Governor set to sign Takko’s salmon-recovery plan into state law

Lawmaker’s ‘needed work for our region’ has already cleared Legislature

April 22, 2009

OLYMPIA – State Rep. Dean Takko’s proposal rescuing from extinction a pivotal program for salmon and steelhead recovery is about to be signed by the governor into Evergreen State law.

Takko, D-Longview, said his House Bill 1063 removes the July 1, 2010, termination date for a fish-recovery program now operating in Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Wahkiakum counties. Thanks to Takko’s legislation (and the governor’s autograph on it), the program will become a permanent fixture in salmon-recovery work.

Earlier this year, the bill cleared the House, 70-25, and the Senate, 34-12.

“Launched in 1998 in the lower Columbia River region, the program is involved in needed work for our region,” Takko explained. “The program’s objective is to save 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.

In legislative-committee testimony earlier this year, Takko said that “the only reason this pilot project has included a sunset date is because it was Washington state’s first such pilot project of its kind.” Other similar pilot projects for salmon and steelhead recovery don’t have termination dates, “so removing the end date for our regional project is consistent with current law.”

The program has met its goal of including local voices in salmon-recovery and steelhead-recovery efforts, he explained, and it has been successful in securing local funding sources to assist in the recovery effort.

Gov. Chris Gregoire will sign Takko’s key bill in a 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 24, ceremony in her conference room. Her conference room is located in her suite of offices, which are located on the second floor of the Legislative Building here on the Capitol Campus.