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Methow Valley News July 8, 1999 Endangered Species Coverage Water and fish: the Week in Review by Lee Hicks Many different agencies, meetings and deadlines are involved each week in the hectic discussions arising from water and endangered species issues in the Methow Valley. The News will try to run a series of news briefs each week that, in addition to lead stories, attempts to keep readers informed about a complex and changing issue. We have a disconnect Remember the buzzword of journalists and some politicians during the Clinton-Lewinsky investigation? It’s back. The Governor’s salmon recovery director, Bob Bugert said last week at a Pangborn Field meeting that there has been a "chronic disconnect" between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the state Department of Ecology. The subject was DOE’s--and now the county’s--efforts to make watershed planning under House Bill 2514 work for endangered species recovery efforts. NMFS wants to put DOE on the hook as the state agency with, "authority to get the job done" through an "umbrella MOA" (memorandum of agreement) for fish recovery, Bugert said. Later in the June 29 meeting, county water resources director Dennis Beich protested that NMFS was not being clear in the scope of the MOA. "Are you being surprised that NMFS has not been consistent," Bugert asked, apparently rhetorically. Watch out over the Loup The watershed planning and ESA issues have dominated the Methow Valley for many months, coming to a head in the recent federal ditch closures. However, it’s now clear that NMFS wants a habitat plan, or plans, to include the Okanogan Basin as well. That new information caught the county and state agencies, who were concentrating on solving the Methow Valley issues first, by surprise. "The thought of taking over the Okanogan River makes me want to run out of the room," offered Jeff Tayer of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Ephrata at last week’s Pangborn meeting. County Commissioner Dave Schulz of Twisp says fellow commissioners Ed Thiele and Bob Hirst, representing the Okanogan basin, are now realizing the issue has broader implications. They’re joking, and maybe not, with Schulz that he’s the expert and should help them out, Schulz said. Take this deadline and … The county and its "partner" state agencies and the Forest Service appear to be questioning what they feel is an unreasonable deadline of July 15 that NMFS has set to reassess "target flows" in the Methow Valley. By the News’ Tuesday publication deadline, NMFS had yet to issue "biological opinions" that might have allowed Wolf Creek and Skyline irrigators to open their headgates. NMFS has said it will reassess "targets" for instream flows in the Methow and tributaries that it feels are necessary to protect endangered fish. But NMFS has missed a July 1 deadline for the BOs and the ditches remain dry with little certainty of an opening in sight. County and state agencies are concerned over being held to a July 15 deadline by which NMFS has said commitments must be made for "early action" plans to help recover fish. "Tell them to take that July 15 deadline…and put it somewhere else," said the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor, Don Anderson. "Look at the smiles on their faces," Anderson said, looking around the meeting room. "They’re glad somebody said it." Anderson later asked whether NMFS July 15 target flow deadline was being set to "make a point" in negotiations. Bob Barwin, regional DOE water resources manager, added, "They’re going to do what they’re going to do on the 15th," and suggested the county keep working on its plan. Jeff Tayer of Fish and Wildlife said he considered the July 15 deadline a reality: "They will do that (enforce the deadline with target flow requirements)." But, Tayer added, "I think the odds are on (July 15th) we’ll have enough water to make the flow targets." A few minutes later, eastern Washington salmon recover coordinator Bob Bugert informed the officials that NMFS senior policy analyst Mike Grady, whose May letter set the deadline, would be on vacation for two weeks until July 16. Laughter rang out in the meeting room. That’s life with NMFS State Rep. Linda Evans-Parlette of the 7th district has been a mostly quiet and analytical listener in recent endangered species issues. On June 1, she joined federal, county and state officials on a walk to the headgates of the Wolf Creek irrigation ditch to learn about possible "fixes" to get the channel opened for crops watering and Sun Mountain’s water supply. At the recent Pangborn meeting, Parlette repeated an earlier statement to the News that all parties, including NMFS, should be represented at the current meetings. NMFS instead had sent regional salmon recovery coordinator Bob Bugert with its position. "How can that be that this is going on forever and ever (with NMFS not being present at some of the meetings), Parlette asked Bugert. "What are the rules. Can they come and go as they want?" Bugert acknowledged that he considered the current discussions heading toward an agreement on fish issues, "an extremely frustrating experience." "In my experience in negotiating between applicants (for fish plans) and the services (NMFS and US Fish and Wildlife), you’ll never get them to agree to ground rules." Parlette seemed stunned as Bugert added, "Linda that’s life working with NMFS. Individually, I think a lot of them but collectively they’re a real bear." Let’s talk "re-watering" NMFS has hung fish protection and recovery efforts in large part on improving instream flows, or the amount of water available at key spawning and migration times. But state Department of Ecology regional watershed planner John Monahan provided another perspective at the recent Pangborn Field meeting. "Is setting instream flows going to get us there…(to help fish)? It doesn’t do squat for you. It just sets a date for priority of the (water regulation) rule. "And I think NMFS is coming around on this," Monahan added. "I think what we’re looking at is a hand extended on this target flow level." State Fish and Wildlife’s Jeff Tayer said putting water in areas that lack it might be more productive for fish. "Watering up dewatered areas might be one of our early action items," Tayer said. County water resources director Dennis Beich said the re-watering principle might be easier to explain. "People can’t grasp target flows, but they can embrace a dewatered area," Beich said. Tayer added that, "where we’ve watered up dewatered stretches we have fish in there," particularly in the lower Wolf Creek area. "We can identify dewatered areas, prioritize them and look for ways to fund them," Beich said. Morton wants governor State Sen. Bob Morton is calling for Gov. Gary Locke to step into endangered species issues by making a personal visit to the Methow Valley. Morton made the request to Locke after meeting with Valley residents at the Twisp Grange last Thursday (July 1). "Now is the time for action on the governor’s part," Morton said. "More than 100 years of state water law is being tossed aside by the questionable actions of federal agencies." The Republican senator from Orient said action that resulted in closing local irrigation ditches, "strikes a devastating blow at efforts to develop family-wage jobs in the tourism industry by threatening the water supply to the Sun Mountain Lodge and other local businesses." The National Marine Fisheries Service has said river flows need to be improved in the Methow Basin. But Morton said, "NMFS evidence of insufficient water flows is dubious at best." Morton asked that heads of state agriculture and ecology departments join Locke in a visit to the Valley. Opinion | Sports |
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