< BACK

TO:

Members Management Group (MMG)

FROM:

Brian Allee

SUBJECT:

Draft Action Notes from the December 7, 2000 Meeting

Attendees:

Ron Boyce, ODFW; Chad Colter, SBT; Guy Dodson, Sr., SPT; Phil Roger, CRITFC; Fred Olney, USFWS; Lynn Hatcher and Theodora Strong, YN; John Palensky, NMFS; Gary James and Carl Scheeler, CTUIR; Ron Peters Cd'AT; Albert Teeman and Amos First-Raised, III, SPT; Bob Foster, WDFW; Brian Allee, Tom Iverson, Neil Ward, Frank Young, Tom Giese, and Tana Klum, CBFWA/F.

Phone:

Mary Verner and BJ Kieffer, STI; Bert Bowler, IDFG; Sue Ireland, KTI.

Item 1:

Subbasin Planning - Bert Bowler

Discussion:

Handouts from Northwest Power Planning Council (NWPPC) staff were made available to the MMG just prior to the meeting. There was agreement by those who had read the handouts that the NWPPC staff has been thinking about the process for subbasin planning. Bert expressed the views of IDFG Director Rod Sando, who supports a "buy- in" to the subbasin planning process by encouraging participation and collaboration among local governments and entities outside the CBFWA/NWPPC process. In developing an infrastructure to participate successfully with all interested parties, Chairman Sando sees a need for high level discussions among CBFWA Members and proposes a "Plan for the Plan." Fred Olney added that the "Plan" needs to be segregated into different areas of concern or expertise, i.e., habitat will attract different players than the Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans, etc.

Action:

• Within the next week or so, Bert will ask Chairman Sando to provide the NWPPC with a letter bulleting the points he made at the December 5-6 NWPPC meeting, and will highlight his previous experiences and successes in subbasin planning.
• Pending a CBFWA position, the letter will be signed by Rod as Director of IDFG. Bert will send the letter to CBFWA for distribution to the MMG within the next week.
• An ad hoc committee to develop the "Plan for the Plan" will meet at CBFWA January 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The committee includes Bert Bowler, John Palensky, Fred Olney, Ron Boyce, Bob Foster, Carl Scheeler, and Bert will ask Rod Sando to participate by phone. Tana will call the tribes to encourage additional participation.

Item 2:

FY 01 Budget Update - Tom Giese

Discussion:

Tom told the MMG that the start of year budget that would reflect placeholders, etc., would be made available soon from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).

Tom also updated the MMG on the NWPPC's decisions from their December 5-6 meeting:

• Approved five of the six within-year budget requests. The request from Lewis Soil Conservation District to a change of scope modification to project # 199901400, Little Canyon Creek Subwatershed Steelhead Trout Habitat Improvement Project Clearwater River Subbasin, was not approved by the NWPPC.
• All but four of the 31 project requests made by CBFWA to reinstate funds were approved. The four projects not approved are pending, with a request from the NWPPC to provide more information.
• Although CBFWA presented the NWPPC with budget comments in response to the NWPPC across-the-board budget cut proposal (Oct. 20 D. Marker memo), the letter was not included in the NWPPC's briefing packet, but was hand delivered at the meeting and it was Tom's thought that the letter would be on the agenda for the January NWPPC meeting.

Tom also proposed developing a budget similar to the 10-year budget submitted to the NWPPC by the Members in May of 1998, but with new figures that would include the new BiOps and Fish and Wildlife Program costs.

• Fred Olney and John Palensky said the feds are already working on more current estimates. Tom offered to incorporate the new figures if Fred and John provide them when they are available.

Item 3:

Innovative Projects Update - Tom Iverson

Discussion:

Tom briefly discussed the November 28 memo (included in the MMG packet), that Gustavo Bisbal (NWPPC) presented to the NWPPC F&W Committee on December 5.

Action:

The following schedule will be applied to Innovative Projects:

• ISRP report Dec. 15
• CBFWA committees review at their Dec. meetings, and fill in the tables using the NWPPC/CBFWA criteria
• Distribute to MMG Jan. 5
• MMG discuss at their meeting Jan. 11

Tom suggested that CBFWA's goal is to look at the 66 projects ranked by the ISRP and provide a management review of them. The ISRP report will be relied on heavily for their technical review of projects. The MMG also agreed to recommend in the CBFWA report to the ISRP that there be some follow up on the innovative projects that are approved by the NWPPC.

Item 4:

High Priority Projects Update - Tom Giese

Discussion:

Giese's December 6 memo to the MMG outlines his proposal for the schedule and discussions among the NWPPC, BPA, NMFS and CBFWA. Fred asked that the USFWS be added to the list for discussions. Giese and others guessed that there are over 200 projects totaling approximately $250 million. There should be agreement that representatives from these organizations will remove a suite of projects that do not meet the criteria. It was unclear as to the legality of excluding some ESA projects.

Action:

Tom Giese will meet with Doug Marker, Sarah McNary and others to see if a preliminary review is feasible. John Palensky suggested that BPA could convene a review panel. Tom will develop material and the review teams and report back to the MMG.

Item 5:

FSOC Charter Update - Frank Young

Discussion:

Frank reported that per the MMG, the FSOC has been developing a charter that has had several iterations. The tribes have not been as active in drafting the charter as was hoped, however, a final draft will be ready for review and approval by the MMG at their January meeting. Frank also said that the FSOC annual reports from 1998 and 1999 were almost complete.

Item 6:

Mainstem Review Letter and Schedule - R. Boyce and P. Roger

Action:

• The list of projects are those from FY 00. Many of those will be reviewed in their respective province. The ad hoc group will continue working on the letter, which should also include input from the Wildlife Committee, and will be reviewed again by the MMG at their meeting in January.
• Include NWPPC (D. Marker) and BPA in the discussion as Mainstem includes the Reimbursables portion of the F&W budget.

Item 7:

FY 00 Accounting Information

Item 8:

FY 01 Projected CBFWA Integrated Funding

Discussion:

Items 7 and 8 were discussed simultaneously. Kathie Titzler, CBFWF Fiscal Administrator, was not available for this meeting. Frank Young encouraged the MMG to read the reimbursement material Kathie sent earlier in the week. He reported that many members were now billing the CBFWF and were estimating they would use most of their funding for FY00 once they had billed.

Frank also stated that there was no way to determine any carry over monies for members requesting additional funding until after the February 20, 2001 billing deadline.

Item 9:

Process for Responding to ISRP Review (added item)

Discussion:

Both the ISRP and CBFWA provided the NWPPC with presentations on the Gorge and Inter-mountain province three-year work plans and the proposed projects within them.

Brian stated that this year, as in the past, CBFWA is managing by exception, in that the dialogue must remain open where there are disagreements between the CBFWA and the ISRP.

In discussions with Doug Marker, Tom Iverson said the NWPPC interest lies in how the projects are framed for three years. The projects need to be on target, defensible and the funding estimates must be correct. Doug is working on auditing the projects submitted to ensure the funding levels are correct for three years. Tom and Doug are meeting December 8 to discuss this issue.

Several MMG members in attendance of the ISRP's presentation felt that the ISRP were better able to defend their recommendations, and that CBFWA should have had the opportunity to rebut. Brian said that CBFWA would have the opportunity to defend its recommendations to the ISRP and NWPPC at the January Council meeting.

Brian provided some suggestions for the future based on his interpretation of the NWPPC meeting:

• Proposals need to be clear
• CBFWA staff have been touting the ISRP "Logic Path" handout (part of the ISRP presentation), but it has yet to be included in the summaries.
• The "past accomplishments" that are often authored into the project proposals need to be included in the subbasin summaries.

Item 10:

Next Meeting

Action:

The next MMG meeting will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on January 11, 2001, at the CBFWA office in Portland.

1:00-5:00 p.m.

NMFS / USFWS Presentation of the BiOps

The NMFS, USFWS and other federal agencies provided the MMG with a review of the comments submitted during the development of the 2000 Biological Opinions (BiOps). NMFS and USFWS also discussed the changes that were made to the BiOps during consultations and comments received by the agencies, tribes and other interested parties. The BiOps are scheduled for public release December 15, 2000.