The goal of this project is to facilitate activities of the estuary/ocean RME subgroup (EOS) as it coordinates implementation of the estuary RME plan in FY08 with the PNAMP estuary workgroup, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (NPCC) Fish and Wildlife Program, and the federal RME team.

Comprehensive research, monitoring, and evaluation (RME) were called for in the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 2004 Remanded Biological Opinion (BiOp) on Operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System, were included in the Implementation Plan for the Updated Proposed Action (USACE et al. 2005 ), and are an important component of the draft Proposed Action  as result of the ongoing BiOp remand collaboration process.  It is safe to assume that RME will be incorporated into the forthcoming 2007 BiOp.

The federal RME process is ongoing and includes the estuary/ocean subgroup (EOS).  In September 2002, BPA contracted with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to facilitate the EOS starting in FY2003.  A major milestone for the EOS was completion of a Estuary RME Program document  in May 2006.  The purpose of this scope of work is to continue estuary/ocean subgroup RME activities in FY08 as the federal estuary RME effort is implemented and coordinated.

Regionally, federal RME efforts are coordinated through the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP), an assemblage of federal, state, and tribal agencies whose goal is “…to coordinate important scientific information at the appropriate scales needed to inform public policy and resource management decisions.”   PNAMP’s geographic scope includes the Columbia basin and its Columbia River estuary.  In FY05, the PNAMP formed an estuary workgroup.  Members of the EOS played a significant role in this expanding effort, which will continue into FY08.