1. EDITOR'S NOTE Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Welcome to the first edition of The Columbia Basin Bulletin: Weekly Fish and Wildlife News. This electronic news service is produced by Intermountain Communications of Pendleton, Oregon, and supported with Bonneville Power Administration fish and wildlife funds through the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. You are already signed up to receive the bulletin every week. To keep receiving it, you don't need to do anything. If you DO NOT wish to Read More...

3. BINATIONAL DISCUSSIONS BEGIN ON DISSOLVED GAS Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Federal and regional policy makers have set up a steering committee to develop a dissolved gas management plan that will encompass the entire Columbia River system, including the Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin. Informal binational discussions took place at a conference held April 28-30 in Castlegar, British Columbia. It is hoped that the steering committee, co-led by representatives of the Northwest Power Planning Council, Environmental Protection Agency, and National ... Read More...

4. FACILITATOR HIRED FOR REGIONAL FORUM MEETINGS Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

A facilitator has been hired to manage the various meetings under the National Marine Fisheries Service's "Regional Forum." A selection committee made up of representatives of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State of Oregon, and tribes, signed an $80,000 contract this month with Donna Silverberg, an attorney who currently works for the State of Oregon and the Governor's office. The contract is funded by the BPA's Fish and Wildlife ... Read More...

5. CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION REVIEW SET FOR JUNE 10 RELEASE Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

The once-postponed unveiling of a congressionally mandated scientific review of Columbia-Snake mainstem capital construction projects has been rescheduled for the planned June 9-10 Northwest Power Planning Council work session in Spokane. The Council's Fish and Wildlife Committee voted in early May to forward to the full Council the Independent Scientific Advisory Board's technical review of a pair of controversial Corps of Engineers project proposals. But because of the ... Read More...

6. COUNCIL ON FAST TRACK WITH SCIENTIFIC FRAMEWORK Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

The development of a new "framework" for the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife recovery plan will go on the fast track this summer in anticipation of 1999 deadlines. "By July we would like to have begun work," general counsel John Volkman told the Council May 20. A tentative schedule for gathering a work team has been set. Volkman said Council staff hope to present a work plan and recommendations for the management ... Read More...

7. PAPER FOCUSES ON REDUCING CORPS ENGINEERING COSTS Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Interested parties have until July 24 to make comments on suggested refinements to the Corps of Engineers' mainstem capital construction program. A staff "issue paper" released May 19 by the Northwest Power Planning Council focuses on potential efficiencies in Corps engineering processes in terms of both improving design and reducing costs on Columbia and Snake river fish passage improvement projects. The Council was asked by Congress last year to conduct reviews of the ... Read More...

8. THREE SOVEREIGNS MOVE FORWARD Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Representatives of the Columbia Basin tribes, Oregon, Washington, and federal agencies agreed May 29 to move forward with the Three Sovereigns river governance process. The parties, meeting at the close of 60 days of public comment, agreed to work toward the signing this summer of a Memorandum of Agreement as amended by Idaho. A copy of the proposed MOA is available at the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority's website at http://www.cbfwf.org. Though Idaho pushed for ... Read More...

9. PATH ASKS FOR $40K TO FINISH WEIGHTING OF EVIDENCE Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

PATH (Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses), a group of Northwest fisheries scientists analyzing alternatives for salmon recovery, has asked the BPA for $40,000 in supplemental funding for its weight-of-evidence process. The "weight of evidence" process is an effort to scientifically assess competing models and theories about the effects of alternative management actions on salmon survival. It is possibly the most difficult and controversial of the tasks set for this ... Read More...

10. WASHINGTON GETS NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Washington State on July 1 will have a new representative on the Northwest Power Planning Council. Gov. Gary Locke appointed Tom Karier,41, of Spokane to replace Ken Casavant, who earlier this year announced that he wanted to leave the Council as soon as Locke could find a replacement. Casavant, an agriculture economics professor at Washington State University, has served since 1994. Locke also announced that later this year Larry Cassidy of Vancouver will replace Mike Kreidler, who Read More...

11. FEDS STUDY IMPACTS OF LESS SPILL AT THE DALLES Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Preliminary data from a federal study of spill and salmon survival at The Dalles Dam indicates that less spill results in higher survival, say Army Corps of Engineers fish biologists. But the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission says The Dalles Dam Spillway Survival Study is flawed research that has not been subjected to proper peer review and that researchers are harming thousands of listed and unlisted salmon that come from tribal hatchery programs under U.S. v. Oregon. The ... Read More...

12. CONGRESS GETS TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF MITCHELL ACT Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

Two recent letters -- one from the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and one from the Northwest Power Planning Council -- concerning artificial production in the Columbia River Basin give Congress strikingly different interpretations on how Mitchell Act funds are being used to support Indian fisheries. The clash in views comes just as Congress is considering the Administration's $15 million request for the Mitchell Act program in Fiscal Year 1999. And the harsh exchange comes ... Read More...

13. MONTANA GOVERNOR WANTS IMPROVED DECISION-MAKING Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 (PST)

In a May 29 speech to the Portland City Club, Montana Governor Marc Racicot said he has been "frustrated by the current fish and wildlife Decision-making structure which, in practical application, gives the federal government final authority." Racicot said the Northwest needs a "different approach, what I call place-based governance. This is, decisions about fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin should belong to those who live in the Columbia River ... Read More...