NOAA Fisheries Service announced this afternoon (Aug. 12) that it has released its final critical habitat designations for 19 "evolutionarily significant units" of salmon and steelhead in California and the Northwest that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"These designations support our extensive salmon recovery efforts and promote important voluntary and collaborative efforts important to protecting salmon," said Bill Hogarth, NOAA Fisheries Service administrator.

In making the designation, NOAA Fisheries says it used the latest scientific understanding of salmon habitat and identified more than 31,000 miles of stream and shoreline inhabited by salmon.

The designations include a separate rule for 12 ESUs listed in Washington , Oregon and Idaho , and another for seven species listed in California . Both were filed on Aug. 12 with the Federal Register. The final rules include analyses of the economic and other impacts of such designations, and address comments received from the public and peer reviewers on the agency’s proposed designations announced last November.

The critical habitat designations will become effective following publication of the final rules in the next one to two weeks.

NOAA has calculated that the annual net economic impacts of changes to federal activities as a result of critical habitat designation (regardless of whether those activities would also change as a result of listing) are estimated to be approximately $201.2 million for the 12 Northwest ESU's.

Excluded from the designation were some 1,987 stream miles in the Northwest because NOAA determined the economic impacts along those reaches outweigh the potential biological benefit that could be achieved with the designation.

In California these exclusions total 771 stream miles.

The exclusions reduce the economic impact in the Northwest Region by $243.6 million and in California by about $100.5 million.

Fishing and conservation groups responded to the news immediately, calling the critical habitat designations paltry.

"This is a big step backwards for people and salmon," said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation. "Abandoning efforts to protect the rivers and streams salmon need to survive is not only a recipe for extinction, it threatens clean water and many of the special places we cherish here in the Northwest."

The fishing and conservation groups, most of which were involved in litigation to force establishment of critical habitat, say more protection is needed for vital feeding, rearing and spawning grounds and that NOAA's final rule threatens to undermine recovery efforts throughout the Northwest and California.

"For fishermen, protecting the rivers and streams salmon need to live is a day-in and day-out priority." said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Without healthy habitat, there can be no salmon. This decision puts the livelihoods of thousands of fishing families at risk."

In unveiling the proposed rules in November of last year, NOAA Fisheries' Northwest regional chief, Bob Lohn, said the new designations represented about one-fifth of the critical habitat that was designated for the Northwest stocks in 2000. The geographical reduction was driven by a more refined approach to calculating what the law requires -- areas in which are found physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species, Lohn said.

The 2000 calculation identified all potentially accessible river reaches within 150 subbasins in the Northwest. The recent calculation identifies specific habitat on a finer scale -- listing only reaches where listed salmon and steelhead have actually been observed or where biologists with local area expertise presume the fish to occur.

"The 2000 designations were over-inclusive," Lohn said of November's proposed rules, which were vetted through a public comment process before the production of the final rules.

"Critical habitat" is defined as specific areas on which are found physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species, and which may require special management considerations or protection. Critical habitat designations must take into consideration the economic impact, impact on national security, and any other relevant impact of such designation, and areas may be excluded from critical habitat if a determination is made that the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying such area as part of the critical habitat. However, the failure to designate critical habitat in specific areas must not result in the extinction of the species, according to NOAA.

Between 1989 and 2000, NOAA Fisheries Service listed 26 ESUs of Pacific salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest and California . During that period the agency enacted final critical habitat designations for six of the 26: Snake River sockeye, Snake River fall chinook, Snake River spring/summer Chinook, Sacramento winter-run Chinook, central California coast coho, and southern Oregon /northern California Coast coho.

The Pacific Northwest ESUs affected by today's filing are the Puget Sound chinook salmon, lower Columbia River chinook salmon, upper Willamette River chinook salmon, upper Columbia River spring-run chinook salmon, Hood Canal summer-run chum salmon, Columbia River chum salmon, Ozette Lake sockeye salmon, upper Columbia River steelhead, Snake River Basin steelhead, middle Columbia River steelhead, lower Columbia River steelhead and upper Willamette River steelhead.

Of those 12 Pacific Northwest listed stocks, several occupy the same streams and have overlapping habitat (e.g., Lower Columbia River chinook salmon and steelhead ESUs). The net total number of stream miles designated for all 12 ESUs is 20,630 miles, and the net number of stream miles excluded is 2,817 miles. The designations include approximately 2,182 miles of near-shore habitat in Puget Sound .

Of the habitat identified, NOAA designated 89 percent as critical. Designation obligates other federal agencies to give special consideration to their activities when they take place in the designated areas.

The final policy contains exclusions for private landowners in the Northwest who have agreed to voluntary conservation efforts on their land. NOAA hopes to encourage other landowners in the Northwest and California to seek voluntary agreements that include protections that outweigh those that are likely through critical habitat designation.

"This (Bush) administration believes strongly in providing incentives for private landowners who are already protecting species voluntarily, and these designations recognize their hard work," Lohn said. He said that the agency would carefully review and consider for exclusion other voluntary habitat conservation plans submitted in the future, which would conserve salmon species.

"Today's designations will help the agency refine its recovery efforts for listed fish and will be part of the locally created recovery plans we are completing," said Lohn. "We have focused very specifically on those areas that are most important to recovery of salmon and steelhead, allowing us to most efficiently use our resources to protect fish."

The ESA gives the Secretary of Commerce discretion to exclude areas from designation if he determines that the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of designation. In the final designations NOAA excluded areas in the following categories:

-- Military areas: In the Northwest, a total 29 stream miles and 48 shoreline miles in Puget Sound . In California , these exclusions total 44 stream miles.

-- Tribal lands: Native American lands are excluded because of the unique trust relationship between tribes and the federal government, the federal emphasis on respect for tribal sovereignty and self-governance, and the importance of tribal participation in numerous activities aimed at conserving salmon, according to NOAA. In the Northwest these exclusions total 760 stream miles and 155 near-shore miles in Puget Sound . In California these exclusions total 32 stream miles.

-- Habitat conservation plans. Some lands covered by habitat conservation plans are excluded because the agency says it had evidence that exclusion would benefit its relationship with the landowner and that the protections secured through these plans outweigh the protections that are likely through critical habitat designation. In the Northwest these exclusions total 381 stream miles; there were no HCP exclusions in California .

-- Economic Impacts: The agency excluded areas where the conservation benefit to the species is relatively low compared to the economic impacts. In the Northwest these exclusions total 1,987 stream miles. In California these exclusions total 771 stream miles. These exclusions reduce the economic impact in the Northwest Region by $243.6 million and in California by about $100.5 million.

The February 2000 final critical habitat designations for 19 ESUs were challenged by the National Association of Homebuilders, and a federal court ruled that NOAA did not adequately consider the economic impacts of the critical habitat designations.

In April 2002, NOAA Fisheries Service withdrew the February 2000 critical habitat designations. Another lawsuit was filed by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association and other plaintiffs, alleging that NOAA Fisheries Service failed to designate timely critical habitat for the 19 ESUs for which critical habitat had been vacated (as well as an additional listed species, the northern California steelhead). A settlement was entered into in which NOAA Fisheries Service ultimately agreed to file final critical habitat designations by Aug. 15, 2005 .

In April, the NOAA Fisheries Service, with local, tribal, and state support, released a draft recovery plan for three ESA-listed Columbia/Snake River species in the Lower Columbia River in Washington . Similar recovery plans for all other regions of the Columbia and Snake River basins are expected to be delivered to the NOAA Fisheries Service by the end of 2005, and incorporated into final recovery plans by the end of 2006. These areas would include plans for recovering the other nine Columbia/Snake River stocks in the Snake River Basin and the upper- and mid-Columbia River, as well as several other salmon species in the Pacific Northwest .

More information including a variety of related maps, documents, and data supporting the proposal can be found at http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/1salmon/salmesa/crithab/CHsite.htm for the Northwest and http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov for California .