Contract Description:
This is the only contract under this project.  The USRT Charter was signed by the three tribes in March 2007, with initial funding proposed through the 2007-09 Council's F&W Program amendment process.  The proposal was recommended for funding as a "Coordination" project, with the initial contract issued as a "release" under the CBFWA master contract in April 2008.  

In 2010, a fourth tribe, the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, was accepted into USRT membership.  The Charter was revised as such.

This contract encompasses all the previous work elements with a few revisions and additions.

a. Abstract

The Northwest Power Act directs the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to consult with the region’s appropriate Indian tribes in the development and the implementation of the Fish and Wildlife Program.  The Power Act also calls for fish and wildlife management coordination (including funding) to assist protection, mitigation, and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources in the Columbia River Basin.  The Tribes of the Upper Snake River have come together and formed the Compact of the Upper Snake River Tribes (USRT).  The member tribes of USRT include the Burns Paiute Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes.  Through their Charter, the USRT will pursue, promote and initiate efforts to restore the Upper Snake River Basin, its affected tributaries and lands to a natural condition. In addition, the Compact Tribes will work to ensure the protection, enhancement and restoration of the Tribes’ rights, resources, and activities that are reserved by Treaties and Executive Orders, protected by federal laws and agreements, or are the subject of aboriginal claims asserted by the Tribes, which include but are not limited to hunting, fishing, gathering and subsistence uses.  The primary goal of the USRT charter is to facilitate Tribal unity to protect and nurture all Compacting Tribes’ rights, languages, cultures and traditions in addressing issues related to the Upper Snake River Basin.  This project proposal requests funding from BPA, to facilitate and coordinate the three USRT member Tribes' participation in regional activities, involving implementation of the Fish and Wildlife Program.  The USRT have identified fish and wildlife objectives in the NPCC's subbasin plans and will update them through the Program amendment process. Facilitation and coordination of USRT will assist the Council and BPA in achieving Fish and Wildlife Program objectives in a cost effective manner (i.e., planning coordination, project implementation coordination, etc.) consistent with the legal rights of the Tribes.

d. Relationships to other projects

The USRT members sponsored several BPA funded projects (Table 1).  USRT will help coordinate these projects among themselves as well as with other BPA funded projects, and projects funded by other funding sources in the same subbasins, and between other programs.  This project will also be closely linked with CBFWA’s coordination contract in order to make both projects more efficient.

Table 1.  List of projects sponsored by the Burns Paiute Tribe, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

ProjectID                 ProjectTitle                                                   
198906201      Program Coordination and Facilitation Services provided through CBFWA
199501900      Burns-Paiute F&W Coordinator Middle Snake
199701900      Evaluate The Life History of Native Salmonids In The Malheur Basin
200000900      Logan Valley Wildlife Mitigation Project/ O&M      
200002700      Malheur Wildlife Mitigation Project
198909803      Salmon Supplementation Studies in Idaho- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes        
198906201      Annual Work Plan CBFWA
199107100      Snake River Sockeye Salmon Habitat and Limnological Research    
199405000      Salmon River Habitat Enhancement M & E  
199201000      Habitat Restoration/Enhancement Fort Hall Reservation    
199505702      Southern Idaho Wildlife Mitigation Program
199505703      Southern Idaho Wildlife Mitigation Program
199500600      Shoshone-Bannock/Shoshone Paiute Joint Culture Facility  
199701100      Enhance and Protect Habitat and Riparian Areas on the DVIR        
198815600      Implement Fishery Stocking Program Consistent With Native Fish Conservation  
199501500      Lake Billy Shaw Operations and Maintenance and Evaluation (O&M, M&E)        
200000900      Logan Valley Wildlife Mitigation
200002700      Malheur River Wildlife Mitigation
200302900      Assess Upper Malheur River Above Beu
200712000      Malheur Subbasin Habitat Restoration and Fish Enhancement
200717100      Malheur River Subbasin Habitat
200709600      Wildlife Inventory and Habitat Evaluation of DVIR
200890400      Salmon River Basin Nutrient Enhancement
200890300      ESA Habitat Restoration


e. Project history (for ongoing projects)

This is a new project proposal.  
This Charter of the Upper Snake River Tribes was adopted in 2007 pursuant to the Motherhood Document for the Establishment of the Compact of the Upper Snake River Tribes of 1997 (“Motherhood Document”) to facilitate, coordinate and assist implementation of the Motherhood Document Policies and Principles.
The following principles shall guide USRT’s work:
1) Use the best information over a broad scope and coordinate with all actions in order to provide definitive and proactive policies, planning, and principles for management.
2) Sustain a stronger, unified Tribal voice for clear policy and technical direction.
3) Help member tribes assert their management authority by providing advice and assistance and coordinating agreements with tribal, federal and state resource co-managers and private land owners.
4) Share and coordinate management resources, through the Compact of the Upper Snake River Tribes, to increase the permanency and scope of Tribal actions.
The USRT shall coordinate and pursue objectives and strategies through information gathering and dissemination, facilitation of technical and policy meetings, and drafting of technical and policy statements to advance and promote the policy and guiding principles of the Compact.  
Specifically, the URST shall pursue the following objectives and engage in the following activities:  
Section 1. Fish and Wildlife – Provide technical assistance and coordination of fish, wildlife and habitat issues to ensure informed decisions by USRT and its member tribes, and specifically to:
(a) Participate in regional forums and other tribal, federal and state fish and wildlife regulatory and planning processes.
(b) Provide policy and technical analysis of regional and national fish and wildlife issues.
(c) Assist member tribes with local fish and wildlife issues.
Section 2. Land, Water and Air – Provide technical assistance and coordinate land, water and air issues to ensure informed decisions by USRT and its member tribes, and specifically to:
(a) Assist coordination of activities with tribal, federal, state and private land, water and air managers, which impact trust assets and/or tribal cultural properties held in trust by the federal government.
(b) Participate in regional forums and other tribal, federal and state land, water and air regulatory and planning processes.
(c) Assist member tribes with local land, water and air issues.
Section 3. Cultural Resources – Provide technical assistance and coordinate Cultural Resource issues to ensure informed decisions by USRT and its member tribes, and specifically to:
(a) Coordinate activities of tribal, federal, state, and private land managers, which impact trust assets and/or tribal cultural properties held in trust by the federal government.
(b) Protect confidentiality of sensitive tribal information.
(c) Participate in regional forums and other tribal, federal and state cultural resource regulatory and planning processes.
(d) Ensure inclusion of an expanded tribally defined definition of cultural resources, which includes tribal language, cultural and traditional values.
Section 4. Federal Trust Responsibility – Provide technical assistance and coordinate federal trust responsibility issues to ensure informed decisions by USRT and its member tribes, and specifically to:
(a) Participate in Federal family regulatory and planning processes to provide for protection, enhancement and restoration of natural and cultural resources.


b. Technical and/or scientific background

In 1980, in response to growing concerns about declining fish and wildlife populations and a predicted energy deficit, Congress passed the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Act). The Act created the NPCC and charged it with creating a program to “…protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife…on the Columbia and its tributaries, affected by the development, and operation of [hydroelectric projects] while assuring the Pacific Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply…” [Section 4.(h)(5)].  To implement the NPCC’s Program, the Act directed the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to provide funding [Section 4.(h)(10)(A)].

The Act sets standards for which the  Program measures must meet, including that they will “complement the existing and future activities of the Federal and region’s State fish and wildlife agencies and appropriate Indian tribes” [Section 4.(h)(6)(A)]; and, “be consistent with the legal rights of appropriate Indian tribes in the region” [Section 4.(h)(6)(D)].  In reviewing amendments to the Program, “the Council, in consultation with appropriate entities, shall resolve …[any] inconsistency in the program giving due weight to the recommendations, expertise, and legal rights and responsibilities of the Federal and the region’s State fish and wildlife agencies and appropriate Indian tribes” [Section 4.(h)(7)]. The NPCC adopted the first Program in 1982 and, through fish and wildlife manager and public participation, amended it in 1984, 1987, 1991-93, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2003 and most recently with the inclusion of subbasin plans.      

The Act directs the BPA to “exercise such responsibilities [for operating the hydropower system]…to adequately protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife, including related spawning grounds and habitat, affected by such projects or facilities in a manner that provides equitable treatment for such fish and wildlife with other purposes for which such system and facilities are managed and operated” [Section 4.(h)(11)(A)].  Section 4.(h)(11)(B) directs the BPA to consult with the fish and wildlife agencies and tribes “in carrying out the provisions of this paragraph [Section 4.(h)(11)(A)] and shall, to the greatest extent practicable, coordinate their actions.”

The following excerpt from the Act partially explains the BPA’s role and obligation in funding coordination of the fish and wildlife managers in regional discussions regarding operation of the FCRPS and implementation of the NPCC’s Program. To ensure success, Section 4.(g)(3) of the Act states that, “…the Council and the [BPA] Administrator shall encourage the cooperation, participation, and assistance of appropriate Federal agencies, State entities,… and Indian tribes,” and that the NPCC and BPA can contract with the fish and wildlife agencies and tribes individually, “or through associations thereof,” to “provide technical assistance in establishing …fish and wildlife objectives.”

c. Rationale and significance to Regional Programs

The Act directed the NPCC and BPA to consult with the fish and wildlife agencies and tribes so that the managers could, to the greatest extent practicable, coordinate their actions for the mitigation, protection, and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources in the Columbia River Basin.  The primary goal of the USRT Charter is to facilitate Tribal unity to protect and nurture all Compacting Tribes’ rights, languages, cultures and traditions in addressing issues related to the Upper Snake River Basin.  Where issues that affect tribes are common, it is to their benefit that they unite to strengthen their respective voices.  This proposal will help optimize the coordination of the member Tribes and their involvement in regional processes including CBFWA, NPCC, and other state and federal activities occurring within the Columbia River Basin.