Supplemental Consultation on Remand for Operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System

Background

The 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion (FCRPS BiOp) described a comprehensive series of actions to improve the status of 13 salmon and steelhead species throughout their life cycle. The suite of actions, called the Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA), included among other things hydropower passage, estuary and tributary habitat, hatchery and predation management improvements needed to avoid or minimize harm to the species and their habitats. The actions would occur over a 10-year period, through 2018. The RPA also included an adaptive management framework to monitor and adjust implementation as necessary to achieve survival improvements identified in the 2008 FCRPS BiOp.

The FCRPS BiOp was updated in 2009 to improve monitoring of potential uncertainties and to establish contingency measures should fish abundance decline. In 2010, NOAA Fisheries reexamined and validated the 2008 conclusions in a Supplemental Biological Opinion. This 2014 FCRPS BiOp addresses a 2011 Court Remand Order requiring more specific identification of habitat actions planned for the 2014–2018 period and requiring NOAA Fisheries to reexamine the 2008/2010 Biological Opinions.

NOAA Fisheries and the FCRPS Action Agencies work closely with sovereign State and Tribal governments to implement the FCRPS BiOp.