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Columbia River Basin Forum
The Columbia River Basin Forum was an outgrowth of the Three Sovereigns
Process. Three Sovereigns participants noted, through public and
stakeholder comment as well as their own deliberations, a desire for a
more collaborative structure and greater participation in the Three
Sovereigns discussions. The participants decided to change the way they
conducted public outreach, to bring various interests and the public into
the discussion of fish and wildlife issues. Altering the structure of the
process to reflect that greater inclusiveness, they decided to also change
the Three Sovereigns name to the Columbia River Basin Forum.
After much discussion, the Forum crafted a Memorandum
of Agreement (35k PDF) that was finalized in
January 1999. The Memorandum of Agreement created an entity to bring all
the basin's interests together to discuss issues, share information, and
achieve consensus recommendations regarding the Columbia River Basin's
fish and wildlife issues. The states of Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and
Montana; the Yakama, Shoshone-Bannock, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai,
Salish-Kootenai, Kalispel, Burns-Paiute, Warm Springs, Colville, and
Shoshone-Paiute Tribes; and the Departments of Commerce, Interior,
Agriculture, Energy, and the Army, and the Environmental Protection Agency
signed the MOA and joined the Forum. The Umatilla and Nez Perce Tribes
would not sign the Memorandum of Agreement.
The Forum Committee, consisting of four tribal representatives, four
federal representatives and a representative from each of the four
Northwest states, served as a consensus body and the workhorse of the
Columbia River Basin Forum.
The Forum was not designed to replace any existing government body or
process, but rather to improve upon existing efforts and increase regional
participation. Upriver interests complained that many of the Basin's
existing processes focused so intensively on anadromous fish issues that
their voice often went unheard in many debates
The initial impetus for creation of the Forum was to allow the region
as a whole to provide input into the National Marine Fisheries Service
1999 decision on the configuration of the Northwest's hydropower system
(eventually becoming the 2000 Biological Opinion on the Federal Columbia
River Power System). Governor Kitzhaber and other leaders recognized the
need to create a place for collaboration and communication, and develop
regional input in a decision so vital to the many interests throughout the
Columbia River Basin.
Beyond the focus on the 1999 decision, the Forum agreed to include on
its initial agenda: 1) the development or promotion of a means to ensure
that independent scientific and economic review enables fish and wildlife
recovery to proceed based upon the best available scientific and economic
information 2) greater coordination of fish and wildlife efforts,
including potential streamlining of duplicative processes and 3) estimates
for future fish and wildlife costs.
The Forum conducted its deliberations for slightly more than one-year
before collapsing through diminished participation of the Forum
membership.
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