Committee passes Takko’s plan to continue salmon-recovery program

Lawmaker backs ‘needed work
in our Southwest Washington region’

OLYMPIA – A key legislative committee gave the green light today (Friday, Jan. 30) to state Rep. Dean Takko’s proposal maintaining a southwestern Washington program that works for salmon and steelhead recovery.
The measure unanimously cleared the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee this afternoon.
Takko, D-Longview, said that his House Bill 1063 removes the July 1, 2010, termination date for the fish-recovery program that is now operating in Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Wahkiakum counties.
If the measure makes it all the way through the Legislature and is signed into law by the governor, the program will then become permanent.
“Launched in 1998 in the lower Columbia River region, the program is involved in needed work in our Southwest Washington region,” Takko explained. “The program’s objective is to save these aquatic species that have been listed or may be listed as a threatened or endangered species.”
He said that a management board is overseeing the implementation of the habitat portion of the salmon- and steelhead-recovery plan.
The Lower Columbia River Salmon Recovery Plan is the first such document that has earned endorsement from the National Marine Fisheries Service. According to the October 2008 report from the Columbia River Fish Working Group, the plan “identifies causes of mortality for those (salmon, steelhead and bull trout) species, establishes recovery goals and outlines strategies for achieving those goals.”
The management board is comprised of 15 members, including representatives from the five county governments, the cities in the lower Columbia River region, the Cowlitz Tribe, the hydroelectric utilities in the region, and the environmental community. Five additional concerned citizens appointed by the county commissioners also serve on the board.
Takko said that the board, among other duties, must work with federal, state and local governments, as well as tribal governments and private citizens, “to make sure hatchery, harvest, and hydropower issues are considered along with habitat. These four H’s are fundamental in the fish-recovery process and program.”
State law prohibits the board from making any decisions regarding local land and water rights, he noted. But the panel is charged with coordinating local-government efforts in the recovery plan.
Here is a link to House Bill 1063