Mark Walker
Director of Public Affairs
Northwest Power Planning Council
85 1 SW Sixth Avenue Suite 1100
Portland Oregon 97204
e-mail; recommendations@nwcouncil.org

May 11, 2000

Dear Mr. Walker,

On behalf of the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Okanagan Nation Fisheries Commission, please accept this letter of intent for consideration in the NWPPC's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program amendment process. This letter will signify our commitment to trans-boundary collaborative planning among fish and wildlife agencies in Canada and US, and to seek a greater commitment by the NWPPC in assisting trans-boundary basin-wide and sub-basin collaborations, planning and project implementation in the future.

As you are aware, some salmon stocks in the Columbia Basin are influenced by human activities on both sides of the international border and in the case of the Okanogan River stocks, are also affected by nine dams on the mainstem Columbia River and commercial, sport and tribal fisheries. This points to the need for United States support and participation in multi-agency collaborations for salmon recovery Projects, as well as strategic long term planning, water quality and quantity monitoring, habitat and watershed restoration.

Recently, building upon the Integrated System Plan developed by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority in 1991 (which classified Okanagan sockeye as "of highest concern" and made a recommendation to "evaluate current production potential and habitat conditions necessary to support the sockeye population" CBFWA 1991, p. 315), a pilot project has been undertaken to assess the potential for experimental re-introduction of sockeye into Skaha Lake (NWPPC Annual Implementation Work Plan Project # 20124). Historic records indicate that sockeye salmon were once found in most of the lakes in the Okanagan Basin and together they utilized over 41% of the lake rearing area accessible to sockeye salmon in the Columbia River Basin. Further, they are one of only three remaining sockeye salmon stocks in the Columbia Basin (Fryer, 1995). Today, along with Wenatchee Lake stock, these sockeye currently occupy less than 4% of the historic amount of rearing lake habitat in the upper Columbia region (Gustafson et al, 1997). Similarly, other salmon and steelhead stocks have been severely impacted by activities in both countries, and other Columbia River stocks have been extirpated within living memory. This represents one example of an ever-shrinking salmon and steelhead gene pool in the Columbia River.

The re-introduction of sockeye salmon into Skaha Lake in Canada offers potential rebuilding benefits by increasing the amount of rearing habitat available to Okanagan sockeye. The project has also offered an opportunity to implement an experimental management approach to learn about interactions between sockeye salmon and resident species in the Okanagan River. In addition, the Colville and Okanagan Tribes are facilitating a multi-agency workshop in May 2000 to begin the process to reconcile policy questions regarding the operations of Enloe Dam and passage of salmon into the upper Similkameen River. Together these initiatives represent a growing interest by fisheries agencies and regional hydro authorities like the Okanogan PUD to participate in collaborative trans-boundary and inter-agency programming that transcends single speciesor one sectors management objectives.

The Okanagan sub-basin has become a model for us to contemplate broader and system-wide trans-boundary collaborations in the Columbia Basin today. British Columbia's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program and Columbia Basin Trust's Environment plan, the NWPPC's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, and the strategic salmon restoration plans of the individual Canadian and US Tribes and their Columbia River Inter-tribal Fisheries Commissions all contain examples of basin-wide restoration programs. These programs all merit and are the product of significant regional collaborations. However, they lack the ecological and basin-wide context to which we all aspire, and to which we the lead participants in the Okanagan watershed collaborations are dedicated, as evidenced in the Skaha Lake and Enloe Dam collaborations.

In the future, it is clear that this form of Canada/US collaboration could be beneficial in a system-wide context and as part of the long term vision for the basin. This would enable trans-boundary partners to program fishery restoration which may involve joint policy development on methods and standards, on range extensions and introductions of anadromous salmonids, habitat restoration and protection and the operation of dams. And, in doing so to contemplate principles of ecosystem restoration and watershed planning appropriate for the kind of planning contemplated by the NWPPC.

The Colville and Okanagan Tribes are committed to trans-boundary planning, and support the NWPPC to continue its historic work to protect, mitigate and enhance upstream impacts of dam operations. Further, we encourage the NWPPC to prioritize the establishment of formal trans-boundary model-watershed plans. We also encourage the NWPPC to support ecosystem-wide collaborations among agencies and their joint programs, and to influence parties on both sides of the border to seek collaborative solutions to the common challenges of the restoration of the Columbia Basin's fish and wildlife resources.

We look forward to further participation in the development of sub-basin plans and the implementation of an amended Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program that builds a truly basin-wide ecosystem approach to programming.
 
 

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