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plan by the end of the year and we have assigned and committed 

 the necessary staff to do that. 



Now there are without a doubt variables that can affect that. 

 Certainly these include new information, information provided by 

 the tribes and others when we go out for public comment, as well 

 as the fmalization of the negotiations before Judge Marsh. Should 

 those variables, and they very likely could, require modifying the 

 schedule, it could be extended for unknown periods of time, but our 

 goal remains the end of the year. 



Ms. Unsoeld. Are there items in the Snake River Recovery's 

 final recommendation that concern you or that you believe NMFS 

 could not adopt in their final recovery plan? 



Mr. SCHMITTEN. We just received the plan on the 12th, and we 

 started the technical analysis of all 500 pages. Let me state for the 

 record that certainly the Team addressed all the necessary issues 

 as has the regional Power Council. 



Are there items at this point that we immediately would object 

 to? I can't identify those. There are certainly some that we would 

 modify and there are some that we have differed on throughout 

 time and those deal with the issue of flow on flow survivals. 



Ms. Unsoeld. Mr. Bottiger, do you agree with Dr. Bevan that 

 the Snake River Salmon Recovery's final recommendation coupled 

 with the Northwest Power Planning Council's plan provide a truly 

 regional recovery strategy for salmon? 



Mr. Bottiger. Yes. As Dr. Bevan has mentioned, there are areas 

 where there is disagreement and the reason there is disagreement 

 is there is adequate science to have come to two different conclu- 

 sions. His Recovery Team went one way, the Council went another 

 but we could flip flop based on the science next week. 



The changes are not that big. The differences I mean are not that 

 big. 



Ms. Unsoeld. And how would you comment on the tribal plan? 



Mr. Bottiger. I haven't seen the tribal plan unless it is DEFOP. 



Ms. Unsoeld. So that would require more time before you could 

 respond. 



Mr. Bottiger. Yes, I don't believe they have released it for the 

 public. One other thing I would like to add; Dr. Bevan is correct 

 when he says that all of the Council's recovery plan is not being 

 implemented. That is right. But about 90 percent is and it is 



Ms. Unsoeld. I want to step in to some really dangerous waters. 

 Hopefully, we are not going to be swept downstream here but in 

 your written remarks you suggest that the Council is concerned 

 that the salmon oversight committee proposed by the Recovery 

 Team would duplicate a measure in the strategy for salmon and be 

 too focused on the Endangered Species Act. 



Would you elaborate for me what you mean by that because I 

 think it is a very serious issue with which we haven't totally come 

 to grips. 



Mr. Bottiger. Dr. Bevan and I discuss this regularly and I hope 

 you give him a chance to tell us 



Ms. Unsoeld. I may have to do it on the second round. 



Mr. Bottiger. There is nobody in charge in the river and that 

 is correct, there is a diffused structure of control of the river from 



