National Marine Fisheries Service approves permit streamlining for Salmon Recovery Funding Board projects
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has approved the state’s request for improving the process for permit consultations undertaken for projects funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB). In his approval letter, Regional Administrator Bob Lohn noted, “. . .there will be significant savings of time and money, compared to separate project reviews currently associated with many of these habitat restoration projects.”
The June 2000 4(d) rule adopted by NMFS prohibits “take” of salmon and steelhead listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) except in cases where the take is associated with an approved program that comes under one of the limits in the 4(d) rule. One of those programs is for the restoration of salmon habitat, if done under an approved plan. Projects that implement the salmon recovery plans produced by salmon recovery regional organizations meet the criteria for coverage under the 4(d) rule.
The approval from NMFS is for habitat restoration activities likely to help conserve listed fish without incurring significant risks. For a project to qualify, it must:
- be part of a habitat portion of a salmon recovery plan approved by a regional salmon recovery organization and the state of Washington, and published in the federal register by NMFS; and
- be part of an adopted implementation schedule developed by a regional organization to implement the habitat portion of a salmon recovery plan; and
- be funded in part or wholly with Washington State and or Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund monies managed by the SRFB and be consistent with the technical and procedural criteria outlined by the SRFB; and
- be done for the purpose of habitat restoration; and
- fit within the specific list of eligible actions (includes instream passage, instream diversion screening, in stream habitat, riparian habitat restoration, upland habitat restoration or protection, and estuarine and marine nearshore habitat restoration).
Project sponsors should check with their Lead Entity or Salmon Recovery Funding Board staff for information on how to include their projects in this approval process.
2006 State of Salmon in Watersheds Now Available
This is the fourth in a series of biennial State of Salmon Reports. They have evolved over time in response to the emergence of recovery plans, and to better provide the most important information to our citizens and decision-makers in the clearest way possible.
Tracking and understanding the performance of our recovery efforts is challenging because of the diversity, technical complexity, and magnitude of actions being taken. Recovery actions are occurring across the state, from habitat restoration project sites in watersheds, to region-wide approaches for resource management, to statewide programs that affect how resources are regulated.
As the actions called for in recovery plans are being implemented, we need to be able to answer things like, “How are we doing?” “Have we made it?” “How much farther do we have to go?”
Without measuring the right things, we won’t be able to tell how we are doing or if we need to adjust our course. In the last State of Salmon Report, we used a three-tiered approach to reporting our progress – at watershed, regional, and statewide scales. In this 2006 State of Salmon in Watersheds report we continue that approach and refine our look at information and monitoring from all three perspectives.
It is still much too early to know if our efforts are working, and trends are still difficult to assess. But, we think this is a snapshot of important information that will help guide us in future decisions about this important part of our Northwest landscape.
2006 Recovering Salmon “The Washington Way” Now Available
Washington's Statewide Strategy to Recover Salmon — Extinction is not an Option — was published in 1999. It recognized strategic regional and watershed actions were essential to success. Since then, six self-created groups developed plans that have been submitted jointly with GSRO to the federal agencies as recovery plans under the federal Endangered Species Act section 4(f). These plans also meet the requirement of Washington's Salmon Recovery Act RCW 77.85.030(1).
This publication summarizes important information contained in these regional recovery plans. The key to creating the recovery plans summarized in this report, and to our success over the long-term, is collaboration. People throughout the state, representing agriculture and business, state and tribal governments, watershed coalitions, volunteer organizations, and other interested stakeholders have participated in a historic process that may well be unique within the United States. We took our own initiative to develop salmon recovery plans that came from the bottom up, not the top down. We call this approach working together “The Washington Way.”