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Question 6: Are existing institutions and institutional arrangements at tiie state and federal level 

 adequate to implement salmon recovery plans? What improvements should be made 

 to ensure better regional coordination among the many federal, state, tribal and 

 private entities that must work together to achieve salmon restoration? In 

 particular, the following alternatives have been suggested for better implementing 

 salmon restoration plans. Please comment on each: 



Question 6a: Providing additional public involvement in existing federal processes, including 

 review of annual operations; 



Question 6b: Changing the membership, structure, or authorities of the Council: 



Question 6c: Incorporating salmon recovery measures into the Pacific Northwest Coordinating 

 Agreement; 



Question 6d: Adopting a new agreement or creating a new regional entity among BPA, the Corps 

 of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Council and others to administer 

 annual river operations; 



Question 6e: Transferring a lump sum in fish and wildlife funds from BPA to fish and wildlife 



agencies to be administered separately by those agencies for salmon recovery, while 

 providing accountability for the results of the work funded; or 



Question 6f Legislatively creating a new entity or designating an existing agency with authority 

 to mandate salmon recovery actions. 



Answer: Before commenting on the specific alternatives you have proposed for better 



implementing salmon restoration plans and the other issues imbedded in your 

 alternatives, it is important to discuss current institutional arrangements and the 

 plans BPA is proposing along with the Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Bureau of 

 Reclamation (Reclamation) to consider new methods for regional decision-making 

 and public participation. 



First, we believe the existing institutions and their arrangements have provided an 

 adequate ability to implement the near-term Strategy for Salmon and salmon 

 recovery plans. However, we believe our focus should now be on achieving the 

 desired results ~ aaions to return salmon to the wild. For the past 13 years, we 

 have collectively been dealing with the current institutional relationships and 



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