Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin, 67617-67619 [2023-21882]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 189 (Monday, October 2, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 67617-67619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21882]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 67617]]

                Memorandum of September 27, 2023

                
Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, 
                and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River 
                Basin

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                The Columbia River and its tributaries, wetlands, and 
                estuaries are the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest, 
                providing abundant water, power, recreation, 
                agriculture, transportation, and natural resources that 
                have supported livelihoods, cultural and spiritual 
                practices, commerce, and economic growth. The salmon, 
                steelhead, and other native fish populations in the 
                Columbia River Basin (Basin) are essential to the 
                culture, economy, and way of life of Tribal Nations in 
                the region and Indigenous peoples in Canada, and also 
                provide an important food source for endangered orca, 
                which are sacred to many Tribal Nations in the region. 
                In 1855, the United States and four of the Tribal 
                Nations of the Basin entered into treaties specifying 
                that these Tribal Nations reserved the right to harvest 
                fish on their reservations and at all usual and 
                accustomed places. At that time, an estimated 7.5 to 16 
                million adult salmon and steelhead returned to the 
                Basin each year.

                Actions since 1855, including the Federal Government's 
                construction and operation of dams in the Basin, have 
                severely depleted fish populations. Thirteen salmon and 
                steelhead populations are listed as threatened or 
                endangered, other populations of those fish have been 
                extirpated, and other native fish populations have also 
                declined, causing substantial harm to Tribal Nations 
                and other communities reliant on salmon and steelhead. 
                Despite decades of hard work, ingenuity, expense, and 
                commitment across Federal, Tribal, State, and local 
                governments and a wide range of stakeholders, the 
                populations of salmon, steelhead, and other native fish 
                populations in the Basin continue to decline or have 
                not recovered to the level that would warrant removing 
                any population from the list of threatened and 
                endangered species.

                It is time for a sustained national effort to restore 
                healthy and abundant native fish populations in the 
                Basin. For these reasons, and by the authority vested 
                in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of 
                the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as 
                follows:

                Section 1. Policy. It is a priority of my 
                Administration to honor Federal trust and treaty 
                responsibilities to Tribal Nations--including to those 
                Tribal Nations harmed by the construction and operation 
                of Federal dams that are part of the Columbia River 
                System (CRS)--and to carry out the requirement of the 
                Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and 
                Conservation Act (Public Law 96-501) to operate, 
                manage, and regulate the CRS to adequately protect, 
                mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the 
                Federal dams in the Basin in a manner that provides 
                equitable treatment for fish and wildlife with the 
                other purposes for which the Federal dams are managed 
                and operated.

                In recognition of these priorities, it is the policy of 
                my Administration to work with the Congress and with 
                Tribal Nations, States, local governments, and 
                stakeholders to pursue effective, creative, and durable 
                solutions, informed by Indigenous Knowledge, to restore 
                healthy and abundant salmon, steelhead, and other 
                native fish populations in the Basin; to secure a clean 
                and resilient energy future for the region; to support 
                local agriculture and its role in food security 
                domestically and globally; and to invest in the

[[Page 67618]]

                communities that depend on the services provided by the 
                Basin's Federal dams to enhance resilience to changes 
                to the operation of the CRS, including those necessary 
                to address changing hydrological conditions due to 
                climate change.

                Sec. 2. Federal Implementation. (a) All executive 
                departments and agencies (agencies) with applicable 
                authorities and responsibilities, including the 
                Department of the Interior, including the Bureau of 
                Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the 
                Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Fish and 
                Wildlife Service, and the United States Geological 
                Survey; the Department of Agriculture, including the 
                United States Forest Service and the Natural Resources 
                Conservation Service; the Department of Commerce, 
                including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration; the Department of Energy, including the 
                Bonneville Power Administration; the Department of the 
                Army, including the United States Army Corps of 
                Engineers; and the Environmental Protection Agency, are 
                directed to utilize their authorities and available 
                resources to advance the policy established in section 
                1 of this memorandum.

                    (b) Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                all agencies with applicable authorities and 
                responsibilities, including those agencies identified 
                in subsection (a) of this section, shall review their 
                programs affecting salmon, steelhead, and other native 
                fish populations in the Basin, including any program 
                with authority or responsibility with respect to the 
                CRS, for consistency with the policy established in 
                section 1 of this memorandum. As soon as practicable 
                following such review, agencies shall, consistent with 
                applicable law, identify and initiate any steps 
                necessary to advance that policy.
                    (c) Within 220 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                all agencies with applicable authorities and 
                responsibilities, including those agencies identified 
                in subsection (a) of this section, shall provide the 
                Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
                (Director) an assessment of the agency's programs that 
                can advance the policy established in section 1 of this 
                memorandum and the resources such programs need for 
                this purpose. Based on the assessment, each agency 
                shall prioritize these activities to the extent 
                feasible in their program and budget planning.

                Sec. 3. Intergovernmental Partnership. The Chair of the 
                Council on Environmental Quality (Chair) and the 
                Director shall explore opportunities and mechanisms to 
                develop an intergovernmental partnership, including 
                through a memorandum of understanding, to advance the 
                policy established in section 1 of this memorandum 
                within the United States; the States of Oregon, 
                Washington, Montana, and Idaho; the Tribal Nations of 
                the Basin, including the Columbia Basin Treaty Tribes 
                (the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands 
                of the Yakama Indian Nation, the Confederated Tribes of 
                the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the 
                Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
                Reservation); the Upper Columbia United Tribes (the 
                Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the 
                Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Indians, the Spokane Tribe of 
                Indians, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, and the 
                Kootenai Tribe of Idaho); the Upper Snake River Tribes 
                (the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Fort McDermitt Paiute-
                Shoshone Tribe, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort 
                Hall Reservation, and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the 
                Duck Valley Reservation); and other Tribal Nations, as 
                appropriate. Within 120 days of the date of this 
                memorandum, the Chair and the Director shall submit a 
                report to the President with an update on progress in 
                developing this intergovernmental partnership.

                Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this 
                memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise 
                affect the ability of heads of agencies to meet the 
                requirements of sections 2 and 3 of this memorandum 
                before the deadlines in those sections or to produce 
                additional materials not specifically requested in this 
                memorandum.

                    (b) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed 
                to impair or otherwise affect:

[[Page 67619]]

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (c) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent 
                with applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.
                    (e) Independent agencies are strongly encouraged to 
                comply with the provisions of this memorandum.

                Sec. 5. Publication. The Chair is hereby authorized and 
                directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal 
                Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, September 27, 2023

[FR Doc. 2023-21882
Filed 9-29-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3125-W0-P