LRF Conference: The Columbia River Treaty and Salmon Reintroduction

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Published: Wednesday, 14 March 2018 17:14

Given the Ides of March are upon us, this is the time to register for the LRF Conference. And don’t forget, the deadline to receive the conference room rate at the Davenport Hotel is March 28th.

Next week we’ll be announcing an all-star cast for the Columbia River Treaty plenary session that opens the conference on April 24th. Said Don Dashiell, Forum President and Stevens County Commissioner, “The conference reputation as a safe space for real conversations has really paid off. We’ve lined up top policy makers, opinion leaders and stakeholders from both the U.S. and Canadian sides of the border. As negotiations to modernize the treaty begin, this is the perfect time to hear their initial thoughts.”

Day two of the conference has a treat of a different sort, a sneak peak of the Phase 1 report dedicated to the feasibility of reintroducing salmon above Grand Coulee Dam. Three years in the making, the full report is expected to be released this spring. The conference will feature researchers and natural resource managers from the Colville Confederated Tribes, Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUTs), Spokane Tribe of Indians and others giving you the 64,000-foot view of what to expect.

Said Steve Smith, a consultant to the United Columbia Upper Tribes, “At a previous LRF conference I was asked the question if we’d see salmon above Grand Coulee in my life time. My answer was yes, which was and is a bit controversial. The Phase 1 report puts meat on the bones of that discussion.”

The work being presented was funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, the Bureau of Reclamation, UCUTs, the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Colville Confederated Tribes. Phase 1 findings will be used to determine whether to progress to Phase 2, which would focus on pilot reintroductions and addressing critical uncertainties.

Said Andy Dunau, the Forum’s Executive Director, “We’re also very fortunate to have presentations on similar work being done on the Canadian side of the border. If you want to draw your own conclusions about whether salmon above Grand Coulee is a pipe dream or feasible in our life time, this is the place to be. That’s why we’re also featuring a policy roundtable later in the day.”
Register now.