Culvert ruling headed into talks

Gov. Chris Gregoire is willing to negotiate with Puget Sound-area Indian tribes over replacing or fixing culverts that block migrating salmon, an adviser says, after a federal court ruling reaffirmed the tribes' right to the fish.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez scheduled a conference for Wednesday to discuss the case.

"We're going to go in and offer that we're willing to sit down and try to figure out how to fix the culverts," Matt Steuerwalt, one of Gregoire's policy advisers, said Tuesday.

Twenty tribes went to court over the culverts, built to let streams flow under roads, in 2001. They argued that culverts around the state hindered salmon passage, thus diminishing how many fish they could catch under treaty rights dating to the mid-19th century.

Some culverts are blocked by silt or debris; in others, one end of the pipes is located several feet higher than the level of the stream, preventing the migrating fish from navigating them.

Last week, Martinez agreed with the tribes that the state's culverts diminished their take of salmon under the treaties.

The exact number of culverts that need replacing isn't known, but is believed to be in the thousands. Nor is it known how long it might take or what it might cost -- possibly more than $100 million. John Sledd, a lawyer for the tribes, said now that the judge has settled the legal issues, the sides must turn their attention to the technical aspects of the case.

At least 750 miles of potential salmon streams are blocked in Western Washington by the culverts, Sledd said.