Columbia River Initiative Roll-Out
Kennewick, Washington
December 17, 2004
statement by Dr. Jeff Koenings, Ph.D., WDFW Director

Hello, I am Dr. Jeff Koenings, Director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. I am very pleased to appear here today as my agency has been an integral part of the team developing the Columbia River Initiative. We strongly support this type of broadly collaborative effort. It reaches for new and innovative solutions to increased needs for water by people and fish in the basin that have been stalemating us. This Initiative offers us a path forward for a particularly difficult issue, one that has tried the patience of everybody: including the residents of the Basin, the fish and wildlife managers, and the agencies that manage water usage. Perhaps the only happy parties have been the lawyers.

We all know that there are unmet needs for water in the Basin, and that these will continue to grow. The signs of trouble surround us. Important aquifers have dropped dramatically, many tributaries are overappropriated, and salmon populations are suffering. The solutions identified to date have been viewed by some as largely one-sided: beneficial for salmon but nothing for people or vice versa. Consequently, the issue has been too often viewed as fish vs. people, as if solutions were mutually exclusive. The Initiative says No, this is not the case and holds the promise that we can sustain a future for both people and fish in the Basin. It does not promise that it will be easy, or inexpensive, or simple. But, by setting high standards for ourselves, we can succeed. The Initiative is based on meeting high scientific standards, economic standards, and community standards. My agency has helped develop the biological standards that underlie the Initiative. Having said that, we understand that the economic return to the Basin is greatest when water benefits both people and fish. In other words, we recognize that as landowners and fish and wildlife stewards, we are part of the basin's community and believe in being a good neighbor.

The Columbia is the common thread, tying together our communities and our neighborhoods. As such, the Columbia is a "working" river, generating power, moving people and freight, providing livelihoods and recreation. The water for fish in the Initiative is responsive to the science, an investment in salmon recovery, and it is water that keeps our river "working" for people too. Today is a very good start on managing the Columbia to sustain both fish and people; I am proud that my agency will be part of the team making the Columbia River Initiative a success. That success will signal to the rest of the state a simple message - Yes, we can do this! Thank you.

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