What Are Technical Recommendations?

Measures that we believe are needed and appropriate to achieve the Plan’s objectives are set forth in the hypotheses that are the foundation of the 20 original and new technical recommendations and are designed to accomplish the Spirit of the Salmon Plan’s goals and objectives which were established in 1995.

Goals

  • Restore anadromous fishes to the rivers and streams that support the historical cultural and economic practices of the tribes. (These are generally areas above Bonneville Dam.)
  • Emphasize strategies that rely on natural production and healthy river systems to achieve this goal.
  • Protect tribal sovereignty and treaty rights.
  • Reclaim the anadromous fish resource and the environment on which it depends for future generations.

Objectives

  • Within 7 years, halt the declining trends in salmon, sturgeon, and lamprey populations originating upstream of Bonneville Dam.
  • Within 25 years, increase the total adult salmon returns of stocks originating above Bonneville Dam to 4 million annually and in a manner that sustains natural production to support tribal commercial as well as ceremonial and subsistence harvests.
  • Within 25 years, increase sturgeon and lamprey populations to naturally sustainable levels that also support tribal harvest opportunities.
  • Restore anadromous fishes to historical abundance in perpetuity.

The adjacent table shows the original 13 and the 7 new technical recommendations. The first 13 original recommendations are updated. Each consists of a summary of the problem or issue as of 2013 (Current Status); an evaluation of how the original recommendation was addressed (Assessment); and what new changes are proposed (New and Modified Actions). Preceding each update is also a summary of the 1995 recommended actions. To see the original hypotheses and the recommendations in full, go to the 1995 Spirit of the Salmon Plan/Recommendations/Technical.

The last 7 technical recommendations are new. For each new recommendation, the problem is summarized (Issue); an hypothesis about the problem and the needed solutions is presented (Hypothesis and Needed Actions); and the anticipated results of the proposed actions are described (Expected Outcome).

Together the 20 technical hypotheses summarize the tribes’ perception of the problems and their proposed responses. The hypotheses are organized within the life cycle stages of the salmon—see the updated table to the right—beginning with the hypotheses affecting early life history stages (e.g., egg to juvenile survival). No prioritization of the importance of the hypotheses is implied by the sequence in which they are presented.

There may be actions other those recommended by the Spirit of the Salmon Plan that would achieve the Plan’s objectives. The tribes are flexible on the details of specific actions as long as the end result, as measured by overall survival rates and fish abundance, is consistent with the objectives of this plan.

A brief discussion of the adaptive management approach that informs the Spirit of the Salmon’s technical recommendations is here »

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