December 16, 2013

University-based facilitators issue report on Columbia Basin salmon recovery issues; key findings include regionwide readiness for dialogue and durable solutions

Contact: Gilly Lyons, Save Our Wild Salmon: (503) 975.3202 or gilly@wildsalmon.org

On Monday afternoon, a team of facilitators from Portland State University and the University of Washington issued a report, commissioned earlier this year by NOAA Fisheries, regarding regional perspectives on long-term salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin, and on the potential for collaborative processes around shared salmon solutions. The report summarizes and synthesizes the themes and ideas that emerged from interviews with more than 200 stakeholders across the Northwest. Below is a statement by Save Our Wild Salmon executive director Joseph Bogaard on the final Assessment Report.

“We welcome this report and thank the Assessment Team at Oregon Consensus and the William D. Ruckelshaus Center for its hard work, expertise and professionalism in preparing it. The issue it addresses – the future of Columbia Basin salmon recovery – is one of tremendous importance and scope, affecting virtually every Northwest resident.
 
“This Assessment Report confirms that Northwest people are ready and eager to collaborate in pursuit of durable solutions to the linked challenges of salmon restoration, energy production, transportation and water use. Our Northwest governors, working alongside other elected leaders and federal agencies, are uniquely positioned to convene and lead such a collaboration.
 
“An authentic collaborative stakeholder process can end the harmful uncertainty facing river- and salmon-dependent businesses and communities, energy producers and consumers, and the survival of the Columbia Basin's iconic endangered wild salmon. The Assessment Report reflects the regionwide desire for enduring solutions on salmon, energy, agriculture and transportation; multi-party collaboration is our best opportunity for getting there.
 
“We urge our Northwest leaders to seize this opportunity to bring citizens together to solve one of the Columbia Basin’s greatest and longest-running challenges. And we urge our federal agencies – NOAA Fisheries, Bonneville Power Administration and others – to avoid yet another round of litigation by producing a legal and science-based salmon plan next month that lays the foundation for a successful stakeholder collaboration.”
 
Read the Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery Situation Assessment Report here: