Memorandum of Understanding
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and UCUT and its five member tribes was signed in 2005. It is intended to further the mutual interests of the parties and improve relationships and communications in an effort to better manage, coordinate, and carry out fish and wildlife protection and mitigation activities.
“…in an effort to better manage, coordinate, and carry out fish and wildlife protection and mitigation activities.”
In the MOU, BPA recognizes that it shares the federal government’s trust responsibility to Indian tribes, and that each of the UCUT tribes is a sovereign government entity with management capabilities and regulatory authority with rights in fish, wildlife, water and other resources. A primary intent of the agreement is to increase the proportion of mitigated habitat in the Upper Columbia River eco-region.
UCUT Wildlife Monitoring and Evaluation Program
Started in 2008 and funded by the BPA through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, the UCUT Wildlife Monitoring and Evaluation Program (UWMEP) aims to restore wildlife habitat on tribal lands.
Using a regional, science-based approach to monitoring and evaluating wildlife resources, the UWMEP seeks to enhance the various types of habitat managed by tribal governments on thousands of acres, both on and off their respective reservations.
This program represents a prime example of how UCUT operates in a cost-effective and efficient manner by pooling the resources of its five member tribes in order to take a regional approach to natural resource coordination and wildlife management.
Click here to view the Kalispel Tribe’s geospatial database viewer. This viewer presents a compilation of fish, aquatic habitat, water, terrestrial wildlife and forestry resources information collected in the field within the blocked area of the Columbia River basin.
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Project
The UCUT has an inter-governmental contract with Bonneville Power Administration to inform, coordinate the participation of, and facilitate consensus-based decision-making among the five member tribes of the UCUT in issues related to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program and other associated natural resources efforts.
