EPHRATA — Tribal leaders from the Yakama Nation joined the Grant County Public Utility District in finalizing a comprehensive and long-term management plan on Monday that was developed to protect salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River.

Five leaders from the 10,000-member tribe attended the utility district's regular Monday commission meeting for the signing of the salmon and steelhead settlement agreement. The settlement agreement is intended to provide a framework for resolving all issues related to salmon and steelhead, which may pass or be affected by the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project.

"This is one of the most important things that we have done to get the ultimate goal, which is re-licensing," said PUD Commissioner Bill Bjork. "This is just one more very big and significant piece of the re-licensing process. I'm looking forward to working with the Yakama Nation in the future and making sure everything on the river is great."

The utility district is seeking a second 50-year license to operate the Priest Rapids Project, which includes Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams. The utility filed for a second long-term license in October 2003, following the expiration of the original license last year. The utility district continues to operate the Priest Rapids Project with annual licenses, issued by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, until a final decision is made on the new long-term license.

"We are honored that Yakama Nation tribal leaders traveled to Ephrata to formalize these important agreements," said Randy Allred, the commission president.

"I think this is the beginning of a great era," Phillip Olney, general chairman of the Yakama Nation Tribal Council, told the utility district's commissioners. "Once the salmon are gone, all living things will be gone. The protection of these natural resources is of paramount importance to the Yakama Nation," Olney said. "We look forward to resolving other issues related to the re-licensing of the dams, and see this as a step in the right direction."

The Yakama Nation joins the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in signing the salmon and steelhead settlement agreement.

The Yakama Nation was the last interested stakeholder to come to the table on the settlement agreement.

In May, the Yakama Nation argued that a Draft Environmental Impact Statement published in February by the FERC for the Priest Rapids Project was defective, premature and incomplete because it did not include an analysis of the settlement agreement.

"FERC's failure to undertake an analysis of the agreement, and its intention to deal with the agreement in the FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement), where no (public) comment is allowed, renders the DEIS patently defective, as it deprives the Yakamas of the opportunity for comment on a key license condition/article," Tim

Weaver, the Yakama Nation's attorney, wrote in a May 2 letter to FERC explaining their view of the DEIS.

Weaver said because FERC did not analyze the settlement agreement in the DEIS, the federal agency must prepare a supplemental DEIS before a final impact statement on the Priest Rapids Project is issued.

Now, the Yakama Nation has formally accepted the settlement agreement, which is the third and final piece of the Priest Rapids Project salmon and steelhead protection program. The other two pieces of the program include NOAA Fisheries biological opinion for the project from May 2004, and the April 2004 Hanford Reach Fall Chinook protection program agreement.

Together, the salmon and steelhead settlement agreement and Hanford Reach fall chinook protection program provide greater guarantees on timing of water delivery and provide new weekend protection flows. They also limit flow fluctuations for juvenile fall chinook rearing in the Hanford Reach.

NOAA Fisheries

biologi-

cal opinion calls for new downstream fish passage facilities and replacement of turbines at Wanapum Dam to improve juvenile fish survival. The utility district has already begun installing new state-of-the-art turbines at Wanapum Dam. The biological opinion also demands funding be set aside for habitat protection and hatcheries designed to protect naturally spawning populations. Predator controls will be established, to comply with the biological opinion, and aggressive monitoring and evaluation must be completed.

"Grant PUD looks forward to working with the Yakama (Nation) in implementing the terms of this agreement," said Tim Culbertson, the utility district's general manager. "We continue to work collaboratively with fish agencies, other dam operators, tribes and other interests to design programs and make decisions that are scientifically founded."