Fish & wildlife Subbasin planning

Notice of opportunity to comment on Track 3 subbasin plan draft amendments

Dear Interested Parties:

On March 16, 2005, the Council decided to release for public review and comment a set of four subbasin plan recommendations as draft amendments to the Council?s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The subbasin plan recommendations released as draft program amendments are for the following subbasins of the Columbia River Basin:

Public comments and hearings

See blue sidebar for how to comment.

The Council has scheduled public hearings (see locations and specific schedule) to accept oral and written comments on the four draft subbasin plan program amendments:

• La Grande, March 28 (Grande Ronde)
• Clarkston, April 20 (Grande Ronde, John Day)
• Pocatello, April 21 (Upper Snake Subbasins, John Day, Grande Ronde)
• Helena, April 18 (any subbasin)
• Condon, April 26 (John Day)
• Canyon City, April 27 (John Day)

See specific locations and schedules at www.subbasins.org. Check this link regularly, as we will post any updated information there. Public comment period for the above plans closes on April 22, 2005.

The Council will consider all comments received on the draft program amendments as it decides whether to adopt them as amendments to the program. The Council tentatively has scheduled the decision on program adoption of these four subbasin plans at its May 2005 meeting in Walla Walla.

Background

In 2000, the Council began a comprehensive revision of the fish and wildlife program. First, the Council amended the program by adopting a framework of vision, objectives and strategies at different geographic scales (basinwide, ecological province, subbasin), tied together with a consistent scientific foundation. The Council also adopted basinwide provisions and described how it proposed to add more specific objectives and measures to the program through integrated subbasin plans for the tributary subbasins of the Columbia and for specific mainstem reaches. The draft amendments now proposed for adoption would add subbasin plans to the general, basinwide provisions of the program as the next step in the comprehensive revision.

On August 12, 2002, the Council solicited recommendations for amendments to the program at the subbasin level from the region?s state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes, and others, as required by the Northwest Power Act. At the same time, the Council worked with a broad range of interests in the region and developed a non-binding ?Technical Guide for Subbasin Planners? to help ensure that plans had a consistent format and content. The Council also worked with the Bonneville Power Administration to secure funding support for planning groups, the first time that funding has been made available to help develop fish and wildlife program amendment recommendations. Subbasin planners were asked to develop subbasin plans that incorporate a technical assessment, an inventory of past and present activities, and then a management plan consisting of a vision, biological objectives and implementation strategies for the subbasin.

On May 28, 2004, the Council received recommendations for subbasin plans in 59 subbasins from various planning entities. The Council made those recommendations available for public review and comment, including review by a team of independent scientists. The public comment period on the recommendations ended on August 12, 2004. The Council received an extensive set of comments. The Council staff and Council also reviewed the plans during the comment period for consistency with standards in the Northwest Power Act for program amendments and with the provisions in the 2000 Program.

After its review of the recommendations and the comments on recommendations, the Council concluded that one set of subbasin plan recommendations was ready for release for public review as draft amendments to the fish and wildlife program. Twenty-three were adopted at the December 2004 Council meeting. Twenty-five more were adopted at the February 2005 Council meeting. To be more precise, the Council adopted the management plan portions of these subbasin plans as parts of the program. The underlying technical assessments and inventories will be placed in an appendix to the program.

The Council concluded last September that some subbasin plan recommendations not in this first group that was adopted into the program December 15^th needed further work before they were ready to propose for public review as draft amendments. Of this group needing additional work, five were on a longer track for revisions and adoption. Revisions to this group of plan recommendations (listed at the top of this notice) have been completed and the Council finds them now ready for public review as draft amendments to the fish and wildlife program. It is this longer track set of plans, revised since first submitted on May 28, 2004, that the Council is seeking comment on through this notice. See the complete schedule for consideration of the other subbasin plans on the Council?s website.

Thank you for your interest in the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and its fish and wildlife program.

Sincerely,

Stephen L. Crow, Executive Director

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