Guy Norman, a Vancouver resident and long-time fisheries manager for Washington and Oregon, has been reappointed to a four-year term by Gov. Jay Inslee to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The council is composed of two members each from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It was created by the 1980 Northwest Power Act that gives the governors of the four states a decision-making role in regional energy and fish and wildlife policies.
The council develops a regional power plan plus a fish and wildlife plan to compensate for the impacts of the Columbia basin dams on fish and wildlife and their habitat.
Habitat improvements, fish production, wildlife area mitigation and research financed through the council’s plan totaled $279 million in 2016.
The program is financed by the Bonneville Power Administration.
Norman, 62, was first appointed to the council in September of 2016 to finish the unexpired term of Phil Rockefeller, who retired in July.
Headquartered in Portland, the council has a central staff of 40 employees and an annual budget of $8.6 million, including state offices and a staff for council members.
The council is a key player in the management of the Columbia River, along the Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Norman retired June 30 from his job as regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. It ended a 38-year career that included stints managing Columbia River fisheries for both the Washington and Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife.
Norman was Washington’s lead negotiator with the treaty tribes in developing the Columbia River Fish Management Plan. He played an instrumental role in most Columbia River fish issues since 1995.
Norman said he is excited by implementation of energy efficiency, which is the No. 1 resource for meeting current and future energy demand in the Northwest.
He also mentioned several focus areas of the fish and wildlife plan including prevention of invasive species and investigating salmon reintroduction upstream of Grand Coulee Dam.
Council members are paid approximately $105,000 a year.
