This includes meeting the needs 

 of the Endangered Species Act by 

 describing the kinds of ecological 

 change needed to impnnc the sur- 

 vival and productivity of the diverse 

 fish and w ildlife populations in the 

 basin. 



Measures implementing this pro- 

 gram are funded by the Bonne\ ille 

 Power Administration through reve- 

 nues collected from electricity rate- 

 payers. ,'Mthough Bonneville has fish 

 and wildlife responsibilities under 

 both the Endangered Species Act 

 and the Northwest Power Act. in 

 many cases, both responsibilities can 

 be met in the same set of actions. 

 Therefore, in recommending projects 

 for funding under this program. 

 the Council will address both sets 

 of responsibilities wherever feasible. 

 .'\gain. knowledge of the plans and 

 activities of other regional partici- 

 pants will be essential for the Council 

 to be able to assure that the projects it 

 recommends for funding are coordi- 

 nated with, and do not duplicate, the 

 actions of others. 



D. Implementation 

 During a period 

 of transition 



In the future, the program will 

 be implemented primarily through 

 subbasin plans, which will be con- 

 sistent with the programw ide goals, 

 objectives and scientific foundation. 

 While those plans are under develop- 

 ment, the Council has provided for 

 ongoing project review and funding. 

 A subbasin assessment and plan- 

 ning process will complete the pro- 

 gram at the subbasin level and pro- 

 vide the implementation plans out of 

 which fish and wildlife projects are 

 proposed for Bonne\ ille funding to 

 implement the program. 



The subbasin assessment is a 

 technical exercise designed to iden- 

 tify the biological potential of each 

 subbasin and the opportunities for 

 restoration. Based on this, fish and 

 wildlife managers, land managers, 

 private landowners, and other people 

 responsible for fish and wildlife and 



"Th 



habitat conditions in the respective 

 subbasins can develop subbasin plans 

 consisting of goals, objectives, strate- 

 gies, and proposed actions that are 

 consistent with the objectives and cri- 

 teria in the program. 



Depending on the extent and qual- 

 ity of past assessment and planning 

 work, the planning process in a par- 

 ticular subbasin could range from a 

 relatively quick and straightforward 

 review and updating of existing plans 

 to a fundamental and extensive devel- 

 opment process. Using the program 

 amendment procedures in the North- 

 west Power Act, the Council intends 

 to review subbasin plans and adopt 

 agreed-upon plans into the program. 



Meanwhile, the Council will con- 

 tinue to make annual recommen- 

 dations to Bonneville regarding fund- 

 ing of projects to implement the 

 program. The Council relies on 

 the recommendations of the Indepen- 

 dent Scientific Review Panel and the 

 region's fish and wildlife managers as 

 the basis for its funding recommen- 

 dations. The Council and the Inde- 

 pendent Scientific Review Panel also 

 have a responsibility for reviewing 

 other fish and wildlife projects pro- 

 posed for funding by federal agencies 

 and reimbursed by Bonneville. 



The program describes a rolling 

 project review process in which one- 

 third of the program and fish and 

 wildlife projects funded by Bonn- 

 eville are reviewed each year in 

 some depth by the fish and wildlife 

 managers, the Independent Scientific 

 Review Panel and the Council. An 

 impoilant criterion tor a funding rec- 

 ommendation is consistency with the 

 vision, objectives and strategies in 

 the revised program and in the rele- 

 vant subbasin plan, when atloptcd. In 



the rolling project review, the priori- 

 ties for actions at the basin, province, 

 and subbasin level will be reflected as 

 budget priorities for implementation 

 of specific projects. 



The program includes proce- 

 dures for monitoring and evaluating 

 biological benefits gained by actions 

 taken under the program. The evalu- 

 ation process feeds information back 

 into the program planning and proj- 

 ect review process, with adaptive 

 management mechanisms for revis- 

 ing program objectives or actions if 

 what has been adopted proves unsuc- 

 cessful. 



Because this program has a signif- 

 icantly different structure and imple- 

 mentation procedure than past ver- 

 sions of the program, the Council 

 wanted to make a provision for proj- 

 ects initially funded under previous 

 versions of the program to continue 

 — as long as they are reviewed 

 by the Independent Scientific Review 

 Panel and recommended for funding 

 by the Council. Thus, unless 

 expressly modified by the provisions 

 of this program, existing projects will 

 continue to be in effect. 



Most of the existing projects in 

 the program are specific items for 

 implementation at specific locations. 

 As part of the subbasin planning pro- 

 cess described above, these measures 

 will be reviewed, together with pro- 

 posals for new measures, for inclu- 

 sion in subbasin plans. When a sub- 

 basin plan is adopted, it will include 

 both the new measures for that sub- 

 basin and the existing measures that 

 will be continuing. At that time, the 

 measures currently in the program for 

 that subbasin will be replaced by the 

 subbasin plan. 



2000 Columbia river basin Fish 



1 1 



