Coastal coho, a success story?

President Bush's top environmental adviser met with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski Friday in Salem to negotiate an agreement that could lead to removing the Oregon coastal coho from the federal endangered species list.

The Bush administration committed $250,000 to finance a scientific review of whether the coastal coho, listed as threatened in 1998 and showing pronounced returns in the past two years, have recovered sufficiently.

Depending upon the outcome of that review, the U.S. government could begin delisting the coastal coho in Oregon and transferring responsibility for managing the species to the state, James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said Friday.

If Oregon takes over management of its coho, the fish could provide a model for the restoration of native salmon runs elsewhere in Oregon and for threatened and endangered species in other states, Connaughton said.

"We want to use this as a good example," he said, signaling a White House desire to move away from top-down protections directed by the federal government and toward more autonomy for states.

The review would consider whether habitat improvements and other steps prescribed by Oregon's Plan for Salmon and Watersheds -- a blueprint that occupied much of former Gov. John Kitzhaber's attention -- will ensure a sustained recovery.

The agreement was announced following a meeting Friday in Salem attended by Connaughton, Kulongoski and federal and state natural resource managers.

Kitzhaber had fought against a federal listing for the coastal coho. Instead, he pushed the Oregon plan, which centered on state and community-driven restoration efforts.

In a statement released Friday, Kulongoski said, "The state of Oregon appreciates the interest and support of the Bush administration in the recovery of Oregon coastal coho salmon, and we look forward to the opportunity to work together to create a recovery plan for these valuable fish."

In 1997, just 22,000 coastal coho returned to Oregon to spawn. Last year the return topped 268,000.

Favorable ocean conditions played a role in boosting the returns, said Bob Lohn, Northwest regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.

"There's obvious improvement," Lohn said. "And there's reason to take a hard look to see if this problem has been fixed."

The scientific review would consider the factors that led to the tenfold increase in coho returns and whether they can be sustained, he said.

NOAA Fisheries would like the review completed by November, when it is scheduled to complete its review of 27 Pacific salmon and steelhead runs.

Lohn said no steps toward delisting Oregon coastal coho would be taken until the science is complete.

Conservationists said they fear the Bush administration is moving too quickly toward delisting of the coastal coho and with too little justification.

"There's too much pressure, a deadline expectation and money," said Bill Bakke, director of the Native Fish Society. "That always leaves me concerned about the fate of the salmon."

Mary Scurlock of the Pacific Rivers Council, said riparian protections and improved forest practices called for under the Oregon Plan have yet to materialize.

"There's nothing that we see going on that would justify delisting," she said. "This is a high-level, backroom political deal."

Locally, a multi-disciplinary team has been hard at work hammering out an ag coho recovery plan for the Scott and Shasta Valleys. It had been determined that the status of SONCC coho warranted state listing as a threatened species. Implementation of the listing is pending the attempt to work out a voluntary recovery plan. http://www.cohorecovery.org/

Representatives at the table have spent hundreds of agonizing hours balancing approaches for recovery. They have worked well past generalities to agree upon tough on the ground solutions. It is hoped that, once developed, voluntarily subscribing to and following Best Management Practices will allow farmers and ranchers to operate under an umbrella "incidental take" permit.

A similar multi-disciplinary team is working on the issue on the state level for the rest of the coho range and for non-ag local issues. Both will make recommendations to state Fish and Game.

Now, along comes the spider. The enviros have slipped a monkey wrench into the California state budget. It states:

"No moneys in this item may be expended for support of a recovery strategy pilot program for coho salmon unless both the following statutory requirements are met:
(a) the petitioners for listing coho salmon under the California Endangered Species Act affirmatively concur pursuant to Section 2108 of the Fish and Game Code; and
(b) funds have been explicitly appropriated by the Legislature for support of this pilot program in compliance with Section 2115 of the Fish and Game Code."

This is outrageous. It establishes a special interest veto power over a state project and the expenditure of taxpayers funds. It reveals the extremely bad faith of the environmentalists who, on one hand, are sitting at the table on a supposed equal footing with the other interests, and on the other hand are undermining the effort and making implementation subject to its approval by holding the purse strings.

I can't see how this can be constitutional. It certainly illustrates that these groups have been allowed to gain way too much power.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.