A Key Player In Northwest Efforts To Restore Columbia River Basin Salmon Says Policy-Makers Are Deluding Themselves About The Obstacles Ahead
by Jonathan Brinckman of The Oregonian staff
Will Stelle -- for three years the U.S. government's measured, tempered voice of Northwest salmon recovery -- has had enough. He's decided:
Delusion and divisive self-interest saturate the vast and expensive effort to restore Columbia River salmon. They are the leading reasons for its failure.
Stelle is anything but secret about his sentiments.
He shook an audience this week in Seattle. The otherwise understated top regional official of the National Marine Fisheries Service appeared at a seminar of leaders from Northwest states and enumerated "The Seven Myths of Columbia River Salmon Recovery.'"
Among those "myths'' are the now-standard goals and assumptions of governors and other Northwest leaders: that federal agencies speak with one voice, that the region forge a single plan to revive salmon, that hard science provides answers about fish decline, that Northwest states are capable of solving the problem on their own, that constituencies are capable of rising above self-interest.
Few escaped criticism, including the federal government.
Stelle said people throughout the region fail to recognize that restoring Columbia salmon will require painful changes to fishing practices, to grazing and logging rules, and to federal dams that produce electric power, provide water to farmers, and make the Columbia and Snake rivers navigable by barges.
Yet he cited a failure by officials to recognize this and also act on behalf of the public's concern for salmon's salvation.
"The fact that there is such a deep and genuine public commitment cries out for all of the policy-makers to face the facts, roll up their sleeves and get the job done," Stelle said in an interview. "We are not doing it. We are failing in our obligations."
Stelle's "Seven Myths" follow months of wrangling by states, tribes and the United States to come to terms with a 15-year, $3 billion failure to restore Columbia River Basin salmon. His "Seven Myths" hit home.
Fish advocates and conservationists were buoyed. Industrial representatives were bemused. One state official called it the right time to present unpleasant truths.
Stelle couldn't agree more: "Usually federal civil servants aren't so obvious. It's absolutely a call to get serious.''
As striking as the message, however, was the messenger.
"I wasn't surprised by any of the things he said,'' said Rick Williams, a scientist who heads an advisory panel to the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Northwest Power Planning Council. "What surprised me was to have someone in his position say them.''
Bruce Lovelin is executive director of the Columbia River Alliance, which represents aluminum companies, barging companies and other industrial users of the river. He also called it "surprising'' to see someone in Stelle's position say the things he did.
Perhaps, Lovelin said, Stelle spoke out to vent the frustration that attends years of spending without result. "It's not bad therapy to criticize everybody, even yourself,'' he said.
Bill Arthur of the Sierra Club's Northwest office said, "He ain't lying to anybody. Everybody knows what Stelle's saying is true.''
Ken Casavant, a Washington appointee to Northwest Power Planning Council, said that it made sense for Stelle to speak so candidly: The region is considering tampering with its greatest economic machine: the Columbia River Basin hydropower system.
Under Stelle's Northwest leadership, the National Marine Fisheries Service is scheduled to decide in 1999 whether up to four federal dams on the lower Snake River should be breached to aid salmon. If the Northwest is to face that decision squarely, Casavant said, honesty like Stelle's is needed.
"He eliminated the noise around the edges and got to the center of things,'' Casavant said.
In his speech, Stelle rejected the notion that Northwest states have a better plan for restoring Columbia salmon than the U.S. government does. Stelle said no state -- not Oregon, Washington, Idaho or Montana -- has a plan. Neither, he said, does the Northwest Power Planning Council, a multistate agency charged with balancing hydropower generation with the needs of fish and wildlife.
Stelle did credit Native American tribes -- often at odds with states' interests -- for having salmon-saving strategies.
Gov. John Kitzhaber conceded points to Stelle.
"He's right,'' Kitzhaber said. "Oregon can't solve the Columbia River salmon problem by itself.'' Kitzhaber agreed that no state has a Columbia River Basin salmon plan.
But Kitzahber, who has developed a widely embraced Oregon plan for restoring coastal coho salmon, in recent months has turned his attention to Columbia issues. He has said there will be no way to restore the river's salmon without measures that bring economic pain to many: farmers, bargers, the Bonneville Power Administration, Northwesterners accustomed to inexpensive electricity.
Kitzhaber has sought to develop a forum of state, federal and tribal leaders to make decisions on what should be done.
Stelle said his speech was inspired by Kitzhaber's candor.
"Governor Kitzhaber has tended to call it the way he perceives it,'' Stelle said. "We owe it to ourselves to follow his example.''
The U.S. government is willing to help bring about a new decision-making forum in the Columbia River Basin, Stelle said. It would work with the power planning council on developing a plan for all salmon in the basin, not just those enjoying federal protections.
If states and tribes do not work together, Stelle said, continued failure is certain.
"The effort will only be successful if we have the focused commitment of the states and the tribes,'' Stelle said.
Stelle also said that the federal government has agencies acting at cross purposes and that a more unified effort is needed.
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AS STELLE SEES IT
The "Seven Myths of Columbia River Salmon Recovery,'' by William Stelle Jr., regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, with "Fact'' counterpoints by Stelle:
Myth: Federal agencies speak with one voice. Fact: It's a nice idea but not particularly accurate. We need to do a better job of forging a single approach.
Myth: Science will tell us the answer. Fact: That idea is a convenience for people who want to avoid the hard decisions.
Myth: The region wants a science-based approach. Fact: Different constituencies in the region pick and choose their science, depending on what suits them.
Myth: The region will solve this problem in the region. Fact: Regional constituencies forum-shop here and in Washington, D.C., for the best deal possible.
Myth: The states have a better plan. Fact: None of the states or the Northwest Power Council has a plan for what to do with the hydropower system or how to recover Columbia Basin salmon.
Myth: We want someone in charge. Fact: No one wants someone in charge if it's at his expense.
Myth: We can have our cake and eat it, too. Fact: Salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin will require significant change in the status quo of habitat, hatcheries, harvest and hydropower. Each resists change and points fingers elsewhere.