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National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to list Snake River chinook salmon as 

 threatened species and Snake River sockeye as endangered species. 



Clearly, if the region could not develop its own salmon recovery program, one 

 would be developed for us. We learned that lesson with the spotted owl, when the lack 

 of regional consensus and coordination on recovery planning opened the door to 

 intervention by federal courts. We wanted to avoid a similar debacle for salmon. 



Building on the ideas developed at the Salmon Summit, we solicited 

 recommendations from all interested parties and then developed our salmon recovery 

 program in four phases. First, we developed high-priority actions to bring immediate 

 help to salmon runs --screening irrigation ditches in areas where the weakest salmon 

 stocks spawn, for example. We completed the first phase in August 1991. Our second 

 phase focused on improvements in the mainstems of the Columbia and Snake, and on 

 salmon harvest. The second phase was completed in December 1991. The third phase 

 focused on salmon habitat and production and was completed in September 1992. 

 Those three phases comprised our amendments dealing with salmon, and collectively 

 they are known as the Strategy for Salmon. I brought copies of Volume One of the 

 Strategy, which is the executive summary, with me today. 



Right now we are moving toward completion of the fourth phase, which deals 

 with resident fish ~ those that do not swim to the ocean - and wildlife. We expect to 

 complete the fourth phase in October. 



So in response to your second question, the region has a comprehensive salmon 

 recovery program in place. However, as I will discuss later in my testimony, the 

 challenge now is to implement it fully. In addition, we made clear in developing our 

 program that long-term measures in our program are needed to rebuild the runs and that 

 additional measures would be needed in the future. 



The Northwest Power Act is the chief impetus for our program. Specifically, the 

 Act says, at Section 2.(6), that one purpose of the Act is to protect, mitigate and 

 enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin, "...particularly anadromous fish, 

 which are of significant importance to the social and economic well-being of the Pacific 

 Northwest and the Nation ..." The Act also says, at Section 4.(h)(8)(B), that 

 "consumers of electric power shall bear the cost of measures designed to deal with 

 adverse impacts caused by the development and operation of electric power facilities 

 and programs ..." 



Most electricity consumers in the Northwest get some or all of their power from 

 the Bonneville Power Administration, which is the federal agency that sells power from 

 the federal dams. Here in the region, Bonneville's ratepayers are assuming a large 

 portion of the cost of our salmon recovery strategy. While you're here, you will hear 

 different, and sometimes seemingly conflicting, figures cited as the true cost of salmon 

 recovery in the Northwest. 



