Snake River
Salmon Recovery
Region
Area
- Human Population: 213,508
- Counties: Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Walla Walla, and parts of Franklin and Whitman
- Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs): Walla Walla (32), Lower Snake (33), and Middle Snake (35)
- Federally Recognized Tribes: Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Nez Perce Tribe
Regional Recovery Organization
Origins and Organization
The Snake River Salmon Recovery Board is an outgrowth of the original lead entity. The board expanded its original scope to incorporate sub-basin and watershed planning into one comprehensive recovery plan. The 21-member board has representatives from Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties. The board is supported by a small staff and receives technical support from federal and state agencies, as well as the Nez Perce Tribe and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The board provides a single, locally-represented authority that can focus actions at the watershed level and roll those actions up at the Evoluntionarily Significant Unit scale in a coordinated fashion.
Species Listed
Salmon Recovery Plan
The Snake River Salmon Recovery Board prepared the Washington portion fo the draft federal recovery plan for Snake River salmon listed under the federal Endangered Specie Act. The Snake River Salmon Recovery Region has three watershed planning efforts. Four sub-basin plans are being developed within the region and work under the auspices of the board. The regional board is the lead entity. Salmon recovery plan implementation is coordinated through multiple approaches, including using the same assessment information, reviewing the lead entity project list, ensuring coordination of implementation efforts, and monitoring. The lead entity habitat protection and restoration strategy is an integral piece of the regional salmon recovery plan, as it identifies prioritized, non-regulatory, habitat actions across the region.
Recovery Plan (as of 1/07)
- Plan timeframe: 15 years
- Estimated cost: $115 million
- Actions to implement plan: 264
- Status: Regional plan for the Washington habitat portion of Snake River Evolutionarily Significant Units and Distinct Population Segments was published in federal register by National Marine Fisheries Serivce in March 2006.
