Objectives for Environmental 

 Characteristics 



Basin level environmental char- 

 acteristics describe the kinds of 

 changes that are needed across 

 the Columbia Basin to achieve the 

 changes in biological pertbrmance 

 described earlier. Again, the intent 

 is to achieve the vision and allow for 

 mitigation under the Power Act for 

 the fish and wildlife losses resulting 

 from the development and operation 

 of the hydrosystem. The Council 

 is including in the Appendix of this 

 program a provisional set of envi- 

 ronmental characteristic objectives 

 for the basin level. 



The Council directs the Indepen- 

 dent Scientific Advisory Board to 

 re\ iew the basin level environmental 

 characteristics in the Appendix by 

 June 2001. The Independent Scien- 

 tific Advisoi7 Board should report to 

 the Council on the scientific sound- 

 ness and basinwide applicability of 

 the environmental characteristics, as 

 well as their utility for further defin- 

 ing biological objectives at the prov- 

 ince and subbasin levels. As part 

 of its review, the Independent Sci- 

 entific Advisory Board should con- 

 sider and report to the Council on 

 the applicability of these objectives 

 in the most altered areas of the basin, 

 the blocked areas. 



The Council will make the 

 Independent Scientific Advisory 

 Board's report publicly available 

 and seek views and comment from 

 interested parties. The Council will 

 consider the report of the Indepen- 

 dent Scientific Advisory Board and 

 the views and comments of others 

 on the report, and will confirm 

 or revise these basin level objec- 

 tives for environmental characteris- 

 tics for purposes of providing guid- 

 ance for subbasin level planning 

 and further program amend- 

 ments. — 



3. Further Deveh>pment 

 of Bioh>^ical Objectives at 

 the Basin Level 



Biological objectives, comprising 

 both bit)logical performance and 

 cn\ ironmental characteristic 

 standards, will be established at the 

 province level and subbasin level (in 

 subbasin plans) in subsequent pro- 

 gram amendments. However, the 

 efforts at assessment and planning 

 that will precede the fomial adoption 

 of province and subbasin level bio- 

 logical objectives may further infonn 

 the basin level objectives adopted 

 here. This is possible in two primaiy 

 ways. First, assessment and planning 

 at these levels should test the validity 

 of the general basin level biological 

 objectives, as previously described. 

 Second, assessment and planning at 

 these levels may identify more spe- 

 cific, quantified biological objectives 

 for the program as a whole. Exam- 

 ples might include abundance and 

 perfomiance objectives for fish pop- 

 ulations that transcend more than 

 one province, specific programwide 

 objectives for improvement in certain 

 habitat types, and specific objectives 

 for water management and coordi- 

 nated operation of the hydrosystem to 

 benefit fish and wildlife. 



More specific basinwide objec- 

 tives could help determine the 

 amount of change needed across the 

 basin to fulfill the vision. They will 

 also help detemiine the cost-effec- 

 tiveness of program strategies and 

 provide a basis for monitoring, eval- 

 uation, and accountability. These 

 more specific objectives will be con- 

 sidered as guidance for subbasin 

 planning, and for adoption when the 

 Council considers adoption of prov- 



- -^ 



ince level biological objectives and 

 subbasin plans. 



4. Sij»niticance of Objectives 

 and Strategies 



These objectives and the strate- 

 gies that follow are to be used as 

 guidance for developing province and 

 subbasin plans, as the basis for 

 development of more specific objec- 

 tives, and as a basis for Council 

 recommendations to the Bonneville 

 Power Administration regarding proj- 

 ect funding. Proposed measures will 

 be evaluated for consistency with 

 these objectives and strategies. A pri- 

 mary function of the monitoring and 

 evaluation components of this pro- 

 gram is to measure progress toward 

 achieving these objectives. 



All province and subbasin 

 plans must be consistent with 

 these objectives. 



jx- 





18 



2000 Columbia river Basin Fish and Wildlife Program 



