Endangered 

 Species Act 



In the late 1970s, peti- 

 tions were filed to protect 

 certain salmon runs under 

 the federal Endangered 

 Species Act. These peti- 

 tions were deferred 

 pending creation of the 

 Council and our fish and 

 wildlife program. 



The Council's 1982 

 Columbia River Basin 

 Fish and Wildlife Program 

 contained more than 220 

 actions. Despite delays in 

 implementing some parts 

 of the program, most ac- 

 tions were undertaken in 

 the mid-1980s, and the 

 salmon rebuilding effort got under way. 



Q 



VJ ome salmon runs, particularly in central 

 Washington, improved, producing some of 

 the best runs in decades. But other runs con- 

 tinued to decline. 



In 1993, for example, only eight sockeye 

 salmon returned to spawn in Idaho's Redfish 

 Lake. These fish swam 900 miles from the 

 Pacific Ocean up the Colunibia, Snake and 

 Salmon rivers, past eight huge dams and 



in 1993 

 only eight 

 sockeye 

 salmon 

 returned to 

 spawn in 

 Idaho's 

 Redfish Lake. 



finally to the lake that was 

 named for sockeye, which 

 turn bright red when they 

 reach spawning age. 



In November 1991, the 

 National Marine Fisheries 

 Service declared Snake 

 River sockeye an endan- 

 gered species. Five months 

 later, after returns of Snake 

 River spring, summer and 

 fall Chinook had declined 

 to a total of about 10,000 

 fish, the Service declared 

 them to be threatened spe- 

 cies. 



Under the Endangered 

 Species Act, agencies of 

 the federal government - — 

 in this case, the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service -^ must devise re- 

 covery plans for listed species. 



X he Strategy for Salmon is, in part, our 

 response to a request from the Northwest 

 Governors, the region's Congressional 

 delegation and the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service to expand the charge we were given 

 by the Northwest Power Act. Under the 

 Power Act, we must address the hydropower 

 system's effect on fish and wildlife in the 

 Columbia Basin. 



'*». i..'^»-/;« .. . 



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1843 



••»-v 



16 



Year ot the "Great Migration. " Some 800 emigrants come down 

 the Columbia to Fort Vancouver and the Oregon Country. 



