WRIA 62 WMP 032305 - Washington State Department of Ecology

March, 2005 -80- 023-1289-003.3040
5.0 WATER RELATED PLANNING PROGRAMS AND PROCESSES
Watershed Planning in WRIA 62 is one of many planning programs and processes that are ongoing in
the local and regional area. In an effort to educate the reader, to identify situations where WRIA 62
watershed planning may interact with another process and to help avoid duplication, some of these
programs and processes are briefly described in this Chapter. Figure 5-1 presents a schematic
illustrating the relationships between the WRIA 62 Watershed Planning process and other local and
regional water related programs and processes.
5.1 Other Watershed – Wide Planning Programs and Processes
This section provides a brief overview of other watershed scale planning programs and processes
occurring within, adjacent to or including WRIA 62.
5.1.1 Intermountain Province (IMP) Sub-basin Planning
Plans developed under the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (NPCC’s) Sub-basin
Planning program are intended to guide the review, selection, and funding of projects to carry out the
NPCC’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. These plans provide a blueprint for
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funding of projects that protect, mitigate, and enhance fish
and wildlife adversely impacted by the development and operation of the Columbia River
hydropower system.
The Pend Oreille Sub-basin Plan was completed May 19, 2004 for the Intermountain Province (IMP)
of the Columbia River Watershed, which includes Washington’s portion of the Pend Oreille
watershed (WRIA 62), the Priest River watershed and Lake Pend Oreille up to the Montana state
border with Idaho. These plans are intended to be used to help meet the requirements of the 2000
Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion and to aid in recovery planning for
threatened and endangered species. Sub-basin Plans were developed with local sub-basin
participation and represent the collaborative efforts and knowledge of the fish and wildlife managers
from federal and state agencies and tribes. The Plan consists of an introduction, an overview of the
Intermountain Province, and separate chapters for each of the six sub-basins. The plan is available on
the internet at: http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/sub-basinplanning/admin/level2/intermtn/plan.
The geographic focus for the Sub-basin Planning process is much broader than that of Watershed
Planning (per Chapter 90.82 RCW). The Intermountain Province contains six sub-basins including
Lake Rufus Woods, San Poil, Upper Columbia, Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Pend Oreille. The IMP
Sub-basin Plan includes the entire Lake Pend Oreille Watershed in Idaho, Montana and Washington.
Participants in this process include an Oversight Committee (OC), Provincial Coordinator, Advisory
Council, Technical Committee, and Sub-basin Work Teams. The Provincial Coordinator works in
concert with the Advisory Council, Oversight Committee, and Technical Committee to coordinate
meetings, outreach, communication, and sub-basin planning activities at the provincial level and to
provide support as necessary to sub-basin work groups.
The Sub-basin Work Teams were formed by soliciting a broad range of interested stakeholders and
inviting their participation in the sub-basin planning process in a manner most suitable to their
interests. The IMP Oversight Committee, Advisory Council, Technical Committee and other
interested stakeholders were asked to help identify candidates to participate in the Sub-basin Work
Teams. Candidates were added to an IMP contact list. Additionally, each person contacted was also
asked if they know of others who should be added to the contact list. The candidate list included a
WRIA 62 WMP 032305