Batt Praises Nez Perce Position On Steelhead Tribe Disapproves Of Federal Restoration Efforts, Citing Failure

Gov. Phil Batt welcomed the Nez Perce Tribe’s opposition to the federal listing of Snake River wild steelhead as a threatened species.

Tribal Chairman Sam Penney told Batt on Monday during the governor’s monthly meeting with Indian leaders that the tribe is against the National Marine Fisheries Service decision to list steelhead under the Endangered Species Act.

“Listing of a species does not mean, in our view, that there will be adequate recovery measures,” Penney said, citing the failure of federal efforts to restore endangered Snake River chinook salmon runs.

The Batt administration and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game tried to convince federal officials that allowing the state to take the lead would do more to restore steelhead populations than a threatenedspecies listing. Failing that, Fish and Game sought a six-month delay in the listing.

But with last week’s decision by the Fisheries Service, the state now is focusing on winning agency cooperation in maintaining a $90 million steelhead sport fishery in Idaho and continuing Fish and Game’s hatchery programs.

Ed Boles, Fish and Game’s anadromous fisheries manager, said he has been assured the Fisheries Service would work with the state toward developing a steelhead conservation plan that “would not take an overly constraining approach to our fisheries.”

Idaho and the Nez Perce Tribe were among a number of interests urging the government to take advantage of high flows from last winter’s heavy snowpack and barge fewer salmon and steelhead around dams on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers.

When officials decided to continue barging more than half the migrating smolts around the dams rather than flushing more fish to the ocean, the Nez Perce joined three other tribes in pulling out of the federal salmon restoration review process.

Batt praised the Nez Perce commitment to working with the state on the steelhead issue, calling it an indicator of improvement in the relationship between the tribal and state governments.

“We’re not only in agreement with you on that, but we’re somewhat heartened that there may be an opportunity for closer cooperation with you on governance of the river,” the governor told Penney.