NOAA Fisheries Service efforts are well under way to develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) for distribution of funds appropriated under the authority of the Mitchell Act. The EIS will help federal agencies, states, tribes, and local communities develop a long-term vision for the use of hatcheries in the Columbia River and guide our long-term decision-making.

Using ideas and recommendations from public scoping and meetings with hatchery and fishery co-managers, NOAA Fisheries Service has developed preliminary alternatives for distribution of Mitchell Act funds in the future. Alternatives include allocating Mitchell Act funds to support hatchery programs with one or more of the following objectives:

• Support recovery of listed species in the lower Columbia River.
• Support recovery of listed species in the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers.
• Increase harvest opportunities, including areas upstream of Bonneville Dam, without impeding the recovery of salmon.
• Maintain current Mitchell Act program goals with capital and operational improvements to minimize impacts on population viability.

The EIS will also consider a “no funding” scenario. 

NOAA Fisheries Service will release a draft EIS in the spring of 2007. The draft EIS will not designate a preferred alternative.  Instead, the preferred alternative will be developed after receiving input from interested federal and state agencies, tribal governments, and other interested parties through public comment on the DEIS. The preferred alternative could be one of the alternatives considered in the DEIS, or it could consist of different combinations of the draft EIS alternatives. Any preferred alternative will be informed by the concurrent and complex authorities and initiatives that currently exist in the Columbia Basin, including: US v. Oregon, the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion, and Endangered Species Act recovery planning. A final EIS will be published in the spring of 2008.

For more information on the Mitchell Act Hatchery EIS, contact Allyson Ouzts at 503-736-4736.