The Upper Columbia Programmatic Habitat Project (“Programmatic”), BPA project #: 2010-001-00, implements reach-based habitat restoration projects in high biological priority areas in the Upper Columbia Region (Columbia Cascade Province). The Programmatic provides a coordinated regional process for aligning mitigation obligations under the 2019 FCRPS Biological Opinion (BiOp) with recovery needs and priorities identified in the Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan (Recovery Plan) (UCSRB 2007), and associated Biological Strategy (UCRTT 2019). The Programmatic also provides the robust coordination necessary among Action Agencies, land managers, project sponsors and scientists necessary design, select and implement reach-based projects that achieve the highest biologic benefit, and ensure project goals will be met.
The 2010 Programmatic proposal identified four critical challenges to addressing the primary limiting factors to recovery in the Upper Columbia: 1) the lack of funding flexibility; 2) the lack of ability to implement large-scale actions; 3) a coordinated regional approach with all funders and sponsors working under the same implementation infrastructure; and 4) the lack of comprehensive effectiveness monitoring and evaluation. The current Programmatic addresses all these challenges expect for the lack of comprehensive effectiveness monitoring and evaluation, which is outside the scope of this project.
For more information on potential FY 2021 funding contact Sarah Walker at [email protected]
