News Release
| Release Number: | 02-198 |
| Dated: | 12/19/2002 |
| Contact: | Public Affairs Office, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a $4.3 million contract to construct five treaty fishing access sites along the Columbia River. Construction will begin this month, and all five sites should be completed by November 2004.
Colville Tribal Services of Coulee, Wash., will construct a site in Oregon at LePage and four sites in Washington at Sundale, Avery, North Shore and Crow Butte.
All sites will provide treaty fishing access to the Columbia River. Specific improvements will be constructed based on individual site needs and conditions. Those improvements could include sanitary and support facilities, boat docks, access roads, breakwaters, pilings and boat ramps.
The Corps is aware that the construction of the treaty fishing access sites may affect local recreation users. The agency has tried to minimize impacts by either avoiding the impacts to existing public facilities or by designing facilities to mitigate the impacts. For example, during the construction of the new treaty fishing access ramp and dock at LePage Park, the Corps also will improve the public docks at the park. Of the five new sites, three will not impact recreation. Unfortunately, at the Avery and Sundale sites, space was not available to accommodate both public and tribal facilities. These areas will be improved and transferred to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), for their management for treaty fishing purposes.
"We are looking to offset the recreational impacts to the local communities at Sundale and Avery by maintaining the Crow Butte State Park for public access and enjoyment," said George Miller, Corps project manager for the access sites. "Washington State Parks intends to return Crow Butte State Park to the Corps. The long-term disposition of the park has not been decided, but the Corps is considering whether operational efficiencies gained by the transfer of the Avery and Sundale sites to BIA will free up the resources necessary to keep the Crow Butte park operational."
This is the latest group of sites to be constructed. In 1995, the Corps began sites at Bonneville and Underwood in Washington; and Cascade Locks and Lone Pine in Oregon. A second round of construction began in 1997 for sites at Stanley Rock in Oregon; and Wind River, Cooks and Lyle in Washington. In 2000, seven sites were completed to include: Rufus, Preacher's Eddy and Faler Road in Oregon; and Alderdale, Roosevelt and Pine Creek in Washington.
This work is part of the Columbia River Treaty Fishing Access Site project, which was authorized by Public Law 100-581, Title IV, and signed into law on Nov. 1, 1988. The law requires that certain lands along the Columbia River be administered to provide access to the traditional fishing areas and associated facilities for members of the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation.
The project replaces fishing sites that were guaranteed through treaties signed by the United States government and the individual tribes during the 1850s, and were later inundated by the construction of Bonneville Dam.
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