The Columbia and Willamette River Operations and Administration contract provides the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Branch of Natural Resources (CTWS – BNR) with the necessary support to administer implementation of the Columbia Basin Fish Accords both internally and in broader policy forums in addition to coordinating with and participating in the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program (WWMP).  This project will not delve into implementation; it will remain in an administrative role that conducts planning and development. As plans move toward implementation a transition will occur with a new project proposal submitted to the Council.

The Contract will also provide support for CTWSRO presence with forums, non-governmental organizations, and partnerships of the Willamette River Basin. It supports internal administration tasks including contracting, travel and payroll processing and invoicing support along with integration of Accord projects with other Branch of Natural Resource duties such as harvest and hatchery management. Coordination will be done to the extent it relates to the Accords, United States v. Oregon, US – Canada Treaty, Regional implementation oversight group, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, CRITFC coordination, ACOE and BOR operations, Willamette BiOp, Mid-Columbia Recovery Plan steering committee, and Pacific lamprey coordination. The program will work with other CTWSRO staff to provide policy and technical recommendations to Tribal Council and the Branch of Natural Resources as necessary.

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 BO's. The RIOG is composed of the:

Five regional federal agencies: NOAA, BPA, the Bureau, the Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Four state governors: Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon; Colville, Spokane, Kootenai, Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce, Kalispel and Salish-Kootenai tribal governments.

The funded Columbia and Willamette River Planner and Coordinator will represent CTWSRO in forums and have policy level authority. The Coordinator will provide policy and technical recommendations to Tribal Council and the Department of Natural Resources as necessary. Funding will partially support an administrative assistant, the Fisheries Department Manager, a Conservation Lands Program Supervisor, Wildlife Biologist, and Database Specialist to provide coordination and administrative support to Accord projects. In the future a Hydraulic Engineer and Habitat Lead are projected to be hired. This includes integration of Accord projects with other Department of Natural Resource duties and providing contracting, office rental needs at Oregon City and other locations, travel and payroll processing support.

Additional administrative work identified in this contract includes the development and updating of accord collected data into the CDMS and Project Tracker databases.  Project Tracker is projected to be completed by the end of Summer 2025 and we expect future contracts to contain maintenance of established databases. Funding will provide management of Cultural Resource contracts required for environmental compliance on the accord restoration projects.

Part of the purpose of this contract is to provide capacity needed to identify eligible properties for acquisition in the Willamette Valley and develop competitive proposals for funding through the WWMP.  In FY25 focuses include: 1) development of oak release projects at the Red Hills Conservation Area, 2) administrative support for project development of riparian restoration at the Austin Hot Springs Conservation Area, and 3) post-fire treatment support at the Little Sweden Conservation Area.  Natural resources inventory work on the three properties will continue.

Technical assistance is provided to ODFW, BPA, and project sponsors. Assigned staff will represent CTWSRO on the WWMP technical review team, the WWMP monitoring team, Habitat Technical Team, other related committees assist with necessary changes to WWMP criteria, development of management plans, partnership with Willamette basin entities on WWMP projects, and manage CTWSRO properties.