In 2010 the Council chartered the Wildlife Crediting Forum to provide advice on the crediting and accounting of wildlife habitat mitigation associated with the construction and inundation impacts of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The forum submitted its final report to the Council in September 2011. It was accepted by the Council and published on the Council’s website. The forum agreed on the following protocols and standards:
- Establishment of a ledger depicting the current status of Bonneville-funded wildlife mitigation activities
- Development of standard operating procedures for future applications of HEP
- Development of protocols for determining the amount of credit Bonneville should receive for management actions that occur on federal lands
- Development of protocols for determining the amount of credit that Bonneville should receive for fish mitigation projects that benefit wildlife
- Acceptance of the fish and wildlife program loss assessments as the agreed-upon measure of wildlife losses
Future wildlife mitigation efforts should rely on these protocols and standards as the basis for determining the amount of mitigation credit that Bonneville should receive for mitigation activities.