FEDERAL AGENCIES PROPOSE COMPREHENSIVE SALMON RECOVERY STRATEGY FOR PACIFIC NORT

A team of federal agencies today proposed a comprehensive long-term strategy for restoring threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest. The agencies released two draft documents outlining actions to be taken by the federal government, and proposing additional steps by tribal, state and local governments, which together would prevent the extinction and foster the recovery of 12 salmon populations currently protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The first document is a draft "biological opinion" by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, which will guide operations of the 29 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and their tributaries. The second is a draft Basin-Wide Salmon Recovery Strategy (formerly the All-H Paper) that incorporates the requirements of the biological opinion and includes additional measures to improve hatcheries, limit salmon harvest, and restore salmon habitat. The agencies expect to make both documents final later this year, following a 60-day review by the states and tribes.

A central feature of the proposed strategy is the establishment of explicit, scientifically based performance standards to gauge the status of salmon stocks and the success of recovery efforts over the next five to ten years. Progress will be measured against those standards in five, eight, and ten years to determine if more aggressive recovery effortswincluding the breaching of four Lower Snake River damswwill be necessary.

"The federal government is fully committed to doing its part to restore the imperiled salmon of the Pacific Northwest. Today, we propose a long-term strategy grounded in the best available science. This strategy is practical and comprehensive, and places the highest priority on those actions likely to produce the greatest benefit for the broadest range of species throughout the basin," said George T. Frampton, Jr., Acting Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

"Bringing back the region's salmon while strengthening its economy is an extraordinary challengewone the federal government cannot meet on its own. Achieving these goals will also require a genuine commitment by the people and the governments of the Pacific Northwest," said Frampton.

"We welcome the support and input of the region's tribes and states, and are committed to forging a strong and lasting partnership with them. And, if our common efforts do not achieve the progress we need, we all must prepared to take even stronger action. Extinction is not an option."

"This is a very ambitious plan," said William Stelle, regional administrator for the fisheries service in Seattle. "It takes a broad-based approach to rebuilding salmon stocks in the Columbia Basin and establishes strong mechanisms to insure that our recovery efforts can be adjusted to reflect the best and latest science."

The proposed federal strategy outlines actions addressing the four so-called H's of salmon recovery: habitat, hatcheries, harvest and hydropower:

Habitat. Habitat efforts will cover three areas: tributary streams, the estuary, and the mainstem rivers. In the tributaries, protection and restoration of federal lands will provide a strong base. For non-federal lands, federal agencies will work with non-federal partners on actions with immediate benefits: flows in streams, removal of barriers to fish movement, improving water quality, and rebuilding the health of buffers along streams. The strategy calls on the states to increase their complementary efforts to improve water quality and stream flows. In the estuary, federal agencies will support rapid implementation of the Lower Columbia River Estuary Program, particularly restoration and acquisition of important habitat areas, and continue aggressive predator controls. In the mainstem of the Columbia an