The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday gave its endorsement to seven "accord" fish and wildlife projects that will absorb more than $28 million in funding over a 10-year span.

The funding recommendations come, with one exception, after the projects' sponsors received clearance from the Council's Independent Scientific Review Panel.

The ISRP concluded that the Yakama Nation's Upper Columbia Kelt Reconditioning project "did not meet scientific review criteria," primarily because the project sponsors had not shown after 10 years of research in the Yakima River basin that the kelt actually produced viable offspring.

But the Council decided a continuation of the work for at least a few more years was worth the risk. The goal of the project is to boost the numbers of steelhead on the spawning grounds by trapping kelt, -- steelhead that have spawned once and are heading back upstream to spawn again -- nurturing them back to full strength and health and releasing them back into the river in a condition that would make it more likely they would survive to spawn. (See story below “Project Aims To Shed  Light On Whether Steelhead Kelt Reconditioning Will Boost Listed Stocks” http://www.cbbulletin.com/372977.aspx)

In the spring of 2008, the Bonneville Power Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation signed memorandums of agreement (often called Columbia Basin Fish Accords) with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation.

The two tribal agreements promise about $900 million in fish and wildlife project funding during the 2008-2017 period above levels of funding identified for the Council's fish and wildlife program. About 60 percent of the total is for "new" work or existing project expansion. They included the projects passed through to BPA Tuesday. Bonneville makes final funding decisions and issues contracts for the fish and wildlife projects.

The balance of the accord funding commitments is to continue existing projects for the 10 years.

Later in the year the federal agencies signed a similar agreement with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

BPA, which markets power generated in the Federal Columbia River Power System, funds the Council program as mitigation for fish and wildlife impacts resulting from the construction and operation of the Columbia-Snake river dams.

The agreements require that accord projects be subjected to ISRP review as are other projects funded through the Council program.

The Council Tuesday seconded its prior approval of a Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission project, "Basinwide Supplementation Evaluation," that has a $7.9 million earmark for the 10-year period, including an active contract for $644,735 for the April 1, 2009, to April 30, 2010, period.

The Council had approved the project in June on the condition that CRITFC address an ISRP concern regarding the suitability of using the Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar to estimate natural escapement of spring chinook salmon above Castile Falls on the Klickitat River in south-central Washington.

A Dec. 21 memo from the science panel said that "the proponents have done a good job of clarifying the issues surrounding their initial use" of the technology and asked that it be allowed to review results of the monitoring in three years if long-term use of the technology is being considered in the Klickitat subbasin or elsewhere in the Columbia River basin.

The overall goal of the project is to conduct a basinwide evaluation of the long-term effects of hatchery supplementation on productivity of naturally spawning anadromous salmonid populations. That requires more accurate and precise information on trends in abundance and productivity of supplemented salmon and steelhead populations and relative reproductive success of naturally spawning salmon of natural origin versus hatchery origin within supplemented populations.

The Council also moved forward the Yakama Nation's "Expanded Multi-Species Acclimation in the Wenatchee/Methow Basins" project, which is budgeted at $4.8 million over the 10-year span.

The project proponents aim to develop and implement a program in which existing spring chinook salmon and steelhead programs shift smolt releases to natural or semi-natural sites in the Wenatchee and Methow basins. The expanded acclimation program will emphasize acclimation and release strategies similar to what has been uniquely successful in the Yakama Nation's Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration Project. (See "Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration Program Showing Fish Returns 'Beyond Expectation'", CBB, Jan.8, http://www.cbbulletin.com/371465.aspx)

"Through the implementation of these objectives, small acclimation/release sites will be scattered throughout appropriate spawning habitat ('targeted acclimation') in an effort to disperse returning adults to appropriate locations and produce higher smolt to adult survival rates than direct scatter-type or large single-point releases," according to a Council staff memo prepared for this week's meeting.

Another Yakama project approved by the Council, "Status and Trend Annual Reporting," aims to chart progress toward salmon recovery in the Columbia Cascade Province. The 10-year budget is $2.6 million.

The project sponsors will initially focus reporting on progress in habitat implementation and monitoring at the stream reach (estimated 2-15 kilometers) and watershed scale within the Methow, Entiat and Wenatchee subbasins.

Also recommended for funding is the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' "Salmon River Basin Nutrient Enhancement" project. There is about $2.7 million in costs associated with the project.

The goal of the project is to partially mitigate for the decline of anadromous salmonids (and the associated reduction of available marine-derived nutrients to freshwater spawning and rearing habitat) by experimentally enriching nutrient-limited upper Salmon River subbasin streams in central Idaho with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus using salmon carcass analogs.

The lack of marine nutrients has been identified as a limiting factor to freshwater productivity and the growth and survival of resident and anadromous fishes, including four species – Snake River fall and spring/summer chinook salmon, sockeye salmon and steelhead -- listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The Council also recommended that BPA fund the Warm Springs Tribes' "Determine Status and Limiting Factors of Pacific Lamprey in Fifteenmile Creek and Hood River subbasins, Oregon" project. It has a 10-year allocation of $2.5 million.

The ultimate goal of the project is to establish, conserve and/or maintain harvestable populations of lamprey in the subbasins.

The Colville Tribes' "Twin Lakes Enhancement" project was recommended for $2 million in funding for the period. The purpose of the project is to improve summer habitat for native redband trout in the Twin Lakes by enhancing dissolved oxygen levels in bottom waters. The lakes are located on the tribes' central Washington reservation.

More details about these projects can be found at http://www.nwcouncil.org/news/2010/01/Default.asp

For more information about the Fish Accords Project Review go to http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/projectselection/accord/Default.asp