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 the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville). The purpose of the Focus Program is to coordinate protection, enhancement, 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 Salmon Subbasin Management Plan was adopted into the Council's program in late 2004. The Fiscal Year 2007-2009 solicitation for projects was the first to be framed by the Clearwater and Salmon Management Plans.

Member entities on the Clearwater Policy Advisory Committee include 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, National Marine Fisheries Service, Potlatch Corporation and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Clearwater PAC is currently consulting with the National Marine Fisheries Service on recovery planning in Idaho.

There are many agencies and private landowners in the Clearwater subbasin with different mandates, policies, legal obligations, and points of view relative to their resource responsibilities. 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, and enhancement.

The goals for this contract are as follows:

  1)  Facilitate Clearwater PAC and interested parties to implement subbasin plans.
  2)  Provide liaison staff for subbasin entities with the Council, Bonneville, Idaho Soil Conservation Commission, Idaho Office of Species Conservation, and the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority.
  3)  Assist Bonneville funded project sponsors to plan, develop, and implement subbasin plans.
  4)  Assist sponsors to secure funding from other sources.
  5)  Assist U.S. Bureau of Reclamation with implementation of their 2004 BiOp program.