
5 p.m.
— March 8
Twin Falls, Idaho
Westin Plaza
Blue Lakes Room & Teton-Flawteeth Room
(208) 733-0650
5 p.m.
Regarding the Councils process, a schedule distributed last week sets
an April 18 deadline for recommending amendments to the Council’s fish
and wildlife program. Comments will then be solicited on the proposals,
with the comment period closing May 17. A draft program would be produced
by June 27-28 with public hearings and consultations ensuing. The Council
targets its Aug. 29-30 meeting for final adoption of the …
Winchester Room & Colt 44 Room
(406) 755-6100
6 p.m.
— March 2
Missoula, Mont.,
DoubleTree Hotel
Conference Room 1 & Lobby
(907) 747-6241
5 p.m.
— March 8
Juneau, Alaska
Centennial Hall Convention Center
Yellowstone Room & Grand Teton Room
(208) 523-0088
5 p.m.
— March 7
Sitka, Alaska
Westmark Hotel
Three of the four tribes with treaty-reserved fishing rights on the
Columbia River have asked the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
(CRITFC) to contract with the BIA to invest federal funds and use the interest
to operate and maintain Indian fishing-access sites on the Columbia River.
The Umatillas, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce Indians want CRITFC to contract
with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to assume the responsibility over operation
and maintenance of the “in-lieu” treaty …
The Technical Management Team — a group of state and federal power
and fish managers who steer river operations during the salmon migration
season — is discussing changes to its meeting days and the way it releases
information to the public.
The change in days could affect the ability of river operators to implement
recommendations quickly, while the change in how it releases information
could hamper public input.
At an Implementation Team meeting this week, Cindy Henriksen, U.S. …
The National Marine Fisheries Service will re-evaluate the endangered
species listing status of lower Columbia River coho salmon, but will not
commit to a timeline for finishing its evaluation.
“[T]his re-evaluation is — and will continue to be — a lower priority
activity for NMFS,” wrote Will Stelle, regional administrator for NMFS,
in a letter to Jim Myron, Oregon Trout conservation director.
Stelle said that actions with a higher priority at NMFS are: developing
protective …
The deadline to submit written comments on the impacts to water quality
of deepening the Columbia River channel by three feet was extended 30 days.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality extended the comment period
from Dec. 22, 1999, to Jan. 21, 2000, in response to requests from presenters
at DEQs two hearings.
DEQ is studying the impacts on water quality of deepening the Columbia
River channel from Portland, Ore. to the coast. What it decides could determine
whether the channel
A lower Columbia River group that opposes a proposed project to deepen
by 3 feet the lower 105 miles of the river revised its discrimination complaint
with the U.S. Department of Environmental Quality.
The Columbia Deepening Opposition Group filed an initial complaint with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys office of civil rights in September.
The complaint claims the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers channel deepening
proposal discriminates against low income and minority …
says, could take a week.
…
Columbia Basin fish and wildlife managers, and those who help allocate
the money on which recovery efforts depend, exchanged views Wednesday on
how to best make the shift to a program focused on subbasin planning.
The Northwest Power Planning Council wants to lead the transition by
creating — through its direct program amendment process — a structure
to judge “broader, more long-term” benefits of fish and wildlife recovery
proposals, according to Bob Lohn, the NPPC’s fish and …
The House of Representatives has approved creation of a federal grant
program of up to $25 million per year to help Northwest and California
irrigators install and upgrade fish-blocking screens on water diversions.
The voice vote passage of the bill on Nov. 9 sets the stage for enactment
next year of projects that are being required by federal agencies to reduce
losses of endangered salmon.
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate but neither it nor
the House bill are expected …
Under a “concept” draft of legislation now being shaped through a special
legislative committee, the Idaho governor’s office would steer state responses
to federal Endangered Species Act listings, as well as OK plans to head
off potential listings.
A “consensus” bill would likely be offered to the Legislature in January
that involves a variety of state agencies and private entities in the development
of the state’s policies regarding the ESA and conservation plans, according
state …
In response to a request from Republican Sens. Slade Gorton of Washington
and Gordon Smith of Oregon, the General Accounting Office has begun an
evaluation of the impacts of dam breaching.
“The Pacific Northwest is nearing a precipice in the debate over dam
removal,” the senators say in a recent letter requesting the GAOs analysis.
“The proponents and opponents focus on perceived direct benefits or repercussions
of dam removal to promote their position. Little time or energy has …
A report on the Columbia River Basin Multi-Species Framework process’
analysis of alternative fish and wildlife management strategies will be
delivered Dec. 8, though not in the form the Northwest Power Planning Council
had expected.
A final report on the biological and human effects analyses of seven
fish and wildlife alternatives had been promised for the Council’s December
meeting.
But the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model being used to
analyze basinwide biological …
A report by Northwest economists released this week concludes that partially
removing the four federal dams on the Lower Snake River will provide significant
short and long-term economic benefits to the Northwest.
The report also suggests strategies to address and offset negative effects.
Salmon advocates called on regional leaders to recognize the overall benefits
of bypassing these four dams and to focus efforts on investments to improve
transportation and irrigation systems.
“The …
Extinction is a dark, shadowy word but scientists must try to bring
it into focus as they try to provide a basis for sound fish and wildlife
recovery decision making, according to a co-leader of the National Marine
Fisheries Service’s Cumulative Risk Initiative.
But decision makers must know that extinction analyses can be flawed.
“Policy makers need to be aware of the perils and pitfalls of extinction
analysis,” Dr. Peter Kareiva told an audience gathered for a Wednesday
workshop …
Gresham Sand and Gravel wants to remove sand from the Columbia River
near the confluence of the Sandy River. However, because of the Endangered
Species Act and other environmental safeguards, getting a permit is not
as easy as it once was.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking at a permit filed by Gresham
Sand and Gravel to remove up to 200,000 cubic yards of sand every year
from the river near Troutdale, Ore. To get the permit, the company has
to go through a public review led …
A Senate bill would authorize $125 million in federal funding for installation
of fish screens on Northwest irrigation facilities was endorsed by the
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department and an irrigation group this week.
Irrigation districts that belong to the Oregon Water Resources Congress
have about 100 water diversions that require upgrading or replacement to
comply with the Endangered Species Act, a representative of the group said
during a hearing of the Senate Water and Power …
Proponents of removing the four Lower Snake River dams to restore salmon
began a national newspaper advertising campaign this week directed at the
Clinton Administration and Vice-President Al Gore.
A series of four full-page advertisements began Wednesday in the New
York Times. The ads, running weekly, ask Vice-President Gore to support
dam removal as the centerpiece of an upcoming salmon recovery plan from
the Administration.
The ads are sponsored by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal …
President Bill Clinton on Thursday ordered
the Forest Service to ban roads and possibly logging and other activities
on 40 million acres or more of inventoried roadless land.
That is about 20 percent of all national
forest land and exceeds the 34 million acres of congressional designated
wilderness.
Clinton called his administrative action
one of the largest conservation efforts in history.
“Within our national forests there are
large parcels of land that don’t contain roads of any kind
More than half of the anticipated funding
remains unallocated while the Northwest Power Planning Council awaits the
rendering of scientific opinions on more than 100 direct fish and wildlife
project proposals for fiscal year 2000.
The Council in September passed through
158 projects that had the benefit of positive reviews from both the Columbia
Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority and the Independent Scientific Review
Panel. The projects totaled $68 million in funding. The Council’s …
Bonneville Power Administator Judi Johansen
announced this month significant senior management changes and named a
new director of the Fish and Wildlife Division.
Long-time deputy administrator Jack Robertson
retired from the agency Sept. 30. Johansen said Steven G. Hickok, the agencys
chief operating officer, remains in his current post, which becomes the
number two position in the agency.
Johansen will position the deputy job as
the number three position and fill it on a rotating basis
The Inspector Generals Office has been
interviewing regional decision makers and staff as part of a performance
audit looking at the National Marine Fisheries Services role in Columbia
Basin salmon recovery.
A spokesperson for the Office of Inspector
General at the Dept. of Commerce in Washington D.C. said the audit had
been previously scheduled in the IGs “annual audit plan.”
Stressing that the effort was not an “investigation,”
the spokesperson said the audit will evaluate salmon …
As the region debates salmon recovery in
the Columbia/Snake River Basin, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center
— the science arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Northwest
— is mounting an effort to assess the impact of actions in several areas
on salmon populations. That effort, the Cumulative Risk Initiative (CRI),
now has a site on the World Wide Web at http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/cri/.
“We are committed to an open process that
lets anyone look at our work in progress,”
Water temperatures at lower Snake River dams are
cooler now than before
the dams were built and there is little more the
Corps can do to make
the water cooler, according to recent U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers
testimony in U.S. District Court.
Two Corps officials said historical water temperatures
in the lower
Snake River were warmer before the dams were built
than they are today
and that when temperatures do rise at the dams, it
is caused more by
warm inflows from the Snake …
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber last week proposed a Columbia River governance
body that would oversee Northwest fish and wildlife recovery efforts, as
well as the power and transmission functions of the Bonneville Power Administration.
The governance body would replace the Northwest Power Planning Council,
established in 1981 by the Northwest Power Act. Kitzhabers plan calls
for the new body to include the four states, which is the make-up of the
Council now, and to add Northwest tribes …
of the Oregon Plan?
Hungry Horse dam is safe, even if it was once a sabotage target for
Russian spies, assures a Bureau of Reclamation security specialist.
The dam, completed in 1952, was indeed a target during the Cold War,
according to Christopher Andrew, a British historian who has written a
book based on thousands of documents that were smuggled out of the Soviet
Union by defector Vasili Mitrokhin in 1992. Mitrokhin was an archivist
with the KGB, the Russian intelligence service.
The book and its details
A 68-degree temperature limit proposed for the lower Willamette River
by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality was deemed too warm for
endangered salmon and steelhead by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
DEQ, which proposed the limit in a package of water quality standards
to the EPA, is required by the federal Clean Water Act to file the standards
with EPA to ensure state standards will meet federal law and will adequately
protect water bodies in the state for fish, …
Helena, Mont. 59601
Phone: 406-449-5225
e-mail: lynx@fws.gov
“We have a big deadline under the Endangered Species Act” to make a
listing decision by Jan. 8, Nordstrom. The agency would have like to await
completion of the report before opening the 30-day public comment period
but must get on with its work.
“They won’t give us a deadline as to when they will have it done,” Nordstrom.
She said she needs to prepare a draft proposal by mid-October. It will
then go through an agency …
The world’s fastest bird soared off of the Endangered Species list today
(Aug. 20) with the announcement of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
delisting decision.
“It’s a spectacular summer for America’s great birds, the bald eagle,
the Aleutian Canada goose and today the peregrine falcon,” said the Secretary
of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt.
The peregrine falcon also joins the southeastern population of the brown
pelican, the American alligator, the Rydberg milk-vetch, and the gray …
Endangered Snake River salmon are a national responsibility as well
as a
regional one, and all scientifically credible recovery plans, including
dam breaching, should be evaluated equally, 107 members of the U.S.
House of Representatives said this week in a letter to President
Clinton.
The letter dated Tuesday, Aug. 4, was signed by 12 Republicans and 95
Democrats, including six of the nine Northwest Democratic House members.
Reps. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., and George Miller, D-Calif., …
?Bryant
The multi-agency Implementation Team (IT) supported a National Marine
Fisheries Service proposal to continue funding of PATH (Plan for
Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses) in fiscal year 2000 and to complete
a
review of PATH for FY2001 funding.
The proposal, which will be delivered to the Columbia River Fish and
Wildlife Authority next week, came in response to an Independent
Scientific Review Panel recommendation to not fund PATH for FY2000.
The
ISRP concluded that PATH should be
The cost of electricity to a residential consumer
in the Northwest could rise by $1.50 to $5.30 per
month if four lower Snake River Dams are breached
in an attempt to save endangered runs of Snake
River salmon and steelhead.
Breaching could also cost farmers an additional 27
cents per bushel to ship grain if barges can’t
travel up the Snake River to Lewiston, and it
could mean a loss of as much as $9.2 million in
irrigated farmland values.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers …
Marina owners, recreationists and other Lake
Koocanusa users will hold a demonstration Saturday
against a planned 20-foot drawdown at Libby Dam.
The drawdown was formally requested by regional
salmon managers last week to help salmon move
through the lower Columbia River system. Because
of a late runoff, flood control concerns and June
releases aimed at helping white sturgeon spawning,
the reservoir was slow to fill this year, coming
about 3 feet shy of full pool as of Wednesday.
“It’s
The state of Montana has been waging a procedural
protest against 20-foot drawdowns at Libby and
Hungry Horse dam, and the effort appears to have
been successful.
A “Systems Operation Request” was made Wednesday
by the state to stop the 20-foot drawdown, which
was requested by regional salmon managers last
week to help salmon move through the lower
Columbia River system.
Also Wednesday, salmon managers requested a
200,000 cubic feet per second weekly flow average
at McNary …
The House and Senate are close to agreement on the
Army Corps of Engineers budget for Columbia River
fish mitigation in FY2000.
The House on Tuesday passed its version of the
annual energy and water appropriations bill, which
included $65 million for the program, just $5
million less than the Senate amount. The Senate
passed its bill on June 19.
Most of the money is used for improvements to
salmon collection, transportation and by-pass
facilities at federal dams on the Columbia …
The House Resources Committee next week is
expected to approve a revised bill creating a new
federal funding program to help Northwest
irrigation districts install fish screens to
reduce salmon losses..
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the measure’s author,
and Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., chairman of the
Water and Power Subcommittee, have agreed to
expand the program to California and to shift its
administration to the Department of Interior from
the Army Corps of Engineers, as …
Various levels of spill, spill configuration and tailwater elevation
were tested at the John Day Dam in early July to determine the best level
to spill water for fish passage while complying with total dissolved gas
(TDG) limits.
The multi-agency Technical Management Team considered the spill test
at its June 30 meeting — implementation at the John Day Dam began the
following evening. TMT oversees in-season management changes in operations
of the Columbia River power system to facilitate
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation, set up only last year to promote
new renewable energy projects and watershed restoration in the Pacific
Northwest, announced this week that it had made its first grants.
Awards went to the Mohawk Watershed Partnership in Ore., Sea Resources,
Inc., in southwestern Washington, and the city of Ashland, Ore.
“This is a special day for our organization, and for this region,” said
former Oregon U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield, chair of the Foundation Board. …
An Oregon proposal to set a 68-degree
upper limit for water temperature
in the Willamette River will likely
be rejected by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
later this month. EPA is expected to
favor a 64-degree limit that would
have fewer adverse impacts on salmon
and steelhead.
Oregon’s Department of Environmental
Quality proposed temperature limits
for Oregon rivers and streams as
a requirement under the federal Clean
Water Act and submitted its proposal
to the …
Caspian terns in the Columbia River estuary continue to favor Rice
Island as their nesting site, but research is revealing that the amount
of salmon in their diet declines over time and that the birds forage
a
wider range than previously thought, including outside the estuary.
Researchers estimate there are about 7,300 tern nests on Rice Island
and
most of them are crowded onto a one-acre unvegetated site. About 1,300
of those nests are in two satellite colonies just outside fencing …
Northwest energy and conservation groups are taking the Bonneville Power
Administration, and the region’s congressional delegation, to task
regarding a 2002-2006 rate proposal that they say has gone from bad
to
worse.
A June 15 letter from the Northwest Energy Coalition-Sierra Club asks
BPA administrator Judith Johansen to rethink a proposal offered recently
to “direct service industries” such as the aluminum industry.
A separate letter dated June 17 from Northwest Energy …
The barge transportation on the Snake is scheduled to continue through
June 25, Hurson said. The Corps is now using two barges with one heading
down river every other day. The 1998 steelhead supplement to the 1995
opinion calls for barge transportation through June 24. Prior to that
decision, the Corps would have probably shifted to transport trucks,
which have lower capacity, by this time of year.
“While we’re still barging, we could be trucking” because of the
relatively low numbers …
Environmental groups followed through this week with a two-month old
threat to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if it did not stop a
potential irrigation withdrawal by a new farm development in Eastern
Oregon.
However, the Corps says its responsibility stops with issuing a permit
for the pump and that the Oregon Water Resources Department is
responsible for regulating any water withdrawals.
The groups filed the suit in U.S. District Court June 17, contending
the
Corps failed to …
, Executive Director, Taxpayers for Common Sense:
Dear CBB,
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) is right that one result of the “salmon
bureaucracy” has been that “billions of dollars have been spent
generating reams of data which, thus far, have not materialized in
any
coherent plan of action.”
Of course, it is also true that salmon bureaucrats have produced some
useful research data that may help build political consensus on a
controversial issue. For the record, the salmon bureaucracy is …
Wash, DC 20003
Tel: 202-546-8500 x102
Fax: 202-546-8511
www.taxpayer.net
A Colorado native with an extensive background in water management issues
has been taken into the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fold as the regional
director of its Pacific Northwest Region.
BOR Commissioner Eluid Martinez announced Tuesday that J. William (Bill)
McDonald will report to his new position in mid-July. McDonald replaces
longtime Pacific Northwest Region Director John Keyes, who retired on June
3, 1998. Steve Clark, who has served as acting director, will return to
his post …
An Oregon public utility endorsed
this week breaching the four lower Snake River dams saying that a return
to a free-flowing river would significantly restore endangered fish runs
in the entire Columbia River Basin.
The Emerald Public Utility District,
which serves about 17,000 customers in the southern Willamette Valley of
Oregon, claims to be the first electric utility in the country to endorse
removal of the four dams. Emerald believes there are reasonable and economic
solutions …
Budget cuts continue, though at a
more relaxed pace than during the past two years, in fiscal year 2000 and
2001 proposals now being considered by the Northwest Power Planning.
The Council made a commitment in
1997 to cut its budget by nearly 25 percent, from $8 million to about $6.2
million, by 2002, according to Jim Tanner, the Council’s administrative
officer.
About half of that reduction was
achieved during 1998 and 1999 by deferring contract requirements, restricting
travel, …
. Fyall, Hanford Reach
Coordinator, Benton County, Wa:
There are a couple of minor points
of clarification that I would like to add regarding the piece “HASTINGS
OFFERS MODIFIED HANFORD BILL” from the CBB of 15 May. First, the article
states that the new Murray-Dicks Congressional bills (S 715 and HR 1314)
include a “management council” as a new wrinkle. This is not true, and
is one of the clearest, most fundamental distinctions between the (Patty)
Murray and (Richard) Hastings …
Three Oregon environmental groups turned to Oregons initiative process
to put a pesticide reporting measure on the November Oregon ballot. The
groups filed last week to begin the initiative process after frustrations
that a similar Oregon legislative bill had not been heard.
However, this week talks picked up again in the Oregon Legislature on
compromises to House Bill 3602, the House version of the original pesticide
reporting bill, introduced by Rep. Vicki Walker. The environmental …
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the Columbian
white-tailed deer in Douglas County, Ore. from the endangered species list
after a dramatic comeback.
Biologists estimated the deers population in Douglas County at less
than 500 in the early 1970s. More than 5,000 of the species now roam over
300 square miles of Douglas County, primarily in the lower portions of
the North Umpqua River.
The proposal is the result of two decades of work and partnering with
the …
Press
An anti-breaching resolution is on its way to the Oregon Senate, thanks
to a Republican majority in the House Committee on Water and Environment.
House Joint Memorial 13 sailed out of the committee April 28 with a
“do-pass” recommendation on a 5-4 vote. All the Democrats opposed the
memorial.
Memorials, which have no weight of law, are a way for legislators to
send their opinions on important issues to President Clinton and the U.S.
Congress.
The memorial opposes …
Multi-Species Framework participants will huddle Wednesday and Thursday
in Portland to refine the Columbia Basin fish and wildlife management alternatives
being developed for scientific analysis.
The workshop session begins with technical briefings from both the ecological
and human effects work groups on the methods that will be used to analyze
seven identified “alternatives.”
Critiques or reviews of the alternatives were produced in the April.
Scientists are scheduled to begin a …
Three Oregon environmental groups turned to Oregons initiative process
this week to put a pesticide reporting measure on the November Oregon ballot.
The groups filed this week to begin the initiative process after frustrations
that a similar Oregon legislative bill had not been heard.
The Oregon Environmental Council, the Oregon State Public Interest Research
Group and the NW Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, say that water
polluted with pesticides could be a major contributor …
Northwest tribal leaders visited five fishing access sites currently
under construction and discussed design plans for several others Thursday
and today (April 23) during a conference with officials from the Army Corps
of Engineers.
The sites, authorized by Congress in 1988, are located along the Columbia
River between Bonneville and McNary dams.
The sites are solely for use by Native Americans who are members of
the four Columbia River treaty tribes – The Confederated Tribes of …
Ken McDonald, Montana’s bull trout recovery coordinator, has had his
hands in two processes over the last year: developing a state bull trout
recovery plan as well as a federal one.
It’s been a tricky task. The Montana plan, which was released in draft
form last November, must ultimately comply with the federal plan, which
is still in its formative stages of development.
"I’m hoping to incorporate a lot of the work that has been done
by the state" into the federal plan, said
The Montana Legislature has passed a bill requiring the state to spend
$750,000 on restoring bull trout and cutthroat trout populations.
But lawmakers didn’t provide extra money to pay for the mandate, so
the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officially opposed the bill.
The money must come from the department’s appropriated budget, which
was developed through a prioritization process and is funded largely through
the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.
"We just didn’t want to
, executive director, Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition:
The April 9 CBB had a couple articles which mischaracterize the future
of fish and wildlife costs for customers of Bonneville Power Administration.
The typical formulation is something like "costs are expected to skyrocket
in future years if a decision is made to bypass the lower Snake River dams."
Yes, fish and wildlife costs for BPA customers will rise from the current
level for a period of years if the dams are …
Will Stelle, NMFS northwest regional director, and Peter Kareiva, a
senior scienetist at NMFS’ Northwest Science Center, hit the road soon
after the release of the Anadromous Fish Appendix to explain the findings
to the public.
Stelle and Kareiva were in Lewiston Thursday night and traveled to the
Tri Cities for a meeting this morning in Kennewick. A public meeting is
scheduled from 5 to 7 tonight at Richland’s DoubleTree Hotel’s main ballroom.
Stelle traveled to Boise for meetings …
The lower Snake River in Washington state is the nation’s No. 1 "most
endangered" river, according to a conservation group that advocates
breaching four federal dams there to save endangered salmon.
The release of American Rivers’ annual ten most endangered rivers at
a press conference on April 12 in Washington, D.C., was covered by major
national news media.
The group highlighted another Northwest river stretch last year, when
the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, …
National Marine Fisheries Service director Rolland Schmitten, former
head of the agency’s Northwest office, has been promoted and a new director
named.
Commerce Secretary William M. Daley announced Schmitten’s appointment
effective April 12 as deputy assistant secretary for international affairs
for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Congressional aide Penelope "Penny" Dalton, senior professional
staff on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and …
The Oregon Water Resources Department proposed extending seven of nine
water rights permits requested by Boeing Agri-Industrial Company and Inland
Land Company, but only if Inland Land meets certain requirements that would
protect fish and wildlife.
If approved, the proposal would authorize the development of more than
15,000 acres of new irrigated farmland on state-owned land near Boardman,
Ore. In total, the proposed orders would authorized continued and future
irrigation of over …
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson will tour Hanford Reach by boat
Saturday (April 3) and make an announcement concerning future management
of the Reach.
The Seattle Times reported Tuesday that Richardson will announce that
management of the Wahluke Slope will be transferred from Washington State
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A USFWS spokesperson Thursday would not confirm the report.
The 90,000-acre Wahluke Slope, which includes bluffs along the Hanford
Reach, has …
Montana’s victory in a lawsuit over management of Libby and Hungry Horse
dams is not enough to protect the state’s interests in the Columbia River
Basin’s tug-of-war over water, a Montana state biologist says. Brian Marotz,
the special projects coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
says his department is aiming to have a full-time representative on the
panel that makes week-to-week decisions on dam operations. The position
has yet to be established, but department leaders …
Local government officials today (April 2) were expected to sign a joint
resolution endorsing the Hanford Reach Interim Action Plan, which calls
for the Reach to be managed cooperatively by federal, tribal, state and
local governments. The resolution is expected to be signed this afternoon
in a ceremony at the Vernita Rest Stop along the Reach below Priest Rapids
Dam. Commissioners from Washington State’s Benton, Franklin and Grant counties
will be signing the document. The …
A congressional bill passed out of committee would authorize, among
other projects, the deepening of the lower 115 miles of Columbia River
and Willamette River channels to accommodate deeper draft ships, a project
that could begin as soon as 2001. An Army Corps of Engineers feasibility
study the assesses the impacts of dredging the channel from its current
40 feet to 43 feet is in the final stages of a public process set to be
completed by June. However, the Corps says that …
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power
will hold field on Tuesday, April 6 in Hood River to examine key issues
related to Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead recovery. Oregon Senator
Gordon Smith, chairman of the subcommittee, said the oversight hearing
will examine the federal agency process underway to make a recommendation
on the long-term operation of the four lower Snake River dams. Smith said
the scientific modeling used in the PATH process …
The new Columbia River Basin Forum’s mission of putting the region’s
disparate fish and wildlife interests on the same management path will
start, apparently, with a attempt to define each process’ goals, products
and timelines. Though separate processes are ongoing, all claim to have
the same ultimate goal – a comprehensive management plan. Most active on
the ground now are the development of a Columbia River Basin Multi-Species
Framework and the federal agencies’ multi-faceted plan …
The Multi-Species Framework process may not get all of the funding requested,
but federal agencies promised to dig deep to fuel the fine-tuning of fish
and wildlife management alternatives developed over the past several months.
And a related process clarified its immediate financial future this week.
The newly formed Columbia River Basin Forum Tuesday accepted in-kind and
direct contributions to get its support system up and running for the next
six months.
The framework process, …
Longtime employee Jerry Mallet has been selected to lead the Idaho Department
of Fish and Game while the search goes on to replace Stephen P. Mealey,
who was fired March 5. Mallet, who was serving as assistant director, is
the IDFG’s senior employee with 43 years of service. He started in 1956
and has served as a fish culturist and fisheries research biologist, regional
fisheries manger, anadromous fisheries manager, fisheries research manager,
and regional supervisor in the Southeast …
It may be just a matter of time for lake trout in Glacier National Park’s
Lake McDonald. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has cleared a hurdle
in acquiring funding for a plan to eliminate the park’s largest lake trout
population with netting techniques used on the Great Lakes. A panel of
fisheries managers recently approved the proposal in a review of over 80
project proposals from across the Northwest. The Resident Fish Caucus of
the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife and Authority …
A $400,000 study of transportation impacts in Washington State related
to breaching of the four Lower Snake dams says such costs could range from
$132 million to $406 million, depending on "geo-technical" considerations.
The recently completed study by Lund Consulting and HDR Engineering
was commissioned by the state’s Legislative Transportation Committee, which
includes both state Senate and House members.
The study notes that wheat and barley constitute nearly 75 …
, Grant PUD fisheries scientist:
I am writing to correct some errors contained in the Columbia Basin
Bulletin story "Flows Adopted to Reduce Hanford Stranding". The
section outlining the protection program contained two major errors: these
were both under the situation where weekly average discharge is less than
170 kcfs. The story stated that flow fluctuations would be limited to plus
or minus 20 percent before April 10 and plus or minus 30 percent after
April 10. This is …
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission fired embattled director Stephen
P. Mealey late last week in a controversial 4-3 vote.
The move invoked an almost immediate retaliation from Idaho state legislators
who killed a bill that would have helped to bail out the cash-strapped
agency.
Mealey also reacted quickly by challenging the firing, initially done
in executive session and later in an open meeting, by hiring former Idaho
Lt. Gov. David Leroy of Boise and suing the …
When it comes to salmon recovery, The Idaho Fish and Game Commission
would play second fiddle to an Office of Threatened and Endangered Species
under a measure introduced last week in the state House of Representatives
wins favor.
The bill, recommended for passage Wednesday by the House Resources and
Conservation Committee, would create a three-person species office within
the Office of the Governor.
The office’s director "shall be the official in the state designated
to oversee
A Washington congressman has proposed legislation to, ultimately, shore
up sloughing bluffs that pose a threat to water quality and fisheries along
the Columbia River’s productive Hanford Reach.
"Last Congress we hit a roadblock and no agreement was struck on
how best to protect the lands surrounding the Hanford Reach — including
the White Bluffs and Wahluke Slope," said Rep. Doc Hastings. "If
we know these lands are sloughing into the river, common sense tells …
Faced with an uncertain funding future, Columbia Basin Multi-Species
Framework organizers are reaching out for financial help from others who
might benefit from the project.
Letters sent Monday to the top regional officials for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Corps
of Engineers ask that each chip in $270,000 to complete the second phase
of the project.
The letter was signed by Todd Maddock, chairman of the Northwest Power
Planning …
Northwest governors last week lobbied members of Congress to support
President Clinton’s proposed $100 million Pacific Coast salmon recovery
fund and to try to increase the amount.
Oregon’s John Kitzhaber and Washington’s Gary Locke told Vice President
Al Gore of their plans in a White House meeting on Monday (Feb. 22) and
later met with members of Congress from the Northwest. The two chief executives
were in Washington for the semi-annual conference of the National …
The number of Northwest salmon and steelhead populations listed under
the federal Endangered Species Act could, potentially, double with determinations
to be announced later this month.
The decision on proposed chinook, chum and sockeye salmon and steelhead
listings will be made in news conferences to be held Seattle and probably
in Portland as well on March 16, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the
National Marine Fisheries Service.
NMFS proposed on Feb. 26, 1998, that 13 salmon and
Senior planner Doug Arndt took over Monday as chief of the Corps of
Engineers’ Northwestern Division fish management division.
Arndt was selected by the Corps to replace Dave Geiger, who retired
at year’s end.
Arndt heads up the Corps’ Pacific Salmon Coordination office that guides
Corps fish and wildlife recovery efforts in the Columbia Basin. The office’s
focus areas are the Columbia River Fish Mitigation program, the operations
and maintenance program, system operations and …
, Fish and Wildlife Policy Analyst and Charlie
Grist, Energy Policy Analyst, of the Oregon Office – NW Power Planning
Council.
RE: CBB 02/19/99, BPA MAKES CASE ON REVENUES LOST TO SPILL
It should be noted that under the MOA signed by the federal family for
Bonneville’s fish and wildlife expenditures for the period 1996-2001, Bonneville
receives "credit" for a rolling average of $183M per year for
lost revenues.
Since initiation of the MOA, Bonneville has estimated, on …
A lone gray wolf from Idaho apparently crossed the Snake River and is
moving through northeast Oregon in search of a mate.
The federally endangered wolf, number B-45, has a radio collar allowing
biologists to track it day to day while they consider their options.
The female gray wolf was captured and collared as a yearling and was
part of the Jureano Mountains Pack of east-central Idaho.
"She presents a somewhat odd situation for us because Oregon is
not part of the wolf …
No more than a square yard on the ground, and often just a few inches
deep, cultural resource sites around Hungry Horse Reservoir provide a glimpse
into the region’s prehistoric past.
There often is nothing more than "scatters" or rock chips,
distinctly created by the hand of ancient man in building a tool, said
Flathead National Forest’s archaeologist Tim Light.
Out of 17 sites discovered so far around the reservoir, some have produced
arrowheads, stone knives or other …
WASHINGTON – The federal government spent more than $325 million on
threatened and endangered species in 1995, an 800 percent increase over
1989, according to a report released Thursday by a congressional committee.
In terms of individual species, five of the 10 highest expenditures
in 1995 were for Northwest salmon and birds, according to the House Resources
Committee.
The congressionally-mandated Fish and Wildlife Service funding report
was required to have been released more …
The Northwest Power Planning Council and the National Marine Fisheries
Service will jointly host a public meeting February 25 for those who want
to learn more about the work of the scientific group known as PATH (Plan
for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses).
PATH scientists will answer questions, mostly those submitted in advance,
about their analysis of data and hypotheses concerning salmon survival
in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers. The meeting will run from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. …
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is forecasting an increase
in the number of Willamette spring chinook returning this year, but is
telling anglers the increase isn’t large enough for the Commission to consider
lengthening the fishing week to seven days.
ODFW is expecting the 1999 return to rise to 46,500, slightly higher
than the 1998 run of 45,100, and well above 1996 and 1997 returns that
averaged fewer than 35,000.
Despite the improvement, ODFW said, the run size is still
An independent survey of Idaho citizens found that the public would
support the use of state general funds to help finance Idaho wildlife and
linking the cost of hunting and fishing licenses to agency costs.
The survey was requested by a committee of Idaho citizens formed to
address Idaho Fish and Game funding and will be used to inform state legislators
in 1999.
Respondents were asked questions about proposed increases in hunting
and fishing license fees, and the use of a small …
, NMFS:
I wish to add a bit of clarity to the article on Hanford Reach issues
in the Jan 11-15 issue of the CBB.
The third paragraph on the Hanford issue stated NMFS’ 1995 Biological
Opinion may be an impediment to developing a solution to the stranding
issue. The factor causing stranding is power peaking operations and associated
water level fluctuations in the mid-Columbia reach.
Provisions of the Opinion need to be considered in developing a solution
to this problem, but …
and Eric Barker
The University of Idaho has contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers
to conduct forums that will assess the potential social impacts of three
salmon recovery alternatives in 17 Idaho, Washington and Oregon communities.
Results of the community-level social assessments will be incorporated
into the feasibility report and environmental impact statement being completed
as part of the Lower Snake River Juvenile Fish Migration Study conducted
by the Corps. The …
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will seed Rice Island and two other
Columbia River estuary islands beginning Jan. 26, as part of a plan to
relocate much of a colony of Caspian Terns to East Sand Island 15 miles
downstream.
The plan is outlined in a final Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding
of No Significant Impact (FONSI) released this week.
The colony of 10,000 breeding pairs of terns, the largest in North America,
representing nearly one-quarter of terns on the continent, may
Northwest Power Planning Power Council chairman Todd Maddock of Idaho
has announced the chairmanships of the key committees that will guide Council
policies in 1999.
Eric Bloch of Oregon will take over chair of the Fish and Wildlife Committee,
with Stan Grace of Montana, Mike Field of Idaho, and Larry Cassidy of Washington
serving as members.
Former Council chairman John Etchart of Montana will serve as chairman
of the Power Committee, with Maddock, Tom Karier of Washington and …
The state of Montana has agreed to sign the Memorandum of Agreement
that would establish a Columbia River Basin Forum, a proposal that arose
from the "Three Sovereigns" process.
Federal, state and tribal parties will meet Friday (Jan. 29) to determine
how many of them are willing to sign the MOA, and whether the effort should
continue or be abandoned.
Oregon, Washington, federal agencies and some tribal governments have
indicated they will sign the MOA. Until this week, …
Idaho Fish and Game Director Stephen P. Mealey recently put his top
fisheries biologists under a gag order on salmon recovery issues and directed
his information chief to submit press releases to the governor’s office
prior to public release.
That has critics suggesting the department has become politicized.
The director vigorously denied the policies are a sign his department
is succumbing to politics. "Some folks are tying to make it a question
of politicization of the …
The mechanisms for analysis are nearly in place but will remain largely
idle as the Columbia River Basin Multi-Species Framework development team
struggles to identify exactly what fish and wildlife management alternatives
would be analyzed.
Project manager Roy Sampsel told the framework management committee
Thursday that there are five or six "natural sorts of groupings"
of proposed management strategies that have been identified in the 27 concept
papers submitted by …
, fishery biologist for the National Marine Fisheries
Service:
This message is providing a correction to the article written by Mike
O’Bryant entitled "Panelists Discuss Compliance with Clean Water Act."
The sixth paragraph of that article reads "We made the decision to
leave the fish in the river",…. That wasn’t the decision and I do
not believe I said that. The decision made was to transport the fish. The
notion of "blood on your hands versus blood in …
Idaho Steelhead and Salmon Unlimited, the Northwest Sport Fishing Industry
Association and several Idaho sportsmen are suing the Army Corps of Engineers
and others to force the agencies to act on a plan to move Caspian terns
in the Columbia River estuary.
The lawsuit calls for the Corps, the National Marine Fisheries Service,
the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish & Wildlife to move the 10,000
breeding pairs of terns off Rice Island, to eliminate the threat to …
Ted Strong, executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission for 10 years, will leave office in March 1999.
Strong said he has decided to move back to the Yakama Reservation. "When
I came to the Commission, I expected to stay for about three years,"
he said. "The tribal members who encouraged me to accept this position
gave me all the reason in the world to want to succeed. My board, the commissioners,
gave me the greatest support and highest …
There may be a problem with one of the fish ladders at the Dalles Dam
on the Columbia River.
According to counts of adult salmon compiled by the Army Corps of Engineers
nearly 45,000 more steelhead and 1,000 more sockeye were counted at John
Day Dam than at the Dalles.
The discrepancy is curious since adult salmon returning to spawn must
pass over the project at the Dalles before they reach John Day Dam some
24 miles up river.
After reviewing tapes at both dams Corps …
Dams, not in-flows from tributary streams, have the biggest impact on
water temperatures in the Columbia/Snake river mainstem, according to preliminary
study results previewed Thursday in Portland.
That assessment, based on a modeling exercise, was announced during
the first day of the two-day Columbia/Snake River Mainstem Water Temperature
Workshop.
The gathering, sponsored by a variety of federal, state and tribal entities,
was designed as an exchange of information and ideas on how
The period for the public to comment on the Army Corps of Engineers’
plan to deepen 115 miles of the lower Columbia and Willamette River was
extended 60 days by the Corps from Dec. 7, 1998 to Feb. 5, 1999.
"We received 18 formal requests from members of the public, public
interest groups and other agencies to extend the comment period,"
said Dawn Edwards, a Corps spokeswoman. "Extending the period is a
response to their needs."
She said commenters asking for an …
A report in the Oct. 30, 1998, journal Science, suggests that some types
of aquaculture may be contributing to the same problems it was at one time
meant to resolve.
According to the report, fish farming of salmon and shrimp in particular
requires almost three times more fish resources than it produces and the
product generally ends up on the tables of affluent nations.
"Aquaculture is often seen as a panacea, the solution to relieve
fishing pressure on the oceans and feed …
Periods of extreme winter weather and low Columbia River flows, combined
with energy deregulation, could leave the Northwest short of power, says
a recent analysis by the Northwest Power Planning Council.
As a result, the Council has appointed a 17-member advisory committee
of energy industry experts to assist the Council in identifying alternative
policies to address the problem. The work will be coordinated with an effort
by an association of electricity transmission line owners in the
, Fisheries Program Officer for Montana Fish,
Wildlife, and Parks, regarding Story No. 3: POLITICS, SCIENCE OF NON-NATIVE
PREDATORS DISCUSSED in the Oct. 26-30 CBB: In reference to the conference
"Management Implications of Co-occurring Native and Introduced Fishes",
I’d like to address the comments by Ray Beamsdorfer of ODFW and David Bennett
of the University of Idaho.
Both Mr. Beamsdorfer and Dr. Bennett spoke of variation in predation
on salmon smolts related to flow …
President Clinton last week named George Frampton as acting chair of
the Council of Environmental Quality, which plays a key role in crafting
the Administration’s salmon recovery policies in the Columbia River Basin.
Frampton took office Nov. 7, replacing Kathleen McGinty, who served
as Clinton’s principal environmental policy advisor for nearly six years.
Clinton said he intends to nominate Frampton as chair of the CEQ "and
will submit nomination papers to the Senate at the …
More than 40 percent of the funds allocated for 1999 Columbia/Snake
mainstem projects intended to improve fish passage has been earmarked for
the effort to reduce juvenile salmon mortality at Bonneville Dam. The multi-agency
System Configuration Team on Monday (Oct. 26) completed its ranking of
projects proposed for fiscal year 1999 under the Corps of Engineers’ Columbia
River Fish Mitigation Program. The panel recommended $81.26 million in
spending on a list of 47 projects involving …
Anglers pulled more than 107,000 salmon-eating predators out of the
Columbia and Snake rivers during the 1998 Bonneville Power Administration’s
Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward season,
"We are extremely encouraged by the results of this program over
the past eight years," said John Skidmore of BPA’s fish and wildlife
office. "Over one-million predatory northern pikeminnow have been
removed from the Snake and Columbia rivers since 1990. As a result of these
removals, …
Soscia, Columbia River Coordinator for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
SOSCIA.MARYLOU@epamail.epa.gov:
In reference to Feedback (CBB, Oct. 19-23) from Mark Booker of Othello,
referring to Will Stelle’s comments at the Governance meeting on the water
quality of the Columbia River mainstem: The Columbia River mainstem is
listed as a polluted water body by the states of Oregon and Washington
under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act for a number of different …
The five-state Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission this month
adopted a resolution declaring that "current information indicates
natural river option" is the "best biological choice" for
recovery of wild Snake River salmon and steelhead stocks.
The commission, noting that "biology is only one component of a
long-term recovery plan," urged decision makers to shift the debate
from biology to economics.
The PSFMC is an interstate commission with …
The effects of water temperature upon salmon and steelhead in the Columbia
River Basin will be the focus of a two-day workshop in December sponsored
by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Temperature has a tremendously important impact on fish survival,"
said Mary Lou Scoscia, Columbia River coordinator for EPA. "This workshop
is aimed at helping us get a better understanding of the effects of temperature
upon fish health."
The EPA says that most of the …
of Othello, Wa:
The article titled CONFERENCE TACKLES RIVER GOVERNANCE had comments
by Will Stelle, regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries
Service.
Mr. Stelle’s began his comments by clearly stating that water quality
is in continuous decline (in a manner that would put stink on all water
users). My guess was that he was implying that water quality declines must
be a major cause of the salmon problem. Later upon direct questioning about
the Columbia River and …
Less spill means better fish survival at The Dalles Dam.
That’s the conclusion of a pair of reports summarized Wednesday in Portland
during the Corps of Engineers annual research review of its Anadromous
Fish Evaluation Program.
"Project survival may be as much as 10 percent greater at 30 percent
than 64 percent spill," according to an abstract presented by the
Corps Marvin Shutters on "The Effect of Spill Level on Fish Passage
Efficiency at the Dalles Dam in …
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have asked
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber to clarify the state’s position regarding treaty
rights.
The request comes in the wake of this year’s contentious negotiations
over the fall fishery for Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead.
"Reports from our policy representatives and legal counsel involved
in the process paint what can only be described as an alarming and distressing
picture," say Antone Minthorn, chairman
After weeks and rumors and speculation, President Clinton confirmed
Wednesday night that Katie McGinty, his top environmental policy advisor,
was leaving her post after the November election.
McGinty, chair of the White House Council on Environment Quality, has
played a key role in the Administration’s salmon recovery policies for
the Columbia River Basin.
In announcing McGinty’s departure at a speech to the League of Conservation
Voters Wednesday night, Clinton said, "We have a
The late-starting multi-species framework development process is gaining
focus with target dates for the project’s first three products scheduled
for mid-November.
"We are on a schedule that is set to get certain products out of
here by Thanksgiving," according Dr. Peter Paquet, deputy project
manager. Those products — a ecological overview or description of the
Columbia River Basin; a "template" to guide the development of
fish and wildlife management options; …
Another new scientific review process for Columbia Basin salmon recovery
is about to be launched.
Included in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill is
"report language" which calls for the Independent Scientific
Review Panel (ISRP) to evaluate the scientific soundness of "Columbia
Basin fish and wildlife projects, programs, or measures proposed in a federal
agency budget to be reimbursed by the Bonneville Power Administration."
The ISRP review …
In what she termed a balancing of the interests of core customers, the
environment and a financial responsibility to repay its debts, Judith Johansen,
Bonneville Power Administration administrator, presented the agency’s "Proposal
for the Future" to nearly 300 representatives from public and private
utilities, energy agencies, utility commissions and industrial customers.
The crowd that gathered in Portland Tuesday (Sept. 29), in the first
of three public hearings to …
Although the news from Congress regarding Army Corps of Engineer fish
and wildlife project spending has been generally downcast, it did contain
one tantalizing tidbit for Willamette and McKenzie river salmon watchers.
The Corps’ appropriation includes $1 million to further the design of
the Cougar Reservoir portion of the Willamette Temperature Control project.
The end product would be a 300-foot tower that would allow operators to
selectively release water from various levels in the …
The Clinton Administration and 149 House Democrats issued strong statements
this week denouncing "numerous anti-environmental riders" attached
to this year’s appropriations bills, including a proposal by Sen. Slade
Gorton that addresses congressional authority over modifications to federal
dams in the Columbia River Basin.
Gorton’s Columbia Basin proposal is attached to the $13.4 billion Interior
Appropriations Bill, which is now part of an "omnibus spending …
Ken Casavant, former Washington member of the Northwest Power Planning
Council, has been appointed to the Council’s Independent Economic Analysis
Board.
Casavant, who served on the Council from 1994 to April of this year,
is a professor of agricultural economics at Washington State University
in Pullman.
Casavant’s specialty is transportation economics. He is director of
the Eastern Washington Intermodal Transportation Study at WSU, which has
evaluated the potential impacts of …
The Grant County Public Utility District and Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife are seeking members to serve on a "technical team"
that will assist in a comprehensive investigation of juvenile fall chinook
stranding in the Hanford Reach.
The technical team will "work with study participants to develop
options for solution of the stranding problem in 1999," says Grant
PUD and WDFW in a letter in invitees. "The team will be asked to conduct
necessary …
Idaho Rivers United today released its "Wild and Scenic Rivers
in Idaho Status Report" which calls upon the Idaho congressional delegation
to add 14 rivers to the Wild and Scenic designation.
The recommended rivers are:
Lower Salmon (Long Tom Bar to mouth)
Bruneau (Blackrock Crossing to Hot Creek)
Jarbidge (Murphy Hot Springs to Bruneau)
Sheep Creek (Mary’s Creek to Bruneau)
East Fork Owyhee
North Fork Clearwater
Cayuse Creek
Kelly Creek
White Sand …
Oregon Governor. John Kitzhaber, Washington Sen. Slade Gorton, former
Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, Oregon Rep. Elizabeth Furse and Washington Rep.
Rick White will join tribal leaders, senior federal officials, state legislators,
and representatives of the region’s economic and environmental interests
for a major regional conference on the future of the Columbia River.
"Governance and the Columbia River: Where Are We Going?" will
be held Thursday, Oct. 15, from 8:15 a.m. to …
Preliminary numbers finding their way out of the Drawdown Regional Economic
Workgroup indicate that breaching Lower Snake dams could result in $158
million in direct costs to irrigators.
DREW has come up with estimated costs of various activities that would
be needed to implement drawdown or breaching of the four dams. Among those
activities are the costs to modify groundwater wells and pumping systems,
purchasing irrigated land, and establishing cattle watering corridors.
Other …
Even as a multi-species framework development process begins, its guiding
principles and so-called scientific "foundation" has been targeted
for a rewrite.
In a recently completed review, the Independent Scientific Advisory
Board praised the intent but also offered suggestions for fine-tuning and
focusing the ecosystem principles and foundation for fish and wildlife
restoration in the Columbia River Basin.
"I view them as pretty positive comments," said Chip …
Transporting by barge and truck as many summer salmon migrants as possible
is consistent with the Independent Scientific Advisory Board’s recommendations
on transportation issued earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries
Service said last week in letter to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission.
In March, the ISAB, which advises NMFS and the Northwest Power Planning
Council, recommended a "1998 management approach that divides juvenile
emigrants throughout the …
A policy alternatives work group brainstormed on procedural issues while
staff continued shaping a scientific work plan this past week in coordinated
efforts to develop a multi-species framework to guide Columbia Basin fish
and wildlife management.
"Things are really starting to roll," according to Peter Paquet,
a Northwest Power Planning Council staff scientist and member of a science
steering group that has helped create the groundwork for the project.
Funding for the …
Congressional hearings next week in Eastern Washington and Idaho will
discuss legislation to transfer management of endangered salmon and steelhead
from the National Marine Fisheries Service to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
The Endangered Species Consolidation Act (H.R. 4335) is co-authored
by Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman
of the House Resources Committee.
The Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service has jurisdiction
over …
Trout Unlimited, the world’s largest trout and salmon conservation group,
has endorsed breaching of the four dams on the lower Snake River as the
best way to recover endangered Snake River wild salmon and steelhead.
"The earthen portion of the four lower Snake River dams must be
removed and natural river channel restored, and appropriate mitigation
be implemented to minimize the effects to the region" says the resolution
adopted by Trout Unlimited’s National Resource Board …
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced this week that the peregrine
falcon is expected to be removed from the endangered species list.
"Every American should be proud," Babbitt said. "In 25
years, the people of the United States have rescued this awesome raptor
from the brink of extinction. We have proved that a strong Endangered Species
Act can make a difference. We don’t have to stand idly by and watch our
wildlife go extinct. We can bring species back. We have …
This year’s run of juvenile Snake River fall chinook looks good, according
to National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries biologist Paul Wagner.
"Assuming the ocean is friendly, things could go well," Wagner
said.
The fish passage index for wild fall chinook subyearlings at Lower Granite
Dam was five times as high as expected, according to cumulative data from
the Columbia River Fish Passage Center.
The fish passage index, however, is not a measurement of actual …
A number of questions still loom with less a month to go before final
funding recommendations are due from the Northwest Power Planning Council
for proposed 1999 Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife projects.
The Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee and staff have spent much
of the summer discussing "issues" related to the fiscal 1999
Draft Annual Implementation Work Plan and the Independent Scientific Review
Panel’s critique of that work plan.
Most recently the Council’s
Development of a "framework" that could lead to a regional,
multi-species fish and wildlife recovery plan was given a boost Thursday
when the Bonneville Power Administration agreed to provide $894,000 for
the project’s first phase.
"Most of the issues we were concerned with were taken care of"
and discussions are continuing on other unresolved issue, Bob Lohn, BPA’s
manager, fish and wildlife, said. "It made the most sense to move
forward with the …
A request for nominations is expected to be sent out this week with
the goal of filling four anticipated vacancies on the 11-member Independent
Scientific Advisory Board.
The final choices, this time around, could well be made with the direct
tribal involvement, according to Peter Paquet, the Northwest Power Planning
Council’s manager for wildlife and resident fish. He and Chip McConnaha,
the Council’s manager for program analysis and evaluation, updated the
Council Tuesday on …
Financing a bull trout recovery effort on Glacier’s Lake McDonald may
be tricky, but U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Wade Fredenberg
says there are many potential funding avenues, including the Bonneville
Power Administration.
Fredenberg believes that Lake McDonald is the place to start a recovery
effort in western Montana, since Glacier National Park and his agency have
like-minded mandates to restore native fisheries.
Ridding the lake of invasive lake trout, the bull …
The Army Corps of Engineers is now transporting fish daily from McNary
Dam, rather than every other day.
The change comes partly in response to concerns that warm water temperatures
were contributing to an increase in mortality of fish in McNary’s forebay
and the collection/holding facilities. "We’d rather err on the side
of doing what we can to address the mortality issue," said Doug Arndt
of the Corps.
Previously, fish were transported every other day, which required …
Mike Kreidler, a Washington member of the Northwest Power Planning Council
since January 1995, began his new job this month as the regional director
for Region 10 of the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services.
Kreidler, a former state legislator and congressman, has been replaced
by Larry Cassidy of Vancouver, who attended his first Council meeting as
a voting member this week.
In looking back on his nearly three years as a Council member, Kreidler
counts as a major …
Despite an ongoing debate about management structure, the Northwest
Power Planning Council went ahead Wednesday with its plan to pursue funding
to develop a comprehensive framework it hopes will guide Columbia Basin
fish and wildlife recovery efforts.
The letter signed by Chairman John N. Etchart asks that the Bonneville
Power Administration allocate $894,500 from the fiscal year 1998 direct
Fish and Wildlife Program budget for phase 1 of the project. Initial costs
would include the …
PENDLETON-An overburdened budget and differences of opinion between
fish managers and scientific reviewers were among the topics of discussion
Wednesday as the Northwest Power Planning Council Fish and Wildlife Committee
worked toward fiscal year 1999 project funding recommendations.
Project selection issues will be discussed in three more venues this
month as the Council prepares to make mid-September recommendations for
the $127 million direct Fish and Wildlife Program. The next is at
PORTLAND-Newly appointed Bonneville Power Administration Administrator
Judi Johansen is scheduled to address the Northwest Power Planning Council
during its Wednesday meeting at the Council offices.
Johansen’s remarks are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. She took over
leadership of BPA earlier this summer.
The Council will also continue its self-examination during its Tuesday-Wednesday
session. A panel discussion on the staff-produced "Role of the Northwest
Power Planning …
Oregon Senator Gordon Smith will chair an Energy and Natural Resources
Subcommittee hearing on the Three Sovereigns process Tuesday, Aug. 4, 9:30
a.m. at the Pendleton Convention Center.
Smith’s staff said discussions in the hearing will focus on the management
of the Columbia and Snake River system and on efforts to develop a long-term
fish recovery program.
Invited witnesses include: former Idaho Senator James McClure, now with
the Competitive Market Coalition; Rolland …
A letter has been penned and is poised for mailing, but that request
for multi-species framework development funding is stalled for at least
another week as Columbia River Basin fishery managers and those involved
in the Three Sovereigns process ponder its worth.
The letter calls for the Bonneville Power Administration to allocate
$894,500 to be spent between now and the end of the calendar year on the
project’s first phase. The Northwest Power Planning Council, whose staff
is …
Panelists took different paths to reach the same point Wednesday ·
that the Northwest Power Council must move beyond the "soft tasks"
it now undertakes if it is to play a lead role in regional fish and wildlife
and power decisions.
The Council, created by the Northwest Power Act of 1980, began an effort
earlier this summer to redefine its role. The release of a discussion paper,
"The Role of the Northwest Power Planning Council," was intended
to prompt …
…
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Recently resigned Northwest Power Planning Council member Ken Casavant
has emerged as the top candidate to fill a vacant slot on the Independent
Economic Advisory Board.
Casavant, an agricultural economist now on sabbatical from Washington
State University, stepped down this summer and was replaced June 30 by
Tom Karier of Spokane. Casavant had "indicated an interest" in
joining the economic advisory panel so his name was added to the list of
prospective candidates to replace
An ongoing ecosystem management plan for the entire Columbia River basin
is one step closer to a shutdown after the House of Representatives voted
Thursday to pull the plug on the project’s funding.
The six-state Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Plan has
been touted by the Clinton administration as the only way to avoid future
conflict and court battles over endangered species protection in the Northwest.
But critics have argued the project has been a waste of money- $40
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Project officials pointed to success suggested by preliminary results
of 1998 prototype surface bypass technology testing at Lower Granite Dam
and elsewhere.
But a National Marine Fisheries critique that followed was less than
glowing.
Corps of Engineers and Chelan County Public Utility District officials
gathered in Portland Wednesday to update the Independent Scientific Advisory
Board on surface bypass development projects. The ISAB is amidst a congressionally
mandated …
Water for downstream salmon is being released from Hungry Horse dam
in Montana, but the Army Corps of Engineers has yet to implement a salmon
discharge plan for Lake Koocanusa and Libby dam.
At Hungry Horse, the drawdown is expected to lower the reservoir about
20 feet by Aug. 25.
As Hungry Horse Reservoir drops, the state of Montana continues to pursue
lawsuits aimed at stopping river and reservoir fluctuations that state
officials consider to be drastic.
For the sake of trout and
With its workload intensifying, the Independent Economic Advisory Board
has had to, at least briefly, turn its attention to the economics of its
own situation.
The Northwest Power Planning Council on July 1 directed staff to “reprogram”
the councils own budget to meet IEAB budget needs and provide recommendations
to the Councils Power Committee both on a 1998 supplementary budget and
on prospects for 1999 funding sources. Supplemental budget needs were projected
at $120,000, …
Development of a Columbia River Basin multi-species "framework"
document, expected to be underway by mid-month, remains in the talking
stages as proponents seek the regional "buy-in" deemed necessary
to make the project a success.
The Northwest Power Planning Council-initiated proposal envisions the
creation of a multi-species framework that would guide Basin fish and wildlife
restoration policy for the Council, tribes, and federal and state agencies.
The …
"I have effectively killed the project in its present form,"
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wa., said when explaining how the Senate Interior
Appropriations bill dramatically changes the course of the Interior Columbia
Basin Ecosystem Management Project, the largest federal land management
effort ever undertaken in the United States.
Gorton, chairman of the Interior Appropriations subcommittee, wants
the project halted now and the information already gathered turned over
to federal …
With the departure of Ken Casavant of Washington State, the Northwest
Power Planning Council lost the last member who voted for its controversial
1994 Fish and Wildlife Program, which is intended to guide Council and
regional fish and wildlife policies in the Columbia River Basin.
Casavant, who took office in 1994, attended his last meeting on June
30 in Helena. He was replaced by Tom Karier of Spokane, appointed by Gov.
Gary Locke after Casavant announced his resignation earlier …
Even as the fiscal year 1999 process reaches its final, critical stages,
much thinking is being devoted to improving the Fish and Wildlife Program
project selection process, as well as program results.
An Independent Scientific Review Panel review of the 1999 process outlined
recommendations for specific project improvements to be considered and
a list of programmatic questions that it intends to investigate over the
coming months. The Northwest Power Planning Council staff delivered …
A "Framework Interim Management Group" on Monday targeted
$700,000 in unspent 1998 Bonneville Power Administration Fish and Wildlife
Program funds as "seed money" to get a multi-species framework
development project started and on track for completion next year.
Group members John Brogoitti, a Northwest Power Planning Council member,
and Danny Consenstein, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Columbia
River coordinator, made the decision via conference call …
The Columbia – Snake River Irrigators Association has endorsed the Northwest
Power Planning Council’s process for developing a "framework for river
governance and salmon recovery."
In a letter to Washington Governor Gary Locke, the irrigators say because
the Council "operates under the authority of the Northwest governors
and is a legally authorized body to evaluate regional resource management
issues," the Council "is well poised to bring leadership to …
Richard L. Berry, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Freshwater
Management Program Director, has been appointed ODFW’s new Wildlife Division
chief.
Berry, 52, began his career with the agency in 1968 as a fish biologist
in Newport. Since then, he has held a number of positions with ODFW, including:
coordinating Columbia River fish enhancement efforts, directing the salmon/trout
enhancement program, and directing the fish propagation program.
A department press release says …
of Bonneville Power Administration:
Comment regarding Hanford Reach flow reshaping, to correct the record regarding
Bob Heinith’s characterization of the Grant Co PUD/BPA power exchange referred
to in the June 18 Columbia Basin Bulletin Feedback section:
On Thursday, June 18, BPA and Grant Co PUD jointly proposed a power
exchange for the remainder of June that would have the effect of smoothing
flows in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River below Priest Rapids Dam.
Under the …
Fifteen members of the Northwest’s House delegation have sent a letter
to Vice-President Al Gore urging the Administration to "move promptly"
on determining the Bonneville Power Administration’s fish and wildlife
funding levels for the years 2002-2006.
The House members say they want salmon recovery costs based on "realistic
and reasonable" measures and that U.S. taxpayers should share the
costs. Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Oregon, and Rep. Helen Chenoweth, …
Conservation groups announced Wednesday their intent to sue the Bonneville
Power Administration if the agency moves forward on selling power from
Lower Snake River dams. The 60-day notice of intent to sue was filed in
federal court.
"For some misguided reason, BPA wants to start right now in 1998
signing up its utility customers on contracts for electric power sales
in 2001-2006," said Jim Baker, Northwest Salmon Campaign Coordinator
for the Sierra Club. "Try as we have,
For the first time since January, the Northwest Power Planning Council
is at full membership.
Last week, the Oregon State Legislature confirmed Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
appointment of Eric J. Bloch, 38, to the Council. The seat had been open
since January, when Joyce Cohen vacated the position after serving one
three-year term.
Bloch, who took office last week, said he will be focusing on the Council
"developing an analytical framework that can be a policy tool for
the …
The Northwest Energy Review Transition Board has released for public
comment a proposed "cost recovery mechanism" that would allow
the Bonneville Power Administration to balance the books if costs, including
fish and wildlife expenses, exceed revenues.
"Under some expectations about future market conditions, it is
likely that Bonneville’s customers would see substantial benefits relative
to purchasing from the wholesale power market, even if Bonneville is called
upon …
The thought was firmly implanted, long before Monday’s release of the
Independent Scientific Review Panel’s analysis of projects to be funded
in 1999 under the Northwest Power Planning Council’s Fish and Wildlife
Program.
Things need to be done to streamline the project review process, and
while at the same time improving its overall effectiveness. One step seemingly
destined for implementation is a multi-year funding process.
"There’s head nods all around" when the …
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If you DO NOT wish to receive future e-mail versions of the bulletin, send
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subscribe by sending an e-mail to …
The four Northwest governors have agreed to consider "legislative
proposals for river governance" that might be included in a "Northwest
chapter" for national energy restructuring legislation. The governors
intend this work to take place in conjunction with collaborative efforts
among states, tribes and federal agencies under the Three Sovereigns process.
"Regardless of the outcome of the Three Sovereigns process, the
Governors believe that eventually a …
Tribal chairs for Columbia Basin tribes, reacting to the four Northwest
governors "Statement of Intention," say they are ready to discuss
legislative proposals, but stressed the immediate need for a "comprehensive,
coordinated, river governance approach."
"The tribes welcome the opportunity to conduct government-to-government
consultations with the sovereigns in the region on legislative proposals
on river governance, and stress the importance of utilizing …
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber said on June 4 that he will appeal Federal
Judge Janice Stewart’s ruling that the National Marine Fisheries Service
must reconsider its decision to list the Oregon coastal coho salmon.
Kitzhaber said Stewart’s interpretation "implies that the requirement
under the ESA for federal agencies to consider state conservation plans
means almost nothing; that state-led conservation efforts have no place
under ESA; that conservation efforts by individuals …
A rough plan of attack for shaping a scientific principles/framework
for Columbia River basin fish and wildlife restoration was laid out for
the Northwest Power Planning Council Tuesday and Wednesday during work
sessions at Spokane.
The fast-track planning process produced some surprising budget estimates
— $700,000 in fiscal year 1998 to assemble framework scientific and policy
development teams and begin the work and another $2.7 million in fiscal
1999 to complete the process. …
Mike Field, Idaho’s representative to the Three Sovereigns Process,
says his state is not ready to sign a Memorandum of Agreement regarding
river governance, but will continue to participate in the Three Sovereigns
process.
"We will continue to work collaboratively on these issues,"
said Field. "But we won’t sign a contract. Through the public comment
process our constituents told us they don’t want us to sign the MOA."
He said the MOA’s "rules are not …
The once-postponed unveiling of a congressionally
mandated scientific review of Columbia-Snake mainstem capital construction
projects has been rescheduled for the planned June 9-10 Northwest Power
Planning Council work session in Spokane.
The Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee voted in early May to forward
to the full Council the Independent Scientific Advisory Board’s technical
review of a pair of controversial Corps of Engineers project proposals.
But because of the …
The development of a new "framework" for
the Northwest Power Planning Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife
recovery plan will go on the fast track this summer in anticipation of
1999 deadlines.
"By July we would like to have begun work," general counsel
John Volkman told the Council May 20.
A tentative schedule for gathering a work team has been set. Volkman
said Council staff hope to present a work plan and recommendations for
the management …
Representatives of the Columbia Basin tribes,
Oregon, Washington, and federal agencies agreed May 29 to move forward
with the Three Sovereigns river governance process.
The parties, meeting at the close of 60 days of public comment, agreed
to work toward the signing this summer of a Memorandum of Agreement as
amended by Idaho.
A copy of the proposed MOA is available at the Columbia Basin Fish and
Wildlife Authority’s website at http://www.cbfwf.org.
Though Idaho pushed for …
Washington State on July 1 will have a new representative
on the Northwest Power Planning Council.
Gov. Gary Locke appointed Tom Karier,41, of Spokane to replace Ken Casavant,
who earlier this year announced that he wanted to leave the Council as
soon as Locke could find a replacement. Casavant, an agriculture economics
professor at Washington State University, has served since 1994.
Locke also announced that later this year Larry Cassidy of Vancouver
will replace Mike Kreidler, who
In a May 29 speech to the Portland City Club, Montana
Governor Marc Racicot said he has been "frustrated by the current
fish and wildlife Decision-making structure which, in practical application,
gives the federal government final authority."
Racicot said the Northwest needs a "different approach, what I
call place-based governance. This is, decisions about fish and wildlife
in the Columbia River Basin should belong to those who live in the Columbia
River …
Representatives of the Bonneville Power Administration’s transmission group told the multi-agency Technical Management Team this week that operations to protect endangered fish at dams impact the transmission system — and transmission system emergencies can also affect fisheries operations.
The Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) extended into October its 14-day stay it granted in mid-August to Seattle-based Columbia River Alliance for Nurturing the Environment (CRANE).
The Senate Appropriations Committee this week approved $5 million in federal funds for the Columbia River channel deepening project and related ecosystem restoration.
Considering that President Bush did not request money for the controversial project in his FY2004 budget and the House has approved only $2 million, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called the Senate funding “a shot in the arm.”
Opponents of recent rules promulgated by Oregon’s Water Resources Department (WRD) in September 2002 that govern water withdrawals in the Deschutes River basin submitted what is to be the first of a series of briefs with the Oregon Court of Appeals.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission appointed an advisory committee of 14 people who have a wide range of opinions about the presence of wolves in Oregon, setting off what is expected to be a year long process that could cost as much as $300,000 to arrive at a statewide wolf management plan.
Chronic water supply problems in the West are one of the greatest challenges facing the nation in the coming decades, Secretary Gail Norton said today in announcing her proposal to help communities predicted to experience conflicts over water during the next 25 years even in the absence of drought.
A three-day fishing season for tribal gill netters opened Thursday morning and will end at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Columbia River Compact of Oregon and Washington, which regulates mainstem commercial fisheries, agreed April 23 to allow four Columbia River Basin treaty tribes (Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce) to open commercial sales of spring chinook, coho, steelhead, walleye, carp and shad.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is accepting nominations from individuals and organizations to participate on an advisory committee that will recommend a wolf management plan for the state.
March precipitation that in some areas of the Columbia-Snake river basin totaled as much as 200 percent of average did not erase an overall moisture deficit, but it did provide some flexibility for those who will be doling out water in the coming months for irrigation, power generation and to help migrating fish.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a planning process that allows it to move ahead on a course toward adopting a wolf conservation management plan later this year.
The process includes appointing a citizen advisory committee, as it did when considering its contentious Native Fish Conservation Policy.
Fall chinook will emerge from gravel along the 51-mile long Hanford Reach earlier than normal this year due to warmer water in the mid-Columbia River. Grant County Public Utility District is predicting emergence will be complete by April 25, more than two weeks earlier than in 2000 and 2001.
After listening to potential alternatives for managing wolves in Oregon and public testimony at its meeting in Newport, Ore. this week, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission decided to move ahead on developing a conservation plan for the gray wolf and to include in that plan a proposal on how to compensate livestock owners for losses attributed directly to wolf predation.
After 10 years of contention, Indians who want more water for fish in the Umatilla River and irrigators who want more water for Hermiston-area crops have reached an agreement designed to satisfy both.
A small public utility that owns a big mid-Columbia River dam was surprised by an invoice of over $950 million from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation charging the utility for the use of tribal lands since the dam first flooded the Columbia and Okanogan river basins.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the timeline the states of Oregon and Washington have to respond to the federal agency’s coastal zone consistency determination for the Columbia River Channel Improvement Project.
A warming climate the past 50 years has, through early melting, relentlessly reduced the water content of the Pacific Northwest’s springtime snowpack, straining the supply of water for drinking, irrigation and other uses during the region’s typically dry summers, according to new research at the University of Washington.
A “closed door” policy for gray wolves in Oregon would not be a viable or legal management plan, according to legal advice offered recently to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission by the state Attorney General’s office.
As it publicly considers its strategic plan, the Port of Portland puts high on its list of needed projects deepening the Columbia River navigation channel by three feet to accommodate newer deep draft steamships.
The quasi-governmental agency is the lead port in a regional effort to push through the $156 million channel deepening project, which also involves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the states of Oregon and Washington.
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