WRIA 62 WMP 032305 - Washington State Department of Ecology

March, 2005 -82- 023-1289-003.3040
• Facilitates coordination and cooperation between local natural resource and fisheries
managers concerning specific projects, efforts, and strategies; and,
• Identifies methods of building public support for native salmonid recovery in WRIA 62.
Funding for habitat improvement projects needed for native salmonid recovery is administered by the
State Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB). Applications for this funding within the Pend
Oreille Watershed are prioritized by the Pend Oreille Salmonid Recovery Team, then submitted to the
SRFB. Grants for the 5 th Round Funding Cycle by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board were
announced December 9, 2004. Funding received for work to be completed in the Pend Oreille
Watershed is as follows:
• $725,144 to the Town of Ione for removing the Cedar Creek Dam to allow fish
migration;
• $85,563 to the Pend Oreille Conservation District for assessing the barriers to fish
migration in the Priest River basin; and,
• $113,735 to the Pend Oreille Conservation District for improving fish passage in Indian
Creek.
5.1.3 Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) Bull Trout Recovery Planning
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a final rule listing the Columbia River and
Klamath River populations of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) as Threatened under the ESA on
June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31647). As a result, the USFWS is developing recovery planning strategies for
bull trout populations throughout Washington. A draft plan was released in 2002. A team of local
biologists, including several from the Pend Oreille Salmonid Recovery Team Technical Advisory
Group, assisted in development of the plan.
To facilitate the recovery planning process and avoid duplication of effort, the recovery team adopted
the logistical framework proposed in the 1999 draft statewide strategy to recover salmon entitled
“Extinction Is Not an Option” (WGSRO, 1999). As recommended in this draft strategy, bull trout
recovery planning areas (or “recovery units”) overlap the state’s salmon recovery regions. The use of
recovery units will allow for better coordination during salmon and bull trout recovery planning and
implementation. The Northeast Washington Recovery Unit is one of 22 recovery units designated for
bull trout in the Columbia River Basin.
The geographic area for Bull Trout Recovery under ESA Planning is broader than that of Watershed
Planning (per Chapter 90.82 RCW). The Northeast Washington Recovery Unit encompasses the
mainstem Columbia River and tributaries above Chief Joseph Dam up to the Canadian border. Major
tributaries include the San Poil, Spokane, Kettle, Colville and Pend Oreille rivers. Based on survey
data and professional judgment, the Northeast Washington Recovery Unit Team identified one core
area (Pend Oreille River) in the recovery unit. For the purposes of recovery, a core area represents
the closest approximation of a “biologically functioning unit.” Core areas consist of core habitat that
could supply all the necessary elements for every life stage of bull trout (e.g., spawning, rearing,
migratory, and adult), and have one or more groups of bull trout. Core areas are the basic units by
which recovery within a recovery unit is gauged.
WRIA 62 WMP 032305