BPA Fish and Wildlife FY 1997 Proposal

Section 1. Administrative
Section 2. Narrative
Section 3. Budget

see CBFWA and BPA funding recommendations

Section 1. Administrative

Title of project
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' Program Support

BPA project number   5513900

Business name of agency, institution or organization requesting funding
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes - Fort Hall

Sponsor type   ID-Tribe

Proposal contact person or principal investigator

BPA technical contact   ,

Biological opinion ID   

NWPPC Program number   4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1

Short description
Provide assistance to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to work closely with the NMFS, USFWS, and the hydroelectric, irrigation, and navigation system operators to pursue integration of the Tribes' Snake River Policy into regional decision-making.

Project start year   1996    End year   2008

Start of operation and/or maintenance   

Project development phase   Implementation

Section 2. Narrative

Related projects
Related projects: Columbia River Development Agreements (contract # 95BI63471), NMFS/Corps System Configuration Team, Coordination and Planning Team, Technical Management Team; Corps Anadromous Fish Evaluations Team (and subgroups), Fish Facilities Design Review Work Group (and sub groups), and Systems Configuration Study Phase II; CBFWA Members Liaison Group, and Fish Passage Advisory Committee; NPPC Fish and Wildlife Program and FOEC; NMFS proposed recovery plan and BiOp (reasonable and prudent alternatives); Columbia River Fish Management Plan, Pacific Northwest Coordination Agreement and Canadian Entitlement Allocation Agreement, Columbia River Treaty, Water Rental, Model Watersheds, other fish and wildlife projects (e.g., mitigation).

Project history
Assistance for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to effectively participate in the mainstem Snake and Columbia rivers' operations forums have not been provided in the past. Assistance to the Tribes is consistent with and supported by many related natural resource plans and agreements, including the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868, other treaties of the Columbia Basin tribes, the Pacific Salmon Treaty, the Columbia River Fish Management Plan, the Salmon River Subbasin Plan, the Integrated System Plan, the Northwest Power Planning Council Fish and Wildlife Program, the NMFS Proposed Recovery Plan.

Biological results achieved

Annual reports and technical papers
Develop and finalize an agreement document with the federal agencies and other relevant parties and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes that provides a collaborative effort to manage the Natural Resources in such a way as to protect Shoshone-Bannock Tribal lifestyle, culture, religion and economy; and provides the basis for compliance with Tribal law and policy and federal Indian law, federal statutes, and federal policy.

Management implications
We are presently in an emergency situation where dramatic and unprecedented efforts are needed to prevent extinction and to preserve future options for restoring naturally producing fish. The project is intended to provide high assurance that extinction of naturally producing populations of indigenous salmon, steelhead and resident fish will not occur if natural production improvements based on habitat improvements (primarily in the mainstem Snake and Columbia rivers) are successful. The benefits of this project are to provide integrity and longevity to the coordinated decisions of the river operators and cooperators in order to develop actions to immediately improve the mainstem Snake and Columbia rivers passage conditions.

Specific measureable objectives
Goals: Actively participate in technical-level and policy-level multi-lateral decision-making regarding the protection of the Columbia River Basin Natural Resources in order to improve the integrity and longevity of decisions. Develop and finalize an agreement document with the federal agencies and other relevant parties and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes that provides a collaborative effort to manage the Natural Resources in such a way as to protect Shoshone-Bannock Tribal lifestyle, culture, religion and economy; and provides the basis for compliance with Tribal law and policy and federal Indian law, federal statutes, and federal policy. Centralize the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' active and effective participation in the regional and local coordination activities necessary to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate new and ongoing fish and wildlife restoration projects in the Snake River Basin. Validate existing and change future activities as determined through comprehensive evaluations as required to insure appropriate biological objectives and performance standards are met. Apply production augmentation, habitat protection, and migration passage improvement principles consistent with successfully restoring naturally producing indigenous Snake River salmon and resident fish populations. Contribute significantly to the doubling and biological diversity goals established by the NPPC.

Testable hypothesis
H(1): Meaningful and effective participation by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in river configurations and operations decision-making will not improve endemic fish, wildlife, and associated habitat.
H(2): Failure of the federal government to provide financial assistance for effective participation of the Sboshone-Bannock Tribes for river configurations and operations decisions does not violate federal government trust responsibility.

Underlying assumptions or critical constraints
The underlying assumption, that the federal "family" (NMFS, USFWS, BPA, COE, BOR) will make FCRPS configurations and operations decisions based on commodities-based uses and interests rather than basing them on the needs of the fish, wildlife and their habitat; is also the critical constraint (in that funding for effective participation by the relevant fish, wildlife and habitat co-managers is not provided).

Methods
Actively and effectively participate in region-wide coordinated recovery and enhancement efforts. Scope, plan, develop, and secure funding for proposed projects required to recover weak populations. Develop and implement additional projects consistent with the Fish and Wildlife Program amendments. Continue to use the assistance in order to track and coordinate the developed projects once on-line. Continue participation in the activities that affect the numbers, quality, and types of fish, wildlife, and habitat in the Snake River Basin.

Brief schedule of activities
FY 1996 - Assist development and completion of comprehensive agreement to facilitate Shoshone-Bannock Tribal participation in all issues involving the hydroelectric, navigation, and irrigation system configurations and operations of the mainstem Snake and Columbia Rivers. Effectively participate in long-term, yearly, and in-season management decisions.
FY 1997 - Implement the program (active and meaningful Tribal participation in hydroelectric, navigation and irrigation configurations and operations decisions).
FY 1998 - Continue implementation.
FY 1999 - Continue implementation.
FY 2000 - Continue implementation.
FY 2001 - Continue implementation.

Biological need
Recovery of the Snake River chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon and associated endemic resident fish, wildlife, and their (and Tribal) habitat by restoration of the natural river condition and associated healthy riparian ecosystem or the ecosystem components that most closely resemble it. The US v Oregon Columbia River Fish Management Plan 5-year review, based solely on the biological needs of the fish, specified that the harvest and production actions of that Plan fail due to inadequate migration conditions in the mainstem Snake and Columbia rivers. Without major, dramatic changes to the FCRPS the Snake River salmon are limited below recovery levels to recover. The fish and wildlife resource needs the actions that the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes can only continue to bring forward with program assistance.

Critical uncertainties
In their comments to the NPPC Strategy for the Salmon, the fish managers agreed that "river naturalization clearly offers the most direct solution to the water availability and required flow velocities in the lower Snake River (CBFWA, 11/15/94). The Policy of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, which this project is intended to pursue implementation of, calls for just this action. The critical uncertainty, is the federal government's lack of commitment to do what is required to recover the Snake River Salmon.

Summary of expected outcome
This program should assist in providing the information needed to make decisions that maximize survival of anadromous fish through the FCRPS, with the minimum amount of cost.

Dependencies/opportunities for cooperation
Major efforts will be spent assisting the COE Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Study EIS (SCS Phase II); and revealing the economic costs of the four lower Snake River facilities and the associated savings with decommissioning those projects.

Risks
Biological consequences and financial risks of not implementing the project include: The biological risk is extinction, and therefore the financial risk is immeasurable. The project is intended to provide high assurance that extinction of naturally producing populations of indigenous salmon, steelhead and resident fish will not occur if mainstem habitat improvements are successful.

Monitoring activity
M&E will provide assessments of the effectiveness of the assistance to achieve the solutions for recovery and protection of the Natural Resource that are the most likely to succeed.

Section 3. Budget

* For most projects, Authorized is the amount recommended by CBFWA and the Council. Planned is amount currently allocated. Contracted is the amount obligated to date of printout.

Funding recommendations

CBFWA funding review group   System Policy

Recommendation    Tier 3 - do not fund