Event Title
Concurrent Sessions B: Columbia River Passage - Grand Coulee Fish Passage and the Columbia River Treaty
Location
Agriculture Production Theater, Oregon State University
Start Date
25-6-2013 4:30 PM
End Date
25-6-2013 4:50 PM
Description
Fifteen Native American Tribes, including the five tribes of the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) are participating in a sovereign review process on reconsideration of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada. The 1964 Treaty directs trans-boundary water management for the sole purposes of flood risk management and hydropower production. The tribes are seeking to integrate ecosystem-based function as a co-equal Treaty objective, including a watershed approach to restoring fish passage into historical habitats blocked by dam construction. Through Treaty reconsideration, the tribes are specifically seeking to restore fish passage at Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams to allow salmon and other aquatic species access to historical habitats in the USA and Canada. UCUT is coordinating with US tribes and indigenous First Nations in Canada to seek passage restoration through a phased process of planning, testing, and design/construction; followed by monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management. The presentation will describe the losses to anadromous fish runs from dam blockages in the trans-boundary Columbia River, losses to indigenous cultures and the tribes' proposed approach to incorporating fish passage into the Treaty.
Concurrent Sessions B: Columbia River Passage - Grand Coulee Fish Passage and the Columbia River Treaty
Agriculture Production Theater, Oregon State University
Fifteen Native American Tribes, including the five tribes of the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) are participating in a sovereign review process on reconsideration of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada. The 1964 Treaty directs trans-boundary water management for the sole purposes of flood risk management and hydropower production. The tribes are seeking to integrate ecosystem-based function as a co-equal Treaty objective, including a watershed approach to restoring fish passage into historical habitats blocked by dam construction. Through Treaty reconsideration, the tribes are specifically seeking to restore fish passage at Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams to allow salmon and other aquatic species access to historical habitats in the USA and Canada. UCUT is coordinating with US tribes and indigenous First Nations in Canada to seek passage restoration through a phased process of planning, testing, and design/construction; followed by monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management. The presentation will describe the losses to anadromous fish runs from dam blockages in the trans-boundary Columbia River, losses to indigenous cultures and the tribes' proposed approach to incorporating fish passage into the Treaty.
Comments
Mr. Smith has been a professional fishery biologist in the Columbia Basin for nearly 40 years having previously worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries and the Bonneville Power Administration. He has been consulting the past 12 years for Native American tribes and various federal agencies on hatchery, harvest and hydropower issues and programs. He currently is the technical designee for the Upper Columbia United Tribes (5 tribes in the upper basin) in the reconsideration of the Columbia River Treaty between the USA and Canada that governs trans-boundary river operations.