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Posted on Friday, July 24, 2009 (PST) |
| Regional officials say momentum is building towards the development of a long-needed plan to better coordinate the Columbia-Snake River basin's widespread and expensive salmon monitoring and evaluation activities. Achieving that goal is as realistic now as it has even been in his 25 years of involvement in basin fish and wildlife recovery efforts, the Bonneville Power Administration's Bill Maslen told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week. "This is the most traction, the most participation, the clearest direction and the most comprehensive strategy we've ever achieved," the BPA's fish and wildlife director said of efforts over the past several months that build toward creation of a coordinated basinwide monitoring and evaluation framework. "There has been effort after effort" to develop a comprehensive monitoring strategy for anadromous fish, Maslen said. But none have succeeded, at least to this point. Fish and wildlife managers and others are amidst a process of evaluating existing projects to see if the monitoring of anadromous fish population status and trends and habitat and hatchery actions is providing the information necessary to judge whether on-the-ground projects are bringing the intended benefits to salmon and steelhead. The process is intended to both identify gaps in the data and M&E projects that can fill those gaps. It will also identify M&E projects that are redundant, inefficient or provide data that is not needed to recover and/or enhance salmon stocks. BPA, which markets power generated in the federal Columbia-Snake river hydro system, gets pulled at least two ways. It is charged by federal law to provide power to the Northwest region at cost and at the same time fund an ever-expanding fish and wildlife effort, especially work aimed at recovering imperiled salmon stocks, which pumps up power costs. An annual report prepared by the NPCC says that Bonneville's fish and wildlife costs in fiscal year 2008 amounted to $940 million. That total included $174 million to fund the Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program as mitigation for the hydro system's impact on fish and wildlife, some listed and some not protected under the Endangered Species Act. More than half of those BPA's costs were for foregone power generating opportunities and power purchases resulting from dam operations specifically implemented to help improve salmon survival through the system. BPA is also a federal agency that must make certain that its actions don't jeopardize the survival of 13 Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead stocks. Bonneville and the dam operators – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation are attempting to implement a 10-year "reasonable and prudent action" plan -- spelled out by NOAA Fisheries biological opinion for the hydro system -- to improve survival of listed stocks. Maslen said there is about $90 million annually in existing or planned M&E work linked to the BiOp. Workgroups developed by NOAA, the NPCC and the action agencies spent the winter, spring and early summer reviewing research, monitoring and evaluation strategies and associated actions called for under the Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion's RPA. The subject areas being looked at by the workgroups were: fish population and tributary habitat; hydro and predation; estuary and ocean; hatchery and harvest, and regional coordination and data management. "The major tasks of these workgroups included a review of the BiOp RM&E strategies/actions/subactions, the associated management questions, and the expectations regarding work and information needed for RPA compliance," according to a draft report and initial recommendations produced by the groups. "This was followed by project specific assessments of the coverage of RPA actions and information needs under existing or planned AA programs, including gaps or areas that could potentially be reduced or scaled back in refocusing efforts and resources." The report will also inform the Council's planned review of M&E projects now funded or seeking funding through its fish and wildlife program. The draft report can be found at: http://www.salmonrecovery.gov/research_reports_pubs/research/docs/RME%20RPA%20Assessment%20Report%20June%202009%20Draft%20_4_.pdf The groups will continue to refine those findings and recommendations and channel them into a broader process that is expected to culminate with the "Anadromous Subbasins Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop" and a plan that provides a monitoring framework for "viable salmonid populations," and habitat, hatchery and mainstem monitoring with an agreed-to implementation strategy for recovery plans, the BiOp, the fish and wildlife program and other funding sources. The end product would be reviewed by the Council's Independent Scientific Review Panel and then delivered to the Council, which would recommend to Bonneville whether or not it should be funded. The workshop is expected to be a five-day session that is to be scheduled in late September or early October and include representatives of the Council, federal agencies and federal, state and tribal fish management entities. Five sub-regional workshops are scheduled prior to the main workshop to develop finalized design of VSP, habitat and hatchery effectiveness monitoring for each evolutionarily significant unit of salmon and designated population segment of steelhead, assess the gaps and provide initial strategies to fill the gaps to implement each design. Bonneville, meanwhile, has contracted with the Oregon Consensus for $78,843 to plan and facilitate the regional workshop. The Oregon Consensus program is part of the National Policy Consensus Center in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. BPA has also enlisted the fish and wildlife managers to produce a prioritized list of projects that addresses FCRPS BiOp and NPCC program anadromous fish monitoring responsibilities that is within budget and agreed to by fish and wildlife managers. "The members have put in a lot of time this winter and spring" to prepare for M&E project reviews triggered by the federal agencies and the NPCC, said Elmer Ward, chairman of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority and a Warm Springs tribal member. CBFWA's membership includes four state and two federal fish and wildlife management entities and eleven Indian tribes of the Columbia River basin. "We're committed to the success of these workshops," Ward said. "We have a well defined work plan and we're ready to go to work." |
Officials Hope To Develop Effective Monitoring Plan For Basin Salmon Recovery
NEWS: Officials Hope To Develop Effective Monitoring Plan For Basin Salmon Recovery
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