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BiOp Implementation
Posted here, by year, are the federal agencies' ESA progress reports, NOAA findings memos, and implementation plans for the FCRPS Biological Opinion.
The federal action agencies for the FCRPS — Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration — implement the FCRPS Biological Opinion based on performance, accountability for results, and adaptive management. They rely on the best available scientific information to identify and carry out actions that are expected to provide immediate and long-term benefits to ESA-listed fish. They use implementation planning and progress reporting to inform and signal appropriate adaptations or adjustments to their actions.
The adaptive management framework includes the following:
- Goals that summarize what we want to accomplish to meet our ESA obligations, including coordination with the broader recovery efforts in the Columbia Basin.
- Strategies that explain the underlying biological rationale for our actions and performance measures.
- Priorities and programmatic level performance targets specify implementation actions for the next several years of implementation. Over time, modifications and adjustments maybe needed to achieve overall performance standards and to provide for cost-effective implementation.
- Biological performance standards that provide overall measures of success on a multi-year basis based on adult fish abundance and trends, and adult and juvenile fish survival through the hydrosystem. These may vary depending on environmental and water conditions, ocean survival conditions, harvest, and other factors outside the control of the FCRPS.
Essential to the success of an adaptive management approach is the ability to validate the effectiveness of actions taken and to modify actions based on new information. The Action Agencies are committed to this process and are undertaking a comprehensive monitoring program to determine the effectiveness of actions taken to avoid jeopardy to listed species. All data derived from this extensive monitoring and research program will be made publicly available in coordination with regional database efforts.
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