The goal of this project is to facilitate both the estuary/ocean subgroup (EOS) and the Expert Regional Technical Group (ERTG) for estuary habitat restoration, and coordinate related activities for federal research, monitoring, and evaluation (RME) in the lower Columbia River, estuary, and ocean.  This project will aid the action agencies in estuary-related aspects of implementation of the 2008 Biological Opinion (BiOp) on operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System

Comprehensive RME by the Action Agencies (Bonneville Power Administration [BPA] and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), as stipulated in the 2008 BiOp, is ongoing in earnest.  This process includes the EOS, whose members include the Action Agencies, the Estuary Partnership, NMFS, and PNNL.  Since 2002, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been contracted annually by BPA to facilitate the EOS.  A major milestone for the EOS was completion of the Estuary RME Program document  in January 2008.  The framework and many of the elements from the Estuary RME Program were built into the BiOp and vice versa.
This scope of work covers two main topics during FY12.  First, the EOS will continue to meet to coordinate implementation and provide technical support for the federal estuary RME effort.  Second, the BiOp’s Reasonable and Prudent Alternative No. 37 (NMFS 2008) calls for the Action Agencies to convene an Expert Regional Technical Group (ERTG) to use “…habitat metrics to determine the estimated change in survival…” resulting from off-site mitigation actions in the lower river and estuary.  The project sponsor will work cooperatively with the Action Agencies to continue work of the ERTG initiated in FY09 by convening periodic meetings to assess survival benefits from estuarine habitat restoration.  In sum, the EOS, the ERTG, and related activities are essential to implementation of estuary/ocean RME as required by the 2008 BiOp.