CTUIR Ceded Area Subbasin Priority Natural Resource Acquisitions VI

This proposal includes securing fee title acquisition or conservation easement opportunities for land, water, grazing or timber rights benefiting ESA-listed fish and tribal First Foods. The project applies to the CTUIR ceded area subbasins (Umatilla, Walla Walla, Tucannon, Grande Ronde & John Day) focusing on water, land, and resource acquisitions to protect and/or restore ecological and physical processes important to aquatic Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed species and other native aquatic species important to CTUIR. Priority stream acquisition and conservation reaches will be selected based largely on past planning (NPCC Subbasin Plans, ESA Recovery Plans, etc) and consistent with the CTUIR River Vision which emphasizes natural floodplain function.



Project Approach: Pursue permanent protection of high value habitats to protect and/or to enhance physical and ecological processes and leverage other cost share funding.



Projects will be evaluated using the following criteria:

1. Provides significant conservation and/or restoration benefits for sustaining CTUIR First foods;

2. Consistency with subbasin plan priorities, NOAA Recovery Plans, Comprehensive State Wildlife Conservation Strategies, and CTUIR River Vision;

3. Multiple fish species and/or life stage benefits;

4. High degree of defensibility relative to size/configuration of acquisition tract and adjacent threats;

5. Direct enhancement of connectivity between conservation areas; and

6. Enhancement of administrative or logistics associated with management of existing adjacent areas.



All acquisitions will be completed in accordance with the CTUIR Land Acquisition Strategy Plan. The Tribe will acquire land at or below Fair Market Value based on current Federal Yellow Book standard appraisals. Land may be purchased with water rights if the land/water package scores high as per above criteria.



Note: The locations of acquisitions and amount of habitat to be protection are to be determined at this point, so the proposed worksite and metrics are to be determined and do not yet include quantitative targets.

Benefits will be achieved through the protection and restoration of natural physical and ecological processes and resulting habitat and water quality improvements. Impacts from development and resource extraction actions that might degrade aquatic habitats and limit fish production will be eliminated. ESA species: summer steelhead and bull trout; other species: spring Chinook, coho salmon, pacific lamprey, freshwater mussels, and other miscellaneous resident fish.