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Methow Valley News November 8, 2000 Endangered Species County looks to merge water, planning departments Fish and water talks: another try Fish and water talks: another try All in the family: NMFS "line of succession" By Lee Hicks A birth announcement was an ice breaker to open the latest fish and water negotiations in Winthrop last Thursday (Nov. 2). Bob Turner, state director of National Marine Fisheries Service, heralded the arrival of Connor William Grady—son of NMFS policy analyst Mike Grady, who was sitting next to his boss. NMFS does not want to lose, "the war of attrition" and young Connor "will be recruited", Turner added. The announcement prompted a round of laughter around the negotiating table. Turner also mentioned that young Connor’s mom is the Puget Sound coordinator for NMFS on endangered species issues. To be sure, the way events have unfolded in the Methow Valley, little Connor might well be picking up some of his dad’s work a couple of decades down the road. Mike Grady began working on Methow water and fish issues as a representative of the state Department of Community Development in the early 1990s. In recent years he has been the key NMFS contact in the basin after the agency’s endangered species listing of steelhead trout in August of 1997, and spring Chinook salmon in the spring of 1999. Turner’s good-natured opening comments quickly gave way to serious business. "We held hands and did the warm and fuzzy dance," as Methow basin watershed planning unit chairman Dick Ewing expressed it. Before long, however, the partners were stepping on each other’s toes. Negotiators again faced off over how to balance the need for more data on basin hydrology and water use with NMFS’ mandate to enforce the Endangered Species Act. Representatives of NMFS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state departments of Fish and Wildlife and Ecology and the basin planning unit pored over a revised draft from a mid-October session, with comments added by Turner on behalf of NMFS. Sticking to earlier positions, Turner’s comments made it clear the his agency will act to enforce the ESA even as additional studies proceed to determine actual water use in the basin compared to water claims and rights, and the relationship of irrigation to streamflows. "I don’t want to create an expectation that because we are studying things we won’t enforce," Turner emphasized. As in the nearly monthly negotiating sessions that began last January, Turner repeated that the agency can offer "prosecutorial discretion" only to those water users who participate in a voluntary conservation plan. And the agency insists that the plan must show "sufficient progress" to increase instream flows to aid fish survival. While acknowledging the importance of local watershed planning, NMFS continues to maintain that a habitat conservation plan (HCP) is the only way to assure long-term protection from litigation under the ESA. Throughout the latest proposed agreement, Turner’s written comments referred to a "draft" HCP as the ultimate goal of any agreement. Another round of talks is set for Nov. 27, the week after Thanksgiving, prompting a few comments about the relationship to the process and leftover turkey. County looks to merge water, planning departments By John Hanron The Okanogan County Commissioners are considering merging the water resources department with the planning department to save the expense of hiring a replacement for Dennis Beich. "We are in the process of considering the pros and cons to that," said commissioner Dave Schulz. "We have not made a final decision." The Water Resources Department, which now has two fulltime employees, is primarily responsible for administering state and federal grant money for watershed rehabilitation and salmon recovery projects. Former county commissioner Spence Higby is in charge of projects in the Okanogan watershed and salmon recovery projects; Julie Dagnon is the administrative secretary and is temporarily handling projects in the Methow watershed, Schulz said. The planning unit is trying to craft a position for a planning unit coordinator within the department, a position that Beich filled to some degree before he left. Beich left the director’s position last month, taking a managerial position with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Ephrata. If merged with the Department of Planning and Development, the department would come under the charge of planning director Rusty Bonser. The Water Resources Department is a grant-driven office of county government, surviving on a percentage taken from the grants it administers. The process is cumbersome, Schulz said, when grants take sometimes two or three months to make it into the coffers. The delay in receiving grant money has forced the Water Resource Department to ask the county for a loan to cover expenses until grant money comes in. The commission approved a short-term loan for $250,000 to the department last month. Schulz said the department is administering about 10 grants right now, and work on the various projects had to progress before winter sets in. The county commission appeared before the Methow Watershed Planning Unit recently to seek that group’s recommendation. The planning unit recommended the merge, pending further information, as being better than hiring a new director and hoping the money comes in to pay for the position. Planning unit chairman Dick Ewing said the planning unit was concerned about how Bonser would spread his duties, how much autonomy the planning unit would have working within the new format, and what levels of participation the watershed planners would have with other responsibilities within the planning department. Ewing said the planning unit was especially concerned that the team approach continue, and that the watershed planning efforts did not fall solely on the lap of the new director. He said the team approach would involve a committee with representatives from the county department and the Methow Watershed Planning Unit. Schulz said the county is looking at how Bonser might be able to split his duties as planning director with those of the water resources director. The merger would give the water department the benefit of additional personnel working in the planning department. It would also give the water department the ability to pay for services right from the county’s current expense fund, rather than asking for loans or waiting for grants to clear. The Washington Department of Ecology is hosting two public workshops next week to discuss options for local landowners to sell or lease their water rights to the state. The state legislature provided $1 million to Ecology for purchasing or leasing water rights in order to put more water into streams suffering from low flows. The agency was urged to spend half of the money in the Methow basin. "We realize that trust could be a major obstacle in getting people to sell their water rights to the Department of Ecology," said Joe Williams, special assistant to DOE director Tom Fitzsimmons. "These workshops will give people a chance to see what we’re looking for and how they may benefit from the opportunity to lease or sell their water." Folks interested in talking with the staff of Ecology should be prepared to show documentation of their water rights, in the form of permits, claims and certificates. The DOE has already had some success with the program, signing transactions totaling $420,000 that will return 1,730 gallons per minute to the Methow and Walla Walla rivers. One Methow Valley irrigator recently entered a three-year lease with Ecology and Washington Water Trust. The agreement, which pays the irrigator $5,000 a year, returns 190 gallons per minute to the Methow River. The workshops are scheduled for Tuesday (Nov. 14) from 2-4 p.m. and again from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Methow Valley Senior Center in Twisp. For more information check out Ecology’s website at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/plan/htopics.html. Opinion | Sports |
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