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Methow Valley
News July 22, 1999 Endangered Species Coverage Officials at one table, but no ESA pact yet Exempt wells and building moratorium may not be enough by Lee Hicks The high stakes of endangered fish species issues in the Methow Valley were put in sharp focus last week in a verbal exchange between key state and federal officials. State Ecology director Tom Fitzsimmons and Bob Turner, state director of National Marine Fisheries Service, were volleying over language of "default provisions"--in effect penalties--that might emerge in a memorandum of agreement negotiated by the county, state agencies and NMFS. Already on the negotiating table are the possibilities of closing the Methow basin to new water permits, including previously permit-exempt wells, and requiring the county to declare a building moratorium if provisions of an agreement are not met. Turner told Fitzsimmons: "I would not want to eliminate the ability to look at other default measures that show the commitment of the parties that may not be related to biological benefits, but we use them anyway." Fitzsimmons responded: "If there are no building permits, if there are no further appropriations of water then what’s left, what’s left other than going after...?" Turner interjected: "Money’s left, bonding, full faith and credit of the county is left..." This was the serious tone of a sometimes contentious, at times rambling, open negotiating session last Wednesday (July 14) involving a dozen local, federal and state agencies at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base. County officials had initially said the meeting would be closed to discuss "potential litigation" and there was no announcement of the session. But word had spread that talks would begin early that morning, to be followed by public sessions and the county watershed planning unit meeting at 4 p.m. Throughout the day, the audience expanded to several dozen valley residents--including irrigators and members of the county’s watershed planning unit that is working with the state to develop a new basin water rule. Aides to both U.S. senators Patty Murray and Slade Gorton and State Rep. Linda Evans-Parlette were there along with all three Okanogan County commissioners. Besides Turner and Fitzsimmons, the other officials included Curt Smitch, top consultant to Governor Locke on resource issues and head of salmon recovery programs; state Department of Agriculture director Jim Jessernig; Jeff Koenings, director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife; Mark Miller of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: and Bob Bugert, eastern Washington director for salmon recovery. The county, state agencies, the Forest Service and NMFS have been locked for weeks in discussions aimed to reach a "memorandum of agreement" on plans to protect and aid recovery of endangered fish species in the Methow watershed. NMFS is the agency that within the past two years listed steelhead trout and spring run Chinook salmon as endangered in the basin under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed bull trout as threatened and a listing of the western slope cutthroat is likely. As the day wore on it became increasingly clear that many of the visiting state and federal agents wanted an agreement quickly from the county. Money was dangled as the carrot with possible litigation the stick. The county, state officials warned, could lose out in the battle for state fish recovery funds to powerful political interests in the Puget Sound area. "My concern is the sucking sound...not as Ross Perot (the 1992 presidential candidate) said from Mexico...but from the Puget Sound area sucking up the money (for salmon recovery)," warned state agriculture director Jessernig. Jessernig said he has been dealing with ESA issues for five years, and "on a scale of one to 10 this is a 20." "If you’re not going to participate (in the MOA) then you’re going to have your future in the courts." Jessernig said. Ratcheting up the pressure, the governor’s top resources advisor, Smitch, emphasized, "We have brought a plane load of people over here to get an agreement." Smitch also said that the county’s watershed planning process, although enabled and funded by state legislation, "is not timely enough for U.S. Fish and Wildlife and NMFS. (you need) to help us get there faster." And Smitch warned that, "you’ll be facing a train wreck over here," if the county decides to opt out of an agreement with the state and NMFS. The county has fought to be part of an agreement, then hesitated as the demanding conditions of "default" have surfaced with few assurances from NMFS. Smitch provided some encouragement, however, in saying that, "on behalf of the state...this is a priority area (for funding). And all the agencies that area here today understand that. If we can get solutions that are contingent on funding, then we stand a better chance of getting the money." But county water resources director Dennis Beich expressed the county’s concern that better baseline stream flow data is needed before the county commits to severely restrictive default provisions. "(There is) need for more information before we do it because of the ramifications of instream flows." Beich added that, "I think we’re trying to target one tool (stream flows) to solve the problem and it’s not going to happen." The so-called "target flows" have become a key issue since NMFS informed the Forest Service that the amount of water in Methow basin streams would be a critical test of ESA fish recovery. In mid-May NMFS told the Forest Service it should not issue special use permits for 14 ditches and diversions operating on federal land. All but three of the ditches were given temporary approval under "Section 7d determinations," of the ESA that allow federal agencies to take actions that don’t foreclose future action to protect ESA listed species. Of the three ditches, Early Winters has been able to operate after installing a new fish screen. Wolf Creek remains closed pending installation of a flat fish screen as a temporary fix, and volunteers are lining Skyline ditch in an attempt to operate at a flow of 9.6 cubic feet per second, well under half the usual flow. NMFS’ Turner acknowledged that the target flows in the federal diversion biological opinions were, "established out of whole cloth...We know those are not going to be the end all or be all." NMFS had delayed biological opinions for all three ditches until drafts were finally issued July 7, more than a year after the Forest Service did its initial biological assessments. The draft BOs set target flows at levels the irrigators said were unattainable, but offered as an alternative to allow irrigators to contribute 25 percent of their irrigation water rights to a "water bank" being considered as part of the proposed new basin water rule. Speculated behind the scenes has been the possibility that the county--after efforts to be part of an MOA--might stay out of the agreement and take the consequences. The decision would hinge on a delicate balance between how much assurance the county can get that local efforts will be recognized, in exchange for the burden of "default" agreements such as a building moratorium. The smokejumper base meeting also effectively served to redefine the role of the county’s watershed planning unit. The group was initiated after an August 1998 memorandum of agreement between the county and the DOE and had been expected to direct the county’s and Ecology’s ESA plans before pressure from NMFS for a new agreement. In the last hours of the day, Ecology’s Fitzsimmons took what he called a "straw poll" to determine planning unit members’ commitment to stay involved. The count showed 14 or 15 in favor, and three voting against. Fitzsimmons said the unit would be consulted on setting target flows for streams and working with the state to reconcile target and instream flows as a single item in a new water rule for the basin. As Fitzsimmons finished his straw poll of the planning unit members, state and federal officials began packing up their papers for the flight back to Olympia. Although no agreement was signed and more meetings were to be scheduled it was the first time that most parties had been at the same negotiating table. "This has been very helpful for a change for you all to be at the table," Parlette concluded. "Whatever the result," she added, "there is going to be a lot (of) money that is needed and we political leaders have to make sure it gets here." Later in the week, former Environmental Protection Agency director William Ruckelshaus, a Seattle business and civic leader, was named by Governor Locke to direct the state’s salmon funding program, which has about $100 million available. Opinion | Sports |
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