The Northwest Power Act directs the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to consult with the region’s appropriate Indian Tribes in the development and implementation of the Fish and Wildlife Program. The Power Act also calls for fish and wildlife management coordination to assist in protection, mitigation, and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources in the Columbia River Basin. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) are a federally recognized Indian tribe whose ancestral home lands and ceded lands extends West from the crest of the Cascade Mountains (Oregon) to northern California on the south and to the Lower Columbia Region on the north. This boundary encompasses the Tribe’s eleven-county service area. Many culturally important landscapes and species that occur within the Tribe’s ancestral home lands and ceded lands are affected by the operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The development of the FCRPS has adversely affected wildlife, resident fish, and anadromous fish resources along a great deal of the ancestral Siletz landscape including, but not limited to: The Willamette River and its tributaries and the Columbia River Estuary from Bonneville Dam to the Plume.

This contract will assist and provide an opportunity for the CTSI’s Natural Resources Department to increase their participation in the development and implementation of the BPA Fish and Wildlife Program in the Willamette Basin and the lower Columbia Basin. Specifically, this contract will provide funding for CTSI staff time to better engage in local and regional processes that aid in the development and implementation of the BPA Fish and Wildlife Program. The CTSI increased participation in project development and coordination in the Willamette and the Columbia River estuary will result in a better understanding of the Tribe’s resource needs, ideologies and perspectives and will assist in shaping the future management of critical resources in the Columbia River Basin.

The tasks associated with this contract will include the following: Participation in Regional Fish and Wildlife Activities and Processes; Identification and Selection of projects to be proposed by various groups working in the lower columbia system as well as the Tribe itself; Technical Review of proposed projects and habitat restoration plans via the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Process and the Willamette River BiOp Habitat Technical Team; Public outreach and dissemination of information; and management and administration of the above funded activities.