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interests who will want to participate. Absent federal law to direct this work, of 

 course, progress may be difficult. 



We would encourage and support a coastwide salmon recovery effort and would 

 be happy to participate through our Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. 

 We will continue to update our program, and we will continue to take an interest in 

 rebuilding coastal and lower-Columbia salmon runs. For example, our Strategy 

 includes measures aimed at improving hatchery and production practices and reducing 

 harvest -- measures that may be useful for a coastwide program. We also have asked 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service to improve harvest reporting so that all of us will 

 have a better idea of how many fish are caught, both in the Columbia and in the ocean. 



You must consider how a coastwide salmon recovery program would be 

 financed. As I mentioned earlier, the Northwest Power Act pays particular attention to 

 anadromous fish, the impact of hydropower dams, and financing for fish and wildlife 

 recovery actions within the Columbia River Basin. Financing alternatives for a 

 coastwide salmon program pose an interesting challenge. 



Impact of President Clinton's Forest Management Plan on salmon recovery 



I wish I could take credit, in the name of the Council, for the key provision of the 

 President's forest plan that will impact salmon. It's a key provision of our Strategy for 

 Salmon, as well. Simply put, it is that watersheds are the fundamental building blocks 

 of the forest ecosystem, and so we must protect them if we hope to preserve our forests 

 - and our salmon. This is an ancient concept. According to literature I have read, it 

 dates to ancient China, where the Emperor Ta-Yu is said to have decreed that in order 

 to protect farmland from flooding, erosion must be controlled in forested watersheds 

 upriver. To protect your rivers, the Emperor said, first protect your mountains. 



In the Columbia River Basin, more than 50 percent of the remaining salmon 

 habitat is in federal forests. In the Snake River Basin, the figure is 70 percent. We 

 support the President's emphasis on sustainability, both of the economy and of the 

 environment. 



The Council's highest priority for salmon habitat is to maintain its quality and 

 productivity. We are especially concerned about preserving or restoring streams where 

 salmon and steelhead spawn naturally. 



One objective of our strategy is to ensure that activities to improve salmon 

 production are coordinated for each watershed. We don't see this as a planning 

 process so much as a way of doing business. It accounts for all interests, including 

 those of the salmon. Because about 40 percent of the remaining salmon and steelhead 

 habitat in the Columbia Basin is bordered by private land, it is essential that public and 

 private landowners cooperate in comprehensive efforts to manage salmon habitat 



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