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Upper Columbia River Basin Salmon Habitat Restoration

The Upper Columbia Basins consists of six major "subbasins" (Crab Creek, Entiat, Lake Chelan, Methow, Okanogan, and Wenatchee), several smaller watersheds, and the mainstem of the Columbia River. The Plan emphasizes actions that may lead to delisting of three independent populations of spring Chinook within the region's Evolutionarily Significant Unit (Entiat, Methow and Wenatchee); four steelhead populations (Entiat, Methow, Okanogan and Wenatchee); and recovery of bull trout within the Entiat, Methow and Wenatchee subbasins.

Plan Implementation

Implementation of the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Plan cannot be successful without the help and support of a number of organizations and individuals. The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Plan implementation structure relies on the existing local groups for project implementation in each of the watersheds - they are referred to as "Watershed Action Teams." Representatives from each of these WATs will work with the regional Implementation Team to coordinate funding sources and implementation schedules across the region as well as coordinating monitoring and adaptive management activities of the plan.

Upper Columbia Implementation Schedule

The Recovery Plan identifies a general framework for sequencing recovery actions within the Upper Columbia Basin that categorizes projects or actions based on multiple objectives and characteristics. It also establishes a general model for selecting and implementing actions that will lead to recovery of Upper Columbia spring Chinook, steelhead, and bull trout. This approach, outlined in Appendix G of the Recovery Plan, is based on biological effectiveness and socio-economic feasibility and will serve as the basis for project prioritization. This method was used to prepare an Implementation Schedule for the Upper Columbia Basin (Appendix M) that will be revised annually through the adaptive management process by the Watershed Action Teams, the Implementation Team, the Board and the Regional Technical Team.