The Yakima Basin Fish & Wildlife Recovery Board (YBFWRB) is built on the belief that working together to develop broadly-supported plans is an essential part of recovering at-risk fish and wildlife species. While it is easy to find examples of bad planning documents that simply sit on a shelf, we believe that a good plan:

• Clearly lays out what we are trying to accomplish, how we will do it, and how we will track whether or not what we are doing works as anticipated.
• Is scientifically rigorous, and is understood and supported by those it affects.
• Is regularly referred to as the actions it calls for are implemented, and is used to track how what we actually accomplish compares to the goals we set for ourselves.
• Help us meet our goals, while using tax-payer dollars wisely and avoiding negative impacts on others.

Much of our planning work is focused on working collaboratively with federal agencies to develop recovery plans for species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Section 4-f of the ESA requires that recovery plans be prepared for each listed species. Recovery plans are guidance documents, not regulatory documents. They act as road maps for recovering a species, and must contain:

• Objective measurable criteria for delisting the species
• Site-specific actions
• Estimates of the time and cost for implementing the recovery plan