151 



The Draft Plan does not provide for <faosc changes to now be made. Tie Draft Plan does 

 not identify all the areas in which federal agcndes are not utilizing their existing audiorities to 

 conserve Snake River salmon stocks. 'Where existing federal authorities to conserve these stocks 

 are noted, the Recovery Team recommended that the affected agencies do less than they are 

 required to do by law. NMFS, or another party, must identify actions that can now be 

 undertaken and statutory or regulatory weaknesses that must be rectified if it is truly to contiiiue 

 to act as a steward of die lesouioe.- 



Under the ESA, the purpose of a recovery plan is the conservatioa and survival of the 

 listed species, v/bidi necessarily and q)ecifically requires tiac conservadon of the ecosystem tpoa 

 which the species depeads. Because the Draft Plan fills fer short of meeting the ESA's legal 

 mandates, KMFS must dow take icspooabiliQr for devdopmeot and implemeatatioa of a 

 recovery plan (hat incorporates: (1) a dcsaqrtion of ate specific managemeat actions; (2) 

 objective, measurable criteria vrtiicfa, when met, would result in a spedes' delisting; and, (3) the 

 time and costs requiral to cany out measures needed to reach flie plan's goal, as well as for. 

 intermediate st^s towards that goaL NMFS must address fee factors for decline, identify 

 specific actions and develop measurable cdteda which assure that none of the factors spedfied 

 for listing continue to be a threat. 



Conclusion 



For many years, the Commisdon and its member tdbes have worked with various federal 

 enfitfies, including NMFS, on efforts to protect and restore Columbia Basin anadromous 

 fisheries. Because the federal presence in the Columbia Basin is extensive and diverse and 

 because salmon protectioa, enhancement and restoration efforts are ctidcal to upholding and 

 implementing the tribes' reserved treaty rights, all ageades of the fed^al government must 

 respect the federal trusteeship and exerdse their responabHities to the tribes in a judidous 

 manner. Unfortunately, we have witnessed iiKX)nsistent and uncoordinated federal positions with 

 regard to fishery resource protection and restoration. Too often, federal agency action has 

 diminished the fishery -resource at great cost to the tribes' treaty rights and their economy, 

 culture and religion. 



The Team's draft recovery plan recommendations do not contain measures necessary to 

 restore listed Snake River salmon stocks, nor would they support the federal govecoment's 

 obligations to secure and protect flie tabes' treaty reserved rights to take fish at all usual and 

 accustomed places. Nowis the time for the federal government to live up to its promises to tiie 

 tribes and to b^in working with them in a govenrnieat-torgovemment relationship that puts the 

 tribes' treaty reserved rights back in the forefifont of decision-making. 



Over the past several decades, while the tribes have dosed fishery after fishery to 

 conserve the resource, in the hope of protecting and rebuilding this andeat and priceless 

 cornerstone of thdr culture for future geaecations,. non-Indians have prospered firom dieap 

 power, cheap water, and subsidized grazing, agriculture, and logging. These industries have 



