Basinwide Provisi 



A. Vision for the 

 Columbia River 

 Basin 



The vision is the oulcomc 

 intended for this program. 

 Actions taken at the basin, province, 

 and subbasin levels should be consis- 

 tent with, and designed to tulfili. this 

 vision. Thus, this vision guides the 

 choice of biological objectives and, in 

 turn, the selection of strategies. 



1. The Overall Vision for the 

 Fish and Wildlife Program 



The vision for this program is a 

 Columbia River ecosystem that sus- 

 tains an abundant, productive, and 

 diverse community offish and wild- 

 life, mitigating across the basin for 

 the adverse effects to fish and wildlife 

 caused by the development and oper- 

 ation of the hydrosystem and pro- 

 viding the benefits from fish and 

 wildlife valued by the people of 

 the region. This ecosystem provides 

 abundant opportunities for tribal trust 

 and treaty right harvest and for non- 

 tribal harvest and the conditions that 

 allow for the recoveiy of the fish and 

 w ildlife affected by the operation of 

 the hydrosystem and listed under the 

 Endangered Species Act. 



Wherever feasible, this program 

 will be accomplished by protecting 

 and restoring the natural ecological 

 functions, habitats, and biological 

 diversity of the Columbia River Basin. 

 In those places where this is not fea- 

 sible, other methods that are com- 

 patible witii naturally reproducing 

 fish and wildlife populations will be 

 used. Where impacts have irrevocably 

 changed the ecosystem, the program 

 will protect and enhance the habitat 

 and species assemblages compatible 

 with the altered ecosystem. Actions 

 taken under this program must be cost- 

 effective and consistent with an ade- 

 quate, efficient, economical and reli- 

 able electrical power supply. 



"...this program will be 



accomplished by 

 protecting and restoring 



the natural ecological 



functions, habitats, and 



biological diversity of the 



Columbia River Basin." 



2, Specific Planning Assump- 

 tions 



As part of this vision, the Council 

 also adopts the following policy 

 judgments and planning assumptions 

 for the fish and wildlife program. 



• No single activity is sufficient to 

 recover and rebuild fish and wild- 

 life species in the Columbia River 

 Basin. Successfiil protection, 

 mitigation, and recovery efforts 

 must involve a broad range of 

 strategies for habitat protection 

 and improvement, hydrosystem 

 refiirm, artificial production, and 

 harvest management. 



• The Bonneville Power Admin- 

 istration should make available 

 sufficient funds to implement 

 measures in the program in a 

 timely fashion. 



• This is a habitat-based program, 

 rebuilding healthy, naturally pro- 

 ducing fish and wildlife pop- 

 ulations by protecting, mitigat- 

 ing, and restoring habitats and 

 the biological systems within 

 them, including anadromous fish 

 migration corridors. Artificial 

 production and other non-natural 

 interventions should be consis- 

 tent with the central effort to pro- 

 tect and restore habitat and avoid 



adverse impacts to native fish 

 and wildlife species. 



Management actions must be 

 taken in an adaptive, experi- 

 mental manner because ecosys- 

 tems are inherently variable and 

 highly complex. This includes 

 using experimental designs and 

 techniques as part of manage- 

 ment actions, and integrating 

 monitoring and research with 

 those management actions to 

 evaluate their eflects on the eco- 

 system. 



Actions to improve juvenile 

 and adult fish passage through 

 mainstem dams, including fish 

 transportation actions and capital 

 improvement measures, should 

 protect biological diversity by 

 benefiting the range of species, 

 stocks and life-history types in 

 the river, and should favor solu- 

 tions that best fit natural behav- 

 ior patterns and river processes, 

 while maximizing fish survival 

 through the projects. Survival in 

 the natural river should be the 

 baseline against which to mea- 

 sure the effectiveness of other 

 passage methods. 



For the purpose of planning 

 for this fish and wildlife pro- 

 gram, and particularly the hydro- 

 system portion of the program, 

 the Council assumes that, in 

 the near term, the breaching 

 of the four federal dams on 

 the lower Snake River will not 

 occur. However, the Council is 

 obliged under law to revise its 

 fish and wildlife program every 

 five years, at a minimum. If, 

 within that five-year period, 

 the status of the lower Snake 

 River dams or any other major 

 component of the Federal 

 Columbia River Power System 

 has changed, the Council can 

 take that into account as part of 

 the review process. 



Mainstem hydrosystem opera- 

 tions and fish passage efforts 



2000 COLU 



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