The four Northwest state representatives leading the Columbia Basin Collaborative told a new group it recently formed that it should not consider breaching lower Snake River dams as a way to recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, nor should it consider reintroducing fish into areas blocked by dams until other forums already looking at those topics complete their work next year.
The Columbia Basin Collaborative this week more clearly defined who in the region is invited to participate in a process aimed at improving salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia River basin.
At the second public workshop of the Columbia Basin Collaborative, the four Northwest states laid out a way forward to achieve regional consensus on how to rebuild threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead stocks and advance the goals developed by the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force.
Another “Columbia Basin Collaborative” organizational workshop has been scheduled for next month for more discussions on finding a better way to manage and improve Columbia/Snake River salmon recovery. Such talk comes just as Washington’s governor and the state’s senior U.S. senator issued a joint statement saying “we do not believe the Simpson proposal can be included in the proposed federal infrastructure package.”
What are the next steps for the proposed regional forum, the Columbia Basin Collaborative, which held an organizational workshop in February? Organizers of this new collaborative effort aimed at recovering salmonid species in the Columbia River Basin this week issued a summary of the workshop results and what might come next.
In its first public workshop the Columbia Basin Collaborative this week outlined how the new group would be organized and how it would bring parties together to rebuild the region’s threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead stocks and advance the goals of the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force.
The Columbia Basin Collaborative, a new effort to bring parties together to rebuild threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead stocks while addressing the needs of the regional economy, will hold an organizational workshop next month.
The White House this week made clear it plans to be involved in Columbia River salmon recovery, saying it has engaged mediators to facilitate “public policy dialogue” with governments and stakeholders.
There is a lot of talk now about finding a new way to coordinate and improve Columbia Basin salmon recovery. A diverse group of river users, utilities and environmentalists is calling on Northwest governors to lead the way in finding collaborative solutions to recover Columbia/Snake River Basin salmon and steelhead populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.