October 28, 2002

PORTLAND – The Council is proposing to change the way reservoirs and dams are operated in the Columbia River Basin in order to improve the balance of water uses for the benefit of fish and wildlife from the headwaters of the river to the ocean. The Council’s proposals would improve habitat for fish that live in and migrate through the Columbia River and its major tributaries while also providing more flexibility in power generation, particularly in the winter.

The concept, proposed by the Council in draft amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, builds on the habitat focus of the program. This means the program will be accomplished, where feasible, by protecting and restoring natural ecological functions, habitats and biological diversity of species.

For the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers, this means hydropower dam operations, fish passage efforts, habitat improvement investments and other actions should be directed toward protecting, enhancing, restoring and connecting natural river processes and habitats. Through the river operations proposed in the draft amendments, the Council hopes to improve spawning, rearing and resting habitat for all fish in the river system, from ocean-going salmon and steelhead in the lower river to resident species like bull trout and white sturgeon that inhabit rivers and reservoirs in the headwaters areas.

The draft amendments propose changes to the spring and summer operations of the major dams and reservoirs. Chairman Larry Cassidy said that because most of the Council members believe the biological benefits of spring flow augmentation for migrating salmon and steelhead have not been well-documented, the draft amendments propose to shift some of the water currently used for that purpose to the winter. The Council does not believe such a shift would harm spring-migrating salmon and steelhead.

Shifting the water in this way would improve hydrosystem flexibility, which would help in the event of future power emergencies, and could result in increased hydropower sales. If so, more money would be available to finance elements of the Council’s program, such as prioritized projects, Cassidy said. Under the Council’s proposal, reservoirs would refill by the end of June.

For the summer, the Council proposes to release flow augmentation water from upriver reservoirs over a longer period of time – May through September, rather than the current May through August. This would improve habitat conditions for reservoir- and river-dwelling populations in the headwaters and make more water available to augment flows for salmon and steelhead populations that migrate to and from the ocean in September.

In a sense, the spring operations set up the summer operations, with full reservoirs being available for flow augmentation by the end June. The Council believes this whole-basin, reservoir-focused approach will achieve a better balance of water uses and river operations for the benefit of all fish and wildlife, and hydropower generation, in the Columbia River Basin.

“We know our draft amendments will be controversial because we propose to change the status-quo dam operations. But we acknowledge that there are significant questions about the fish benefits of spring flow augmentation,” Cassidy said. “These are draft proposals, and we want to hear from all of the region’s state, federal and tribal fish managers, as well as others affected by the hydrosystem, before we make our final decision. It is imperative that all interested parties weigh in with solid science to support or reject our proposals in order to help us make our decision. All Council members are committed to basing our decisions on the best available science.”

The headwaters-down approach in the draft amendments represents a shift from the Council’s current fish and wildlife program by relaxing spring flows and spreading the available augmentation water over a longer period time through the summer. The draft amendments also are a shift away from the river operations required by the 2000 Biological Opinion on hydropower operations issued by NOAA Fisheries on behalf of threatened and endangered species of salmon. The Council proposes, for example, to eliminate a Biological Opinion requirement that storage reservoirs fill to a certain level by April 10 each year. This would allow some of the water to be shifted to winter uses, as the draft amendments propose.

“We expect a strong response from the public to our proposals for river operations and to the other elements of the draft amendments, as well,” Cassidy said. “Because the Council is a planning agency, and because all four Northwest states are equally represented, the Council is the proper place for this debate.”

The draft mainstem amendments also account for the impact of the recommended river and dam operations on the region’s power supply and include a paper on the subject, which is part of the amendments package for public comment. The Council is required by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to protect, mitigate and enhance all fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin that have been affected by hydropower while also assuring the Pacific Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.