Lower Snake River Compensation Plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is funding operation, maintenance, and evaluation of Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP) anadromous fish hatcheries and satellite facilities under Assistance Listing 15.661, with the most recent grant award issued in November 2022.

This program produces and releases approximately 20 million Chinook salmon and steelhead smolts annually from eleven hatcheries and fourteen satellite facilities across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to mitigate fish losses from four lower Snake River dams constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Funded activities include fish hatchery operation and maintenance, brood stock collection and spawning, juvenile rearing and transport, adult trapping and monitoring, fish health services, and survival and harvest evaluation of released fish. A significant portion of awarded work supports data management infrastructure—specifically the Fish Inventory System (FINS), a centralized database serving state, tribal, and federal hatcheries across the Snake River Basin for tracking trapping, spawning, incubation, rearing, transfer, and release events. Recipients conduct monitoring and evaluation to assess impacts on Endangered Species Act-listed species and coordinate LSRCP programs with other Columbia Basin fish management efforts.

Cooperative Agreements account for 90 percent of the 78 awards issued since 2010, with Project Grants comprising the remaining 10 percent. Combined federal dollars obligated total $270.6 million. Funding flows from two entities within the Department of the Interior: Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 dominates with 35 awards totaling $215.5 million in federal dollars obligated, while the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service issued 43 awards worth $55 million combined. Award volume has fluctuated—reaching 12 awards in 2015 before dropping sharply to 1 in 2016, then resuming at 7 to 9 annually through 2022.

Recent representative awards reflect the program's scope. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife received a cooperative agreement for $17.5 million (awarded November 2022, completion September 2027) to operate Lookingglass, Irrigon, and Wallowa hatcheries and associated acclimation facilities, with specific smolt production targets totaling roughly 2.9 million across spring Chinook, fall Chinook, and steelhead. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife received $18.7 million (October 2022, completion September 2027) for operation and maintenance of two hatcheries and satellite facilities. The Nez Perce Tribe Fisheries Department received $5.7 million (October 2022, completion September 2027) to implement fall Chinook acclimation projects releasing over 2 million subyearlings annually, spring Chinook production at tribal and Lookingglass hatcheries, and monitoring and evaluation work.

No grant opportunities have been posted recently. The most recent opportunity solicitations are archived from 2012–2015 and reflect cyclical calls for state and tribal partners to support specific components—hatchery operations and maintenance, monitoring and evaluations, and data management—typically with November application deadlines. Applicants must hold legal authority to operate fish hatcheries and release fish in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and demonstrate competency to operate facilities and conduct scientific research. Assistance is available October 1 through September annually.