[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 3, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26052-26055]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-6707]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 042406E]


Endangered and Threatened Species; Recovery Plans

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the 
availability for public review of the following two documents: the 
Draft Yakima Subbasin Salmon Recovery Plan developed by the Yakima 
Subbasin Planning Board (YSPB) (the YSPB Plan) for the portion of the 
Middle Columbia River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) distinct 
population segment (DPS) that is within the Yakima subbasin management 
unit, and a Supplement to the YSPB Plan prepared by NMFS (the 
Supplement). NMFS is soliciting review and comment on the Draft YSPB 
Plan and the Supplement from the public and all interested parties.

DATES: NMFS will consider and address all substantive comments received 
during the comment period. Comments must be received no later than 5 
p.m. Pacific time on July 3, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments and materials to Carol Joyce, 
National Marine Fisheries Service, Salmon Recovery Division, 1201 N.E. 
Lloyd Boulevard, Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97232. Comments may also be 
submitted by e-mail to: [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line of the e-mail comment the following identifier: Comments 
on Yakima Salmon Plan. Comments may also be submitted via facsimile 
(fax) to 503-872-2737.
    Persons wishing to review the YSPB Plan and/or Supplement can 
obtain an electronic copy (i.e., CD-ROM) from Carol Joyce by calling 
503-230-5408 or by e-mailing a request to [email protected] with the 
subject line ``CD-ROM Request for Yakima Steelhead Plan''. Electronic 
copies of the YSPB Plan are also available online on the Yakima 
Subbasin Fish and Wildlife Planning Board Web site, http://www.co.yakima.wa.us/YakSubbasin/default.htm. A description of previous 
public and scientific review, including scientific peer review, can be 
found in the NMFS Supplement to the YSPB Plan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynn Hatcher, NMFS Salmon Recovery 
Coordinator at 509-962-8911 ext. 223, or Elizabeth Gaar, NMFS Salmon 
Recovery Division at 503-230-5434.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Recovery plans describe actions considered necessary for the 
conservation and recovery of species listed under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). An 
``evolutionarily significant unit'' (ESU) of Pacific salmon (Waples 
1991) and a ``distinct population segment'' (DPS) of steelhead (71 FR 
834, January 5, 2006) are considered to be ``species'', as defined in 
Section 3 of the ESA. The ESA requires that recovery plans incorporate: 
(1) Site-specific management actions necessary to achieve the plan's 
goals; (2) objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would result 
in a determination that the species is no longer threatened or 
endangered; and (3) estimates of the time required and costs to 
implement recovery actions. The ESA requires the development of 
recovery plans for listed species unless such a plan would not promote 
the recovery of a particular species.
    NMFS' goal is to restore endangered and threatened Pacific salmon 
and steelhead ESA-listed species to the point that they are again 
secure, self-sustaining members of their ecosystems and no longer need 
the protections of the ESA. NMFS believes it is critically important to 
base its recovery plans on the many state, regional, tribal, local, and 
private conservation efforts already underway throughout the region. 
Therefore, the agency supports and participates in locally led 
collaborative

[[Page 26053]]

efforts to develop recovery plans involving local communities, state, 
tribal, and Federal entities, and other stakeholders.
    On October 26, 2005, the Yakima Subbasin Fish and Wildlife Planning 
Board (YSPB) presented its locally developed recovery plan (YSPB Plan) 
to NMFS. The YSPB comprises representatives from Yakima County, Benton 
County, Yakama Nation, and thirteen cities within the subbasin. A 
variety of partners representing Federal agencies, Washington State 
agencies, regional organizations, special-purpose districts, 
consultants, and members of the public participated in the planning 
process.
    The draft YSPB Plan addresses a portion of the Middle Columbia 
River Steelhead DPS within the Yakima management unit (a geographic 
unit that NMFS has defined for recovery planning purposes). Recently, 
NMFS revised its species determinations for West Coast steelhead under 
the ESA, delineating a steelhead-only DPS. The steelhead DPS does not 
include rainbow trout, which are under the jurisdiction of the U. S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Middle Columbia River Steelhead 
ESU was listed as threatened on March 25, 1999 (64 FR 14517 ). NMFS 
listed the Middle Columbia River Steelhead DPS as threatened on January 
5, 2006 (71 FR 834). The January 5, 2006, Federal Register notice 
contains a more complete explanation of this listing decision.
    After review of the YSPB Plan, NMFS has added a Supplement that 
describes how the draft YSPB Plan contributes to ESA requirements for 
recovery plans, including qualifications and additional actions that 
NMFS believes are necessary to support recovery. The Supplement 
describes NMFS' intent to endorse the YSPB Plan and to use it as an 
interim regional recovery plan for one of four Middle Columbia 
management units that make up the range of the Middle Columbia River 
Steelhead DPS. The YSPB Plan will thereafter be combined with other 
local and regional plans to construct an overall, DPS-level plan that 
meets ESA section 4(f) requirements. The YSPB Plan will be an integral 
component of the full Middle Columbia River Steelhead DPS plan expected 
to be completed in 2006. The YSPB Plan, including the Supplement, is 
now available for public review and comment. As noted above, the Plan 
is available online at the Yakima Subbasin Fish and Wildlife Planning 
Board website, www.co.yakima.wa.us/YakSubbasin/default.htm, and both 
the Plan and the Supplement are available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES. 
NMFS and the YSPB will consider all comments and information presented 
during the public comment period (see DATES).
    By endorsing a locally developed recovery plan, NMFS is making a 
commitment to implement the actions in the plan for which it has 
authority, to work cooperatively on implementation of other actions, 
and to encourage other Federal agencies to implement plan actions for 
which they have responsibility and authority. NMFS will also encourage 
the State of Washington to seek similar implementation commitments from 
state agencies and local governments. NMFS expects the final YSPB Plan 
to help it and other Federal agencies take a consistent approach to 
future section 7 consultations. For example, a final plan will provide 
greater biological context for the effects that a proposed action may 
have on a listed ESU/DPS. This context will be enhanced by adding 
recovery plan science to the ``best available information'' for section 
7 consultations. Such information includes viability criteria for an 
ESU/DPS and its independent populations, better understanding of and 
information on limiting factors and threats facing the ESU/DPS, better 
information on priority areas for addressing specific limiting factors, 
and better geographic context for where the ESU/DPS can tolerate 
varying levels of risk.

ESU/DPS Addressed and Planning Area

    This Plan is intended for implementation within the Yakima 
subbasin, which includes only a portion of the Middle Columbia River 
steelhead (O. mykiss) DPS, listed as threatened on March 25, 1999 (64 
FR 14517) and January 5, 2006 (71 FR 834) . The range of the Middle 
Columbia River Steelhead DPS includes the Columbia River basin and 
tributaries upstream from the Wind River to and including the Yakima 
River (but excluding the Snake River) www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/trt/maps/map_stlhmcr.pdf. This DPS contains four major population groups (MPGs): (1) 
The Cascades Eastern Slope Tributaries MPG, which consists of 
populations in both Washington and Oregon; (2) John Day River, Oregon; 
(3) Walla Walla and Umatilla Rivers, Oregon and Washington; and (4) 
Yakima River Group, Washington (http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/trt/updated_population_delineation.pdf, p. 8, Table 1). The Yakima subbasin 
contains only 20 percent of the acreage and 4 of the 17 fish 
populations that make up the DPS. The four Yakima subbasin steelhead 
populations are Satus Creek, Toppenish Creek, Naches River, and the 
Upper Yakima River. These populations are grouped because they share 
genetic, geographic, and habitat characteristics within the DPS.
    Because most state and local boundaries are not drawn on the basis 
of watersheds or ecosystems, the various groups and organizations 
formed for recovery planning do not necessarily correspond to ESU/DPS 
areas. Therefore, in order to develop ESU/DPS-wide recovery plans that 
are built from local recovery efforts, NMFS defined 
management units that roughly follow 
jurisdictional boundaries but, taken together, encompass the geography 
of entire ESU/DPSs. For Mid-Columbia River steelhead, there are four 
management units: (1) Northeast Oregon; (2) Yakima; (3) Columbia Gorge 
(Klickitat/Rock Creek/White Salmon); and (4) southeast Washington 
(Walla Walla and Touchet). The Yakima Subbasin Salmon Recovery Plan is 
the plan for the Yakima management unit.
    In 2006, the separate management unit plans will be ``rolled up'' 
or consolidated into ESU/DPS level recovery plans. The final ESU/DPS 
level recovery plans will incorporate the management unit plans and 
endorse the recommendations and decisions (for example, decisions on 
site-specific habitat actions) that are most appropriately left to the 
local recovery planners and implementers. The ESU/DPS-level plans will 
also more completely address actions for the hatchery, harvest, and 
hydropower sectors.

The YSPB Plan

    The YSPB Plan incorporates the NMFS viable salmonid population 
(VSP) framework as a basis for biological status assessments and 
recovery goals for Middle Columbia River steelhead. The YSPB Plan also 
incorporates the work of the Interior Columbia Technical Recovery Team 
(ICTRT) appointed by NMFS, which provided recommendations on biological 
criteria for ESU and population viability. The ICTRT set forth 
scientific conditions that, if met, would indicate a high probability 
of persistence into the future for Middle Columbia River steelhead. In 
the Supplement, NMFS indicates its support for the YSPB Plan's 
recommendations for biological criteria on an interim basis until 
biological criteria are developed in 2006 through the DPS-roll up 
process. The current status of the four major populations in the Yakima 
subbasin was derived through local assessments, in consultation with 
the ICTRT and state and tribal co-managers.

[[Page 26054]]

    In general, based on updated status evaluations considering the 
four VSP parameters of abundance, population growth rate, genetic and 
life history diversity, and spatial structure, the YSPB Plan concludes 
that none of the four remaining steelhead populations is currently 
viable; the Satus and Toppenish populations should be considered to be 
at moderate risk of extinction, the Naches at moderate to high risk, 
and the Upper Yakima at high risk. Overall abundance has declined 
substantially from historical levels, and many populations are small 
enough that genetic and demographic risks are likely to be relatively 
high.
    The YSPB Plan provides a set of recovery actions to implement in 
the Yakima subbasin. It identifies threats to the Middle Columbia River 
Steelhead DPS, includes actions intended to address all the manageable 
threats within the Yakima management unit, and includes recovery goals 
and measurable criteria consistent with the ESA. The YSPB Plan's 
initial approach is to attempt to reduce all manageable threats within 
the Yakima management unit and to improve the status of all four Yakima 
steelhead populations. As monitoring and evaluation improve our 
understanding of the effectiveness of various actions and their 
benefits throughout the life cycle of salmon and steelhead, adjustments 
may be made through the adaptive management framework described in the 
YSPB Plan.
    The YSPB Plan discusses social, economic, policy, and management 
factors that have contributed to the ESA listing: Agricultural 
practices, dams, residential development, and other sources of habitat 
degradation; excessive fishing; predation; and others.
    The YSPB Plan identifies the following key threats to the DPS and 
recovery actions to reduce them:
    1. Habitat: Human activities have altered and/or curtailed habitat-
forming processes and limited the habitat suitable for steelhead in the 
Yakima subbasin. Although, more recently, land and water management 
regulations and practices have generally improved, storage dams, 
diversions, roads and railways, agriculture (including livestock 
grazing), residential development, and forest management continue to 
threaten steelhead and their habitat in the subbasin. The results 
continue to be deleterious changes in flow, water temperature, 
sedimentation, floodplain dynamics, riparian function, and other 
factors.
    2. Harvest: While over-harvest probably contributed to the decline 
in steelhead status, in-basin and out-of-basin harvests currently are 
less of a threat here than other factors. The Yakima River and its 
tributaries have been closed to steelhead fishing since 1994. Current 
harvest management objectives emphasize survival and recovery of wild 
steelhead populations. For example, staging areas for pre-spawning 
steelhead near the mouths of Toppenish and Satus Creeks are closed for 
coho and fall Chinook salmon during fall salmon fisheries. Out-of-
subbasin harvest effects, including incidental mortality in mixed-stock 
mainstem Columbia River recreational and commercial fisheries, will be 
addressed in 2006 in the context of the rest of the management units 
and other out-of-subbasin effects.
    3. Hydroelectric operations: Although hydroelectric power is 
produced only on a small scale at three facilities in the Yakima 
subbasin, their operations cause problems for steelhead, including 
reduced streamflows in the river reaches between the diversions and 
power plant outfalls and, in combination with activities at irrigation 
canals, large flow fluctuations.
    4. Additional factors: The YSPB Plan reviews the following 
additional factors that affect Yakima subbasin steelhead: global 
climate change, hydroelectric production downstream in the mainstem 
Columbia, inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, fluctuating 
ocean cycles, and predation. These additional factors further support 
recovery actions to protect and restore local habitat conditions as a 
buffer against larger-scale changes. The YSPB Plan does not propose 
actions regarding global climate change or the Columbia hydropower 
system because these are considered and/or managed in other venues. 
Steelhead migrating to and from the Yakima subbasin pass four Columbia 
River hydroelectric dams: Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, and McNary. 
The YSPB Plan notes that in May 2005 the Federal district court for 
Oregon declared the 2004 Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) 
Biological Opinion to be invalid, and at the time of the plan's 
writing, actions to mitigate the effects of the Federal hydropower 
facilities were not fully defined. Mainstem hydropower and other out-
of-basin actions will be addressed during the DPS-level rollup with the 
other management units in 2006.
    Hatcheries are not considered a threat to steelhead in the Yakima 
subbasin. Steelhead from several sources outside the subbasin were 
introduced in the past, but steelhead are no longer stocked here. In 
the mid-1980s, co-managers produced fish from wild Yakima broodstock, 
but discontinued wild broodstock collection after 1989 because of a low 
smolt-to-adult survival rate and problems differentiating steelhead 
populations. Currently, a conservation kelt reconditioning program 
captures post-spawning steelhead and transfers them to a culture 
facility to be ``reconditioned'' (to increase the likelihood that they 
will make the ocean-to-freshwater journey to spawn more than once 
during their life spans). So far, research suggests that effects of 
this program on steelhead population genetic and life history diversity 
are minor.
    5. Integration: The YSPB Plan states that recovery will depend on 
integrating actions that address habitat, harvest, and hydroelectric 
operations, but also emphasizes that recovery actions affecting 
steelhead have to be taken at both the subbasin scale and population 
scales. The YSPB Plan calls for advancing the work on recovery actions 
at both the subbasin and the population scale in the first years of 
plan implementation.
    The YSPB Plan identifies actions needed to achieve recovery by 
addressing limiting factors and threats to the species. The YSPB Plan 
also incorporates an adaptive management framework by which approaches 
and actions will be adjusted over time as conditions change and 
information is gained as a result of monitoring and evaluation. The 
YSPB Plan anticipates that future actions will be influenced by 
additional analysis of costs and effectiveness of recovery actions to 
maximize efficiency.
    The goal is to ensure long-term persistence of viable populations 
of naturally produced steelhead distributed across their native range. 
To be consistent with the YSPB Plan's goal, listed populations must 
meet specific abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and diversity 
objectives and criteria.
    The implementation schedule covers actions that are ongoing, short-
term (those that can be implemented within 5 years), and long-term 
(those that can be implemented within 15 years). The YSPB Plan commits 
to developing specific time frames for implementation of long-term 
actions in 2006. The YSPB Plan states that it may take several decades 
to recover the Yakima portion of the Middle Columbia River Steelhead 
DPS.
    The next step outlined in the Supplement is to obtain 
implementation schedules from each of the responsible entities 
describing when and how recovery actions will occur and how much they 
are estimated to cost. The YSPB, with assistance from NMFS, will

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work to get these implementation activities underway in 2006. Given 
that salmon recovery efforts have been underway in the Yakima subbasin 
since the 1980s, much of the internal framework (policy, scientific, 
public support, and funding) needed to implement these actions is 
either in place or can be established quickly once the plan is adopted. 
Implementation schedules and estimated costs will be incorporated into 
the YSPB Plan.

Public Comments Solicited

    NMFS solicits written comments on the draft YSPB Plan, consisting 
of both the Yakima Plan and the Supplement. The Supplement states NMFS' 
assessment of the YSPB Plan's relationship to ESA requirements for 
recovery plans. The Supplement also explains the agency's intent to use 
the revised YSPB Plan to guide and prioritize recovery actions and to 
ultimately incorporate the YSPB Plan into a final Federal ESA recovery 
plan for the Middle Columbia River Steelhead DPS. All comments received 
by the date specified above will be considered prior to NMFS' decision 
whether to endorse the revised YSPB Plan as an interim regional 
recovery plan and incorporate it into the DPS-level plan. Additionally, 
NMFS will provide a summary of the comments and responses through its 
regional web site and will provide a news release for the public 
announcing the availability of the response to comments. NMFS seeks 
comments particularly in the following areas: (1) The analysis of 
limiting factors and threats; (2) strategies and actions at the 
subbasin and population scale; (3) the criteria for removing the DPS 
from the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; 
(4) meeting the ESA requirement for estimates of time and cost to 
implement recovery actions by soliciting implementation schedules (see 
discussion in the Supplement); and (5) the process of developing ESU-
wide recovery plans using management unit plans.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

    Dated: April 27, 2006.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-6707 Filed 5-2-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S