NEWPORT — The governing body of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department is meeting Thursday and Friday in Newport.
A tour by the seven-member Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission on Thursday includes stops to discuss the new agreement with private forest landowners, a discussion of key conservation issues in marine ecosystems and celebration of 10 years of ODFW’s marine reserve program, and a tour of the Port of Newport to discuss commercial fisheries.
Friday’s meeting begins at 8 a.m. at the Best Western Agate Beach.
A public forum for people to comment on topics not on the agenda is scheduled for Friday morning after the director’s report.
Consideration of three separate agreements with the Confedered Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are on the agenda Friday. The agreements will advance the government-to-government relationships between the state and the tribes, enhance tribal sovereignty and give each tribe a stronger voice in protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife, and their habitats. The proposed agreements are comparable in scope to what the commission adopted last year with the Coquille Indian Tribe and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
Each agreement sets up a framework under which tribal members will participate in subsistence and ceremonial harvest of fish and wildlife resources that is licensed and managed by the tribal government in cooperation with ODFW and Oregon State Police. Within certain areas set out in the agreements, enrolled members could participate in hunting, fishing, shellfishing, and trapping licensed by their Tribe. Annual harvest limits and areas for harvest by tribal members would be set by mutual consent between the tribe and ODFW.
The commission will also hear reports on amphibians in a changing climate and the agency’s three-year action plan for beaver-modified landscapes.