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Methow Valley News March 2, 2000 Endangered Species Coverage A big week for water unit ANALYSIS by Lee Hicks It’s down to the wire. County officials, Methow basin watershed unit members and irrigators were working overtime this week to pull together a draft agreement for endangered fish and water issues. They hope their efforts will pass muster to get state funding as the legislature prepares to adjourn next week--and be the basis for continued talks with federal agencies. This latest round of talks began with a watershed unit proposal that went to federal and state officials through state legislators Feb. 18. The proposal, essentially aimed to gain a bigger local stake in fish and water issues, was aired last Wednesday (Feb. 23) in a meeting and telephone conference of federal, state and county officials. Rep. Linda Parlette engineered that meeting, then asked for state agencies to respond in writing to the planning unit recommendation. Planning unit members were meeting Monday to go over comments by the state departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife. National Marine Fisheries Service officials were part of the discussions. But state director Bob Turner said Monday his agency is waiting for the state and county to work out a proposal to gain funding from the state. From Turner’s perspective, this week’s talks might result in a, "draft that the state thinks it can advocate (to the legislature)." Other details involving NMFS could be worked out later, he said. NMFS is the agency that has listed steelhead trout and spring-run Chinook salmon as endangered in the basin. Parlette, (R-12th) of Wenatchee, is a co-sponsor this session of several bills that would aid Methow irrigators. One measure would streamline the trust water rights program and another provide funding for "program" work to help salmon recovery. Emphasizing the critical importance of the current talks, DOE director Tom Fitzsimmons had traveled from Olympia to meet late Tuesday morning with planning unit members as a result of Parlette's intervention in the process. The unit committee working on the draft agreed late Tuesday morning at the News deadline to remove a provision that would have allowed an "interim" incidental take permit for fish until a habitat conservation plan for the basin is complete. The committee planned to submit the reviewed draft to the full planning unit for action at a Wednesday night meeting and to complete a draft for legislators by Friday. Fitzsimmons said NMFS' Turner had made it clear in reviewing the draft that neither NMFS or US Fish and Wildlife,"can issue an incidental take permit until an HCP is completed." The committee took Fitzsimmons suggestions NMFS would want specific "measures" to be achieved until the HCP can be finished. "I hear them saying the best they can do is to, 'refrain from prosecution if sufficient progress is being made.'" The committee also agreed to language that would preclude DOE from adjudicating water rights in the basin until June of 2003 as efforts to assess water-use data and complete an HCP are underway. Watershed unit manager Dick Ewing, who has been developing stream data for the group, said before the Tuesday meeting that, "the real sticky issue" is better quantifying instream flow issues. Ewing noted that the unit’s research has shown that by some measures about 25 percent of an estimated 400 cubic feet per second of diversion rights have been given up as a result of federal and state agency actions, such as lower-flow fish screens, and "attrition." Meanwhile, there was activity on a number of other fish and water issues last week. —Sun Mountain Lodge and Wolf Creek Reclamation District officials met with NMFS’ Turner and state Ecology and F&W representatives Feb. 17 and 18 to outline a draft for a possible "habitat conservation plan." (HCP). After spending nearly $1million in the last year on improvements to aid fish, the ditch still faces uncertainty over its water supply which is drawn from Forest Service land and subject to Section 7 provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Sun Mountain and Wolf Creek are also working on a plan to add several feet of water storage to Patterson Lake, the Lodge’s primary water supply. Sun Mountain’s multi-million dollar plan for a spa building and other expansion is on hold pending resolution of water issues. —Following Sun Mountain’s initiative, several other ditches, Section 7 as well as private ditches subject to Section 9 of the ESA, are exploring the possibilities for developing habitat conservation plans. —Local anglers appear to be getting a message from state fish officials to "back off" from criticizing a study that would entail killing about 2,000 fish in three years to identify anadramous, or ocean-going steelhead-rainbow trout. Fish officials apparently feel they extended a helping hand to sport fishers by not closing the basin to fishing to protect endangered fish, and accepting a catch and release proposal. Opinion | Sports |
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