In 2010, the State of Oregon and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) entered into a fifteen year agreement to permanently settle wildlife mitigation responsibilities for the federal Willamette River Basin Flood Control and Hydroelectric Project in the Willamette subbasin. The Willamette Project includes 13 multi-purpose dams and reservoirs as part of the Federal Columbia River Power System. The Parties to the Willamette River Basin Memorandum of Agreement Regarding Wildlife Protection and Enhancement (MOA) determined that settlement would be accomplished through the protection of an agreed number of acres that, once protected, would permanently settle the federal mitigation requirement. BPA agreed to provide specific funding amounts for the purchase of lands in fee title or conservation easement, as well as the protection and maintenance of this acreage. These annual budgets reflect the agreed upon yearly amounts of funding for the operations and maintenance of the WWMP by ODFW. Since 2010 ODFW had an annual PISCES entry and a contract and very year the budget grows as staff are added and the program begins running at full capacity.
This year it was decided to combine two separate contracts into one contract as we feel that would be a more seamless approach to running the program. This year represents the program at full capacity and we hope to move into more monitoring activities this year. We would also like to continue moving towards more settlements with sponsors to decrease program costs.