580 



o the Bureau should insist on elimination of discriminatory 

 obstacles to use of the water bank for fish purposes and 

 work with the State of Idaho to achieve those changes; 



o the Bureau should develop institutional arrangements to 



increase streamflows, in close cooperation with Bonneville 

 and the states. A pilot dry-year option leasing program 

 should be developed; 



o the Bureau should resolve the problem of water spreading and 

 other unauthorized uses of water, and reallocate a portion 

 of that water for fisheries purposes; 



o the Bureau should revive the conservation planning program 



required by the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, establishing 

 new guidelines, and an enforceable implementation program. 

 Savings from conservation programs funded by the government 

 should be reallocated to fish; 



o Bonneville should finance water acquisitions for fish flows 

 through its energy resource acquisition program. It should 

 eliminate the irrigation discount and stop financing water 

 conservation unless transfer mechanisms are assured. 



5. Are existing institutions at the 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? 



Changing the Council. The institutions clearly aren't doing the 

 job they should. The Council could benefit from an infusion of 

 new blood, particularly the appointment of all new members on the 

 basis of expertise, not political patronage. The Council could 

 be given authority to act on a simple majority. I'd place higher 

 priority, however, on making sure the federal agencies implement 

 the existing program. 



Additional public involvement. The federal agencies suffer from 

 no shortage of public involvement. Unfortunately key decisions 

 are often made without seeing the light of day. The public was 

 not given an opportunity to comment on the decision to delay 

 implementation of crucial parts of the Council Strategy, and 

 repeated pleas from the public for action has induced no visible 

 response. Yes, Bonneville could benefit from more public 

 involvement in the decisions that count. It could also benefit 

 from greater responsiveness to the public. 



Incorporating salmon recovery measures into the PNCA . The PNCA 

 should certainly be changed to reflect salmon requirements. One 

 way to do that would be to set flow or travel-time objectives 

 that serve as hard constraints in that process, before the PNCA 



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