Clearwater Focus Program Background

The Clearwater River subbasin was designated a Focus Program in late 1996 under the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's  (Council) 1994 Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (FWP), Section 7.7A.4.  The Idaho Soil Conservation Commission (ISCC) sponsors this contract and retains a coordinator to provide collaboration for the program with a Nez Perce Tribal coordinator counterpart, soil conservation districts, county and local governments, watershed and other interest groups, state and federal agencies,  the Council, and Bonneville. The purpose of the Focus Program is to coordinate protection, enhancemnt and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat in the Clearwater River subbasin at watershed scales.

The Clearwater Subbasin Management Plan was formally adopted into the Council's program February 2005; The Fiscal Year 2007-09 solicitation for projects was the first to be framed by the Clearwater Plan, the results of which were 19 ongoing projects propsed for continued funding and 23 proposals for new projects.

Member positions on the Clearwater Policy Advisory Committee (Clearwater PAC) that had been vacant pending the approval of the Clearwater Plan have been refilled. The Clearwater PAC is currently consulting with NOAA Fisheries Idaho on recovery planning.  Membership on the Clearwater PAC inlcudes members and in most cases alternate members from the following:  Clearwater National Forest, Idaho Association of Conservation Districts, Idaho Board of County Commissioners, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho Department of Lands, Nez Perce National Forest, Nez Perce Tribe Executive Committee, NOAA Fisheries, Potlatch Corporation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

There are many agencies and private landowners in the Clearwater subbasin having different mandates, policies, legal obligations, and points of view relative to their resource responsibilties.  The Focus Program provides a venue for coordinating optimal use of available funds and assistance to achieve subbasin-wide goals for fish and wildlife habitat protection, enhancement.  

The goals for this contract are as follows.
1) Facilitate Clearwater PAC and interested parties to implement the Clearwater Plan.
2) Provide liaison staff for subbasin entities with the Council, Bonneville, ISCC, Idaho OSC, and the CBFWA.  
3) Assist Bonneville funded project sponsors to plan, develop, and implement Clearwater Plan tasks.
4) Assist sponsors to secure funding from other sources.