The people of the Northwest want healthy salmon runs. At the same time, they re frustrated that recovery efforts seem to have created more controversy than fish. Too often, we hear about one group promoting its recovery strategy while criticizing the other strategies as radical, costly or ineffective. Citizens and policymakers have a difficult time sorting through the claims and counter-claims.
Progress is stalled.
Meanwhile, two panels of independent scientists have concluded that the region s salmon recovery efforts could be greatly improved if they went beyond looking at one species in isolation. Instead, these efforts should look at restoring or protecting the entire community of plants, animals, and people of which the species is a part. The scientists advice may point to a way to address the problems with competing salmon recovery proposals a way to decrease the rhetoric and increase the results. A Different Approach to Fish Recovery Plans What s needed is a new foundation for fish and wildlife recovery a blueprint for future decision-making that accounts for multiple species in the Columbia River Basin. The Multi-Species Framework Project was conceived and designed from the start to be different than other planning projects.