With salmon runs at their highest numbers in decades -- and a presidential campaign looming -- the Bush administration has begun calling attention to salmon recovery in the Northwest as a sign of its environmental stewardship.


Monday at Bonneville Dam, senior administration officials announced a proposed $10 million increase for salmon habitat restoration and called the Northwest's endangered species efforts a model for the nation.

The funding increase is relatively small in comparison with the $700 million spent annually on Columbia Basin salmon


But administration officials emphasize the stunning salmon returns -- a simple and direct measure of results.


"We must celebrate our successes to give us the impetus to carry forward," said James Connaughton, chairman of the president's Council on Environmental Quality, in a speech Monday at Bonneville.

Conservation groups questioned Bush's commitment to protecting salmon and other endangered species.

"We're glad that the proposed spending increased is happening. But we don't want that to obscure the fact that overall the Bush administration's salmon policy is causing more harm than good," said Michael Garrity of American Rivers.

According to the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, a collection of more than 50 conservation organizations and fishing associations, the Bush administration has allocated about half the money needed during the past three years to fully carry out the plan issued by federal biologists in 2000 for recovery of Columbia Basin salmon.


U.S. District Judge James Redden said the government's attempt to use habitat restoration and other steps to compensate for the harm caused by dams fell short of the standards required by the Endangered Species Act. The judge gave the government a year to reshape the plan.


Scientists, including biologists with the National Marine Fisheries Service, think many factors account for salmon gains, including a natural shift in ocean conditions about 1998 that has dramatically increased survival of salmon and steelhead at sea.


Gee another four years of G.W. Jr. and we will all be neck deep in salmon. Given the fact the chinook in question were born before he took office, G.W. Jr.'s policies must heve been retroactive.

Come on Grandpa, give me hell, I'm already wrapped in tinfoil to ward off your assalut.