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THE UNIVERSITY TASK FORCE ON SALMON 

 AND THE COLUMBIA RIVER SYSTEM 



1 he Taik Force is a group of faculty from the University of Idaho, 

 Oregon State University, Washington State University, and the University 

 of Washington with interest and expertise relating to the Columbia River 

 system. They were appointed by the Agricultural Experiment Stations and 

 Extension Service directors of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington and given 

 the following charges: 



• Identify research and educational issues that the universities can 

 address within the framework of their missions, capabilities, and 

 resource bases; 



• Identify resources and create working networks in each state to 

 address identified issues relating to the Columbia River system 

 salmon and steelhcad runs; 



• Develop a working plan to organize research and public 

 education programs: 



Document the current knowledge base; 



Prepare educational materials; 



Plan and conduct workshops with interested agencies, 



organizations, and interest groups; and 



Conduct research and education programs. 



1 he Land Grant and Sea Grant universities of Idaho, Oregon, and 

 Washington are repositories for a substantial amount of information relating 

 to the resources of the Columbia River system. They also are home for many 

 highly trained scientists with relevant expertise. These scientists and the 

 knowledge available to them could have considerable bearing on improving 

 solutions to the problems arising from reduced populations of native salmon. 

 Although the issues will, in the end, be decided by the public through a variety 

 of political processes, the quality of these decisions will depend on the quality 

 of information on which the decisions are based. 



