Scientists skeptical of salmon programs

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published December 14, 2001

PORTLAND -- A panel of independent scientists has concluded that the region's four main plans for restoring salmon in the Columbia Basin probably aren't going to work.

The Independent Science Advisory Board analyzed two salmon-recovery plans drawn up by the Northwest states and two by the federal government.

"We would be doing the region a disservice if we told the citizens of the Pacific Northwest that if they just followed these plans, everything would fit together," said Eric Loudenslager, chairman of the science advisory panel.

The board presented its findings Wednesday to the Northwest Power Planning Council, whose challenge is to balance hydropower generation and wildlife protection in the Columbia River Basin.

The scientists praised the plans for recognizing that widespread restoration of rivers and streams is needed if 12 runs of wild salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act are to be saved from extinction.

But the board found the plans too vague. Even when proposals were specific, the plans lack clear institutional arrangements for carrying them out, the panelists said.

Federal and state officials said they don't think the findings mean salmon recovery is in trouble.

"I think in general the feeling is still optimistic, and things are better now than they were five years ago," said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency in charge of federal salmon recovery efforts.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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