Salmon
funds triple in Oregon budget
Agriculture
Department budget rises 5.9 percent under plan for 2001-2003
By Ed Merriman, Capital Press
SALEM - Funding for efforts under the
Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds soars from $31.7
million to $90.4 million under the natural resources portion
of Gov. John Kitzhaber's 2001-2003 recommended statewide
budget.
Kitzhaber's biennial budget proposal
unveiled Dec. 1 calls for beefed up activities to improve
water quality and restore threatened or endangered salmon,
steelhead and trout runs through the plan.
"This budget maintains Oregon's
commitment to continuing the Oregon Plan for Salmon and
Watersheds," Kitzhaber said. He and the 1997 Oregon
Legislature created the Oregon Plan in an effort to comply
with federal policies under the Endangered Species Act and
Clean Water Act. Initially the plan was funded with roughly
$30 million - half from timber and fishing industry groups
and half from state general funds.
In 1998, however, voters directed
lawmakers and state officials to dedicate 7.5 percent of
lottery proceeds to additional salmon/watershed restoration
efforts. That ultimately led to the tripling of
salmon/watershed funding by the 1999 Legislature. While
Kitzhaber's budget recommendation continues the allocation
of those funds, it shifts the method of dispersing the
money.
It has been budgeted to the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board under a system designed by
lawmakers to distribute the money without adding to the base
budgets of state natural resource agencies. Kitzhaber's
2001-2003 budget proposal allocates the salmon/watershed
dollars directly to agencies, which in turn would distribute
part of the funds to OWEB for grants and administration
expenses.
Plan activities receiving enhanced
funding under the budget recommendation include:
- n watershed council education and
adoption of agriculture-area watershed basin plans (the
so-called 1010 plans) administered by the Oregon
Department of Agriculture;
- inspections of confined animal
feeding operations, instream monitoring and development
of total maximum daily loads (a standard of pollution)
plans for rivers and watersheds by Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality;
- fish surveys, technical assistance
and monitoring of coastal salmon plan activities by the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife;
- stream enhancement projects,
improving or decommissioning roads, replacing culverts
to improve fish passage and encouraging voluntary forest
practices that reduce runoff and enhance water quality
and other salmon restoration activities administered by
the Oregon Department of Forestry and other agencies.
Some of the additional resources will
fund one additional position at the ODA to monitor the
implementation and effectiveness of SB1010 watershed
management plans.
Three riparian specialist positions
are added at the forestry department to help implement
recommendations for changes in forest practices that benefit
watersheds and water quality.
Kitzhaber's budget calls for new
priorities at ODFW by shifting funding from hatchery
operations, fish screening and related administrative
programs to fish and wildlife habitat restoration programs.
Three hatcheries would be reduced or eliminated.
Fee increases at DEQ are recommended
to maintain current water quality programs and to add staff
needed to complete and monitor water quality plans required
by the federal government.
Additional funding is also sought for
the Oregon Water Resources Department to begin development
of basinwide assessments for each river basin in the state.
Those would include information on surface and groundwater
supplies, flows, water rights and uses, and storage
opportunities.
For the ODA, the governor's
recommended budget for the 2001-2003 biennium of $75.6
million is up 5.9 percent from $71.4 million in 1999-2001,
and represents nearly $600,000 more than would be needed to
maintain current service levels. Employment would increase
from 807 to 819 full- and part-time positions.
Some of the additional ODA funding is
earmarked for development of a statewide prototype pesticide
use reporting system scheduled for completion during the
2001-2003 biennium. Staffing for the ODA's food safety
inspection program is also increased under the budget
proposal.
In recent years, grocery stores and
supermarkets have added take-out food options. These
inspections are more complex and take longer. "The
recommended budget adds positions to keep the inspection
schedule similar to the past," according to the budget
document.
Funding is maintained for weed control
and soil and water conservation districts.
Areas of the ODA budget targeted for
cutbacks include travel expenses for agricultural marketing
and promotion by the ODA director; food safety laboratory
services; shellfish sampling; reduced payments to federal
predator control programs; and elimination of funding for
county fairs.
Another proposed cut targets programs
designed to reserve and promote water use for expanded
agricultural production, food processing and other uses
related to economic development. This service is not
mandated, according to the budget document.
Other budget highlights include:
- A boost in DEQ funding of 2.7
percent from $304.1 million to $312.2 million, adding
more than 100 full- and part-time positions from 807 to
912.
- A slight decrease of 0.6 percent in
the ODFW budget recommendation from the 1999-2001
legislatively approved figure of $206.6 million to
$205.4 million for 2001-2003. The governor's proposal
also calls for shifting a portion of ODFW's funding from
fees and lottery funds to state General Fund dollars.
- A 9.5 percent increase from $196.7
million to $215.5 million in the Department of Forestry
budget recommendation with full- and part-time staff
positions increasing from 1,402 to 1,456. Additional
staff are targeted for specialist positions to implement
Forest Practices Advisory Committee recommendations,
oversee construction of an interpretive center at the
Tillamook State Forest and other projects, and work on
fish passage, forest road, landslide, timber harvesting
caps and various land-use issues.
All lottery funds for plan activities
within forestry's budget would be replaced with general fund
dollars under the governor's proposal. A reduction in the
Service Forestry program is also anticipated due to declines
and changes in harvest taxes.
- Department of Land Conservation and
Development budget would increase 0.4 percent from
$16,805,112 to $16,869,642. That won't keep pace with
salary increases and maintain current service levels, so
the proposal calls for reductions in funding for the
Transportation Growth Management program, the Federal
Emergency Management program, the mineral/aggregate
program and the Coastal Zone Management program.
- Division of State Lands budget
would decline by 30 percent from $85.1 million to $59.6
million under the governor's recommendation. That's due
primarily to changes in the formula for distributing
money to schools and a projected decline in timber
harvest revenues from Common School Fund lands
administered by the department.
- Water Resources budget would climb
6.7 percent from nearly $27.7 million to $29.5 million
despite a reduction in full- and part-time staff from
157 to 148. Several reductions were made "in order
to finance two priority efforts: continuing the Klamath
Basin adjudication and beginning a multi-year project to
assess each river basin in the state for water supply
and storage purposes," according to the budget
document.
- OWEB budget would climb 49.9
percent from $43.8 million to nearly $65.7 million with
an increase of 10 full- and part-time positions raising
employee numbers to 23. Reasons cited for the
recommended increases include a $10.5 million carryover
of grant funds for projects approved in 1999-2001 but
not yet completed, a $9 million increase in federal
salmon/watershed restoration funds through the National
Marine Fisheries Service and an $8 million carryover in
unspent federal grant funds.
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