A proposal to begin spilling water now at lower Columbia River hydro
projects to improve passage for a building juvenile salmon and steelhead
migration hit a snag Friday (today) when the Bonneville Power
Administration and Grant County Public Utility District failed to win
regional support for the plan.
With drought a near certainty, fishery managers and hydro operators are
trying to broker a deal that frees any amount of water that would help
move migrating Snake River juvenile salmon through the Lower Granite Dam
reservoir and improve migration conditions in the lower Snake River.
Federal executives won't have a final Columbia River operations plan
ready until May 17, but they did promise decisions on four critical fish
operations by the end of this week. Of the four -- spring spill,
transportation of juveniles at McNary Dam, lowering Vernita Bar flows
and beginning a pulsing operation at Lower Granite Dam -- only two
decisions are made and a third is likely to receive attention today.
Flow "augmentation" via water releases from Snake River reservoirs and
those that feed the Snake should not be abandoned. But a fine-tuning of
research is needed to settle conclusively debates over the practice's
potential benefit to migrating fall chinook salmon, according to a panel
of independent scientists.
The Northwest Power Planning Council on Thursday advised federal Columbia River hydrosystem operators to maximize barge transportation as a means of getting migrating salmon past dams, and weigh carefully the use of any spill passage regimes that would take away from the system's ability to power the region through the summer, fall and winter.
The Northwest Power Planning Council on Thursday advised federal Columbia River hydrosystem operators to maximize barge transportation as a means of getting migrating salmon past dams, and weigh carefully the use of any spill passage regimes that would take away from the system's ability to power the region through the summer, fall and winter.
Oregon's governor said Wednesday that evolving Northwest hydrosystem operations proposals would, in large part, leave salmon and steelhead populations high and dry this spring and summer during what is expected to be one of the worst water years on record.
Oregon's governor said Wednesday that evolving Northwest hydrosystem operations proposals would, in large part, leave salmon and steelhead populations high and dry this spring and summer during what is expected to be one of the worst water years on record.
Oregon's governor said Wednesday that evolving Northwest hydrosystem operations proposals would, in large part, leave salmon and steelhead populations high and dry this spring and summer during what is expected to be one of the worst water years on record.
Northwest tribes asked the Northwest Power Planning Council to do a better job of balancing the interests of fish with power, which it is required to do by the 1980 Northwest Power Act.
A coalition of fishing and conservation groups on Thursday gave notice of their intent to file a series of lawsuits unless the federal agencies act immediately wring water from the upper Snake River to help migrating salmon in what is shaping up to be a drought year.
The intent is to save power without savaging the agricultural industry,
but irrigation load buyback programs launched this late winter and
spring by numerous electric entities could have the trickle down effect
of providing additional in-stream flows for fish.
Though clouds again linger over much of the Columbia Basin and
Northwest, most participants in a Tuesday drought workshop agreed that
the region will have to play with the hand dealt by Mother Nature during
a dry fall and winter of 2000-2001.
It would take 225 percent of normal precipitation between now and July
to get the region back on track toward a "normal" water year, according
to Harold Opitz, hydrologist in charge of the Northwest River Forecast
Center.
Although record numbers of spring chinook adults are passing Bonneville
Dam, many native American fisherman who are fishing the spring treaty
fishery for the first time in years, are not catching enough fish.
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission asked this week for
biological opinion-level spill hoping that some salmon would be drawn
towards the river's edge so that platform fishermen could catch them.
A Northwest Power Planning Council biological analysis released this
week suggests that in 2001 -- with Columbia and Snake river flows
predicted at near-record lows -- barging most juvenile salmon and
steelhead through the federal hydrosystem will result in survival as
high or higher than if the fish were left in the river to migrate.
Washington Gov. Gary Locke on Wednesday authorized the Department of
Ecology to declare a statewide drought emergency.
Locke noted that the state's snowpack is at just 50 to 60 percent of
average for this time of year, which will sharply reduce the amount of
runoff into streams this summer. In fact, the flow in the Columbia River
for April through September is expected to be less than 57 percent of
average.
The multi-agency Implementation Team and Technical Management Team
provided federal executives this week with their ideas about how the
federal hydropower system should be operated in low water conditions.
Federal agencies this year have taken over operations of the Columbia
and Snake river hydroelectric system due to persistent energy
emergencies.
The multi-agency Implementation Team and Technical Management Team
provided federal executives this week with their ideas about how the
federal hydropower system should be operated in low water conditions.
Federal agencies this year have taken over operations of the Columbia
and Snake river hydroelectric system due to persistent energy
emergencies.
Fisheries agencies agreed this week to end higher flows that keep chum
redds watered downstream from Bonneville Dam. It could prove to be only
the first of many hard biological decisions both fisheries managers and
dam operators will have to make this year due to record low water and
electricity deficits.
The Bonneville Power Administration agreed during a Technical Management
Team conference call last Friday (March 9) to spill 50,000 cubic feet
per second (50 kcfs) of water for three days, 12 hours each evening, at
Bonneville Dam to help Spring Creek Hatchery tule chinook juveniles move
down river.
Two preliminary Northwest Power Planning Council studies that look at
the power situation and its effects on endangered salmon found that the
cost to the region of spilling water to pass migrating salmon this year
would be high, but the benefits would be low.
The forecast for how much water is available in the Columbia and Snake
river systems to use for power, endangered species preservation,
recreation, irrigation and navigation -- January through July -- dropped
again this month to 58.6 million acre feet. If trends hold, this year
could have the second worst water supply outlook on record. Only 1977,
which had a water supply of 53.8 maf, was worse.
Chum fry incubating in the Ives and Pearce islands channel downstream
from Bonneville Dam could be the first casualty of this low-water year.
So far, about half the fry have emerged from their nests and left the
area, but the last of the fry aren't expected to complete emergence
until mid-April.
Deciding now is as good a time as ever, the Northwest Power Planning
Council decided Wednesday to launch the next phase of its Columbia Basin
fish and wildlife program amendment process with a request for
recommendations on a coordinated mainstem plan.
Faced with a water year that is heading to an all-time low, federal,
state and tribal officials agreed to reduce the amount of water used to
protect chum salmon redds near Ives and Pearce islands downstream from
Bonneville Dam.
While this cut is expected to leave only a few more redds dry now, a
decision in the next few weeks could pull the plug on chum flows before
emergence of chum fry is complete.
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