Council Meeting

October 14 - 15, 2026
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Tamarack Resort
311 Village Drive
Donnelly,
Idaho

Wednesday, October 14

Fish and Wildlife Committee Meeting – 8am (MDT) / 7am (PDT) – Grange Hall

For those attending by webinar, use this link to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Contact CouncilIT@nwcouncil.org with any technical questions.

  • Division director update (PO) (15 min)
  • Follow-up discussion on Implementation of 2026 Fish and Wildlife Program (KH, KS, PO) (60 min)
  • Walleye Panel – State of the Science (WS, KS) (150 min)
    • Presentation: Jonny Armstrong, Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences Oregon State University (virtual); and Andrew Murdoch, Eastern Washington Science Division Manager, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (virtual)
    • Presentation: Marika Dobos, Fisheries Staff Biologist, Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Informal Walleye Workgroup Facilitator; Grant Waltz, Supervising Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (virtual); and Jason Vogel, Fisheries Research Division Director, Nez Perce Tribe
    • Matt Corsi, Fishery Research Manager, Idaho Department of Fish and Game; and Mike Quist, Assistant Unit Leader with the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit/ Professor, Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho

Council Meeting – 1:15pm (MDT) / 12:15pm (PDT) – Grange Hall

For those attending by webinar, use this link to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Contact CouncilIT@nwcouncil.org with any technical questions.

  1:15 – 1:30pm Executive director report, Fish and Wildlife Committee Meeting report, and state updates: Peter Cogswell, Executive Director; Member Ed Schriever; Chair Mike Milburn; and Council Members
1. 1:30 – 1:45pm Welcome / opening remarks: Ashton Picard, Vice-Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee
2. 1:45 – 2:30pm Council discussion and decision on the 2026 Lands project review: Mark Fritsch, Project Review and Implementation Manager; Maureen Hess, Fish and Wildlife Program Scientist; and Heather Hendrixson, Fish and Wildlife Habitat Specialist
  2:30 – 2:45pm Break
3. 2:45 – 3:30pm Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management – Program Overview: Jay Hesse, Director of Biological Services, Nez Perce Tribe
4. 3:30 – 4:30pm Update on Genetic Tools – Parentage Based Tagging (PBT), Genetic Stock Identification (GSI), and the broader genetic monitoring network supported by the Fish and Wildlife Program: Matt Campbell, Fisheries Genetics Program Coordinator, Idaho Department of Fish and Game; Shawn Narum, Chief Scientist, Columbia Basin Inter-Tribal Fish Commission; and Jon Hess, Senior Geneticist, Columbia Basin Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
5. 4:30 – 5pm Council discussion and decision on the Regional Technical Forum 2027 Work Plan: Laura Thomas, Regional Technical Forum Manager

Thursday, October 15

Council Meeting – 8am (MDT) / 7am (PDT) – Grange Hall

For those attending by webinar, use this link to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Contact CouncilIT@nwcouncil.org with any technical questions.

6. 8 – 8:45am Grand Ronde Model Watershed presentation: Heather Hendrixson, Fish and Wildlife Habitat Specialist; and Jesse Steele, Executive Director, Grande Ronde
7. 8:45 – 9:15am Power Plan Update: Jennifer Light, Director of Power Planning
8. 9:15 – 10am State of the Northwest Economy: Grant Forsyth, Chief Economist, Avista
  10 – 10:15am Break
9. 10:15 – 11:15am BPA Contract Decisions and Resource Development Update: Jessica Matlock, President and CEO, PNGC Power
10 11:15am – 12pm Resource Planning and Making Growth Pay for Growth: Jared Ellsworth, Director of Transmission, Distribution & Resource Planning, Jim Burdick, Leader, Resource Planning, Idaho Power
11. 12pm Council Business:
    Public comment on any issues before the Council. Please sign up prior to the meeting to provide comment by emailing your name to meetingorganizer@nwcouncil.org.
  • Tour of McCall Fish Hatchery, 300 Mather Road, McCall, ID 83638, at 2:30 – 4pm by the Nez Perce Tribe in coordination with IDFG and the USFWS Lower Snake Compensation Program

Any person participating in the meeting should review and abide by the Code of Conduct expected of all who participate in the Council’s public forums.

All meetings are recorded.