'"■' It also appears tnat tne Council rnust develop a systematic means for articulating and 

 addressing the problems of scientific uncertainty Congress directed the Council to develop a 

 crogram to protect, mitigate and enhance fish ana wildlife on the basis of the best available 

 scientific Knowieage ' Unfortunately, tne Indian tribes, state and federal fish and wildlife agencies. 

 Bonneville and its customers, and the other federal project operators and regulators sometimes 

 disagree m matters related to the scientific basis tor action m the fish and wildlife arena In some 

 instances, these disagreements involve policy disputes over the pace of funding, the distributional 

 impact of program actions, and other nonscientific matters However m other situations the 

 "available scientific knowledge is sparse or inconclusive Moreover, the biological consequences 

 of some aspects of the program are unclear m some respects. The challenge for the Council is to 

 develop a means to identify consistently and apply the best available scientific knowledge and 

 continue to promote an action-onented program m the face of scientific uncertainty. 



1502. RECOMMENDATIONS 



In 1983. the Council received eight applications for amendment which addressed scheduling 

 problems. They proposed changes in deadlines for a limited number of measures, but none 

 proposed a comprehensive solution to scheduling problems. However, most parties agreed, 

 during the comment period and consultations, that an action planning approach to program 

 implementation is sound In response to this need, the program was amended in 1984 to 

 include an action plan that identifies schedules for implementation of program measures 

 over the immediately following five-year period. 



-97- 



