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| Relocating terns in Columbia River estuary will
protect ratepayer investment in salmon recovery
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The Northwest Power
Planning Council has approved a request from the region's state,
federal and tribal fish and wildlife managers to provide an
additional $235,000 of Bonneville Power Administration funding to an
effort to relocate a nesting colony of Caspian terns near the mouth
of the Columbia River. The terns, which lay their eggs on the open
sand of a man-made island near Astoria, Oregon, prey on juvenile
salmon in the Columbia River estuary.
This winter, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built Rice Island with sand dredged from the mouth of the river, will begin an effort to modify the island's nesting habitat and take other actions to deter the birds. The Corps will plant wheat on the island, place decoy terns and install loudspeakers as part of an effort to encourage the birds to nest at East Sand Island, nine miles west and farther away from the migrating salmon smolts. The work must be done by next spring, when the terns arrive to lay their eggs and juvenile salmon migrate into the estuary from upriver spawning grounds and hatcheries. The predation problem is not well understood, but research - mostly funded through the Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program - is under way. Currently it is estimated Caspian terns kill between 6 million and 25 million juvenile salmon every year - as much as 25 percent of the total number of smolts believed to be in the estuary, according to researchers from Oregon State University and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Other, more extreme measures are not an option in 1999 because the birds are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Meeting last week in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the Council agreed to a request from the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, which represents the region's state, federal and tribal fish and wildlife agencies, to contribute $235,000 to this winter's relocation effort, which is expected to cost about $815,000. Council members made clear that they viewed the situation as an emergency and a one-time expense. This year, the $235,000 would come from the Bonneville Power Administration through the Council's fish and wildlife program budget. The Council expects some or all of that amount to be reimbursed to Bonneville, and that in future years the money should come from the Corps of Engineers or other federal sources. Council Chairman John Etchart of Montana noted that the Council is required to mitigate the impact of the Columbia River Basin hydropower system on fish and wildlife, and that the relationship between tern predation of salmon and the hydropower system is tenuous, at best. In a letter to the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Council said more of the costs should be paid by Corps of Engineers operation and maintenance programs, the Fish and Wildlife Service or other sources. The Council will seek reimbursement of at least a portion of the Bonneville contribution to the program from more appropriate sources. Etchart said the Council has an interest in protecting the annual multimillion-dollar investment in salmon recovery by the region's electricity ratepayers. If the terns are eating salmon produced through the ratepayers' investment, then the Council is willing to help address the problem, he said. At the same time, the federal government should investigate the larger issue of whether to dispose of the dredged sand in some other location, rather than continuing to build the artificial island, Etchart said. |