Council OKs projects to improve fish and wildlife survival in Oregon, Idaho, Washington

April 3, 2002

• Council approved decision (Apr 19)
• Draft staff recommendations for Blue Mountain province (45k PDF)
• Draft staff recommendations for Mountain Snake province (70k PDF)
• Issue memo (180k PDF)
• Province review page

BOISE — The Council today recommended projects totaling $36.3 million in Fiscal Year 2002, and similar amounts in each of the next two years, to improve fish and wildlife survival in northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington and central Idaho.

The projects, which include both ongoing and new work, will be carried out by sponsors including state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes and local conservation districts and funded by the federal Bonneville Power Administration as part of is obligation to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the construction and operation of hydropower dams in the Columbia River Basin.

For purposes of implementing its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, which Bonneville funds, the Council has divided the 259,000-square-mile basin into 11 ecological provinces (see map), or groups of related tributary river basins that share similar geography, fish and wildlife. The projects recommended today for three years of Bonneville funding are in the Blue Mountain and Mountain Snake provinces, which include major tributaries such as the Clearwater and Salmon in Idaho, the Grande Ronde and Imnaha in Oregon, Asotin Creek in Washington and the mainstem Snake River between Hells Canyon Dam and the cities of Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Washington.

Meeting in Boise, the Council recommended 20 ongoing projects and eight new projects in the Blue Mountain province totaling $12.4 million. Major tributaries in this province include the Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers, and Asotin Creek. The Council also recommended 38 ongoing projects and 21 new projects in the Mountain Snake province totaling $23.9 million. Major tributaries in this province include the Clearwater and Salmon rivers.

The projects recommended today were reviewed and approved by the Independent Scientific Review Panel, 11 scientists empanelled for that purpose by the Council, and by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, an association of the regions state, tribal and federal fish and wildlife managers.

Spreadsheet lists of the projects are available in Acrobat PDF format for the Blue Mountain (35k PDF) and Mountain Snake (50k PDF) provinces. Here is a representative sample of the projects in each province and the project sponsors, with hypertext links to project information:

Mountain Snake Province:

• Project 199901700: Lapwai Creek watershed restoration, Nez Perce Tribe
• Projects 28030/28040: Habitat restoration on non-federal lands in the upper Salmon River watershed, Custer County, Idaho, Soil and Water Conservation District and the Idaho Office of Species Conservation

Blue Mountain Province:

• Project 199401805: Asotin Creek watershed habitat improvement projects, Asotin County Conservation District
• Project 198805301: Northeast Oregon Hatchery master planning for chinook salmon and steelhead restoration, Nez Perce Tribe
• Project 200002100: Ladd Marsh wildlife mitigation site, a habitat acquisition project near La Grande, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Project 199608300: Grande Ronde River salmon and steelhead habitat restoration, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin that have been affected by federal hydropower operations.