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How project selection will work in Oregon
January 20, 2006 |
The next steps
Project sponsors submitted 542 project proposals on January 10 to implement the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program. Council staff met with BPA and CBFWA to sort projects into capital and expense categories and into the various subbasins or into a Systemwide category. That process took about one week, with projects categorized and ready to go to subbasin groups around January 20th.
Local Prioritization
Projects sorted to the various subbasins will be sent to the subbasin planning groups for review in their particular subbasin. Simultaneous to the local review process, the Council submits the entire proposed project list to the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) for their review.
The Oregon Office of the Council will facilitate and host the meetings in the various subbasins. We want to utilize the expertise of those who developed the subbasin plans in each basin to aid in this review process. Although these will be open meetings, we would like to use the contact lists for each subbasin planning team to help spread the word of these reviews.
The Oregon Office has developed a meeting schedule to rotate through the subbasins and obtain subbasin recommendations. That schedule is also attached. Meetings will occur between March 21 and April 26. Local reviewers should familiarize themselves with the projects in their subbasins and be prepared to discuss those projects prior to the subbasin meeting. Projects in each subbasin may be viewed or downloaded onto disc or computer through the Council website (beginning January 25th). Meeting schedules and other information pertinent to the Oregon review process will be posted here.
We have developed some criteria that provide sideboards for local project prioritization (attached). Subbasin planning groups should use the enclosed criteria to develop a list of locally prioritized projects. Subbasins may choose to add criteria to this list. Local groups will first rank projects into three categories:
- High Priority to implement the subbasin plan
- Recommended to implement the subbasin plan, and
- Not recommended.
Projects in the High Priority and Recommended categories will then be prioritized in ranked order although they will not, at this point, be defined through a subbasin budget. The Oregon Office will have until April 26 to develop the ranked project lists in the Oregon subbasins - approximately three months after submission of projects to the local groups. NMFS, BPA and others interested in recovery planning are encouraged to participate with these subbasin teams as they develop their ranked project lists.
[Note: The Owyhee, Malheur, Burnt and Powder subbasins in the Middle Snake will have projects reviewed through the Middle Snake Province review led by the Idaho Office of the Council. Local prioritization does not include projects in the Mainstem/Systemwide review. Those projects will be reviewed separately through a process still to be determined.]
Oregon Ecological Province Budget Development
The Oregon Office will submit ranked project lists developed by the subbasin planning teams to the Oregon Subbasin Plan Implementation Team (OSPIT). Membership of OSPIT will be limited to the tribal co-managers with Oregon interests, state government agencies including the Council, Oregon Governor’s office, ODFW, OWEB, WRD, and ODEQ, and federal agencies including National Marine Fisheries Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bonneville, and the Corps of Engineers.
OSPIT will craft an Oregon project list for the various Ecological Provinces, trying to fit projects from the subbasin project lists into a draft province budget. OSPIT will take the subbasin lists and prioritize by sorting the priorities from the various subbasins located in Oregon. OSPIT’s major task will be to compare subbasin to subbasin as priorities for development of province funding priorities. OSPIT will not substitute their priorities for those of the various subbasins, except in cases where OSPIT collectively believes the subbasin groups erred in applying project selection criteria in developing their ranked lists. In essence, if a subbasin places a project as its number one priority, OSPIT will attempt to fund that project as part of the subbasin budget and not elevate another project above the subbasin priority.
The OSPIT will have the benefit of the preliminary ISRP review in developing their province budgets. After reviewing the ISRP preliminary review, OSPIT may substitute a subbasin’s ranked priority project(s) based upon the results of that ISRP review and OSPIT’s determination that the project would not be “fixed” through reworking the project to satisfy ISRP. OSPIT will transmit their Oregon draft province project recommendations to the Council by June 16, 2006. The Oregon Office of the Council will facilitate and host the OSPIT meetings, providing a review schedule and notice to the subbasin groups of the OSPIT meetings.
Final Province Budget Development (Bi-State)
Since Oregon shares all of the Council ecological provinces effecting Oregon with another state, final province budgets shall be developed through a bi-state process. To develop the bi-state draft province budget, the Oregon Council members will use OSPIT’s Oregon draft province budget as a starting point and will work with our Washington or Idaho colleagues to create a budget for the entirety of the province. Federal agencies with ESA concerns and tribal governments with provincial interests will work with the Council in the development of the draft province recommendation, providing insights into ESA priorities or tribal concerns.
The Council will develop the draft recommendation for each province following the issuance of the final ISRP report between August 31, 2006 and October 1, 2006. Adoption of final Council project funding recommendations should take place at the October 2006 meeting of the Council scheduled for Helena, Montana.