University of Colorado at Boulder 



School of Law 



Campus Box 401 



Boulder. Colorado 80?09-0401 



(303) 49:-8047 



FAX: (303) 492-1200 



February 9, 1996 



To the Northwest Power Planning Council: 



It is my pleasure to transmit this Report from the Workshop on Fish and Wildlife 

 Governance held in Portland February 1-2, 1996. 



As the Council knows, the idea of the workshop was to invite knowledgeable 

 people from throughout the region to focus their attention on several possible approaches 

 to improving regional fish and wildlife governance. These alternatives were developed 

 by the staff in consultation with interested parties, the Council and with me. It was 

 reasonable to expect the workshop to produce useful comments on each of the 

 alternatives that would assist the Council in formulating a response to Congress. 



In fact, the workshop went beyond that expectation. It generated remarkable 

 agreement on criteria forjudging any alternative (see Part IV). Moreover, by eliciting 

 several common themes without embracing wholesale any of the proposed alternatives, 

 the workshop enabled us to develop a menu of actions from which the Council can 

 compose an overall strategy. By drawing on this menu — which reflects the best features 

 of each alternative — the Council may be able to pursue a strategy that is superior to any 

 one of the alternatives considered. 



These actions, which are summarized in Part VI of this Report can, in many cases, 

 be initiated by the Council itself Most require broad cooperation of diverse interests in 

 the basin, especially the sovereigns, and the Council can choose to exercise leadership in 

 convening these interests to facilitate their joint efforts. An Executive Order and minor 

 legislation may be needed to expedite and enable some of the actions. The overall 

 strategy, however, need not await congressional action. 



While many improvements can commence at once, the strategy may include steps 

 that will be the precursors of more fundamental changes in governance that will 

 eventually be embodied in legislation. This longer-term strategy can be developed in 

 conjunction with the multiple interests in the region. In any event, a successful short- 

 term strategy will make progress in fulfilling the intergenerational responsibility for 

 natural resource protection that was assumed by workshop participants and that underlies 

 this Council's mission. 



