The Nez Perce Tribe is assuming a larger role in the operations at the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery in Orofino.
The tribe, which has been a co-manager at the hatchery for nearly 20 years, will now take over sole responsibility for fish production and maintenance at the facility.
The Lewiston Tribune reports as a part of its 2004 settlement with the federal government and state of Idaho over water rights claim in the Snake River Basin, the tribe secured full management of the Kooskia National Fish Hatchery and co-management status at Dworshak. Prior to that, the tribe constructed its own hatchery along the Clearwater River at Cherrylane between Lewiston and Orofino.
Under the new agreement, the Dworshak hatchery will continue to be owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and co-managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But the role of the tribe is expanding and the role of the Fish and Wildlife Service is shrinking.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will oversee fish health, monitoring and evaluation, and administration and financial oversight. Over the next two years, as Fish and Wildlife Service employees in fish production jobs retire or transfer, employees of the tribe will fill the open positions. (Lewiston Tribune)
