Pursuant to Section 4(h) of the Northwest Power Act, the Council began amending its 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program in May of 2018 by requesting that state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, the region’s Indian tribes, and other interested parties submit written recommendations for amendments to the Council’s Program. In October 2020 the Council concluded the amendment process resulting in this 2020 Addendum to the 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program.
From the call for recommendations until the release of the draft 2020 Addendum in July 2019, the Council or its Fish and Wildlife Committee had numerous discussions in public about the fish and wildlife program, the program amendment process, the recommendations and comments on the recommendations, the issues raised in the recommendations and comments, and the proposed program amendments. Through these reviews and discussions, the Council tentatively concluded that a wholesale revision of the program was not necessary or appropriate as the recommendations and the comments on the recommendations raised few issues of substance with the provisions of the 2014 Program, and instead the most substantive recommendations and comments focused on two topics: one set of recommendations raised issues about program implementation, and a second set of recommendations focused on the need to improve how the Council and others assess program performance and the need to further develop and utilize program goals, objectives, and performance indicators to that end. Hence, the development of the draft 2020 Addendum. The comments received on the draft Addendum, while raising issue with the contents of the draft addendum, did not object to the concept of proceeding by program addendum; thus, the Council proceeded on this course.
The 2020 Addendum is composed of two parts. Part I defines goals and objectives for the program and indicators to measure program performance and progress, and Part II identifies a set of near-term priorities for implementation. The findings on recommendations and response to comments are also part of the 2020 Addendum. The 2020 Addendum is part of the 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program , and the text of the 2014 Program remains in effect. Nothing in the 2020 Addendum replaces or supersedes the provisions of the 2014 Program, though in some situations the Addendum supplements or reorganizes material in the 2014 Program.
