11/07/05 A return to All-H?, Part one

As Federal Judge James Redden remanded the 2004 Columbia-Snake River biological opinion for endangered and threatened fish recovery, the potential threat of dam breeching was brought back into public consciousness. Redden ordered federal operators of the river system & N.O.A.A. Fisheries, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation & within one year to make necessary modifications to minimize or eliminate jeopardy to listed species. And while the 2004 bio-op remains in place for now, Redden warned that failure by the government agencies would result in not only the courts taking control of management of the river system, but also put dam breeching back in play. There is expected to be both attempts at legal appeal as well as modifications to the existing bio-op. But the recent actions bring back the memories of the year 2000, when the Lower Snake River dams faced its greatest threat to breeching. Amid the legal actions going on to balance fish recovery and human needs at the time, a grass roots effort was developed by the Northwest Governors in an attempt to craft a balance solution. KEMPTHORNE: Half a decade ago, the Governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington released a landmark series of consensus policy recommendations for the recovery of salmon and steelhead in the Northwest. Our clear guidance called for a multi-faceted effort across all of the H's  Hydro, Harvest, Hatcheries, Habitat, and Humans. Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne is the last remaining Governor in office among that group. At the time, the All-H recommendations were hailed as a breakthrough document. But since that time, only a small portion of the All-H proposal has been implemented within federal recovery plans, and that has Kempthorne disappointed, even worried that the efforts by states to improve salmon habitat, craft water use agreements, and other local level steps over the last five years have been for not when it comes to keeping the dams in place. KEMPTHORNE: And I will tell you that when you go up into some of these wonderful agricultural, ranching regions, and you discuss the idea of minimum stream flow, that is not the first topic you'd like to discuss with the ranchers. But I'll tell you that when we accomplished it, I went back up there and we signed it with them. And because of the lack of what he sees as a federal mandate for salmon recovery, Kempthorne says maybe the time is now to bring back the All-H proposal and implement it all or in part with future federal recovery plans. He attempts to strengthen his case in our next program.