Federal Salmon Plan

New Bush Administration Salmon Plan Attacks Salmon Recovery and Pacific Coast's Salmon Businesses

The Bush administration's new draft Federal Salmon Plan has been denounced by more than 100 members of Congress (see letter here), more than 250 scientists, more than 500 fishing groups, businesses and conservation organizations as a major step backwards for salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake River Basin. The plan, which is supposed to chart a course for the survival and recovery of Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead, finds that dams no longer harm salmon based on a questionable new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The new plan put forth by the Bush administration re-interprets the ESA and lowers the bar for salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake Rivers basin. Rather than relying on sound science, it calls for river flows and dam operations that meet the dictates of electrical generators and barge operators. In doing so, the plan fails the legal requirement of promoting survival and recovery of salmon protected under the ESA. Instead of taking concrete steps to modify operation of the dams in ways that will allow the recovery of protected salmon, the new plan reworks a tired, discredited approach.

The new draft plan relies heavily on uncertain recovery measures unproven to increase salmon populations, and haphazardly proposes to spend up to $6 billion taxpayer dollars implementing the plan. Despite beseeching by fishing organizations and businesses, the administrationÍs new draft brazenly ignores the interests of the Northwest salmon de pendent economy.

TAKE ACTION: Salmon need a backup plan. Urge your representative in Congress to stand up for salmon by co-sponsoring the Salmon Planning Act.

Background on the Federal Salmon Plan

The Federal Salmon Plan (or Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion, or FCRPS BIOP) is the federal government's comprehensive plan on recovering endangered and threatened Columbia and Snake river salmon and steelhead. The 2000 Federal Salmon Plan enumerated 199 actions that federal, state, and tribal agencies had to do to restore salmon populations. The plan, known as the "aggressive non-breach" plan, acknowledged that removal of the four Lower Snake River dams was the most effective method of restoring salmon. However, the plan argued that it was best to do everything else possible to save salmon before bringing down the dams.

Unfortunately, many parts of the 2000 Federal Salmon Plan were relied heavily on uncertainties and in May 2003, a federal court judge ruled that the plan was "insufficient" and on the grounds of it being "arbitrary and capricious" the judge ordered the federal government to rewrite and improve the plan. The federal government's draft plan was released on September 9, 2004. Rather than improve the plan, the federal agencies under the Bush Administration weakened the plan by making important salmon recovery measures like spill optional and by treating hydropower dams as if they were part of the natural river.

More information on the Federal Salmon Plan in our library