Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery Program : Draft Environmental Impact Statement Summary.

This summary gives the major points of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared for the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery by the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and other interested parties. The Nez Perce once were one of the largest Plateau tribes in the Northwest and occupied a territory that included north central Idaho, southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Salmon and other migratory fish species are an invaluable food resource and an integral part of the Nez Perce Tribe`s culture. Anadromous fish have always made up the bulk of the Nez Perce tribal diet and this dependence on salmon was recognized in the treaties made with the Tribe by the US. The historic economic, social, and religious significance of the fish to the Nez Perce Tribe continues to this day, which makes the decline of fish populations in the Columbia River Basin a substantial detrimental impact to the Nez Perce way of life. The Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery is a supplementation program that would rear and release spring, summer, and fall chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), biologically similar to wild fish, to reproduce in the Clearwater River Subbasin. Program managers propose techniques that are compatible with existing aquatic and riparian ecosystems and would integrate hatchery-produced salmon into the stream and river environments needed to complete their life cycle