Frequently Asked Questions (about Oregon project selection)

February 27, 2006  |  , 503-229-5171

Q: Where can I find the schedule of meetings for the local project selection groups?
A:  The schedule, meeting location and other pertinent information is posted on the Oregon Process page.

Q: Who will participate in the local prioritization process in Oregon?
A: Those attending a local prioritization meeting are welcome to participate in the project prioritization process. The Oregon Office of the Council particularly encourages those individuals who developed the Council’s adopted subbasin plans in their basins to participate in the project prioritization process.

Q: You say you want projects placed in lists. What kind of lists?
A: Ideally, we would have a ranked list of projects that address the criteria developed to guide project selection. There are three general categories - High Priority, Recommended and Not Recommended. There would not really be a need to rank projects in the Not Recommended list. However, we do want to rank projects within the first two categories of High Priority and Recommended. It will facilitate budget development at the OSPIT and Council level.

Q: So you expect to leave each local meeting with a ranked list?
A: Yes. Really.

Q: How will decisions be made at the local meetings?
A: We will allow some flexibility to try to conform to local subbasin plan development rules, whether by majority or consensus (however defined) or other procedure. Ideally, the entire group will agree with the decision and we will attempt to reach that result. We don’t live in an ideal world, so in terms of practical reality and the need to leave the local meeting with some product, we may need to revert to the democratic tradition of a vote.

Q: Does that mean everyone in the room gets a vote?
A: Again, we will try to conform to local subbasin plan development rules. However, if organizations have multiple individuals in attendance, it’s one vote per organization. No stacking a meeting.

Q: What about subbasins that cross or share territory with Washington?
A: We will prioritize projects at the local meetings for the Estuary and for the Walla Walla that encompass both Oregon and Washington projects. We expect representatives from Washington will attend our meetings.

Q: Are the Oregon criteria for project selection unchangeable?
A: That depends. We have already altered one of them slightly to reflect the priorities developed in the subbasins in September 2005 to guide project development. We will not delete any of these criteria. However, if subbasins want to propose and use additional criteria to help define how to categorize or rank projects, we will note how those additional criteria were applied.

Q: Should we be reviewing the projects proposed in our subbasin prior to the meeting?
A: Yes. Projects proposed in each subbasin can be viewed online or downloaded.

Q: What if we want to start organizing and meeting prior to the Council’s local meeting?
A: By all means go for it. It would be nice to let others know of your meetings; we can post them on the Council website if you contact Karl Weist (see top of page). Some have already begun to organize for the purpose of these reviews. The Willamette, for instance, sent out a detailed message to all the individuals on its subbasin plan e-mail list. Others have had some face to face meetings. You don’t have to begin before the Council-sponsored local meeting, but it might help.

Q: Aren’t you just transferring the pain of making these decisions from the Council to the fish and wildlife managers, local citizens and organizations that developed subbasin plans?
A: No. Ultimately, the Council will make the call on what they recommend to Bonneville to fund to address the subbasin plans. We have heard the request for local input into that decision and we offer this opportunity to provide that input. We are not asking to prioritize to a budget or to cut projects or work from projects. We are asking you to rank how projects address the priorities of the subbasin plans and the local priorities developed for the project selection process. OSPIT ultimately handles the budget work to a certain extent and the Council will produce the final recommendation.

Q: What is OSPIT and what is its function?
A: OSPIT stands for the Oregon Subbasin Plan Implementation Team. OSPIT is comprised of the Oregon, tribal and federal fish and wildlife managers, along with some Oregon state agencies (OWEB, WRD, DEQ), the Council and Bonneville, perhaps the Corps of Engineers and BOR. They will try to take the subbasin ranked lists and develop a provincial budget for the Oregon portion of the Council’s ecoprovinces. Oregon shares all its ecoprovinces with Washington or Idaho, so OSPIT will only be able to develop a provincial budget for Oregon’s part of the ecoprovince.

Q: Will local planners be able to attend and participate in the OSPIT meetings?
A: The OSPIT meetings will be open meetings. We encourage at least a representative of the subbasin group to attend the OSPIT meeting for their particular ecoprovince to help explain how they arrived at their priorities in the subbasin and to answer any questions OSPIT members might have regarding the local prioritization.

Q: Were these actual questions that you received or did you just make them up?
A: These were actual questions that have come up during the past several weeks. Well, except for this last question, which was made up.

Karl Weist