Fisheries service endorses recovery plan

OLYMPIA -- Federal authorities have released a final plan for restoring populations of chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout on the upper Columbia River.

The 352-page recovery plan, which the National Marine Fisheries Service endorsed Tuesday, covers the chinook and steelhead, which are both listed as endangered, as well as bull trout, which is currently listed as threatened.

The plan suggests analyzing the harm done by habitat degradation, hydropower operations, fishing and hatchery management on the populations. The report says that if proper action is taken, the three species could be removed from the endangered and threatened lists within 10 to 30 years. The estimated cost is at least $296 million over the first 10 years.

"Clearly habitat degradation is one of the themes that all recovery boards, and all of our scientists, have found is a common one in population losses," said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the fisheries service. "Habitat restoration is one of the keys to improvement."

About 30 percent to 50 percent of salmon habitats have been lost to logging, agriculture, dams and development over the past 150 years, Gorman said. The proposal by the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board is the third federally approved salmon recovery plan for endangered salmon in the Northwest. The others are for Puget Sound chinook and Hood Canal summer chum. Additional plans are still expected from Oregon, Idaho and other parts of Washington, Gorman said.