A "good effort" to clarify policy issues and narrow areas of scientific disagreement is ongoing, but federal agencies can't promise that all will be happy at the end of the long-running collaboration with Columbia River basin tribes and states on the intricacies of a new hydrosystem salmon protection plan.

"Some sovereigns involved in the collaboration have expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Defendants' view that the proposed action and biological opinion are ultimately the work products of the responsible Federal Agencies," according to the fifth quarterly status report issued over the course of a court-ordered remand process that began early last year.

"These entities have suggested that everything in the remand, including the drafting of the BA and BiOp, must be done collectively and reflect a consensus. The Federal Defendants do not believe that this is what the Court's remand order contemplates, nor is it called for by the ESA or its implementing regulations," according to the report filed Feb. 2 with the court by the U.S. Justice Department.

The collaboration continues via an "iterative process" involving the "sharing of initial drafts and pieces of drafts to get input and refine the product," according to the report filed for NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration.

That helps to clarify and narrow areas of disagreement, but, "unlike earlier remand status reports, the current report does not strive to achieve consensus," the report says.

Instead sovereign collaborators were invited to summarize their concerns for the court.

U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden in May 2005 declared the NOAA Fisheries Service's 2004 biological opinion on the Federal Columbia River Power System contrary to Endangered Species Act requirements.

He ordered federal agencies in October 2005 to correct the BiOp's legal deficiencies, working in collaboration with states and tribes.

ESA BiOps judge whether a planned federal action -- such as hydrosystem operations -- jeopardizes the survival of listed species, in this case 12 salmon and steelhead stocks.

Recent Columbia/Snake hydro system BiOps have included measures to improve survival within the system as well as off-site actions such as habitat improvements.

The mitigation measures have either been encased in the proposed action or in a "reasonable and prudent alternative" (RPA) to the action that is spelled out in the BiOp.

The report says that the proposed action/RPA will be completed by mid-March by the federal "action" agencies, as will an accompanying biological assessment. The action agencies include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, which operate federal dams, and the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets power generated in the federal hydrosystem.

Even then the documents will be "subject to adjustment based on PWG discussion before being delivered to NOAA Fisheries." The remand's Policy Working Group includes representatives of states, tribes and the federal agencies.

Under the schedule approved by the court, a final NOAA Fisheries BiOp is due by July 31.

"Given the long and often acrimonious debate that has occurred over many of these issues, the fact that skepticism exists in the Lower Tribes and, perhaps others, at this juncture is not surprising. However, the issues of concern will continue to be discussed and debated," the report says.

The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes, in comments attached to the report, said they have "grave concerns" that the initial products do not capture remand discussions.

"The tribes are very concerned that much of the effort put into the process by non-agency collaborators has been given little recognition in the current Action Agency product," according to the tribal comments. "While this may be rectified in future drafts, the current posture is highly troubling."

"Tribal concerns, while not specifically limited by this listing, fall within general categories such as: clear and enforceable methods for closing survival gaps, clear and enforceable methods for reversing the trend toward extinction, monitoring any progress in either regard, mechanisms for curing methods that simply don't perform as advertised, recognition of hatchery contributions to recovery and the failure to provide a clear designation of the jeopardy standard against which to measure any Proposed Action," the tribes say.

The tribes said they will "continue to work in the collaboration process in hopes that changes may occur in future products, while maintaining a healthy degree of skepticism as to potential outcomes."

The Spokane Tribe says that the federal agencies participation in the process has "undergone a perceptible shift" since summer, developing documents on their own and sharing those products for discussion and comment.

The Spokane Tribe also said that those draft documents "do not reflect key information derived from and work products of the collaboration." Likewise the Spokane Tribe comments said they will continue to work in the process.

The judge has scheduled a 9:30 a.m. status conference on March 9 in Portland to discuss the report and process. Comments on the status report will be accepted through Feb. 16.

A second status conference will be held that day, at 1:30 p.m., to check progress on a separate but related remand -- that of a 2004 NOAA BiOp for Bureau irrigation projects in the upper Snake River basin . Like the FCRPS BiOp, it declared the Bureau's planned action did not jeopardize the survival of listed salmon and steelhead.

Redden in May of last year declared the upper Snake BiOp invalid as well, faulting it like the FCRPS BiOp for not doing a "comprehensive" jeopardy analysis that included the effects of the proposed action and the existing environmental baseline.

The environmental baseline for each BiOp must include the effects of the other federal action, he said. The judge in September remanded the upper Snake BiOp and said a new, legal BiOp should be completed within four months of completion of the FCRPS BiOp.

A status report also filed Feb. 2 with the court said the Bureau and NOAA are working to assess the aggregate effects from the two sets of dam operations.

"These consultations are both being conducted in accordance with the same general standards articulated by the Court (to aggregate effects and comprehensively evaluate the effects of Reclamation's upper Snake projects with those of the FCRPS, effects in the environmental baseline and cumulative effects)," the report says.

The process will use the same jeopardy analytical framework and process for conducting the comprehensive evaluation that is being developed FCRPS remand.

"The methods that NOAA Fisheries has described in memorandums from Bob Lohn for the FCRPS remand will apply to the upper Snake Remand," according to the Upper Snake report.

The Bureau "has spent the past few months identifying the level of work, types of analyses, technical expertise, and funding required to complete" a supplement to its November 2004 biological assessment.

"Staff and funds have been assigned to conduct the needed analyses and work has begun," according to the Bureau report. "Reclamation has actively coordinated with NOAA Fisheries and internally with staff engaged in the FCRPS remand to ensure that the scope and scheduled completion of these tasks and that all information developed is consistent with the framework and metrics being developed in the FCRPS remand.

"Specifically, Reclamation scientists are examining existing data on salmon and steelhead migration, flows, temperatures, and survival; Reclamation's hydrologists are working on new/additional analyses and information that will be presented in the supplement; and completion of the supplement will be coordinated with the development of the FCRPS Biological Assessment.

"Reclamation and NOAA Fisheries are actively considering biological, water quality, and hydrologic data and discussing the potential to adapt flow augmentation releases to best benefit migrating salmon and steelhead," the report says.

"All of the information available in the remand on Reclamation's upper Snake River projects will be provided to the FCRPS remand in order to fully evaluate the information in the FCRPS analysis to ensure a comprehensive analysis," according to the upper Snake remand status report.

For information and documents related to FCRPS BiOp litigation go to www.salmonrecovery.gov