Council recommends construction of hatchery for threatened Chinook salmon

May 9, 2006

WALLA WALLA — The Council today authorized construction of a $16.4 million fish hatchery and related facilities in Northeastern Oregon to improve the production of a threatened species, spring Chinook salmon in the Imnaha and Grande Ronde rivers.

“This is an important step in the long planning history of the Northeast Oregon Hatchery and a critical opportunity to significantly reduce the risk to an endangered species,” Council Chair Tom Karier said.

Restoring spring Chinook runs in the Grande Ronde River Basin is a component of a larger, long-term planning effort by state and federal fishery managers for Snake River salmon and steelhead. The new facilities will augment fish production that already is occurring at Lookingglass Hatchery, which is operated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As condition of its approval, the Council recommended that future operations, maintenance and evaluation costs of the hatchery be funded through the budget for the Blue Mountain Province, a designated planning area for purposes of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The Blue Mountain Province includes river basins in Northeastern Oregon.

“We want to ensure that we don’t authorize construction of a hatchery without adequate funding to pay for its future operations,” Karier said.

The Council’s authorization is in the form of a recommendation to the Bonneville Power Administration to fund construction of the project as an element of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Bonneville, the federal agency that sells electricity generated at 31 dams in the Columbia River Basin, is required by law to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by Columbia River Basin hydropower dams. Bonneville will authorize the beginning of construction when a water permit is issued for the hatchery. A preliminary permit is expected this month, with final approval in August.

The Nez Perce Tribe is the sponsor of the Northeast Oregon Hatchery. Other partners include the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Planning for the hatchery has been in the Council’s fish and wildlife program since 1987.

The new facilities will allow the fish managers to meet full-production goals in the Grand Ronde and Imnaha rivers, which are established under Endangered Species Act guidelines,. In addition, the facilities also will improve the quality of current production at multiple facilities and sites in the Imnaha and Grand Ronde river basins. A new incubation and rearing facility in the Lostine River, a Grande Ronde tributary, will accommodate Lostine stock production (250,000 smolts per year), and also rear half of the total Imnaha production (245,000 smolts) and hold returning adult fish from both river basins. In addition, a new adult-fish capture facility on the Lostine River will be built, and a satellite facility on the Imnaha River will be improved for adult-fish collection and acclimation of smolts before they are released.

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.

Contacts:

• , Chair, 509-623-4386
• , Information Officer, 503-222-5161
• , Project Implementation Manager, 503-222-5161
• Becky Johnson, Nez Perce Tribe, 208-843-7320

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