Press release: Council OKs $34.6 million for fish and wildlife projects in Washington and Oregon, plans discussion on total program budget
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Press release: Council OKs $34.6 million for fish and wildlife projects in Washington and Oregon, plans discussion on total program budget |
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November 8, 2001 The Council today recommended $34.6 million in projects for funding in Fiscal Year 2002 to address the impacts of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife in central and southern Washington and central and northern Oregon. That area, which includes major tributaries of the Columbia River such as the Yakima, Walla Walla, Umatilla, John Day and Deschutes rivers, is known as the Columbia Plateau ecological province (see map). The projects recommended by the Council would be funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, which implements the Council?s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Bonneville has set a funding target of $186 million for the Council?s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program for 2002, an increase of about $44 million over the Fiscal Year 2001 budget. ?This is an example of the Council approving on-the-ground projects that will benefit fish and wildlife, and doing so within the budget established by Bonneville,? Council Chairman Larry Cassidy of Vancouver, Washington, said. At the same time it approved the Columbia Plateau projects, the Council also committed to initiate a public discussion about the total budget amount, perhaps beginning at its Dec. 10-11 meeting in Portland. Representatives of state fish and wildlife agencies and Indian tribes attended the Council?s meeting this week in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and questioned whether $186 million is sufficient to meet Bonneville?s fish and wildlife mitigation obligations in law and also its treaty and trust responsibilities to tribes. The Council responded that agencies, tribes, Bonneville and its customer utilities will be invited to take part in that ongoing discussion. Each of the Columbia Plateau projects recommended by the Council today was reviewed and approved by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, which represents Indian tribes and state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, and also by the 11-member Independent Scientific Review Panel. Project sponsors who will do the work include state fish and wildlife departments, Indian tribes and county soil and water conservation districts. The 2002 Columbia Plateau Province budget represents an increase of $7.7 million over the Fiscal Year 2001 budget for that part of the Columbia River Basin. Even so, the Council had to pare $66 million in recommended new and ongoing projects to fit the roughly $35 million budget. The approved projects include actions such as acquiring habitat for wildlife, improving spawning and rearing habitat for fish, constructing fish diversion screens and research. About 25 percent of the recommended Columbia Plateau projects approved by the Council are designed to satisfy requirements of the 2000 Biological Opinions on Hydropower Operations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for endangered and threatened species of fish in the Columbia River Basin. The Columbia Plateau Province is one of 11 ecological provinces in the Columbia River Basin that the Council designated for planning purposes. The Council reviews ongoing projects annually and considers new projects in the provinces in a three-year cycle. Information on the provincial review process is posted on the website of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority. The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 with preparing a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin that have been affected by hydropower while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply. |
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