NOAA Says No Change Needed To ESA-Listing Status Of Interior Columbia River Basin Salmon/Steelhead; Two Populations Face High Extinction Risk
Seven interior Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act should retain their current listing status, according to five-year status reviews released by NOAA Fisheries. The listed species are in the mid- and upper-Columbia River basin and the Snake River basin.
Although the listings for each of the seven species remains unchanged, NOAA says there is an “increased level of concern” due to climate change and for that reason urgent action is needed, including further improving passage through hydropower dams, restoring tributary and estuary habitat, controlling predators and modifying hatchery practices.
Comprehensive recovery actions will help improve the resilience of the species to climate change, the agency says.
The seven species reviewed by NOAA and released this week are:
• Upper Columbia River spring Chinook salmon
• Upper Columbia River steelhead
• Middle Columbia River steelhead
• Snake River spring/summer Chinook
• Snake River fall run Chinook
• Snake River sockeye salmon
• Snake River steelhead
Some 28 salmon and steelhead stocks in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington are listed under the ESA by NOAA’s West Coast Division.
The reviews are “a snapshot of how the species have done in the last five years and how they are faring overall at a critical time,” said Michael Tehan, Assistant Regional Administrator for the Interior Columbia Basin. “We are seeing the impacts of climate change play out, which demonstrates the urgency of moving the most critical recovery actions ahead now. The takeaway message is that we cannot wait.”
At most risk, according to NOAA Fisheries, are upper Columbia River spring-run Chinook salmon and Snake River sockeye salmon. The two species are also among the most endangered salmon on the West Coast and “face high extinction risk.”
That is according to the agency’s “Biological Viability Assessment Update for Pacific Salmon and Steelhead Listed Under the Endangered Species Act: Pacific Northwest,” released in early 2021 by NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
All three populations of upper Columbia spring-run Chinook salmon have declined over the last 5 years by an average of 48 percent, the status report says, adding that low survival in the ocean was a major factor, but impacts in freshwater also had an impact on the fish.
The recovery plan, which also applies to upper Columbia River steelhead, can be found here.
“Although the recent decline of population abundances is concerning, each population remains well above the abundance levels of when they were listed,” the review says. Still all three populations of upper Columbia River spring Chinook remain at high risk of extinction.
For upper Columbia River steelhead, the review says there is renewed interest in the removal of the Enloe Dam that has blocked the Similkameen River in northeast Washington since 1923 and has not produced electricity since 1958. Dam removal would provide access to hundreds of miles of habitat for anadromous fish and restore riverine processes in a portion of the Similkameen River that would be more resilient to temperature increases caused by climate change.
“The benefits of dam removal to anadromous fish, including UCR steelhead and UCR spring-run Chinook, are expected to improve all viability parameters of both species including abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and diversity,” the review says.
Sockeye salmon are native to the Snake River basin and historically were abundant in several lake systems in Idaho and Oregon. Today, the last remaining Snake River sockeye spawn in Sawtooth Valley lakes high in the Salmon River drainage in Idaho. The species, listed under the ESA as endangered in 1991, is considered by NOAA in its status review at a high risk of extinction.
The strategy for recovering Snake River aims to reintroduce and support adaptation of naturally self-sustaining sockeye salmon populations in the Sawtooth Valley lakes, the review says. The three phases of the strategy are: (1) Preservation with the captive broodstock program; (2) reintroduction; and (3) a program emphasizing natural adaptation and viability.
However, “No natural anadromous fish have been released since 2014 as they are required to be spawned in the captive broodstock program under NMFS Section 10 permit 1454,” the status review says.
The status reviews are not all bad news. Snake River fall-run Chinook salmon are listed as threatened and face moderate-to-low extinction risk.
“Current trends for this species are encouraging,” NOAA says. “If recent actions prove to be as effective as predicted and current trends continue, Snake River fall-run Chinook salmon could be removed from the list of species protected by the ESA.”
“Fall-run Chinook salmon are a bright spot that reflect the hard work that tribes and states have put into their recovery,” Tehan said. “We know what the species needs and we have been able to apply that.”
See NOAA’s status review for Snake River fall Chinook here.
Snake River spring/summer-run Chinook salmon are also listed as threatened but with a moderate-to-high extinction risk. The survival of the species over the tough conditions of the last five years reflects their resilience, Tehan said. However, climate change poses a tougher test that will require more ambitious recovery actions to support the species.
Still, the review for Snake River spring/summer-run Chinook signaled an “increased level of concern” for the species based on declining population trends and climate change impacts. It called for further review if that trend continues. The review recommended additional habitat restoration. Research indicates that at least 20 percent of floodplain and side-channel habitat in a watershed must be restored to support a 25 percent increase in surviving salmon smolts.
See NOAA’s status review for Snake River spring/summer Chinook here.
It is not an accident that NOAA Fisheries prioritized its seven reviews for Snake River and upper and middle Columbia River salmon and steelhead before it completed its reviews for the other 21 species of anadromous fish listed by the agency. In a news release announcing the status reviews, the agency said it was “to provide updated information for discussions on long-term approaches for salmon and steelhead restoration across the Columbia River basin.”
In July, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released NOAA’s draft report “Rebuilding Interior Columbia River Basin Salmon and Steelhead” for review from fisheries managers. NOAA worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe to complete the report. NOAA says it will incorporate comments from regional fisheries managers and scientists and complete the report by Sept. 30.
In the draft report NOAA outlined what it would take to achieve the Columbia Basin Partnership’s mid-range abundance goals. It called for urgent and large-scale comprehensive actions in the basin if the region is to meet mid-range salmon and steelhead abundance goals set by the partnership task force in 2020. Those actions are “expedited” breaching of the lower Snake River dams, controlling predators and reintroducing salmon and steelhead upstream of blocked areas.
The agency said that inaction will result in the catastrophic loss of the basin’s wild salmon and steelhead stocks.
The Columbia Basin Partnership’s low-range adult abundance goals would result in ESA delisting. However, its mid- and high-range goals would go substantially further and provide for healthy and harvestable stocks. The Partnership also noted a sense of urgency to act now to achieve its goals, recognizing that it could take decades to ultimately achieve them, NOAA said.
“Recovery plans for these species say that additional improvements in survival through the hydrosystem are necessary. They do not explicitly call for breaching the lower Snake River dams, nor do the 5-year reviews analyze breaching the dams,” NOAA said.
NOAA’s “Rebuilding” report and a second report estimating the costs and types of replacement power if Snake River dams are breached are important parts of the commitments made by “moving” parties – the United States, National Wildlife Federation et al., the State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Spokane Tribe – as they requested a one-year stay in litigation earlier this month.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon on Aug. 4 agreed to a request by the Biden Administration and plaintiffs to extend for another year the stay in the litigation challenging the federal government’s environmental impact statement and biological opinion for Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead. The parties said they want more time to identify “comprehensive” solutions to basin salmon recovery.
The Endangered Species Act calls for a review of listed species at least every five years to determine if their listing status remains accurate or should be changed. The reviews also provide a report card on recovery, as outlined by each species’ recovery plan. They identify the most critical threats to the species, and recommend key actions that can yield the greatest improvements in their odds for recovery.
For background, see:
— CBB, August 11, 2022, NOAA TAKING COMMENTS FROM FISHERIES MANAGERS ON SALMON REBUILDING REPORT KEY TO ADMINISTRATION’S COLLABORATIVE RECOVERY EFFORTS, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/NOAA-TAKING-COMMENTS-FROM-FISHERIES-MANAGERS-ON-SALMON-REBUILDING-REPORT-KEY-TO-ADMINISTRATIONS-COLLABORATIVE-RECOVERY-EFFORTS/
— CBB, July 15, 2022, WHITE HOUSE ISSUES REPORTS ON BASIN SALMON RECOVERY, COSTS; ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ NOT RESTORING ESA-LISTED SALMON, STEELHEAD, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/WHITE-HOUSE-ISSUES-REPORTS-ON-BASIN-SALMON-RECOVERY-COSTS-BUSINESS-AS-USUAL-NOT-RESTORING-ESA-LISTED-SALMON-STEELHEAD/
— CBB, May 7, 2021, NEZ PERCE STUDY SHOWS SNAKE RIVER BASIN SALMON/STEELHEAD AT RISK OF EXTINCTION; TRIBE SAYS EMERGENCY ACTIONS NEEDED, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/NEZ-PERCE-STUDY-SHOWS-SNAKE-RIVER-BASIN-SALMON-STEELHEAD-AT-RISK-OF-EXTINCTION-TRIBE-SAYS-EMERGENCY-ACTIONS-NEEDED/
— CBB, February 26, 2021, UNSETTLING: NOAA RESEARCH SAYS WARMING OCEAN POSES RISK OF EXTINCTION FOR SNAKE RIVER SPRING/SUMMER CHINOOK BY 2060S, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/UNSETTLING-NOAA-RESEARCH-SAYS-WARMING-OCEAN-POSES-RISK-OF-EXTINCTION-FOR-SNAKE-RIVER-SPRING-SUMMER-CHINOOK-BY-2060S/
–CBB, Jan. 15, 2021, WASHINGTON STATE SALMON RECOVERY REPORT: MOST POPULATIONS NOT MAKING PROGRESS, SOME ON PATH TO EXTINCTION https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/washington-state-salmon-recovery-report-most-populations-not-making-progress-some-on-path-to-extinction/
— CBB, October 30, 2020, COLUMBIA BASIN PARTNERSHIP RELEASES FINAL REPORT STRESSING URGENCY IN ADDRESSING SALMON, STEELHEAD RECOVERY, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/COLUMBIA-BASIN-PARTNERSHIP-RELEASES-FINAL-REPORT-STRESSING-URGENCY-IN-ADDRESSING-SALMON-STEELHEAD-RECOVERY/
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