Plunker,

No doubt that I’m not privy to all the facts. Any exclusive dealings between Swinomish and WDFW are not known to me. However, anything pertaining to the allocation of SCL fisheries mitigation and enhancement funds stemming from the utility’s FERC license are, or should, be known to me.

I think you’re confusing the 2001 date. SCL first reached an interim flow agreement with the tribes, state, and federal agencies in 1981. The present flow agreement dates to 1990, and became part of the new SCL license when it was issued in 1995. I’m familiar with it because I negotiated and wrote substantial parts of it.

In 2001, the Skagit System Coop (all 3 tribes were members then) made a proposal to the Skagit committee that oversees the SCL funds to divert money from the steelhead program to the chinook program. WDFW opposed the proposal. The committee requested that the state and tribes, as fisheries co-managers develop a joint proposal to the committee. They did so after about 2 years, and the committee approved it. Any request for these SCL funds must be approved by unanimous consent. The subsequent proposal was approved and sends about half the steelhead rearing funds to the chinook program (either for research or habitat improvement). If necessary, I’ll look up the details and report them to whomever is interested, but I’ve got other work I have to do at the moment.

My key message is that no party, Swinomish Tribe, nor any other tribe or agency, can just walk away with SCL fisheries funds. The committee approves specific projects or programs, and awards specific dollar amounts to contract with specific parties, which could be WDFW (often, as they do much of the research and fish rearing) or the Skagit Coop or one of the tribes separately, or the Forest Service, an independent contractor. It depends on the project. The upshot is that the Swinomish Tribe cannot take a chunk of the SCL money to spend as they see fit. SCL only writes checks after all the procedural hoops have been jumped through. And the money only funds projects and programs that the committee has approved.

It’s not clear to me yet that we both know “the rest of the story.” I’ll check with SCL, the Tribe, and WDFW next week.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.