11 December
2002
Media Contact:
Charles Hudson, CRITFC,
(503) 731-1257
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Columbia River salmon in
double jeopardy, tribes say
BPA, Power Council proposals
could devastate struggling runs
Portland, Oregon
- Columbia Basin
salmon face a near- and long-term double whammy as the Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA) edges toward cutting fish and wildlife
funding and the Northwest Power Planning Council (NWPPC) mulls spill
and flow reductions.
That angers the Columbia Basin's four treaty fishing tribes, which
believe the two proposals will decimate troubled salmon runs that
only recently have begun to make comebacks.
"Salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers are getting sucker punches
from two sides," said Don Sampson, executive director of the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC). "Two decades of regional
investment is just starting to pay off, and it will all be for naught
if these two agencies get their wish. They're knocking the wind out
of our efforts."
As part of a proposed "mainstem amendment" to its Fish and Wildlife
Program, the NWPPC wants to reduce flows in the Columbia and Snake
rivers during spring and summer, the prime migrating period for endangered
salmon and steelhead, to achieve only an increase of only one-half
of 1 percent generation, according to a CRITFC analysis.
"This proposal is nothing more than elevator-ride scheming. It's evident
the council is willing to consider a major modification to river management
yet ignore its own science," Sampson added.
The NWPPC's own Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) already
has upheld the merits of flows and spill to salmon survival.
"We will insist that the council take no action on this proposal until
the ISAB has given it thorough scrutiny," added Sampson, who will
make that request formal today in a letter to the Council, the National
Marine Fisheries Service and the ISAB.
Meanwhile, the BPA is seeking $500 million in "expense reductions,
deferrals and other actions," according to a Nov. 22 letter to the
region from Stephen Wright, administrator and chief executive officer.
The tribes anticipate that Wright will propose what will amount to
a $50 million annual deferral or reduction in fish and wildlife funding.
"BPA is showing an appalling lack of consistency and trust," said
Justin Gould, CRITFC chairman and chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe's
natural resources subcommittee. "Former BPA Administrator Judi Johansen
repeatedly promised the tribes that BPA would meet its fish and wildlife
obligations, even if it had to miss a Treasury payment.
"BPA, under Wright, has reneged on its commitments and blithely eliminated
more than $200 million in carry-over funding from the budget commitments
in that agreement. BPA uses these commitments when it suits its desires
and reneges when it suits its desires. What kind of business partner
is BPA, anyway? How can the tribes trust BPA's words when $200 million
vanishes into thin air?"
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: 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 and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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