The Client
Dave Mabe, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

The Challenge
The Idaho DEQ, pressed by deadlines, needed to comment on a federal salmon recovery biological opinion. The agency needed to show how State water quality programs offered adequate protection for the Salmon.

The Approach
The Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG) understood land ownership patterns in the state, the regulatory programs, and had the tools and mapping skills to tackle a project of this scope. They also had excellent relationships with key partners and other regulatory agencies. The NNRG needed very little assistance from our office, enabling our staff to pursue additional priorities.

The Product Solution
The NNRG produced a summary of the relationship between state water quality programs and federal efforts to protect wild salmon. Information from this report was included in the Govenors’s comments and in the ultimate regional strategy for salmon recovery. The strategy, based on solid science and analysis, was easy to read. Through strong visuals and research data they helped Idaho’s DEQ demonstrate that state water quality programs were adequate to protection salmon.

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