WDFW Estuary Habitat MOA (2009) -- BPA Scoping Project 2010-070-00 – FY2013 Funding

Contract Performance Period: September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014

The federal Action Agencies (AAs) that operate the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) have asked the state of Washington to join in a partnership to expedite habitat restoration efforts for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Estuary below Bonneville Dam.  On September 16, 2009 the Washington Governor and Director of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) signed the Estuary Habitat Memorandum of Agreement (Estuary MOA) with the Action Agencies.  The Estuary MOA establishes a nine-year funding arrangement for habitat restoration in the lower Columbia River and tidally influenced tributaries – from Bonneville Dam to the mouth of the Columbia River where it flows into the Pacific Ocean.

This Contract Description is a synopsis of the Washington Estuary Habitat MOA Scoping Project Pisces Statement of Work that describes the work to be performed by WDFW to preliminary scope and develop the estuary habitat restoration projects and the negotiated replacement projects under the WA Estuary MOA.  Additionally, in coordination and agreement with BPA, the work performed by WDFW under the Project 2010-070-00 contract should lead to additional individual site-specific contracts under this umbrella contract Project 2010-070-00 that will result in more detailed scoping and restoration alternative development for several individual restoration projects (approximately 5-10 Project Concepts) during the FY2013 performance period, of September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014.

The level of engineering and biological scoping planned for individual Project Concepts conducted under this year’s contract request (CR-240036) will be enhanced compared to the previous FY2011 contract #54137  and FY2012 contract #58762 because, as described in the previous paragraph, under this year’s SOW organization, the detailed field engineering surveys and biological field assessments will be conducted under Umbrella Project 2010-070-00 (this contract) instead of individual site-specific projects.  When agreement is reached between WDFW and the Action Agencies to implement final design, permitting and construction, a site-specific project contracts will be developed under the Umbrella Project 2010-070-00. This enhanced Umbrella Project structure should facilitate the development of more project concepts to the Conceptual Design (30%) stage -- without developing new contracts -- and thus result in the implementation of more on-the-ground restoration projects.  In addition, a PNNL subcontract has been developed under the Umbrella Project to integrate best available science into the Washington Estuary MOA Programmatic project development approach that was developed in Taurus for the Council's FY 2014 Estuary Geographic Review process and endorsed by the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP).

The work WDFW will perform under this contract is in support of the information needed by BPA and the Corps to make informed joint decisions in coordination with WDFW to select projects that will move forward to implementation under the WA Estuary MOA. WDFW will follow the BPA MOA Implementation Flowchart 3 Step Process for how projects will advance forward.

Tasks under this contract includes:

1. Preliminary scoping of 5-10 project concepts from the GAIL list and other emerging projects identified within this one-year contract.  WDFW and the Action Agencies (AAs) will evaluate these project concepts and, if warranted, move the project concepts to individual contracts for detailed scoping and restoration alternative selection under the umbrella project.

2. Work with the Action Agencies (BPA and the Corps) to prioritize estuary projects listed in the MOA and subsequent projects brought forward by project developers.

3. Coordinate and work with the Action Agencies (AAs) to decide which potential project concepts will be preliminarily scoped and further developed.

4. WDFW will conduct basic preliminary scoping activities using existing data to develop a scoping report with the basic data and knowledge base to evaluate the project concept with basic AA criteria such as ownership, site elevation range, location, size and fish species present.  As part of this decision making process, O & M and risk management will be discussed between the agencies; including any site-characteristic that could be a “show-stopper”, i.e., factors that would make implementation too costly, technically complex or politically grid locked.

5. WDFW will coordinate and come to a consensus with the AAs to determine whether a scoped and scored project should move forward into the Corps §536 Program or be possibly funded directly by BPA.  

6. WDFW will write the proposal narrative and Pisces SOW for the individual site-specific contract under the umbrella project.

7. Facilitate and participate in coordination meetings with the Action Agencies on at least a bi-monthly basis (i.e. Weekly coordination calls between WDFW and BPA COTR, the WDFW-facilitated monthly Inter-Agency Coordination meetings, and Science Work Group meeting participation).

8. Coordinate site visits with Action Agencies, as needed, to gain a more in-depth understanding of specific habitat restoration project concepts and to discuss permitting issues.

9. For projects being considered for the Corps §536 Feasibility process, WDFW will send a draft letter of intent to the Corps & BPA for review prior to sending the final letter of intent to the Corps Portland District Engineer with a copy to BPA.

10. Subcontract with the LCFRB to assist WDFW in scoping, developing projects, land ownership and access, and technical review.

11. Subcontract with PNNL for science support in project development, Taurus protocol development, and technical review.