Related links: overview and summary/comparison to BiOp

The Council is required by the 1980 Northwest Power Act to develop a fish and wildlife program to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by hydroelectric development in the Columbia River Basin. The program is updated periodically. 

In 2000 the Council completed its fifth revision of its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The Council restructured the program based on a comprehensive, underlying framework of general scientific and policy principles that apply to the entire Columbia River Basin.  This represented the first of several program amendment phases to which the Council committed to pursue in following years. This year, the Council is focused on developing a coordinated mainstem operating plan for the Columbia and Snake rivers. The plan, once adopted, will provide specific objectives and action measures for the operation of the Columbia Basin hydroelectric system.

The draft mainstem plan, which was released for public review and comment in October 2002, includes ways in which hydrosystem operations, specified in the federal biological opinions, may be adjusted so that they meet not only the needs of ESA-listed stocks, but also the requirements of the Northwest Power Act, which has a broader mandate. See this summary of amendments and BiOp comparison. The draft plan includes specific measures such as:

• standards for systemwide coordination
• flow regimes
• spill
• reservoir elevations
• water retention times
• passage modifications at mainstem dams
• operational requirements to protect mainstem spawning and rearing areas
• operational requirements to protect resident fish and wildlife
• See summary of mainstem amendments for more information.

Once the amendments are adopted into the Council's program, the Bonneville Power Administration is required by law to operate in a manner consistent with them. The other federal operating agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are only required to take the Council's program into account during their decision making processes.

In March 2001 the Council began the process for amending the mainstem plan into the program by soliciting recommendations from the region's state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes, and others, as required by the Northwest Power Act. The Council prepared its draft mainstem plan after reviewing the recommendations, supporting information, and comments received on the recommendations. In October 2002 the Council released its draft mainstem amendments for public comment, and has scheduled a series of public hearings on the draft amendments throughout the region. 

Public comments will be accepted through February 7, 2003.  The Council anticipates concluding the mainstem amendment rulemaking with the adoption of the final program amendments at its March 11-12, 2003 meeting in Helena, Montana.