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Idaho Offers River Recommendations by Mike O'Bryant Columbia Basin Bulletin - June 11, 1999

Idaho has drawn up recommendations for the fourth straight year on how the Columbia River power system should operate its water management process to enhance salmon migration in the Snake River basin. But one state representative says the recommendations should have been considered before a decision was made not to completely refill the Dworshak pool.

James Yost of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s office told a gathering at last week’s Implementation Team meeting that the recommendations contained in the report, “Enhancing Salmon and Steelhead Migration Success,” represent the governor’s position. They are similar to past years’ recommendations, but the emphasis has changed in some areas. In the past, he said, Idaho’s primary focus has been on hydrology of the river and this plan expands on that.

“We’ve suggested continuing a spread-the-risk strategy,” he said of the plan’s recommendations for downstream juvenile salmon migration. “What’s different is that we added greater predator control for both birds and mammals, minimum gap turbines and a renewed emphasis on reducing harvest.”

Yost said the recommendations are supported by resources groups and developed specifically for the governor, the governor’s staff and agency heads.

“We’re providing it to the IT for distribution, so there are no surprises and you know exactly what Idaho is trying to do,” Yost said. “Are we asking for action? No. Action will occur in the proper forum.”

The plan also assures the region that, according to the 1999 water supply outlook, natural flows in the Snake River basin will be able to meet Idaho’s recommendations for spring migrants and the plan says that the above-normal forecast “provides a high probability of refill for the Bureau of Reclamation delivery from storage of 427,000 acre-feet of water for salmon migration flows.”

However, state Rep. Charles Cuddy of Orofino, believes a management plan that has been in place for most of 1999 didn’t consider Idaho’s recommendations soon enough. In a June 2, 1999, letter to Brian Brown, National Marine Fisheries Service assistant regional administrator for hydro, Cuddy wonders why, with so much water available from snowpack this year, his constituents who use the Dworshak Reservoir for recreation must suffer.

“Obviously the water management plans for Idaho and particularly Dworshak Reservoir has been in place since early 1999 and consideration of Idaho’s plan should have taken place quite some time ago,” Cuddy wrote in the letter.

He said the snowpack in the Clearwater River basin is 140 percent of normal, yet the pool is drawn down to the point where recreation facilities, such as docks, are left high and dry and the pool is not scheduled to fill this year.

Idaho’s plan suggests filling Dworshak Reservoir by June 1, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates the pool level won’t peak until about July 8, when it will reach an elevation of 1,592.99 feet, more than seven feet below maximum.

“With this quantity of available water I cannot understand why Dworshak Reservoir cannot be maintained at full pool at least from June through July,” Cuddy said. “At this point in time most of the recreational facilities remain unused as all but one launch ramp is out of service.”

Writing about two particular recreational areas constructed by the federal government, but now operated by Idaho, Cuddy said, “Federal dam operational changes have reduced these areas to minimal and/or no significant use due to excessive draw down levels substantially beyond facility and original operational design.” He also complained that, when drawing the pool down, no consideration is given to resident species, such as cutthroat trout and bull trout.

He further questioned whether the demands on Idaho’s water and the “ever-increasing restrictions on land use in the name of habitat recovery,” which impact the state’s economy and recreation, when “there remains a fresh and salt-water commercial fishery for the species supposedly being protected.”

Cuddy concluded by wondering if any current salmon recovery plan is realistic.

In fact, one of Idaho’s recommendations calls for a reduction in harvest for fall chinook and steelhead until “recovery is secure.”

The report says that “Idaho is very concerned about mortality of adult salmon and steelhead during migration.” Recognizing these losses are due to several factors, including the hydrosystem, the cumulative impacts of harvest, and predators, the state lays out several considerations. They are:
 

• The plan says that Idaho has prohibited the take of wild adult chinook and steelhead within its borders, yet the harvest rate on fish originating in Idaho is still too high. The plans says that “Harvest managers must address the chronic over-harvest of Idaho-origin steelhead and fall chinook in an open forum.”
• In-season monitoring and management should consider the effects of spill for juveniles on migrating adults;
• Fall runs of adult salmon and steelhead migrate upstream from August through November. Yet the warm Snake River flows in August and September can reduce migration success. Idaho says this “effect may be exacerbated if flow augmentation for juvenile fall chinook is maximized during July, as specified in NMFS Biological Opinion (NMFS 1995).” The plan suggests drafting reservoirs to “minimize risks and maximize benefits to adult steelhead and fall chinook.”

Other considerations recommended by the report include:

• Seek a more equitable balance between barged and in-river smolts. The report says a spread-the-risk approach toward transportation of juveniles “strives for a sensible balance, based on river conditions, between the number of fish transported and those allowed to migrate in the river.” It says that river conditions this year warrant a majority of the smolts to migrate in-stream and that this will ensure a “valid test between the transported and in-river smolts.” To aid in the migration, Idaho calls for spring spill to the highest allowed by state water quality standards and transporting from only Lower Granite and Little Goose dams, returning bypassed fish to the river at Lower Monumental and McNary dams and limiting trucking as a method for transporting smolts.
• Enhance conditions for spring migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead through reservoir passage and through better dam passage. The plan recommends prioritizing water supplies for springtime migrants, use Brownlee and Dworshak reservoirs to keep average flows at Lower Granite Dam at 100 thousand cubic feet per second for 1999 spring migrants, manage flood control to “ensure the highest possible reservoir levels by early April.” and maintain minimum operating pools behind lower Snake and Columbia River dams. For dams, Idaho recommends spilling to maximum allowable standards, accepting dissolved gas levels as high as 125 percent, operating turbines to within 1 percent efficiency when smolts are present and continue testing bypass facilities.
• Control predators. Idaho supports aggressive measures to move from Rice Island to East Sand Island Caspian terns that eat as much as 25 percent of smolts in the lower Columbia River estuary. However, Idaho says it is just as concerned with predators that feed on the returning adults. Claiming that the number of marine mammals has increased six-fold this decade, Idaho calls on NMFS to “aggressively control marine mammals.”
• Continue testing minimum gap runner prototype turbines that are being installed at Bonneville Dam. Idaho says these turbines could reduce smolt mortality. The state says that fish survival through turbines is now about 89 percent to 94 percent, while some predict survival at 100 percent using the new turbine design. Moderate predictions, however, are 93 percent to 98 percent survival for the new turbines, according to the plan.
• Provide cooler water for fall adult migration. The plan suggest limiting drafting of the Dworshak reservoir to a minimum elevation of 1,535 feet (1,600 feet is full). This would reserve about 200 thousand-acre feet of cooler water for fall adult salmon migration.

Link information:
Idaho Governor’s Office: http://www2.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm
BPA: http://www.efw.bpa.gov
NMFS: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov