Yesterday from the NSIA: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

PLEASE SIGN ON TO MITCHELL ACT FUNDING REQUEST TODAY.

Dear NSIA Members and Friends, (please forward to other business associates on your e-mail lists)

Last year, (Federal Funding year 2003, FFY03) the President recommended $16.5 M for the Mitchell Act, which is a part of the Commerce/Justice/State budget. I attended meetings with the states and tribes who receive the federal dollars to run hatcheries. It was clear that at that level, the equivalent of 3 hatcheries would close.

Because Congress did not pass most of their appropriation bills for FFY03, the individual budgets were rolled into an omnibus bill and passed as a negotiated budget.

Thanks to amazing, last-second work on the omnibus spending package by Congressman Norm Dicks (WA), and Senators Larry Craig (ID) and Gordon Smith (OR) the program received 19.2 million, and hatchery closures were averted. This year, facing the same $16.5M, President's budget, Senator Smith has led the effort in the Senate to secure $20.5 to keep the hatcheries open.

The Northwest cannot afford to lose any more jobs! NSIA has written a letter, to be sent to every member of the Oregon, Washington and Idaho delegation and the Senators, so they can see how many businesses depend on full funding of the Federal Hatcheries. The Mitchell Act program also provides for: mass marking, screening of irrigation diversions, and fish passage.

IF you wish to have your business on the letter, you must e-mail back to me by Close of business Thursday, so NSIA can get this letter faxed to Washington, DC on Friday. You are free to forward this letter to other business owners who are not NSIA members.

Here is what needs to be E-mailed back to me in order to put your business on record in support this federal funding program:

Please type in an e-mail to NSIALIZ@AOL.com

YOUR NAME
YOUR COMPANY'S NAME
CITY, STATE

It is especially important to support Idaho's efforts, by showing Idaho businesses. The letter is pasted below. Call me if you have questions.

Best Regards,

Liz Hamilton, Executive Director
Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association
PO Box 4
Oregon City, OR 97045
NSIALIZ@AOL.COM
503 631 8859
503 631 3887 fax

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Dear Senator/Representative:

We are writing to you to ask you to fight for a funding program that supports tens of thousands of jobs in the Northwest. Specifically, we need your efforts to secure the funds necessary to prevent closures in Mitchell Act Hatcheries. Without an increase of $4,056,000 over the President's budget request of $16,500,000, our region will lose hatcheries, and our industry will lose jobs the NW sorely needs.

The funding for the Mitchell Act was established in 1938 to provide salmon and steelhead for the fisheries that were lost due to the construction of the federal hydropower system. Currently, in the Columbia Basin, nearly 70 percent of all salmon and steelhead utilized for harvest are produced by hatcheries. The Mitchell Act hatcheries are a vital component of this production.

In the Federal Funding Year 2003 omnibus funding package, the program received $19.2 million, and hatchery closures were averted. For FFY'04 $16.5M will equate to lost production in three hatcheries.

The Mitchell Act has delivered tens of millions of dollars of economic benefit these last couple years when many sectors of the economy were struggling. While it's clear the Mitchell Act has direct benefit to the sportfishing industry throughout the region, it also benefits the communities that line the Columbia from mom-and-pop quick marts and grocery stores, to hotels, gas stations, restaurants and a long list of peripheral opportunities that enjoy the bounty robust sportfishing opportunity brings to their communities. Mitchell Act hatchery production is also an important part of fulfilling our Nation's treaty obligations.

Closure of these hatcheries will profoundly and negatively impact these communities that have just begun to realize the potential these runs bring to their businesses.

Mitchell Act funding is not a special project but a mitigation vehicle that was put in place when the dams were built. Knowing that the dams would have an impact on fish runs, Mitchell Act assured the citizens of the NW that those fisheries would be kept whole. In short, the Mitchell Act recognized the significant economic impact salmon runs have on the NW and created a vehicle to assure their success. Today, to operate at minimal levels requires a $20.5 million biennial expenditure. This is the same amount we paid to Klamath Basin Farmers (approximately 1,400 farms) as a down payment to mitigate the short term impact of their water shortage a year ago.

It is estimated that Mitchell Act hatchery facilities produce salmon and steelhead that generate over 600,000 angler days of fishing in the Columbia Basin which infuse over $60 million and 36,500 jobs into the Northwest communities. Additionally Mitchell Act salmon and steelhead contribute substantially to treaty and non-treaty commercial fisheries. Investing $20,556,000 in these hatcheries for the Federal FY2004 budget will allow these important economic contributions to continue. The funding also provides for monitoring and evaluation, ESA compliance, screening of irrigation diversions and fish passage improvements.

As businesspeople in the Northwest, we remain committed to fiscal responsibility. This program is a cost-effective response to a major environmental challenge and, given that it supports thousand of jobs, while meeting recovery goals, we believe should be a priority within a fiscally responsible bill.

Jobs in the Northwest are on the line, and your help is needed now. Please ensure that the Mitchell Act is adequately funded to ensure growth in or industry.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAMES AS E-MAILED BACK TO NSIA.

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If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always gotten.