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year's returning salmon are at the lowest levels ever seen. We 

 are, quite literally, studying and debating the fish to death. A 

 real recovery plan for the salmon is urgently needed and long 

 overdue . 



A Recoverv P lan Must Be an Action Plan. 



The Northwest Power Planning Council's Strategy for Salmon 

 and the Snedce River Recovery Team's Recommendations 2u:e starting 

 points for developing a recovery plan for Columbia Basin salmon. 

 Both are only framework documents. They outline the table of 

 contents for a recovery plan, covering all aspects of the salmon 

 life cycle, but fail to fill in many critical details. 



In lieu of specific actions leading to recovery, the 

 Recovery Teeun has proposed numerous studies, new committees, and 

 future procedures to develop specific actions. While these might 

 all be commendable if salmon were not on the verge of extinction, 

 they simply do not constitute a recovery plan. 



In the words of one scientific reviewer of the draft 

 Recovery Team recommendations: 



[I]t is not a recovery plan at all. When one strips away 

 the background material and docximentation, all that is left 

 is the recommendation that more committees and research are 



