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All-H Strategy
A recovery plan that relies on hydropower operations alone will not recover listed fish. A comprehensive program must address the needs of fish throughout their life cycle. This includes restoring stream habitat where the fish spawn and rear, improving hatchery practices to jump-start nature and protect wild populations and managing harvest practices.
The ocean is also critical. Salmon and steelhead spend only a short portion of their life in freshwater. Most of their life is spent growing and maturing in the ocean. It’s important that we understand as much as possible about ocean influences so that management practices in freshwater can be better targeted.
The All-H Paper
In December 2000 the Federal Caucus released a comprehensive long-term strategy to restore ESA-listed fish throughout the Columbia Basin. This Basinwide Salmon Recovery Strategy includes the "All-H" Paper and two Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) biological opinions. The strategy is practical and comprehensive, and places the highest priority on those actions likely to produce the greatest benefit for the broadest range of species throughout the basin. It incorporates and provides broader context for the requirements of NOAA Fisheries' 2000 FCRPS Biological Opinion by describing other measures to improve hatcheries, limit salmon harvest, and restore salmon habitat. The strategy outlines specific actions to be taken by the federal government and proposes additional actions for tribal, state, and local governments. For the longer term, the All-H paper identifies steps to develop recovery plans. A central feature is the establishment of explicit, scientifically based performance standards to gauge the status of salmon and the success of recovery efforts. | |
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