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Handout for April 2, 1998 meeting - Notes to committee members
April 2 draft.
Comments received from Doug Dompier, Bill Bakke, R.Z. Smith and Trent
Stickell
NOTES TO ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
1. In a later chapter, the scientists who are conducting the review
should answer the following questions, which I will allude to in the
introduction:
· For each hatchery built to mitigate for hydropower impacts:
-- What was the mitigation requirement (numerical values in juveniles and
adults and by species)?
-- What was the mitigation duration (including the years the mitigation
goals were met and not met)?
-- Which species were used, and if the mitigation species changed, when were
the changes made?
-- Were native or non-native species used for mitigation?
-- What years were fish released and how many were released each year?
-- What are the smolt-to-adult survival rates?
-- What is the stray rate for each hatchery, and where are the strays
recovered?
2. The numbers in the tables at the end of this chapter were provided by
PSMFC (Streamnet) and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. You need to
decide what numbers you want to include in this review, and how you want to
present them. For example, the table on Mitchell Act hatcheries shows
releases by calendar year, not brood year, and does not show where the fish
were produced -- only where they were released. I think (I hope) the errors
several of you found in checking the numbers in these tables against your
own numbers probably reflect a difference in reporting or counting. How do
you want to deal with these discrepencies? Here is an approach one of you
suggested: Identify all fish production goals for each facility and report
1) adult fish activities, 2) egg takes, 3) egg transfers, 4) fish releases.
This should be a topic of discussion for the next meeting
- John Harrison
Artificial Production Requirements for Mitigation of
Anadromous and Resident Fish Losses in the Columbia River Basin
INTRODUCTION
In late 1997, Congress directed the Northwest Power Planning Council to
conduct, with the assistance of the Independent Scientific Advisory Board, a
comprehensive review of all federally funded artificial production programs
in the Columbia River Basin and to produce a formal recommendation for a
coordinated policy by July 30, 1998. Congress directed that this review
should include an assessment of the hatchery operation goals and principles
of state, tribal and federal hatcheries.
The Council and others in the region have been discussing the concept of
a Columbia River basinwide review of artificial production since at least
1982, when the Council's first Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife
Program called for creation of a Fish Propagation Panel and gave the panel
specific instructions. Section 7.2B of the Council's 1994 Columbia River
Basin Fish and Wildlife Program again called for such a review. The
comprehensive review also responds to regional concerns about the role of
artificial production of anadromous and resident fish in the Columbia River
Basin. For example:
· An environmental impact statement (EIS) has been under development by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS),
and Bonneville over the last three years to programmatically address
artificial production concerns in the Columbia River Basin. The EIS is
expected to be finalized in the near future. Information compiled for the
EIS could provide good background for the review.
· The three independent scientific panels (Independent Scientific Group,
National Research Council work group, and NMFS Recovery Team) have completed
reports over the last several years that all call for a review of Columbia
Basin artificial production for salmon and steelhead. They all note the need
to integrate artificial production with natural production in a biologically
sound manner.
· The Council program has numerous measures that relate directly to
issues regarding artificial production, natural production, and the
interactions of the two. In approving the fiscal year 1997 implementation
package the Council called for the fish and wildlife managers to develop and
submit a study plan to address all of these measures as a high priority. The
intent was to implement this study plan starting in fiscal year 1998. To
date, the study plan has not been drafted.
· The Council will need to make decisions at key points in development of
several program artificial production projects over the next several years.
A review of artificial production should be designed so that it can provide
guidance for these decisions.
· The NMFS is developing a recovery plan for Snake River salmon
populations listed under the Endangered Species Act, and recently proposed
listing certain steelhead populations in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
Likewise, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing a recovery plan
for the listed Kootenai River sturgeon. It is anticipated that the
artificial production review could provide information that might be used to
address issues in the recovery plans relating to the use of artificial
production.
· The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes developed
Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit, Spirit of the Salmon, a Columbia River anadromous
fish restoration plan that calls for the integration of artificial and
natural fish production.
· The Columbia River Fish Management Plan developed under the U.S. v
Oregon litigation terminates on December 31, 1998
It is clear that a comprehensive review of artificial production could
provide useful information for a number of activities in the region. As
regional concern about the effectiveness of artificial production has
increased, so has the importance of a comprehensive review. Currently, more
than 80 percent of the salmon produced in the basin are produced through
artificial production. Resident fish populations also rely heavily on
artificial production.
Most, but not all, of the artificial production in the Columbia River
Basin compensates for fish losses attributable to the construction and
operation of dams hydropower dams. The Mitchell Act of 1938, for example,
which is discussed in more length elsewhere in this chapter, is the major
source of money to finance federal fish hatcheries in the Columbia River
Basin, but it does not focus solely on the impact of hydroelectric dams. In
fact, Congress recognized in the Mitchell Act that the salmon fishery in the
Columbia Basin was in serious decline because of the impact of
deforestation, pollution and water diversions, particularly those activities
carried on by the federal government. This review will focus on artificial
production as a mitigation tool, but it should be noted that mitigation also
is accomplished by other means. For example, many dam operators in the basin
that finance or co-finance fish hatcheries also pay for improvements to
spawning and rearing habitat and for river operations designed to aid fish,
such as certain instream flows, outflows from dams and reservoir elevations.
Non-production mitigation is not addressed in this comprehensive review.
It should be clear that the construction and operation of hydroelectric
and irrigation dams in the Columbia River Basin wiped out vast areas of
spawning and rearing habitat, including certain wild fish populations. As
the result of inundation by reservoirs behind these dams, some fish
populations simply cannot be replaced in the precise areas where they once
spawned.
Certainly for those populations, mitigation has not replaced the losses
in the areas where they occurred. There is controversy in the region about
mitigation that replaces upriver losses (above Bonneville or The Dalles
dams, for example) with fish production and releases at lower-river
locations -- hatcheries located downstream of Bonneville. The controversy
involves whether this should occur and the extent to which this mitigation
has further impacted upriver fish populations. For example, some lower-river
hatcheries release millions of juvenile fish annually at locations above
Bonneville Dam and maintain broodstock to sustain upriver fish production
programs. Is that adequate mitigation for upriver losses, in conjunction
with production at the comparatively fewer number of upriver hatcheries?
Ultimately, that is a question of regional fish and wildlife policy, and
this review may be helpful in raising the issue, and others, for the
attention of the region's policymakers.
In a sense, then, this review of artificial production will attempt to do
the impossible. That is because the answers to some of the questions that
will be raised in the review simply are not known. By raising the questions,
however, the review may prompt the region to begin thinking about mitigation
in a broader sense than mere numbers of fish lost and replaced. For example,
it would be valuable for the region to know, and this review attempts to
report, the mitigation requirement for each hydroelectric project in terms
of numbers of fish (juveniles, adults and species), the duration of the
mitigation, whether native or non-native species were used, and if species
changes were made, when these changes occurred.
Another important consideration for the future of artificial production
in the Columbia River Basin is whether there has been, or is likely to be, a
net loss of biological diversity as the result of this mitigation. In some
cases, a central hatchery located on a particular tributary has replaced
production on several tributaries. This type of hatchery production could
promote simplification of the biological structure of fish populations in a
given watershed by using a single species to mitigate the loss of several
distinct native populations. This single stock could be a native fish or a
non-native species. To the extent this has happened already in the Columbia
Basin, the question for the region is whether this tendency toward
monoculture is an acceptable form of mitigation. Some would argue it is
acceptable as a step toward replacing lost numbers of fish, yet others would
argue that such monocultures are inherently unstable, and the potential loss
of biological diversity undercuts the mitigation goal. Biological diversity
is not the only concern, of course. Another is whether hatchery fish are the
same quality as the wild stocks they are intended to replace. It may seem
rhetorical, but if hatchery stocks are inferior to wild fish, and many
people in the region would argue this is true, then is mitigation using
these fish adequate?
Finally, what about hatchery strays -- fish that end up in a tributary
other than the one where they were released? Hatchery strays may reduce the
fitness and productivity of native fish in those rivers. The question may
not be so much whether there are impacts on native fish, but what should be
done, if anything. This review likely won't answer these questions, but it
will pose them, at least, as issues the region must address.
Analysis of the mitigation of losses is helpful in understanding, in a
qualitative manner, the biological loss associated with changes in
production from natural to artificial production, and also with elimination
and/or movement of production on a geographic basis. Artificial production
facilities mitigate for losses of salmon and steelhead production, and
spawning and rearing habitat, resulting from dams and other developments.
This introductory chapter provides information concerning three major
types of fish mitigation that have occurred in the Columbia River Basin:
first, federal multipurpose mitigation programs; second, Northwest Power
Planning Council Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program measures;
and third, mitigation funded under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
licenses for nonfederal hydropower projects.
Overview of Columbia Basin Mitigation
One dramatic effect of mitigation activities for hydropower and for
multipurpose developments has been to strengthen fish propagation in the
lower Columbia River Basin without attempting to rebuild upriver runs. For
example, most of the federally financed hatcheries in the Columbia River
Basin are downstream of Bonneville Dam.
A related effect has been to increase the proportion of hatchery fish in
the overall outmigration. In 1974, for instance, 40 public agency and tribal
hatcheries released 155 million juvenile salmonids in the Columbia Basin --
five times as many as were released in 1960 (Netboy 1980). By the late
1960s, hatchery production of chinook, coho and steelhead surpassed natural
production (Columbia River Fisheries Council 1981).
In the 1970s hatchery smolts in the mid-Columbia area were estimated to
comprise up to 74 percent of spring chinook outmigrants (1.4 million wild, 4
million hatchery), 71 percent of fall chinook outmigrants (1.5 million wild,
3.6 million hatchery), and 36 percent of summer chinook outmigrants (1.2
million wild, 2 million hatchery). Another 42 percent of summer chinook
outmigrants came from artificial spawning channels (National Marine
Fisheries Service 1981).
By the late 1970s in the Snake River, spring chinook hatchery smolts were
estimated to comprise up to 75 percent of the outmigration, and steelhead
hatchery smolts comprised up to 80 percent. In short, hatchery production
exceeded wild production for all of these stocks in the mid-Columbia and
Snake areas, and the number of wild fish continued to decline, primarily due
to the effects of dams and lost habitat.
The current proportion of hatchery releases for these species to
naturally spawning fish is probably higher. Some parties claim there has
been a shift to lower-basin production, accompanied by a dramatic and
accelerating shift from naturally spawning runs to hatchery runs. Others
claim there has been no shift to lower-river production and point out there
are more than 45 upriver anadromous fish production facilities in the
Columbia River Basin and that a new facility, the Nez Perce Hatchery, will
be constructed soon. That facility, still in the planning stage, is
discussed briefly later in this chapter.
While the majority of fish releases occurred below Bonneville Dam, the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife points to a trend of increasing
upriver releases. For example, between 1980 and 1984, 39.5 percent of all
fish released from federally funded production facilities were released in
the upriver area, according to the Department. Between 1990 and 1994, the
percentage increased to 44.5 percent. For fish production funded only
through the Mitchell Act, discussed below, the percentage of upper-river
releases compared to lower-river releases increased from 29.3 percent to
36.4 percent during the same time periods. The percentage was 41.9 percent
in 1997 and is expected to be 45 percent in 1998, according to the National
Marine Fisheries Service.
Since 1960, annual releases of hatchery-reared salmonids have grown from
79 million to about 200 million; in recent years, the range was 179 million
to 221 million fish. Also since 1960, the number of returning adult salmon
and steelhead entering the Columbia River has not increased, although that
data does not reflect the number of fish caught outside the basin, which can
be substantial. Prior to 1960, most of the adult salmon and steelhead
entering the Columbia River Basin were naturally produced; since then, the
proportion of hatchery fish has risen to about 80 percent.
Federally Funded Mitigation
United States Bureau of the Interior Dams
1. Bureau of Reclamation
A. Grand Coulee Dam
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation completed construction of Grand Coulee Dam in
1941, thereby blocking the migration of salmon and steelhead above this
point in the river. The Washington Department of Fisheries developed a
mitigation plan, known as the North Central Washington Upper Columbia River
Salmon Conservation Project, that called for trapping adult salmon at Rock
Island Dam and transporting them by truck to a hatchery that would
constructed at Leavenworth, on the Wenatchee River, for artificial
propagation. The resulting smolts would be planted in the Wenatchee, Methow,
Entiat and Okanagon rivers.
The Bureau of Reclamation estimated the cost of the mitigation project at
$2.6 million. Beginning in May 1939, adult fish were trapped at Rock Island
and delivered in specially built tank trucks to release points in the four
Columbia tributaries. The hope was that these adult fish would spawn and
establish new runs. In 1940, the Leavenworth production facility was
completed, and in 1941 the state of Washington announced it would construct
hatcheries at Chamokane Creek on the Spokane River and at Ford, Washington,
to stock Lake Roosevelt. In August 1941, the first smolts reared at
Leavenworth were released into the Entiat River. In 1943, the first adults
from these releases returned to the rivers where they were released, and in
1946 the Bureau declared its "salmon transplant experiment" a success.
Meanwhile, adult fish counts at Rock Island Dam had dropped from 51,879 in
1933 to no more than 35,000 by 1943, except in 1942 when the number was just
7,086.
Note: I am checking with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service re: GC
mitigation requirement, where the fish are produced and released, at what
annual cost and who pays.
B. Scoggins Dam
Mitigation for this dam on the Tualatin River, a Willamette River tributary,
is provided in the form of operation and maintenance expenses associated
with rearing 60,000 coho and 10,000 winter steelhead smolts. The coho are
reared at Big Creek Hatchery, and the winter steelhead are reared at
Bonneville Hatchery. All of the fish are released into the Tualatin River.
Any other Bureau Dams with fish mitigation requirements that include
production?
The Mitchell Act
Mitigation funding for the impact of Grand Coulee Dam was authorized by the
Mitchell Act of 1938. The Mitchell Act was designed to mitigate for impacts
resulting from water diversions, mainstem dams, deforestation, and
pollution. Congress initially appropriated $500,000 under the Mitchell Act
for surveys and improvements in the Columbia River Basin to benefit salmon
and other anadromous fisheries. However, because of limited funds, the major
initial accomplishment under the Mitchell Act was a census and survey of
most of the Columbia River tributaries (Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission, 1981).
A 1946 Congressional amendment to the Mitchell Act (Public Law 79-676)
was passed that removed the Congressional funding limitations for the
development of anadromous fisheries in the Columbia River Basin. The
amendment also authorized the federal government to use facilities and
services of state conservation agencies in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon in
developing the salmon resources of the basin.
The 1946 amendment provided the foundation for the establishment of the
Lower Columbia River Fishery Development Program (LCRFDP) in 1949. As a
result of concern over Water development projects in the basin, state and
federal agencies recommended that the LCRFDP be used to maintain anadromous
fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service 1981). After endorsement by the
Federal River Basin Inter-Agency Committee, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers submitted a request
for Congress to appropriate $1 million in 1949 for salmon and steelhead
restoration in the Columbia River Basin.
Overall coordination of the LCRFDP from 1949 to 1970 was provided by the
U.S. Department of the Interior. From 1949 to 1956, the only states where
hatcheries were built under the program were Washington and Oregon. Hatchery
construction was controlled by the area of coverage -- the Columbia River
drainage below McNary Dam, including the treaty Indian fishing site at
Celilo Falls. However, in 1956, Congress instructed that the program be
implemented above McNary Dam. Subsequently, and over the objections of
Washington and Oregon, Idaho became a participant in 1957 and the word Lower
was dropped from the program name (LCRFDP is hereinafter CRFDP). Another
change in the program organization was that overall coordination
responsibilities for the federal Bureau of Commercial Fisheries were
transferred to the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1970. The program
currently is administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service in
cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Idaho
Department of Fish and Game.
The CRFDP emphasizes: expansion of artificial propagation; improvement of
existing salmon rearing and spawning habitat in tributaries by removing log
jams, splash dams, and natural rock obstructions; construction and operation
of permanent fishways either to facilitate passage at partial barriers or
provide access to areas not previously available to anadromous fish; and
construction and operation of screens to protect downstream migrants from
irrigation diversions (National Marine Fisheries Service 1981).
The CRFDP was amended on October 7,1988.. The amendment obligates fish
managers to provide more fish for upstream harvest and further focuses
attention on rehabilitating upriver runs. According to the preamble of the
amendment:
"The purpose of this management plan is to provide a framework within
which the Parties may exercise their sovereign power in a coordinated and
systematic manner to protect, rebuild and enhance upper Columbia River fish
runs while providing harvests for both treaty Indian and non-Indian
fisheries."
Section III of the amended plan, which addresses artificial and natural
production, notes that the parties have "… joint and several
responsibilities for conserving, rebuilding and enhancing the anadromous
fish of the upper Columbia River basin," and that "… the intent of the
Parties is to develop and implement those agreed-to production-oriented
actions to achieve the goal of rebuilding upriver anadromous runs, as
determined by indicator stocks, within 15 years (three brood cycles)." The
amended program also obligates the parties to integrate fish production
programs with natural production.
The majority of funds expended by CRFDP since 1949 were on fish culture (Delarm
and Wold 1984), primarily to mitigate for upriver losses with hatchery
production in the middle and lower Columbia regions. The program helped
build 22 hatcheries and three major rearing ponds.. An additional 18
hatchery facilities have been incorporated into the program by fishery
agencies.
Except for the Washington Department of Fish and Game Ringold rearing
ponds located above the Snake River confluence, facilities and releases are
concentrated in the lower Columbia River Basin. The two Ringold rearing
ponds produce spring chinook salmon and steelhead for release at the site to
provide fishing opportunities in the mid-Columbia region. With funding
provided to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife by the Corps of
Engineers through the National Marine Fisheries Service, the ponds were
modified to acclimate fish that are raised and released as partial
mitigation for the impact of John Day Dam. The primary purpose of the ponds
is to produce spring chinook and steelhead trout for release to provide
fishing opportunities for the mid-Columbia region Mitigation for the impact
of John Day was established at 30,000 fall chinook adult spawners annually,
as the construction of the dam is believed to have inundated habitat for
that many fall chinook spawners annually. Ringold Springs Hatchery
production is detailed in Table 1B the end of this chapter.
Nine of the more than 40 production facilities wholly or partially funded
by the Mitchell Act are located upstream of Bonneville Dam. These are:
Cascade and OxBow in Oregon, and Spring Creek, Little White Salmon, Willard,
Carson, Klickitat and the two Ringold ponds in Washington. Other upper-river
hatcheries are funded through other means. It should be noted that funding
cutbacks that halted Mitchell Act fish production at Klatskanine and Gnat
Creek hatcheries, and the Wahkeena and Stayton rearing lakes in the lower
river basin, did not result in the closure or transfer of any upper-river
facilities funded by the Mitchell Act.
Of the five species (or races) involved in the CRFDP, tule fall chinook
salmon represented the largest number of smolts, with releases ranging from
46.6 million in 1961, to 95 million in 1977. The number of spring chinook
smolt releases have been considerably lower, with numbers ranging from
800,000 in 1961, to 7.6 million in 1964 and 1981, and no sockeye or summer
chinook salmon were raised. Fall chinook salmon smolt releases reached peak
numbers from 1976 to 1980; spring chinook releases peaked from 1979 to 1982.
The number of coho salmon smolt releases has ranged from 6.4 million in
1960, to 26.3 million in 1977 and 1978. Although their numbers have
fluctuated from year to year, coho releases have exceeded 20 million in most
years since 1971. The number of steelhead trout smolt releases has been
relatively uniform since 1961, ranging from 1.4 million in 1963, to 2.9
million in 1970. Chum salmon smolt releases have fluctuated considerably,
ranging from no releases in 1960, 1971, and 197S, to 1.7 million in 1963.
The percentage contribution of smolt - releases from CRFDP-funded
facilities represents a large portion of all smolts released in the Columbia
River Basin. During the period 1960 through 1976, the total CRFDP-funded
releases comprised 74 percent of the total numbers and 57 percent of the
total weight of all Columbia River Basin hatchery releases . The CRFDP also
has funded the construction of fishways and removal or modification of both
natural and manmade barriers affecting fish migration. With the exception of
several projects in Idaho, all construction was completed by 1970 .
Accumulated debris, log jams, and splash dams were removed on the Calapooia
and Clatskanie rivers, as well as Big, Tide, Goble, Eagle, Deep, Clear,
Abernathy, and Delph creeks (Wahle and Smith 1979).
A total of 87 (current number?) fishway projects have been funded by
CRFDP in the Columbia River Basin (National Marine Fisheries Services 1981).
The fishways have varied in size from small, rock-cut fish passageways such
as Wiley Creek in Oregon, to large, complex ladders such as those located on
the Wind and Klickitat rivers in Washington and Willamette Falls in Oregon.
Thirty-six fish ladders or ladder complexes were constructed under the CRFDP,
which includes 18 in Washington, 16 in Oregon, and two in Idaho (National
Marine Fisheries Service 1984; Armstrong 1985; Korn 1985) Table 2). Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) also operates rock-cut passes on the
Yamhill, Willamina, Molalla, Santiam, and Mohawk rivers, while WDFW operates
several ladders on the Klickitat and Kalama rivers.
Updated list of ladders and screens? (R.Z. Smith, NMFS Portland,
231-2009.)
Another area of stream improvement under the CRFDP is the construction
and maintenance of fish screens on irrigation diversions. As early as 1905,
the State of Washington required irrigators to protect fish. Fish screen
projects were initiated in Oregon in 1953, and in the early 1960s in
Washington. The Mitchell Act includes provisions for stream improvement,
including fish protection at irrigation diversions. The Act gives the
Secretary of Commerce a vehicle, but not a requirement, to fund irrigation
diversion screening. Both gravity and pump irrigation diversions have the
potential to affect salmon and steelhead. Most of the screens that have been
built are in that part of the Columbia River Basin upstream of Bonneville
Dam, as that is where most of the region's irrigated agriculture is located.
Screens have been constructed in the basin since the mid-1930s. Most of the
screens built and maintained in the basin since 1950 (especially in Idaho
and Oregon) have been funded under the CRFDP. In 1995, Bonneville identified
636 screens that were constructed before current screen construction
standards were adopted. Eventually, all of these screens need to be updated
or replaced. Bonneville also identified 148 screens that were built to
current standards, and 237 diversions that did not have screens. Thus, as of
1995, some 1,021 diversions had been identified. Of these, 636 had
inadequate screens, 148 met existing standards, and 237 were unscreened
(1995 screening report).
Mitigation for the impact of Grand Coulee Dam also is provided in the
form of resident fish production at hatcheries on Lake Roosevelt
tributaries. These are financed through the Northwest Power Planning
Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, discussed below.
Lower Snake River Compensation Plan
In the Water Resources Development Act of 1976, Congress authorized
funding of a Corps of Engineers program to mitigate for fish losses caused
by construction and operation of the four lower Snake River hydroelectric
projects: Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor
dams. This authorization was based on a June 1975 report by the Corps of
Engineers entitled Special Report, Lower Snake River Fish and Wildlife
Compensation Plan, Lower Snake River, Washington and Idaho.
The Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP) includes 23 fish
hatcheries and associated satellite facilities (acclimation ponds, fish
traps, adult holding ponds and a fish disease lab) constructed by the Corps
at a cost originally envisioned at $58,400,000 but increased to $177
million, to reflect an underestimate, by the Water Resources Development Act
of 1986. The LSRCP was conceived and developed by the Bureau of Commercial
Fisheries, the predecessor of the National Marine Fisheries Service, in
cooperation with the state fish and game agencies in Idaho, Oregon and
Washington. Tribal involvement in the development of the LSRCP was limited
to comments by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of the tribes in April
1975, regarding the plan's environmental impact statement.
While the law assigned construction responsibilities for LSRCP facilities
to the Corps of Engineers, the law said responsibility for operation and
maintenance of the facilities was to be assigned to "one of the federal
fisheries agencies." A 1977 agreement between the Corps, National Marine
Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service assigned this responsibility
to the Fish and Wildlife Service. A March 6, 1985 report by the Corps
reaffirmed this agreement and, subsequently, because Public Law 99-662 on
November 17, 1986 (Herrig, Review, 1990).
Each year, the LSRCP facilities produce approximately 15 million spring,
summer and fall chinook salmon, as well as steelhead and rainbow trout
(about 1.8 million pounds total). No sockeye or coho are produced, even
though these fish existed in the river and its tributaries prior to
construction of the dams. Between 1962 and 1992, for example, some 10,294
sockeye and 43,774 coho were counted crossing Ice Harbor Dam. This compares
to 1.5 million chinook and 2.2 million steelhead. The law that created the
LSRCP obligates the Bonneville Power Administration to pay for this
production with revenues from the sale of electricity. The annual budget for
operation and maintenance is about $12 million. A small portion -- about
$27,000 -- goes to produce about 93,000 pounds of trout for the lower Snake
River in Washington and Idaho annually This amount is paid by the Fish and
Wildlife Service. The production facilities are operated by the states and
tribes.
LSRCP facilities, all of which are located upriver of Bonneville Dam,
include 12 hatcheries and 11 satellite facilities in Idaho, Oregon and
Washington. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game operates four hatcheries,
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife operates three, the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife operates three and the Fish and Wildlife
Service operates two. The newest is the Pittsburg Landing Acclimation
Facility, which was completed by the Corps of Engineers in 1995 following a
1994 Congressional appropriation of $5 million for this facility and other
work associated with LSRCP hatcheries (a water treatment facility for the
Lookingglass Hatchery, for example). It is operated by the Nez Perce Tribe
in conjunction with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Two more
acclimation facilities have been constructed on the Clearwater River, one on
Big Canyon Creek, and the other on the Snake River below the confluence with
the Grand Ronde River.
Unlike some other mitigation plans, the LSRCP focuses on replacing
passage losses (through the dams) of returning adult salmon rather than on
releasing a given number of smolts (Herrig, 1990 Review). The objective of
the LSRCP is to restore salmon and steelhead runs in the Snake River Basin
that have been diminished by the construction and operation of the four
federal dams. The plan's goal is adult returns of 18,300 fall chinook to its
project area, and 58,700 spring and summer chinook and 55,100 steelhead to
above the project area. There is no production or goal for sockeye or coho.
Table 5 in Appendix One to this chapter shows the LSRCP computation of adult
fish losses. Table 6 shows the Lower Snake River Compensation Program fish
production by species and hatchery for Fiscal Year 1996.
Bureau of Indian Affairs dams
The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
operates a number of dams on Indian reservations in the Pacific Northwest. A
brief list follows, including the year of construction in parenthesis:
· Crow (1933), Kicking Horse (1930), Hell Roaring (1916), McDonald
(1920), Mission (1935), Ninepipe (1923), Pablo (1914), Turtle Lake (1932)
and Tabor (1930) dams, all in Lake County Montana.
· Hubbart Dam, Flathead County, Montana, 1923.
· Happy Valley Dam, Wasco County, Oregon, 1938.
· Indian Lake Dam, Umatilla County, Oregon, 1969.
· Owhi Lake Dam, Okanogan County, Washington, 1916.
· Twin Lakes Dam, Ferry County, Washington, 1931.
All of these dams are operated for irrigation purposes, and only Hell
Roaring has hydropower turbines. There are no fish-production mitigation
requirements for BIA dams in the Columbia River Basin. However, some of
these dams are operated in a manner to protect fish as the result of
agreements or litigation. For example, Flathead Irrigation District dams on
the reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have certain
operations mandated by either litigation or agreement. These operations
limit reservoir drawdowns and provide certain instream flows to protect bull
trout and other resident fish and also have led to the construction of
screens at withdrawal points.
Corps of Engineers
Dworshak Dam Dworshak Dam is located at River Mile 1.9 of the North Fork
Clearwater River near Ahsahka, Idaho. Construction of the dam was authorized
by the Flood Control Act of 1962 (PL 87-874) approved Oct. 23, 1962.
Construction began in 1963 and was completed in 1972. (Draft Dworshak
General Plan, 1996)
A Coordination Act Report authorized by the Fish and Wildlife
Coordination Act (Public Law 85-624) was completed by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for the Corps of Engineers in August 1962. The report
recommended fish passage facilities for upstream- and downstream-migrating
fish, and also construction of a pilot hatchery to produce 300,000 cacheable
trout for the reservoir. The hatchery was to be expanded to produce
anadromous fish if fish passage were not constructed.
In fact, no fish passage was constructed, and the Dworshak National Fish
Hatchery was constructed. The primary goal of fishery mitigation was to
preserve the North Fork steelhead run -- estimated at 20,000 per year in the
1960s. Funding for the hatchery was provided by the Corps of Engineers from
the project budget, according to an agreement between the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the Corps.
The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Idaho Department of Fish and
Game agreed to a mitigation goal of rearing 2.3 million steelhead smolts at
360,000 pounds with a goal of returning 20,000 adult steelhead to the
Clearwater River. Approximately 1.3 million smolts are released at the
hatchery, and 1 million are planted in upstream areas to expand the fishery
when adult fish return, according to the Draft Dworshak General Plan. The
hatchery experienced disease problems, particularly outbreaks of IHN, but
these have not been a major problem since 1992, largely as the result of a
water supply change. Adult steelhead returns to the hatchery have ranged
from 1,988 to 43,942 since 1972, and the goal of 20,000 fish has been
attained in eight of 25 years of operation.
As for resident fish mitigation, the original goal was to produce 100,000
pounds of rainbow trout annually to produce 300,000 cacheable trout. IHN
also affected these fish, however, and the Fish and Wildlife Service brought
in trout from other hatcheries. In recent years, 10,000 to 20,000 cacheable
rainbow trout have been released into the reservoir, where the principal
game fish is kokanee.
In late 1997, a resident fish mitigation program was being developed
cooperatively by the Corps of Engineers, Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Department
of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As of December 10,
the parties had agreed that:
· The kokanee fishery will be the most productive part of the resident
fish mitigation.
· The smallmouth bass fishery should be improved by increasing habitat in
the reservoir and controlling reservoir operations to protect spawning areas
along the shoreline.
· Rainbow trout stocking should be phased out and replaced with cutthroat is
suitable broodstock can be found.
· If Konakee loss through the dam (entrainment) can be reduced to an
acceptable level, introduce a large predator fish such as landlocked fall
chinook salmon to encourage large-size kokanee and contribute to the sport
fishery.
The Draft 1996 General Plan for Dworshak Dam and Reservoir Fish and
Wildlife Mitigation includes the following recommendations for
production-related fisheries mitigation:
· Dworshak National Fish Hatchery should be maintained and operated to
produce 350,000 pounds of steelhead smolts (2.3 million) annually, which
should return at least 20,000 adult steelhead to the Clearwater Basin
annually.
· Funds should be appropriated directly to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for the operation, maintenance and replacement costs for the
hatchery. These annual costs will be $1.8 million (in 1996 dollars), plus
costs to repair and upgrade hatchery facilities.
· The resident fishery should be based on kokanee (no annual cost),
smallmouth bass ($25,000 per year for habitat improvements), broodstock
development and production of cutthroat trout ($100,000 per year). All
values are in 1996 dollars. The smallmouth bass funds would be added to the
Corps of Engineers budget, while the cutthroat trout and fall chinook funds
would be added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget.
· Temperature control capability should be added to the dam so that cooler
water can be released to benefit Snake River salmon without affecting
temperature regimes required at the hatchery. Funding would come from the
Corps of Engineers' Columbia River Fish Mitigation Program.
Corps of Engineers Columbia and Willamette river dams
Under authority of the Flood Control Act of May 17, 1950 (Public Law
516, 81st Congress), and other laws, the Corps built 20 dams and related
hydropower facilities in the Columbia River Basin. House Document 531 (81st
Congress), Volume 7, Page 2921, authorizes the Corps to provide facilities
to mitigate the loss of spawning, rearing and feeding grounds for fish
affected by the hydropower projects. The Mitchell Act of May 11, 1938 (16
USC 755-57), authorized the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries to negotiate
agreements with Oregon, Washington and Idaho for fish and wildlife
conservation within the Columbia River Basin. The Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish
Restoration Act of August 9, 1950 (16 USC 777) authorized the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to enter into joint agreements with states to build,
operate and maintain fish protection and enhancement facilities funded in
part with federal money. The states and the Corps share operation and
maintenance costs of the hatcheries. The authority for this sharing is in
the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 (31 USC 6305), which
provides that a cooperative agreement shall be used as the legal instrument
to transfer money, property, services or anything of value to the states for
these purposes. Meanwhile, Oregon is authorized by state law (ORS 506.405)
to enter agreements with the Corps to aid conservation and preservation of
fisheries in the state and accept federal money for that purpose to mitigate
the impact of federal dams in the Willamette River Basin.
The Corps of Engineers operates four hydroelectric complexes on the
mainstem Columbia River (Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and McNary), and
four in the Willamette River Basin (Cougar Lake/ Blue River, Detroit-Big
Cliff, Green Peter-Foster, and Lookout Point-Dexter) for which salmon and
steelhead mitigation, in the form of artificial production, is provided.
Fish mitigation requirements are as follows:
1. John Day Dam
The Corps constructed John Day Lock and Dam at River Mile 215.6 pursuant to
authorization in the Flood Control Act of 1950 (Public Law 516, 81st
Congress, 2nd Session). Construction and operation of the dam resulted in
losses of spawning grounds for an estimated 30,000 adult fall chinook salmon
and the ocean and Columbia River fishery that resulted from those fish.
Mitigation is provided through the Bonneville Fish Hatchery in Oregon
(agreement between the Corps and Oregon dated April 21, 1978), and the
Spring Creek Hatchery in Washington. Both are Mitchell Act hatcheries with
funding spilt between the Corps and the national Marine Fisheries Service.
The Corps pays 45 percent of the operation and maintenance costs of the
Bonneville hatchery and 50 percent of the operation and maintenance costs at
the Spring Creek Hatchery. Funding provided through the Mitchell Act and
administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service, pays for the balance
of the operation and maintenance of both facilities. The original agreement
called for production of a maximum of 8,550,000 juvenile tule fall chinook
at 90 fish per pound for release into the Columbia River Basin. In the early
1990s, additional production shifted to a later-spawning upriver stock
designed to return 30,000 fall chinook to the Columbia River. Funding for
this expansion was provided by the Corps of Engineers, allowing for
increased production while maintaining the Mitchell Act production.
2. Bonneville, The Dalles, McNary
There is no specific production mitigation requirement for these dams. In
1980, the Corps of Engineers and other interested parties began work on a
production agreement that would have been similar to the Lower Snake River
Compensation Program. But when Congress approved the Pacific Northwest
Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 (Northwest Power Act),
the effort to develop a compensation program for the dams halted. Mitigation
for these dams, and other federal dams not specifically addressed in other
agreements, was to be accomplished through the Northwest Power Planning
Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
3. Willamette River Basin dams
The disastrous flood of 1948, which caused an estimated $102.7 million in
property damage, wiped out the city of Vanport, north of Portland, destroyed
38,000 homes and left 38 people dead, galvanized the attention of the nation
and prompted President Harry Truman to order the Corps of Engineers to
re-evaluate its 1932 survey of the Columbia River Basin to identify
opportunities to control flooding. The Corps looked for new dam sites in
upriver areas for water storage and power production, including sites in the
Willamette River Basin. Today, the Corps operates four hydroelectric
complexes in the Willamette River basin for which salmon and steelhead
mitigation, in the form of artificial production, is provided. These are
Cougar, Detroit-Big Cliff, Green Peter-Foster and Lookout Point-Dexter dams.
The River and Harbor Flood Control Act of May 17, 1950, Public Law 516, 81st
Congress, and House Document 531, Volume 7, page 2921, and other federal
laws, authorized the construction of mitigation hatcheries for the
Willamette River projects of the Corps of Engineers.
Cougar Lake and Blue River Lake dams in the McKenzie River Basin were
authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950. Mitigation is provided by the
McKenzie Hatchery, authorized in an agreement between the Corps and state of
Oregon dated April 9, 1974. This hatchery was constructed to produce 80,800
pounds or 606,000 spring chinook salmon and steelhead smolts annually to
return 4,060 adults to the McKenzie River Basin (Cooperative Agreement,
1990). The Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement says the
mitigation production goals for the McKenzie Hatchery are 4,060 adult spring
chinook and 18,000 wild and hatchery spring chinook to the McKenzie River,
and 750 adult spring chinook to the Molalla River; 1,200 sport-caught summer
steelhead in the McKenzie River, and 4,900 returning and 2,450 sport-caught
summer steelhead in the Molalla River. Current annual release goals from the
McKenzie Hatchery are 1.425 million spring chinook smolts, of which 985,000
are released into the McKenzie River, 240,000 are released into the lower
Columbia River and 200,000 are released into the lower Willamette River.
Leaburg Trout Hatchery mitigates the impact of Blue River and Cougar
dams, which were built for flood control and other purposes according to the
following laws: Public Law 761, June 28, 1938, 75th Congress, third session;
Public law 543, Dec. 22, 1944, 78th Congress, Second Session; Public law
516, 81st Congress, Second Session; and Public Law 732, 79th Congress,
Second Session. The Corps fully funds the Leaburg Trout Hatchery through an
agreement between the Corps and the state of Oregon dated August 15, 1953.
The agreement calls for production of no more than 277,000 pounds of trout
annually. According to the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
, the production goal for Leaburg is to provide an average sport catch of
1,200 adult summer steelhead. Current annual release goals are 108,000
summer steelhead smolts released into the McKenzie River, and 732,000
legal-size rainbow trout released into Willamette River Basin lakes and
streams, and 40,000 fingerling cutthroat trout released into high lakes in
the Willamette River Basin.
Detroit-Big Cliff Complex mitigation replaces losses of fish formerly
migrating above these projects. The Minto Barrier Dam downstream from Big
Cliff Dam on the North Fork Santiam deflects adult fish into holding ponds.
Marion Forks Hatchery provides mitigation for the construction of
Detroit-Big Cliff dams. The Corps mitigation agreement requires the annual
production of no more than 84,000 pounds of juvenile chinook and steelhead
to mitigate for hydropower development in the North Santiam River. According
to a July 6, 1950, agreement, the Corps pays 83.75 percent of the operation
and maintenance cost for this hatchery, which is run by the state, and the
state of Oregon pays 16.25 percent. Current production goals for the Marion
Forks Hatchery include 667,000 spring chinook smolts and 100,000 winter
steelhead smolts released into the North Fork Santiam River.
Mitigation for the Green Peter-Foster complex (Flood Control Act of 1960,
Public Law 645, 86th Congress, H.R. 7634, July 14, 1960) is provided by the
South Santiam Hatchery (construction agreement between the Corps and the
state dated April 1, 1973) below Foster Dam. The Corps mitigation agreement
requires the annual production of no more than 71,000 pounds of juvenile
spring chinook and steelhead annually. This production level is designed to
compensate for the loss of 1,400 wild spring chinook spawners and 700 wild
steelhead spawners above Foster Dam. Current annual release goals are 1.021
million spring chinook smolts and 144,000 summer steelhead smolts released
into the South Fork Santiam River, and 40,500 summer steelhead smolts
released into the North Fork Santiam River.
Adult fish collection and holding facilities are provided at the base of
Dexter Dam to provide for compensation of the Lookout Point-Dexter Complex.
Facilities also are sited at this location for egg taking and fertilizing.
Public Law 732, 79th Congress, Second Session, approved Aug. 14, 1946,
authorized the Corps to build the Oakridge Salmon Hatchery, which later
combined with the Willamette Fish Hatchery and is now named Willamette Fish
Hatchery. This hatchery is used for adult holding and spawning, egg
incubation and rearing. The Corps mitigation agreement requires annual
production of no more than 235,000 pounds of juvenile chinook salmon and
steelhead. According to a July 15, 1952, agreement between the Corps and the
state, the Corps provides 83.75 percent of the funding for the hatchery, and
Oregon provides 16.25 percent. Current annual production release goals for
the Willamette Hatchery are to return 11,250 spring chinook for the Middle
Fork Willamette River, provide a potential harvest of 200 spring chinook
adults in the mainstem Santiam River and 1.300 adult spring chinook in the
South Santiam River, re-establish a run of 750 naturally produced spring
chinook adults in the Molalla River system, and a sport catch of 2,250 adult
summer steelhead in the Middle Fork Willamette River. Current annual release
goals are 1.213 million spring chinook smolts released into the Middle Fork
Willamette River, 60,000 spring chinook smolts released in the Willamette
Basin, 600,000 fingerling spring chinook released into the Middle Fork
Willamette River, 250,000 spring chinook fingerlings released into Lookout
Point reservoir, 45,000 spring chinook smolts released into Fall Creek, and
115,000 summer steelhead smolts released into the Middle Fork Willamette
River.
Mitigation provided under the Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 USCA Sections 1531-1544) defines the
terms "conserve," "conserving" and "conservation" to mean using "all methods
and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or
threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to
this chapter are no longer necessary" including propagation of the species.
In the summer of 1991, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho, the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game, the Bonneville Power Administration, the
National Marine Fisheries Service and others initiated an emergency program
to conserve and rebuild Snake River sockeye. According to figures compiled
by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, this effort cost
approximately $12.5 million between 1991 and 1997. This captive broodstock
program is funded by Bonneville, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the
U.S. Forest Service and others (1994 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife
Program, Measure 7.5A, pages 7-27, 28). There also is a captive broodstock
program for Snake River fall chinook salmon (Measure 7.5B.1, page 7-29) that
will be undertaken at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery by the National Marine
Fisheries Service; there have been no releases to date. Spring chinook also
are being reared in captivity for release into the Salmon and Grand Ronde
river basins (Council program measure 7.4L). In Idaho, a total of nine adult
spring chinook salmon were released into three tributaries of the Salmon
River in 1997, the first year that fish were released. In Oregon, the first
female adult spring chinook will mature in 1998, and there have been no
releases to date. Both the Oregon and Idaho efforts began in 1995 with
juvenile fish collection.
Mitigation provided by the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning
and Conservation Act of 1980
The other major program under way to restore salmon in the Columbia River
Basin is under the auspices of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning
and Conservation Act of 1980 (Northwest Power Act). The Northwest Power Act
requires the Northwest Power Planning Council to develop a Columbia River
Basin Fish and Wildlife Program consisting of measures to protect, mitigate
and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the construction, operation and
management of hydroelectric facilities in the Columbia River Basin. The
Council's fish and wildlife program includes measures to improve downstream
passage, upstream passage and wild, natural, and hatchery propagation.
Various government agencies -- state, county, local, federal -- Indian
tribes, and private organizations currently are implementing the program. In
addition to the captive broodstock programs described above, the Council's
program initiated fish production programs operated by Indian tribes in the
Columbia River Basin, in conjunction with state fish and wildlife agencies..
Tribal hatcheries and production
Anadromous fish production
1. Cle Elum Supplementation and Research Facility
This facility in the Yakima River Basin is designed as the first
large-scale test of supplementation. Salmon eggs will be taken from adult
salmon trapped at Roza Dam and then propagated at the research facility,
located just west of the town of Cle Elum. The resulting fish will be
planted at three sites in the Yakima Basin, beginning in early 1999. The
$15.8 million facility is a project of the Yakama Indian Nation, Northwest
Power Planning Council, Bonneville Power Administration and Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife. The goal of the project is to rebuild
salmon runs in the Yakima River Basin, which have dropped from historic
levels estimated as high as 900,000 adult fish per year to fewer than 5,000.
Between 1991 and 1995, the returns ranged from 663 to 4,569 fish.
Through the Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and
Wildlife Program, Bonneville has invested $63.7 million for 47 contracts to
support rebuilding salmon runs through the Yakima-Klickitat Fisheries
Project, including the Cle Elum Research Facility.
1998 is the first full year of production at the facility. Approximately
810,000 smolts will be released in 1999 and future years, and this is
expected to result in an estimated 3,200 to 6,500 adult spring chinook
returning to the Yakima River annually.
2. Umatilla Hatchery
Artificial production of salmon in the Umatilla River was included in
the Council's 1982 Fish and Wildlife Program. An initial facility was
constructed in 1983, and the final component is proposed for construction in
1999. Hatchery propagation is essential to restoring spring chinook (CHS),
fall chinook (CHF), and coho salmon and summer steelhead (STS) populations
in the Umatilla Basin. The salmon runs had been extirpated as long ago as
1920, and the steelhead were at very low numbers before the program began.
The network of Umatilla hatchery facilities has been a key element in a
comprehensive fisheries restoration program that also includes stream
habitat/watershed enhancement, structural fish passage improvement, and
enhanced instream flows. The following table summarizes the Umatilla Basin
production facilities components which have been funded, or are proposed for
funding, by the Bonneville Power Administration through the Council's
program:
| Component |
Purpose |
Status |
| Umatilla Hatchery |
CHS, CHF, & STS incubation/rearing |
Completed 1990 |
| Bonifer |
STS accl./release |
Completed 1983 |
| Minthorn |
STS accl./rel. & holding/spawning |
Completed 1985 |
| Gibbon |
CHS & CHF accl./release |
Completed 1994 |
| Thornhollow |
CHS & CHF accl./release |
Completed 1995 |
| Threemile Dam |
CHF & Coho holding/spawning |
Completed 1996 |
| S. Fk. Walla Walla (Phase I) |
CHS holding/spawning |
Completed 1997 |
| Pendleton/Mission |
Coho & CHF accl./release |
Proposed 1998 |
| S. Fk. Walla Walla (Phase IIA) |
CHS incubation/rearing |
Proposed 1999 |
Source: G. James, CTUIR (1997)
The Umatilla Hatchery and other facilities (Carson, Little White Salmon,
Cascade and Herman Creek hatcheries) provide incubation and rearing for the
Umatilla production program. With Bonneville funding, the Umatilla Hatchery
and six satellite facilities providing juvenile acclimation/release and
adult holding/spawning have been completed and are now operational. The
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) operates the hatchery, and the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) operate the
satellite facilities. Two other projects have been proposed. One is a
juvenile coho and fall chinook acclimation/release facility, and the other
is a hatchery on the South Fork Walla Walla River. This proposed hatchery,
discussed briefly below, is planned for production of spring chinook smolts
for release at satellite facilities in the Umatilla Basin.
The Umatilla fisheries restoration program is showing results. Annual
salmon returns now range from 5,000 to 10,000 adult fish per year. In fact,
in 1995, when Columbia River spring chinook salmon runs dipped to an
all-time low (Bonneville Dam count of 10,000), the Umatilla River maintained
a relatively high return of nearly 500. This was more fish than returned to
natural spawning grounds in the entire Snake River Basin in 1995.
3. Northeast Oregon production facilities, Walla Walla River component
Section 7.4L of the Council's 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program calls for
the development of a program to raise and ultimately release between 2.3 and
3 million spring chinook juveniles in five Oregon tributaries of the
Columbia and Snake rivers. A component of the Northeast Oregon production
facilities effort is artificial production of salmon in the Wall Walla River
Basin of Washington.
This measure, which has been in the Council's program since 1987, is
considered essential to restoring extirpated spring chinook (CHS) and
enhancing the depressed summer steelhead (STS) in Northeast Oregon. The
production facilities are key elements in the ongoing Umatilla comprehensive
fisheries restoration program which also includes stream habitat/watershed
enhancement, structural fish passage improvement, and enhanced instream
flow. Here is a summary of the Walla Walla fisheries restoration program
components that have been funded, or are proposed for funding, by Bonneville
through the Council's program:
| Component |
Purpose |
Status |
| Stream/watershed enhancement |
Increase natural fish production |
Started 1996 |
| Marie Dorian Dam removal1/ |
Adult Pass. Impv. |
Completed 1997 |
| Burlingame Dam ladder/trap |
Adult Pass. Impv. |
Fall 1997 |
| Maiden Dam removal |
Adult Pass. Impv. |
Fall 1997 |
| Burlingame screens |
Juv. Pass. Impv. |
Winter 1998 |
| Little WW screens/trap |
Juv. Pass. Impv. |
Winter 1998 |
| Hofer Dam ladder |
Adult Pass. Impv. |
Summer 1998 |
| Irrig. Ditch consolidation |
Juv. Pass. Impv. |
Winter 1999 |
| Nursery Bridge Dam ladder1/ |
Adult Pass. Impv. |
Summer 1999 |
| S. Fk. WW Hatchery |
CHS & STS incub./rearing |
Proposed 1999 |
| N. Fk. WW Satellite |
STS accl./release |
Proposed 2000 |
| Touchet R. Satellite |
CHS accl./release |
Proposed 2000 |
1/ U.S. Army COE is providing 75% cost share
Source: G. James CTUIR (1997)
A production facility on the South Fork Walla Walla River is planned for
production of 500,000 spring chinook and 100,000 summer steelhead. A
Umatilla Hatchery satellite facility for adult spring chinook adult
holding/spawning (Phase I) already exists at the site. A "phase II" at this
site would add on the necessary incubation and rearing capabilities for the
Walla Walla production program. Juvenile acclimation/release facilities are
also planned for spring chinook on the Touchet River above Dayton,
Washington, and for summer steelhead on the North Fork Walla Walla River.
4. Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery
Section 7.4M of the Council's 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program calls for
an experiment with a number of small-scale production facilities under the
umbrella of a single facility operated by the Nez Perce tribe of Idaho. In
January 1998, the Council voted to recommend Bonneville fund the Nez Perce
Hatchery's final design phase. The facility is expected to cost $2.4
million, and the final design phase will constitute about 15 percent of the
total.
In all, the hatchery will have eight satellite facilities. The Council
also recommended in January that Bonneville continue to reserve construction
funds for the hatchery until review of the final designs occurs. The Council
expects that these final designs will be available in late Fiscal Year 1998
and mid-Fiscal Year 1999.
Non-Federally Funded Mitigation
This section includes a listing of mitigation programs that are funded
either without federal funding or with partial federal funding. These
program descriptions include major species reared and released at artificial
production facilities. All fish production programs, regardless of how they
are funded, may change from year to year depending on egg availability,
disease, and agreed-to program changes.
Investor-owned facilities
1. Idaho Power Company The Federal Power Commission issued a license to
the Idaho Power Company (IPC) dated August 5, 1955, for a three-dam complex
in the middle Snake River consisting of Brownlee, Oxbow, and Hells Canyon
dams, known collectively as the Hells Canyon Project (FERC Project No.
1971). One provision of this license required IPC to construct, maintain,
and operate facilities for the purpose of conserving the fishery resource of
the middle Snake River (Idaho Power Co. 1982).
Initially, these efforts consisted of measures to enhance and protect the
salmon and steelhead production above Hells Canyon Dam. A program was
initiated to transport adult and juvenile salmonids around the three
projects. However, an evaluation of the transportation program, begun in
1961, indicated that while spawning of transported adults was apparently
successful, total numbers of downstream migrating juveniles were declining.
Juvenile fish were apparently not successfully migrating through the
reservoirs, and were displaying a high rate of residualism. Today, the
Oxbow, Rapid River, Niagara Springs and Pahsimeroi hatchery complexes
constitute the IPC mitigation program.
On February 9, 1976, National Marine Fisheries Service, Idaho Department
of Fish and Game, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington
Department of Fish and Game and the Washington Department of Fisheries filed
a petition with the Federal Power Commission (now the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission) alleging that Idaho Power Company's mitigation
efforts to date had not returned chinook or steelhead populations to
pre-project levels. The petitioners asked the Commission to order changes in
the company's fish mitigation efforts. After four years of court
proceedings, the resulting Hells Canyon Settlement Agreement was signed on
Feb. 14, 1980. The numbers of fish included in the agreement constitute
Idaho Power's "full and complete" mitigation for the impact of the dams,
according to the agreement.
Annual production goals established in the agreement, by hatchery,
include:
Oxbow Hatchery:
Spring chinook:
Between May 1 and July 15, trap enough adult spring chinooks to permit the
taking of enough eggs to produce one million spring chinook smolts for
release into the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam. The adult fish are
transported to the Rapid River Hatchery for spawning.
Steelhead:
Between September 1 and December 20, and between March 1 and April 30,
trap and transport to Oxbow hatchery enough steelhead to produce 200,000
smolts. Eyed eggs are transported to the Niagara Springs Hatchery for
rearing. Fall chinook: Raise 1 million fall chinook smolts from eggs
provided by the Lyons Ferry Hatchery. However, to date no eggs have been
available from the Lyons Ferry Hatchery, and so the fall chinook program at
Oxbow has not started.
Rapid River Hatchery:
Spring chinook:
Produce 3 million spring chinook, including 2 million from Rapid River
stock and 1 million from Snake River stock (from adult fish trapped at Hells
Canyon). Release 2 million directly into the Rapid River and transport 1
million to Hells Canyon for release below Hells Canyon Dam.
Niagara Springs Hatchery:
Steelhead:
Provide for the annual production of 400,000 pounds of steelhead smolts,
with half from Snake River stock and half from Pahsimeroi River stock (eggs
received from the Pahsimeroi Hatchery). The Pahsimeroi River stock smolts
are released at the Pahsimeroi Hatchery, and the Snake River stock smolts
are released below Hells Canyon Dam.
Pahsimeroi Hatchery:
Steelhead:
Provide for the annual production of 200,000 pounds of steelhead smolts.
Eyed eggs are transported to the Niagara Springs Hatchery for rearing.
Chinook: Trap and spawn enough chinooks to produce 1 million smolts, raise
the eggs at the site and release the smolts directly into the Pahsimeroi
River.
In addition to the anadromous fish hatcheries, Idaho Power Company also
has supported clubs and organizations to improve fish spawning and rearing
habitat in Brownlee Reservoir.
One commentor has reported the number of salmon and steelhead returning
above Hells Canyon Dam immediately prior to 1961 when passage above this
point was blocked.
(Table 6 - Hells Canyon mitigation).
|
Average Returns
Above Hells Canyon
Dam Site Before
Passage blocked |
Species
Fall chinook
Spring/summer chinook
Steelhead |
25,000
6,800
9,800 |
Source: PNRC 1976 (Report F - Compensation).
Publicly owned facilities
The New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt embraced a
philosophy that the federal government should develop multi-purpose water
projects on the nation's rivers, a philosophy embodied in the construction
of Grand Coulee Dam. By the 1950s, a new administration espoused a different
philosophy. The Eisenhower administration favored public/private
partnerships in which publicly owned utilities would use low-interest,
tax-exempt bonds to finance the projects and sign long-term power supply
contracts with other utilities to pay off the bonds. Such partnerships led
to the construction of five dams on the mainstem Columbia River in central
Washington. The dams, and the utilities that own them, are Wells (Douglas
County Public Utility District), Rocky Reach and Rock Island (Chelan County
Public Utility District) and Wanapum and Priest Rapids (Grant County Public
Utility District).
Get fish production numbers from:
Steve Hayes, Chelan PUD, 509-663-8121
Bob Clubb, Douglas, 509-884-7191
Stewart Hammond, Grant, 509-754-3541
1. Douglas County Public Utility District
When Wells Dam (FERC License No. 2149) was constructed in 1967, Douglas
County PUD was required to construct two fishways, a spawning channel, and
fish culture facilities. The hatchery and rearing pond originally produced
325,000 steelhead smolts.
In 1978, a coalition of state, tribal and federal fish and wildlife
agencies filed various petitions seeking spill, improved flows and other
modifications at Wells Dam and the four other mid-Columbia PUD dams. In
March 1979, the FERC issued an order consolidating the petitions and
commencing what became known as the Mid-Columbia Proceeding (6 FERC 61,210),
which involved these parties and also Douglas PUD and several other
utilities that purchased power from Douglas. These parties reached a
one-year interim settlement for all five dams for 1979, and then negotiated
a five-year interim agreement for the period 1980-1984. This interim
agreement provided spill, hatchery compensation and studies to improve fish
protection at the projects, and was approved by the FERC on March 20, 1980
(10 FERC 61,257).
This agreement was the subject of several filings by the various parties
in 1981, including a petition to set aside the 1980 agreement. In response
to those filings and a FERC order dated Jan. 11, 1982 (18 FERC 61,023), a
presiding judge became involved in resolving disputes under the interim
agreement.
When the interim agreement expired, the parties negotiated and filed a
stipulation with the FERC outlining a second interim program of spills,
studies and interim fish protection for the five dams for the years
1985-1988 -- the 1984 Mid-Columbia Public Utility District Settlement
Agreement. ?????
Parties to this agreement included Douglas, Chelan, and Grant County PUDs,
Washington Department of Fisheries and Department of Game, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Yakama,
Umatilla, and Colville tribes. The settlement agreement also:
· Required Grant County PUD to supplement the Wells Hatchery with 25,000
pounds of steelhead, and also to install and test spillway bypass units by
1988 and to provide spill for 50-percent fish passage efficiency (up to 20
percent daily average flow over 30 days) at Wells Dam.
· Allowed the federal Bureau of Reclamation to use the Wells facility to
produce 150,000 steelhead for release into the Okanogan drainage (Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 1982).
The parties entered into a further stipulation for Wells Dam for
1988-1989, but the agreement expired after that, except for Rocky Reach Dam,
where it has been kept in force by stipulations.
Meanwhile, the parties to the 1984 agreement had been negotiating a
long-term settlement of anadromous fishery issues related to Wells Dam.
These negotiations culminated in November 1989 in a final settlement
agreement that was approved by the FERC on October 1, 1990 (FERC Docket
E-9569). Hatchery compensation for fish losses is part of the agreement,
which obligated Douglas PUD to build a new hatchery. Construction of this
facility, the Methow Spring Chinook Hatchery on the Methow River near
Winthrop, Washington, was completed in 1992. The Wells Dam Settlement
Agreement calls for a four-phase mitigation program. In the first phase,
which was to begin in 1991, the PUD paid for production of 49,200 pounds of
spring chinook yearlings, 8,000 pounds of sockeye juveniles and 30,000
pounds of steelhead smolts. Production in the later phases depended on an
analysis of the first phase.
Habitat conservation plan???
Bob Clubb, Douglas PUD, 509-884-7191:
1. What is the current and recent fish production?
2. How does the habitat conservation program fit into all of this -- is it a
revision or update of the interim agreement for the five dams that expired
in 1989? .
2. Chelan County Public Utility District
Ask Chelan about the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric project, which includes
hatchery capacity for 2 million kokanee for stocking in Lake Chelan
With the construction of Rocky Reach Dam in 1962, Chelan County PUD was
required to construct a fishway to attract and collect adult migrants.
Additionally, in 1968, Chelan County PUD was required to construct a
spawning channel on Turtle Island -to accommodate 300 pairs of fall chinook
salmon. The channel was converted to a hatchery in the period 1970 to 1977.
As part of the 1984 Mid-Columbia Settlement Agreement, Chelan County PUD was
required to continue funding for the Rocky Reach and the Turtle Rock
facilities. Production goals are a total of 35,000 pounds of coho, 25,000
pounds of yearling chinook, and 30,000 pounds of steelhead at these
facilities. Chelan County PUD also funds the Chelan Hatchery, which produces
steelhead (Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 1982).
In addition, the 1984 Mid-Columbia PUD Settlement Agreement requires
Chelan County PUD to install a mechanical bypass system by the spring of
1987 and to provide spill for 30 percent fish passage efficiency (up to 10
percent daily average flow over 30 days) at Rocky Reach Dam.
3. Grant County Public Utility District
Grant County PUD provides mitigation for construction and operation of
Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams, constructed in 1961 and 1964 respectively.
Mitigation includes a spawning channel, completed in 1963, to accommodate
5,000 spawners. The channel was converted to a hatchery in 1972. The
hatchery goal is 75,000 pounds of fall chinook (or equivalent numbers of
other races). Up to four sections of the channel are made available to
Chelan and Douglas PUDs for rearing 25,000 pounds of fall chinook. As part
of the 1984 Mid-Columbia Settlement Agreement, Grant County PUD was required
to maintain the existing 100,000-pound capacity of yearling fall chinook at
the Priest Rapids Hatchery (Columbia River Inter--Tribal Fish Commission
1982).
In addition, the 1984 Mid-Columbia PUD Settlement Agreement required
Grant County PUD to conduct spill effectiveness tests from 1985 to 1987, to
install the selected bypass alternative by 1988, and to provide spill for 50
percent fish passage efficiency (13 to 27 percent daily average flow over 30
days) at Wanapum Dam. The PUD also must install a mechanical bypass system
by the spring of 1988 and annually provide spill equaling 10 to 19 percent
of flow over 30 days at Priest Rapids Dam.
4. Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric Company (PGE) operates the Bull Run Project on the
Sandy River, the North Fork Project on the Clackamas River, and the Pelton
and Round Butte projects on the Deschutes River (Kindley 1982). A mitigation
program for the Bull Run and North Fork projects produce spring chinook
salmon, and winter steelhead. This program is operated at the Clackamas
Hatchery on the Clackamas River (Kindley 1982). Funding for this facility is
based on a formula established by the funding agencies, which include
Portland General Electric (22 percent), the City of Portland (18.8 percent),
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (29.6 percent) and the National
Marine Fisheries Service (29.6 percent). Pelton Dam and a companion
reregulating dam were completed on Oregon's Deschutes River in 1956. The
license (FERC No. 2030) included requirements for both upstream and
downstream anadromous fish passage. Round Butte Dam was added to the Pelton
license in 1964. In 1966, the Fish Commission of Oregon concluded that fish
passage facilities at the dams were not successful. In a letter that same
year, the Fish Commission and the Oregon Game Commission directed Portland
General Electric Company to begin constructing a hatchery. The Fish
Commission operated the Pelton Pilot Hatchery, located near Pelton Dam, from
1964 through 1968. Steelhead were reared at the Wizard Falls Trout Hatchery
by the Oregon Game Commission, beginning in 1965.
Beginning in 1966, approximately 110,000 spring chinook and 160,000
summer steelhead were reared annually at Oregon Game Commission hatcheries.
A site near Round Butte Hatchery was selected for permanent hatchery, which
would be operated by the Oregon Game Commission. The state and utility
negotiated production goals to mitigate the impact of the dams at 1,800
adult summer steelhead and 1,200 spring chinook salmon (of which 600 must be
females) returning annually to a fish trap at Pelton Dam. These numbers were
incorporated in an agreement signed by Portland General Electric, the state
of Oregon and the federal Department of the Interior on June 15, 1970.
Construction of the Round Butte Hatchery was completed in 1973. The
hatchery is operated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in
cooperation with the utility. The steelhead production goal was reached
immediately; the spring chinook goal not until 1985. Disease was a problem
at the hatchery through the early 1980s. The adult-return goals predicate
annual production of 145,000 spring chinook and 180,000 steelhead of migrant
size (Ratliff and Schulz, 1996, and Kindley 1982).
5. City of Tacoma
The Mayfield and Mossyrock Hydroelectric Project, two dams on the lower
Cowlitz River, are operated by the City of Tacoma as Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission Project 2016 (license date Jan. 1, 1952). Anadromous
fish facilities at these projects include the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery and
the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery.. The Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery concentrates on
producing chinook and coho salmon, and the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery produces
mainly steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout. In addition, Tacoma contracts
with the state of Washington for resident trout produced at the state's
Mossyrock Trout Hatchery (1967, 1986 and 1988 agreements)
The two anadromous hatcheries were constructed to compensate for losses
of spring and fall chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and sea-run
cutthroat trout that migrated upstream of the dam sites. The salmon hatchery
has a capacity of 550,000-600,000 pounds, whereas the trout hatchery's
productive capacity is about 250,000 pounds (Kindley 1982). Production
levels at the salmon hatchery have been established to maintain annual adult
runs of 17,300 spring chinook salmon, 8,300 fall chinook salmon, and 25,500
coho salmon. This results in annual releases of approximately 5 to 7 million
fall chinook fingerlings, 4-5 million coho yearlings, and 2 to 4 million
spring chinook fingerlings and/or yearlings (Kindley 1982).
At the trout hatchery, production levels are established to sustain runs
of steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout at about 38,600 adults. This
predicates annual releases of approximately 600,000 winter-run steelhead
smolts, 400,000 summer-run steelhead smolts, and 115,000 sea-run cutthroat
trout smolts (1967, 1986 and 1988 agreements).
6. Eugene Water and Electric Board
Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) owns and operates the Stone Creek,
Carmen Smith, Leaburg, and Walterville Projects. The Carmen Smith complex
compensates for losses with an artificial spawning channel for salmon.
Mitigation for the other EWEB projects is accomplished by shutting them down
when juvenile fish are migrating and by providing flows to assist the
migration (Kindley 1982).
Need to check this with EWEB, 541-484-2411. Talked with someone there in
December, but never heard back.
7. PacifiCorp (Pacific Power and Light Company)
PacifiCorp operates the Merwin, Yale, and Swift projects on the North Fork
Lewis River and Condit Dam on the White Salmon River. Both are Columbia
River tributaries in Washington.
Swift, Yale and Merwin dams are located on the North Fork or mainstem,
Lewis River, a Columbia tributary in southwest Washington. Merwin, FERC
License 935, is the oldest of the three. It was completed in 1931. Yale, the
second dam, FERC License 2071, was completed in 1953. Swift, FERC license
597, was completed in 1958. In late 1997, PacifiCorp was beginning the
process of seeking license renewals for Yale, which expires in 2001, and
Swift I, which expires in 2006.
There also is a power plant in the channel between Swift Dam and Yale
reservoir. This project, known as Swift II, FERC No. 2213, is owned and
operated by the Cowlitz County Public Utility District. Swift II, like the
larger Swift I, also was completed in 1958. Initially, Pacific Power & Light
Company sought the licenses for both Swift projects, but Cowlitz intervened
and was granted the right to build Swift II. In Cowlitz' FERC license,
Article 24 directs the public utility district to construct hatchery
facilities "for the purpose of conserving fishery resources," and an
agreement dated Feb. 24, 1961,between the Cowlitz PUD, Pacific Power & Light
Company and the Washington Department of Fisheries assigns Cowlitz a share
of the cost of operating Pacific's Speelyai hatchery. The share is based on
Cowlitz' 26-percent ownership of the combined output of the Swift 1 and
Swift 2 power plants, which operate in tandem. According to the agreement,
Cowlitz' share is calculated using a base year (1967) amount of $46,450,
adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index.
Annual fish production figures? Left message with Frank Shrier,
PacifiCorp, 464-6484.
Merwin Dam was last re-licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission on October 6, 1983. The 25-year license expires in 2009. Fishery
facilities include three hatcheries. The Lewis and Speelyai hatcheries
produce spring chinook and coho salmon, and the Merwin hatchery, completed
in 1993, produces steelhead and cutthroat trout (Kindley 1982 and FERC
order, 1985).
Fall chinook salmon also spawn in the Lewis River, but the population
spawns mainly downstream of Merwin Dam and was considered healthy enough
that it was not included in the mitigation agreement for Merwin, Yale and
Swift I dams. PaciCorp is required to provide certain flows from Merwin to
protect these fall chinook (Frank Shirer, PacifiCorp, personal
communication)
Article 50 of the FERC license for Merwin, last amended by an order dated
October 2, 1985, directs PacifiCorp to undertake the following fish
production, which mitigates the impacts of all three of the company's Lewis
River projects:
· Pay for production of approximately 250,000 juvenile spring chinook to
yield 12,800 adult fish.
· Pay for producing approximately 2,100,000 juvenile coho salmon to yield
71,000 adult fish.
· Construct a hatchery (the new Merwin facility) and pay for the production
of 250,000 juvenile steelhead (about 41,600 pounds) and approximately 25,000
juvenile sea-run cutthroat trout (up to 6,250 pounds).
· Annually release 150,000 juvenile coho at 50 fish per pound and 150,000
juvenile coho at 20 fish per pound into Lake Merwin.
· Protect habitat on that portion of Cougar Creek under PacifiCorp's control
that provides spawning habitat for kokanee in Yale Reservoir.
· Annually release 1 million rainbow trout fry into Swift Reservoir. In
addition, the Lewis River Hatchery supplies coho broodstock to the Kalama
Falls Hatchery, which is funded through the Mitchell Act.
PacifiCorp also operates Condit Dam, FERC License 2342-005, on the White
Salmon River, a Columbia tributary in southern Washington. Condit Dam was
completed in 1913 and originally owned by the Northwestern Electric Company,
which merged with Pacific Power & Light Company in 1947. Passage originally
was provided at this project with a wooden ladder that washed out and was
rebuilt and subsequently washed out again. No artificial production
mitigation was provided for the project, although since 1988, PacifiCorp has
been voluntarily raising and releasing winter steelhead in net pens in
Northwestern Lake, the impoundment behind Condit Dam. These fish are
released into the White Salmon River downstream of the dam. Current (1997)
production is approximately 40,000 fish (personal communication with Brian
Barr, PacifiCorp, December 1997).
PacifiCorp has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to
relicense the dam. According to a final environmental impact statement
prepared by FERC (October 1996, Page 2-7) Article 28 of the existing
license, issued Dec. 20, 1968, requires PacifiCorp to maintain a minimum
flow of 15 cubic feet per second from the impoundment (Northwestern Lake)
into the White Salmon River; the river downstream of the dam has no minimum
flow requirements. To enhance fisheries, PacifiCorp discharges a minimum
flow of 100 cubic feet per second through the tailrace when the project is
generating. Under existing license Article 29, PacifiCorp must limit flow
fluctuations and river surface level changes downstream of the powerhouse to
a maximum of 2.5 feet in any 24-hour period from September 1 to October 15
each year to protect the operation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
hatchery at River Mile 2 (the dam is at River Mile 3.3). PacifiCorp
voluntarily notifies hatchery operators when scheduled flows downstream of
the Condit project are 250 cubic feet per second or lower.
In its relicensing application, PacifiCorp proposes to increase
hydroelectric power production from 14.7 megawatts to 15.8 megawatts and
also to use target minimum flows in the bypass reach and below the
powerhouse to enhance downstream fisheries. While PaciCorp did not propose
to install fish passage at the dam, the FERC included in its environmental
impact statement several options for improving salmon and steelhead
survival, including dam retirement and removal (Section 2.5) and fish
passage (Section 2.6.2). Following completion of the environmental impact
statement, PacifiCorp decided fish passage would be too expensive and began
investigating dam removal. As 1998 began, PacifiCorp and other interested
parties, including fish and wildlife agencies and environmental groups,
continued to work on a dam-removal and retirement plan. One option under
discussion is to continue operating the dam but direct all of the power
sales revenues into a fund that would pay for removal.
8. City of Portland
The Bull Run Hydroelectric Project (FERC License 2821-000) is a complex of
two dams on the Bull Run River, a tributary of the Sandy River, that
impounds two reservoirs that supply Portland with the majority of its water
supply. The current license for the project was issued on March 22, 1979 and
expires in March 2029.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, an intervenor in the FERC
licensing proceeding, signed an agreement in 1984 with the City of Portland
regarding fish mitigation. This agreement replaces a previous agreement
dated December 14, 1978, which had been negotiated in order to allow the
FERC to issue a license for the project prior to resolution of the fish
mitigation dispute.
According to the December 5, 1984, agreement between ODFW and the City of
Portland:
1. The city paid $350,000 to ODFW to reimburse the cost of constructing
three rearing ponds and associated equipment.
2. The city pays for annual production of 20,000 pounds of spring chinook
and 12,000 pounds of steelhead at the Clackamas hatchery at a total cost not
to exceed $80,000 for the 1985-86 fiscal year, and adjusted annually for
inflation in future years. Placement (release location) of this production
is up to the discretion of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
9. Washington Water Power Company
Contacted in December; waiting for reply
10. Montana Power Company
Contacted in January; waiting for reply
Montana Power Company operates two dams on the Columbia River Basin side
of the Rocky Mountains (both are on the Clark Fork River). In all, the
company owns 13 dams and four coal-fired power plants. There is no
mitigation requirement for fish production. In December 1997, the company
announced it would sell all of its dams and its four coal-fired power
plants, in addition to its leased interest in a another coal-fired plant.
The company's directors decided it would be best to not own power-generating
facilities in deregulated energy marketplace in which it provides
transmission and distribution of power.
11. Lewis County Public Utility District
Cowlitz Falls Dam, FERC License No. 2833, was completed and began service in
1994 on the Cowlitz River, a Columbia tributary in Southwest Washington. The
dam is owned by the Lewis County Public Utility District.
There is no fish production requirement in the FERC license, as Mossyrock
and Mayfield dams downstream of the Cowlitz Falls project were constructed
earlier and blocked fish passage. However, in response to a lawsuit filed by
a citizens group, the Friends of the Cowlitz, the Bonneville Power
Administration, which buys the output of Cowlitz Falls Dam, and the Lewis
County Public Utility District, agreed to construct a juvenile fish
collection facility at the dam (Settlement Agreement, 1991). This collection
facility, financed by Bonneville, went into operation on Dec. 10, 1996.
Spring chinook, coho and late-winter steelhead smolts are collected and
trucked to acclimation ponds at the Cowlitz hatchery, located 40 miles
downstream, where the fish are held for 24 hours and then released
volitionally, and forced out after 48 hours. The hatchery is operated by the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and financed by Tacoma Public
Utilities, which owns and operates Mossyrock and Mayfield dams. In 1997,
about 46,000 fish were collected at Cowlitz Falls Dam -- roughly 20,000
spring chinook, 20,000 steelhead, 5,700 coho and 300 sea-run cutthroat
trout. The long-term goal -- by the year 2010 or so -- is to collect about 1
million smolts -- 600,000 coho, 300,000 spring chinook and the remainder
steelhead and sea-run cutthroat.
Returning adult fish, which will have a special mark, will be collected
and trucked by Tacoma Public Utilities to Cowlitz Falls Dam for release
above the dam
Contacts: Jim Partridge, BPA Richland, 509-372-5014. The project
manager is Paul Foster, 360-497-5251. The project biologist (I left a
message on Jan. 5) is Mike Kahn (SP?), 360-497-5026.
References
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1995.
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