Tribal Deal Offers Promise of Salmon Revival

Indian tribes have reached an agreement with the states of Oregon and Washington on developing an ambitious salmon conservation plan to rebuild fish runs to more than 5 million in the Columbia River Basin within the next 25 years.

“The agreement is a milestone in that it marks the first time we have had a coast-wide, conservation-based approach to wild salmon management,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings said.

Leaders from the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes and the governors of four Western states, including Gary Locke of Washington and John Kitzhaber of Oregon, say the plan is vital to meeting Columbia River salmon recovery goals. It is expected to be completed by December 2003.

“This agreement has both logic and vision. . . . It provides the resource and fishers some level of certainty, something they haven’t had much of in recent years,” said Randy Settler, chairman of the Yakama Nation’s fish and wildlife committee.

The announcement came as the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that markets electricity from 29 dams along the Columbia and Snake rivers, said it has decided to launch a $200-million energy conservation and renewable resource development program several months early to help relieve the electricity shortage and save salmon.

“This is a program we had intended to start next fall, but, with the current shortage, we are offering it immediately,” said Bonneville’s acting administrator, Steve Wright. “With the energy shortages and the high cost of purchasing power in this market, we and our customer utilities wanted to kick conservation into high gear now.”

Regional utilities that buy power from the BPA and choose to participate will get a discount on their wholesale power bill if they agree to invest in conservation measures or renewable resources.