The Columbia River Operations and Administration contract will provide the necessary support to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWS) to fund a a Columbia river planner and a Columbia river biologist position to coordinate tribal accord projects with the many forums of the Columbia River Basin, to the extent they relate to the Accords, United States v. Oregon, US – Canada Treaty, Regional Implementation Oversight Group, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) coordination, Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation operations, Willamette Biological Opinion, Mid Columbia Recovery Plan Steering Committee, Pacific lamprey coordination.  The Columbia River planner, will represent the CTWS in the forum and policy level authority on behalf of the CTWS. The Columbia River planner will provide policy and technical recommendations to Tribal Council and the Branch of Natural Resources as necessary. Funds from this contract will partially support an Office Clerk and Fisheries Department Manager to provide coordination and administrative support to Accord projects. This includes integration of Accord projects with other Branch of Natural Resource duties. The funds of this project also provides contracting, travel and payroll processing support and partially funds invoicing support.

The Regional Implementation Oversight Group (RIOG) is the forum for senior policy level representation to make policy level decisions regarding the implementation and effectiveness of the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion and other related Biological Opinions.
The RIOG is composed of the:
Five regional federal agencies: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bonneville Power Administration, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Four state governors:  Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Tribal governments:  Colville, Spokane, Kootenai, Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce, Kalispel and Salish-Kootenai.