Endangered and Threatened Species; Recovery Plans

Resumen

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the adoption of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plan for the Middle Columbia River Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Distinct Population Segment (DPS), which spawns and rears in tributaries to the Columbia River in central and eastern Washington and Oregon. The Plan includes four locally developed management unit plans that address tributary conditions, included as appendices to the Plan, as well as two "modules" developed by NMFS to address conditions affecting all steelhead populations in the Columbia River mainstem and estuary - the Hydro Module, based on the NMFS 2008 Biological Opinion on the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS BiOP), and the Estuary Module (NMFS 2007). The Plan also incorporates Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans (HGMPs); site-specific actions in the FCRPS BiOp Reasonable and Prudent Alternative 39 for updating HGMPs, Artificial Production for Pacific Salmon (FCRPS BiOp, Appendix C of Supplemental Comprehensive Analysis, NMFS 2008); and fishery management planning through U.S. v. Oregon for mainstem fisheries, the Pacific Salmon Treaty and Pacific Fishery Management Council guidelines and