10/07/05 Salmon recovery, what`s next?

If people in Idaho and the Northwest don't come together and talk about salmon issues like dam breaching and harvesting fish the entire process will end up in the courts. That's what some of the experts were saying at a just concluded conference in Boise. Northwest Power and Conservation Council member Judi Danielson says despite the ongoing court cases work goes on. DANIELSON "It has not stopped Idaho and it has not stopped the federal action agencies from proceeding, removal of old spillway weirs are going in, a lot of passage, transportation, a lot of habitat work is done in Idaho." Danielson says many of the faces at the salmon conference were the same ones she saw in a federal courtroom at Portland last week. DANIELSON "Idaho has the fish less than 20 percent of the time but seems to get hit hard punitively if there is not a good return." Many believe the lawsuit filed by environmentalists against the federal dam operators could undermine and tear apart the Nez Perce water agreement which was reached earlier this year. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott