Plan Implementation Eastside

This program directly supported agency staff to implement conservation and recovery plans within Oregon.

Mid-Columbia Implementation. During the 2011 – 2013 Biennium, the Eastside Implementation Coordinator’s activities focused on:

• holding two regulatory clearances workshops and a fish passage workshop for habitat restoration practitioners in Bend, La Grande, and John Day, respectively (March 2012),
• preparing the first, comprehensive Mid-C Annual Implementation Report (April 2012) and working on the second annual report (scheduled for completion in December 2013),
• developing a Mid-C Implementation Toolkit (guidance document summarizing the process for prioritizing protection and restoration recovery action implementation across and within populations) and associated population-specific implementation schedules (September 2012),
• hosting three Oregon Mid-C Implementation Team Meetings (October and November 2012),
• delivering implementation status presentations to various groups (e.g., Pelton-Round Butte Fisheries Workshop, Mid John Day-Bridge Creek Watershed Council, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, ODFW High Desert Region Fish Biologist Meeting, and Middle Columbia Recovery Implementation Forum meetings),
• reviewing OWEB grant project applications within Regions 4 and 6 for consistency with Mid-C Plan strategic actions and priorities (October 2011, April 2012, October 2012, and April 2013),
• participating on the Middle Columbia Steelhead Recovery Implementation Steering Committee, Snake River Recovery Planning Coordination Group, and Northeast Oregon Snake River Recovery Planning Technical Advisory Committee, and
• providing staff review comments to NMFS on various draft Snake River recovery plan products.

The goal of this project is to successfully implement the Mid-C conservation and recovery plan. In order to do this, a coordinator with sole responsibility for plan implementation is required, given the scope of the plan and the likelihood that the level of attention needed for successful implementation of it would not be able to be provided by adding responsibilities to existing staff with full workloads. The goal of the plan is to provide a roadmap of actions for delisting the species addressed from the federal ESA list, and improve and maintain healthy populations of these native fish for the social, economic, and natural benefit of current and future Oregonians.