Congressional Hearing on Role of Returning Salmon in Recovery
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 Vancouver, Washington

Testimony of Terry Flores Northwest RiverPartners

Thank you for inviting Northwest RiverPartners to participate in this important hearing. I am Terry Flores, Director of Northwest RiverPartners.

First, let me describe to you who we are. We are a partnership of farmers, electric utilities, large and small businesses, agricultural interests and river users in the Pacific Northwest. We are a nonprofit, non-partisan coalition of these diverse interests. While we may have disparate views on a number of regional issues, we have joined together to have a single, focused voice in salmon recovery issues affecting the region's hydro and river operations and salmon recovery costs.

We believe that the Columbia and Snake rivers must remain living, working rivers providing multiple benefits: clean and affordable electricity, irrigation for farm lands, healthy fish and wildlife, maritime trade and a multitude of recreation opportunities. We believe that the Northwest's salmon runs can prosper without sacrificing the Northwest's quality and way of life.

For this to happen, however, salmon recovery efforts must rely on sound science and recognize that there are many things other than dams including ocean conditions, habitat, and, of course, harvest that affect salmon in their lifecycle. We appreciate your leadership in sponsoring this hearing. It will help shed some light on the critical need for a more comprehensive approach to salmon recovery than we have seen in the region to-date.

To-date much of the region's focus has been on hydro dams and operations. Dams and river operations provide an obvious and easy target and clearly affect salmon recovery. No argument there. That part of the salmon recovery equation is being addressed.

Northwest families and business are funding the world's most expensive salmon recovery effort. They currently are spending more than $700 million each year on recovery efforts through Bonneville Power Administration salmon programs and changes in river operations to provide salmon benefits. Nearly one-third of Bonneville's cost of producing energy currently go towards salmon recovery efforts and are passed on in customer's electric rates. However, the burden of salmon recovery should not be placed solely on the backs of the hydro system and cannot be placed solely on the hydro system if salmon are to actually be recovered. A myopic focus on the dams does a disservice to those making such substantial investments in recovery, and misses the opportunity to dedicate resources to other factors limiting salmon survival.

If the region is truly serious about recovery, we need recovery plans and goals that fully embrace and address all the H's. Among other things, this means the region must begin to take a more common sense approach to harvest. As an example, the additional spill ordered by the court this summer cost nearly $75 million dollars (on top of a baseline spill program of $80 million dollars) to benefit a Snake River fall Chinook run that is harvested at a 45% rate! It doesn't take a scientist to conclude that this is irrational, and that no matter the effort made in the other H's, salmon will simply not recover at such high harvest rates.

Northwest RiverPartners is not interested in putting the fishing industry out of business. Nor are we interested in becoming embroiled in the debate over commercial vs. sportfishing vs. tribal harvesting. We do think that improvements can occur in the industry that will allow for the continued harvesting of salmon. We do know that harvest reforms must be enacted: endangered fish simply will not recover while they are continuing to be caught at today's high harvest rates. Every endangered fish that is killed through harvest makes absolutely no contribution to the recovery effort. It is waste. This is especially true when you consider the $700 million+ NW ratepayers pay into the effort, contributing to a fishery the Power Council's Independent Economic Advisory Board has valued at less than $150 million. As my members would say: "that dog don't hunt".

In closing, harvest must be integrated into salmon recovery planning if the region has any hope of maintaining improvements in the runs over the long haul. Without such integration, Bonneville's $700 million salmon recovery program, paid for by Northwest utility customers, businesses and river users, will be wasted and the region's economy overall affected to no real purpose.