Salmon Escape Bureaucratic Snag Farmers, Foresters May Find It Easier To Get Assistance In Restoring Habitat

Farmers and foresters who want to manage their land to protect threatened or endangered salmon may find it easier to cut through government red tape as a result of an agreement signed Thursday.

Gov. Gary Locke and representatives of six federal agencies signed a “memorandum of understanding” to develop what would amount to a “one-stop shop” where foresters and farmers could get information and win approval for changes that would protect salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act and also benefit the landowner.

The agreement, the signers said, also will make it easier for landowners to win government aid to rehabilitate salmon habitat crossing their land.

The agreement, the details of which probably will be worked out by year’s end, will help state and federal agencies, bracing to protect an increasing number of threatened fish species, win the support of private landowners, the officials said at a news conference.

Small private landowners and their effect on salmon habitat are “another piece of the puzzle” as Washington and Uncle Sam gear up to rehabilitate habitat of salmon from Puget Sound chinook to Columbia River steelhead, said James R. Lyons, a U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary.

Several salmon species are already or are about to be listed under the Endangered Species Act, and volunteer help from farmers and foresters whose lands also serve as salmon habitat or affect habitat will be critical, Locke added.

This will make it less complicated for private landowners to find out what they must do to protect salmon, Locke said. “Farmers will find that they can get consistent information and know what they have to do,” he said.

Equally important, farmers will find it easier to get their hands on millions of dollars in federal and state funds to help plan and carry out land use changes, Locke and Lyons said.

Those changes could involve everything from planting trees along streams to fencing off streams to keep livestock at bay.