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<br />DRAFT -- August 11, 1999 <br /> <br />Section 7 consultation during a major consultation on a Habitat Conservation Plan with the <br />State of Washington. This issue is one which fits squarely within the spirit and intent of <br />Secretarial Order 3206 and should be addressed in the implementation of that Order. <br />Therefore, these and similar issues (such as issues pertaining to protection and recovery of <br />treaty fish and wildlife resources and associated habitat, and instream flow rights to protect <br />those resources) raised in the Tribal Consultations are not addressed in this Report. <br /> <br />In the course of the Tribal Consultations the Working Group leamed that, as a general matter, <br />S.O. 3206 was negotiated and executed with a focus on ESA implementation in the context of <br />fish and wildlife species which are of cultural, spiritual, and economic importance to Tribes. <br />A prime example of this is the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe's relationship to the cui-ui, an <br />endangered fish which resides in Pyramid Lake, located entirely on the Pyramid Lake <br />Reservation in the Truckee River Basin in Nevada. Thirty years ago, the cui-ui fishery in <br />Pyramid Lake was perilously close to extinction due to diversions of water from the Truckee <br />River upstream of the Reservation for irrigation in a federal reclamation project, the Newlands <br />Project. The Tribe used the ESA to achieve the listing of the cui-ui fish in Pyramid Lake, <br />and to initiate administrative measures and to obtain judicial rulings relating to the <br />management and oversight of the Newlands Project which has reduced diversions of water <br />from the Truckee River for irrigation and has increased flows to Pyramid Lake. The <br />increased flows, along with other measures, have achieved significant increases in the cui-ui <br />population. <br /> <br />Similarly, the courts have recognized that Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest who retain <br />off-reservation treaty fishing rights have a right to conservation of those fishery resources. <br />Implementation of the ESA has provided some assistance in that regard, although the Act's <br />protections often do not guarantee the tribal harvest of fish contemplated in the treaties. <br /> <br />8 <br />