December 16, 1999

Proposed federal rules on salmon give states and locals power

By JEFF BARNARD
Associated Press Writer

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Holding up Washington state logging rules and Portland urban development guidelines as ideals, federal authorities on Tuesday proposed regulations for protecting salmon that give state and local governments more power.

"This represents a substantial new frontier, recognizing and making room for homegrown strategies to conserve listed species and the habitats on which they depend," Will Stelle, northwest regional administrator for the National Marines Fisheries Service, said from Seattle.

"This provides a powerful incentive for constructive conservation initiatives at the state and local level," Stelle said. "This incentive will harness broadbased conservation strategies and be more effective than the limited application of federal take rules."

Known as 4(d) rules for a section of the Endangered Species Act describing what constitutes the "take" or killing of a member of a species, the regulations will protect 14 threatened and endangered populations of chinook, coho, sockeye and chum salmon and steelhead as well as the habitat they need to live.

The rules will apply to watersheds and rivers in an area covering 159,000 square miles -- the size of California -- reaching from Washington's Puget Sound through Oregon and Idaho to southern California.

An icon of the West, salmon have been declining since the turn of the century from overfishing, ocean conditions that produce less food, and habitat loss due to dams, logging, agriculture, and urban development.

The proposal, which must go through a series of public hearings before being adopted around the middle of 2000, offers exemptions from federal regulations to those who operate under certain state and local rules that have been approved by NMFS.

Exemptions would be granted for Washington loggers who follow new timber harvest regulations adopted in that state, urban developers who follow guidelines that Portland Metro is putting together, and Oregon Department of Transportation crews that follow their new guidelines for road maintenance.

Exemptions are also available for scientific research, fish hatcheries, commercial and sport fishing, and habitat restoration projects that meet NMFS standards.

The rules will not propose any specific limitations on grazing or fertilizer and pesticide use by farmers and ranchers, but will require pipes drawing water from rivers be properly screened so young fish are not drawn into canals and fields to die, Stelle said.

The federal strategy to put more responsibility on state and local governments for salmon restoration stems from the Oregon Plan, Gov. John Kitzhaber's strategy to restore coho salmon by creating a system of voluntary measures to protect habitat through local watershed councils.

However, the latest proposal from NMFS shows that Oregon has been bypassed by Washington as the Northwest leader in local salmon restoration efforts, said Geoff Pampush of Oregon Trout.

It puts increased pressure on Oregon to reform its own Forest Practices Act, and illustrates the lack of progress in steps to make agriculture less harmful to salmon, he added.

Ray Wilkeson of the Oregon Forest Industries Council said federal 4(d) rules already in place in southern Oregon and Northern California to protect steelhead have not overly disrupted private timber operations, but NFS had to be careful not to hinder the success of the Oregon Plan by pushing to hard.

Andy Anderson, executive vice president of the Oregon Farm Bureau, and John Hays, president of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, countered that agriculture is working through a process to develop local guidelines to protect water quality and salmon that should be finished by 2001.

"Every time we do all this work and spend money to do these things, they raise the bar," Hays said. "It seems like we can never do enough."

The Seattle metropolitan area can qualify for a local exemption like Portland's once it has negotiated its own guidelines, Stelle said.