"When Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo turned down the call by Nez Perce Chairman Brooklyn Baptiste for setting a “solution table” for Columbia-Snake salmon-dam talks, it was clear nothing was going to happen soon unless U.S. District Judge James Redden made it happen.

So the tribe and other salmon advocates requested a settlement judge be appointed by the court to help improve the process of finding solutions to save endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead.

The federal agencies responded last week, calling the process “improper” and asking the request be denied.

The agencies argue that the collaborative process with the tribes and the states is what Redden wants them to continue.

“We will be using the same collaboration approach we used with the existing biological opinion,” said Will Stelle, regional director of NOAA Fisheries."

Get the Story:
Rocky Barker: Salmon advocates want judge’s help (The Idaho Statesman 11/21)