Nominee: PacifiCorp Energy and Public Utility District No. 1
of
Nominating Entity: National Marine Fisheries
Service, Northwest Region, Michelle Day, Fishery Biologist in the FERC/WD
Branch of the Hydropower Division
Nominated Category: Conservation Partnership
Nominations will be evaluated
based on the four categories listed below.
Please use the space provided to describe the nominee’s significant
achievements
that distinguish this
nominee. Leadership qualities such as
innovation and resourcefulness, ability to overcome difficulties and inspire
mutual understanding
and cooperation should be
emphasized.
Nominations will be accepted on
this form or as a separate document that is limited to one typed page. The qualities or actions that make the
nominee an outstanding leader in sustainable fisheries should be highlighted in
each of the five sections below; however, a nominee does not have to excel in
each category.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leadership
- What qualities, strategies and or abilities distinguish this nominee as a
significant leader or contributor in the award category
for
which he/she is nominated?
PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD
assigned a team of negotiators to represent the companies in developing and
securing a Settlement Agreement, mutually agreeable to all stakeholder parties,
for the relicensing of the four Lewis River Hydroelectric projects. The PacifiCorp team members included Bill
Eaquinto, Vice President; Holly Harwood, Chief Negotiator;
Impact on Stewardship – How did
the nominee foster stewardship and conservation ethics and practices?
Under the agreement, PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD have
committed to future investments of more than $300 million for the protection,
mitigation and enhancement measures covering fish, wildlife, recreation and
flood management over the 50 year license periods. The Settlement Agreement details a complex
and far-reaching plan wherein salmon and steelhead will be reintroduced to
large amounts of historically productive fish habitat. State-of-the-art fish passage systems will
transport adult fish around dams while collectors gather juvenile fish and
kelts for transport downstream. Hatchery
fish will initially be used to kick start the reintroduction program. Over time, as naturally produced fish
increase in numbers, hatchery supplementation will be tapered off. At the same time, scientific examination and
coordination continues on future fishery improvements. Rigorous scientific monitoring and evaluation
are built into the agreement to provide for adaptive management as new data and
information become available over the next 50 years.
Ecological
Significance – How did the nominee provide substantial benefits to marine
fishery resources specifically and living marine resources in general?
The
Long-term Significance
– How did the nominee impact living marine resource management and/or science
over the long-term?
The negotiations were
especially challenging because the 26 parties (and more than 4 times that many
individuals) had to reach a comprehensive agreement on all matters affecting
anadromous and resident fish, including endangered and threatened species;
wildlife; tribal interests; water quality; recreation; culture; flood
management; and the applicants’ need for economically viable projects. Completion of the agreement avoided years of
litigation among parties and will allow timely implementation of important
resource protections. Among other
parties, without the participation and leadership of the PacifiCorp and Cowlitz
PUD negotiating team, this agreement would simply not have happened. By agreeing to and committing resources to
the Settlement Agreement, the nominees’ actions will support an
adaptive-management derived recovery of listed anadromous and resident salmonid
stocks and protect habitat for their continued recovery for the next 50 years.
Nominee Contact Info: Nominating
Entity Contact Info:
Frank Shrier Michelle Day, Fishery Biologist
PacifiCorp Energy National
Marine Fisheries Service
825 NE Multnomah,
Diana Gritten-MacDonald 503-736-4734
360-577-7585
References:
Jeff Breckel, Executive Director Lou
Ellyn Jones, Fish and Wildlife Biologist
Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board
360-425-1553 360-753-5822
Please
refer to: http://www.pacificorp.com/Article/Article1153.html
for further supporting information including the Joint Explanatory Statement
which is part of the final Settlement Agreement documents for the Lewis River.
E-mail
or mail Nominations to: Mary Hope Katsouros, President, Fish for the Future,
fish4thefuturefoundation.org,