Editor Stacey H. Stovall, Conservation Innovations, Inc. Subbasin Team Leader

Background

The Council is a planning, policy-making, and reviewing body. It develops and monitors implementation of the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (Program), which is implemented by BPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and its licensees. The Program is not intended to address all fish and wildlife problems in the Columbia Basin from all sources. Rather, the Program is meant to accommodate the needs of other programs in the Basin that affect fish and wildlife, and unify and coordinate a framework for fish and wildlife mitigation and recovery activities across the Basin.

Section 4(h) of the Act establishes statutory guidelines that the Council must adhere to in the development of the Program. The Council ensures that the Program complements the existing and future activities of the federal and region’s state fish and wildlife managers and appropriate Indian tribes and that they remain consistent with the legal rights of appropriate Indian tribes in the region (Section 4[h][6]). The Council also ensures this consistency by giving deference to the recommendations of the Basin’s fish and wildlife managers in all decision-making processes and that they remain consistent with the legal rights of the appropriate Indian tribes. There are various statutory standards within the Act that the Council must adhere to, including:

• 
  §4(h)(6)(B) The Program will “be based on, and supported by, the best available scientific knowledge”;
  

• 
  §4(h)(8)(a) The Program shall, “in appropriate circumstances,” include enhancement measures “as means of achieving offsite protection and mitigation with respect to compensation for losses arising from the development and operation of the hydroelectric facilities of the Columbia River and its tributaries”;
  

• 
  §4(h)(10)(A) Measures “to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife to the extent affected by the development and operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS)” will “be in addition to, and not in lieu of, other expenditures authorized or required from other entities under other agreements or provisions of law”; and
  

• 
  §4(h)(7) “In the event recommendations received are inconsistent with each other, the Council, in consultation with appropriate entities, shall resolve such inconsistency in the Program giving due weight to the recommendations, expertise, and legal rights and responsibilities of the federal and the region’s state fish and wildlife agencies and appropriate Indian tribes."
  

Ultimately, the Council will amend into the Program specific subbasin plans that are consistent with the basinwide goals and objectives the Program sets forth. The Council relies on subbasin summaries to provide the context for the development of subbasin plans. The subbasin assessment and planning process will complete the Program at the subbasin level and provide the implementation plans out of which fish and wildlife projects are proposed for BPA funding to implement the Program. These subbasin summaries are an interim arrangement pending development of the new Program. Subbasin summaries are a documentation of existing assessments, plans, and other information available within each subbasin and are written by subbasin teams.

Fish, wildlife, and habitat managers comprise the core members of subbasin teams. Core members of the Boise-Payette-Weiser subbasin team are the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (SBT), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). These entities are responsible for coordinating fish and wildlife needs and management strategies; ensuring that subbasin summaries and plans have all of the elements necessary to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the development, operation, and management of the FCRPS; and ensuring that the summaries are ready to submit to the Council. Other key members of the subbasin teams include 1) federal, state, and tribal land managers; 2) federal, state, and tribal water quality managers; and 3) private land and water users. Their role in the subbasin team is to provide input on the status of habitat quality, ongoing monitoring efforts, and habitat strategies; recommend habitat actions to meet habitat quality objectives; and assure consistency with other planning efforts.

Introduction

Fish and wildlife resources are abundant and include numerous federally listed threatened and endangered species.

Water resource development and operations is a primary factor limiting the abundance and distribution of native salmonids. Widespread losses of riparian-wetland vegetation communities have affected both aquatic and terrestrial species resulting in dramatic alterations to floodplains and river channels. Timber harvest and mining activities have significantly affected aquatic habitats throughout the three subbasins. The primary threats to existing wildlife habitat are the continuing increases in recreational and home development and the continuation of existing land management practices, including agricultural and forest management related activities in critical habitat areas. The cumulative impacts associated with the decline and loss of these habitats can be felt across the entire subbasin complex and is evident from the number of fish and wildlife species currently at risk.

Several agencies have conducted numerous biological assessments throughout the subbasin complex in recent years. Identified goals and objectives focus on rebuilding native salmonid populations and reducing or eliminating threats to native habitats, restoring fish and wildlife habitat connectivity, and habitat protection and enhancement.