96 



The salmon strategy called on the Council to create the Fish Operations Executive 

 Conunittee. One of the Committee's chaiges is to develop accounting procedures to 

 improve management of water for fish in the Snake and Columbia rivers. The Committee 

 oversees an annual policy and technical process to address flow and temperature regimes 

 and reconcile measures in the strategy designed to achieve protection for salmon and 

 steelhead. 



Through this process, or through incorporation of salmon recovery efforts into the 

 Coordinating Agreement, it is important to recognize that fish share in the objectives of 

 river management along with other river uses. In reviewing and adopting flow measures, 

 costs and benefits of all uses of the river must be considered. 



Lump sum transfer from Bonneville to fish and wildlife agencies 



This proposal goes to the heart of Bonneville's management of the Council's fish and 

 wildlife program. Some of Bonneville's critics say the agency should get out of the 

 implementation business and simply provide the money to appropriate agencies to carry 

 out the work of rebuilding salmon runs. 



The Northwest Power Act is neutral on this point. The Administrator of Bonneville 

 must "... exercise such responsibilities, taking into account at each relevant stage of 

 decision making processes to the fullest extent practicable, the program adopted by the 

 Council ..." (Section 4.(h)(l l)(A)(ii)) The Administrator also must "... use the 

 Bonneville Power Administration fund ... in a manner consistent with ... the program 

 adoptedbytheCouncil... and the purposes of this Act" (Section 4.(h)(10)(A)) Finally, 

 the Administrator must "exercise [his] responsibilities, taking into account at each 

 relevant stage of decision making "to the fullest extent practicable" the Council's fish and 

 wildlife program (Section 4.(h)(l l)(A)(ii)) Conceivably, that could mean allocating 

 funds to other agencies, through a contractual process, for example, to implement the 

 Council's program. 



The Council's chief concern with this approach is that the fish and wildlife program 

 must be effectively managed, promptly implemented and rigorously evaluated. In the 

 Strategy for Salmon, the Council calls for a stringent program of independent monitoring 

 and evaluation of progress to ensure that the region's investment in salmon pays off. 



If a lump sum were transferred by Bonneville to other implementing agencies, it 

 would be critical that such a transfer be conditioned on 1) fully implementing the 

 Council's program; 2) demonstrating an ability to carry out the work; 3) committing to 

 monitor and evaluate the work effectively. 



17 



