Idaho Statesman
Article Published Oct. 6, 2005

Next step for salmon will be courtroom or negotiating table
Experts meeting in Boise favor talks to resolve hot-button issues

The Pacific Northwest salmon debate can take two paths in the future, experts say: We can fight in court or come to the table.

One way is "more conflict, consternation, litigation and lack of cooperation," said Boise water attorney Scott Campbell during a talk on the future of salmon at the "Practical Paths to Salmon Recovery'' conference that concluded Wednesday at the Holiday Inn near the airport.

The other way, described in varying degrees by Campbell, a federal power official, a tribal chairman and a utility customer spokeswoman, is a regional forum with discussions on hot button issues like breaching dams and restricting harvests.

Which one people choose, said Lori Bodi, depends on whether people are optimistic or pessimistic. Bodi is a senior policy adviser for the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that markets electricity from federal hydroelectric dams. "I'm like the public, half optimistic, half pessimistic," Bodi said.

The panel was titled, "Where We Go From Here," and the speakers and the audience engaged in the familiar debate over how to recover salmon, an icon of the Pacific Northwest, while preserving power generation, irrigation, agriculture and the cultures dependent on each.

The salmon conference was sponsored by the Idaho Council on Industry and the Environment and the Northwest Power Planning Council. It brought lawyers, business people, farmers, environmentalists and government officials together.

All of the cultures dependent on salmon could face great change if global warming continues as scientists predict, said fisheries biologist Don Chapman. More rain and less snow will shift river runoffs, forcing salmon to migrate earlier. Changing salmon migrations will reduce productivity.

That's why Chapman, one of the most respected biologists in the region, changed his position earlier this year and now calls for breaching four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington.

Todd Ungerecht, a senior policy adviser for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said the Bush administration can't go that route. "This administration is on record supporting the dams and salmon," Ungerecht said. "That's where we are."

Rebecca Miles, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe, said a pact reached between the tribe, Idaho and irrigators is the model for a regional forum for resolving the debate.

The North Idaho-based tribe reached an agreement earlier this year with the state, irrigation districts and the federal government that resolved its claims to Snake River water and boosted salmon restoration measures.

But a lawsuit filed a week ago against operators of federal dams in Idaho by environmental groups, anglers and fishing businesses - groups that are usually the Nez Perce tribe's allies - threatens to tear the agreement apart. The salmon advocates' lawsuit was filed before U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland.

"To them and Judge Redden I say this is time to take a fresh look at what all of Idaho has accomplished in this agreement," Miles said.

The lawsuit does not threaten the pact, said Tom Stuart, a board member of Idaho Rivers United, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Campbell, one of the negotiators of the agreement, challenged that point, saying he expects someone to sue federal officials to seek an end to all harvest of endangered salmon.

Terry Flores, executive director of the group, Northwest River Partners, which includes farmers, utilities and utility customers, said she would prefer regional talks aimed at resolving the issue. But she believes current litigation will continue. "It's almost an issue of how much pain we're going to put ourselves through," Flores said.

Still, even Campbell, the self-pronounced pessimist, said the eventual answer are talks with everything on the table. "I think we should have that discussion but we should not limit it to dam removal. We should talk about harvest and about more water storage," Campbell said.

Rebecca Miles, Nez Perce Tribal Chairman, wants the region to use the Nez Perce water pact as a model.

Biologist Don Chapman says global warming means dams must be breached to save salmon.

Terry Flores, utility customer-farmer advocate, said the public doesn't support breaching dams.

Boise water lawyer Scott Campbell expects more litigation but would like talks with all issues on the table.