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Scientists Review Upper Snake Tribes’ Assessment Of Salmon Losses Due To Construction Of Upper Snake River Dams

A regional panel of scientists’ recent review of the Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation’s assessment of spring/summer Chinook losses resulting from the construction of upper Snake River dams said the Tribes’ analysis could be improved and gives pointers to help with a second round of work.

The Tribes had asked the Independent Scientific Advisory Board in March to review the scientific elements of their study that estimated 1.4 million spring/summer Chinook salmon were lost after multiple dams were constructed on the upper Snake River.

The ISAB completed its review of the Tribes’ assessment August 1, saying that it “agrees that USRT’s use of an intrinsic potential model to assess loss of spring/summer Chinook salmon in the upper Snake River was a good first step that yielded valuable information under a constrained budget.”

However, the ISAB said it “has concerns about the accuracy and uncertainty of the results, and concerns about how the model was used in the large leap from assessing habitat suitability and availability to quantifying and distributing the historical numbers of spring/summer Chinook salmon in stream reaches above the Hells Canyon Complex.”

The Foundation, Dermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley, and Parametrix collaborated on the loss assessment for spring/summer Chinook.

The ISAB suggested these next steps for what it said would “produce a more complete analysis with increased certainty.”

  • Explore more fully the current intrinsic potential model used in Parametrix (2023) to better understand the effect of assumptions made and scalars used.
  • Experiment with alternative intrinsic potential models that consider other biologically relevant covariates, e.g., temperature, precipitation, and discharge.
  • Explore the effects of landscape alterations from human disturbances and the expected effect of climate change.
  • Explore other modeling methods for cross-model comparisons, to increase accuracy and to reduce uncertainty.
  • Incorporate Indigenous knowledge to inform the analysis. In the “Analysis” section, the ISAB elaborated, saying “The ISAB recognizes the important historical ecological and cultural links between people and salmon in the Upper Snake River Basin. To the extent that USRT would like to do so in next steps, we support the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and Tribal preferences for harvesting locations and other culturally important geographies to help guide reintroduction plans and protocols. Indigenous knowledge would likely be of great utility to help guide restoration efforts and decisions (see Lander and Mallory 2021; Mehltretter et al. 2024), and we encourage inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in future development of this plan.”

“The ISAB concluded by saying it “hopes that this review will help USRT with plans for assessments of loss and current habitat capacity for spring/summer Chinook salmon and other fish stocks and species. Although the suggested next steps will require additional effort, they will be critical for informing future actions to reintroduce anadromous fish above the Hells Canyon Complex.”

Historically, some 10-16 million anadromous fish returned to the Columbia River Basin, with an estimated 1.7 million of those headed upriver of Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River. Due to dam construction, habitat destruction, overfishing, and other impacts the current 10-year average of Chinook passing Bonneville Dam has dropped to 729,485 adults, with none heading upriver of the dams, according to a presentation by Dennis Daw, USRT Foundation Fish and Wildlife Program Director. Daw presented the Tribes’ findings at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s March 12 Fish and Wildlife Committee meeting.

Although previous loss assessments of salmon and steelhead have been completed, including one by the Council in 1987, the assessment by the USRT Foundation is a refinement of previous studies, focusing on distribution of the fish upstream of the Hells Canyon Dam, the lowest and one of the last dams built upstream of Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. One difference from previous assessments is that it calculates losses by “dam-shed,” or the watershed upstream of each of the more than a dozen dams constructed in the upper Snake River basin. The assessment provides the region with an understanding of where the fish were distributed prior to dam construction.

A partial list of those dams include Hells Canyon, Brownlee, CJ Strike and Swan Falls dams, all owned by Idaho Power Company. Tributary dams are more numerous, including Thief Valley, Unity, Agency, Warm Springs, Black Canyon Diversion, Owyhee, Boise Diversion and Bruneau dams, all owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, except for Bruneau Dam. Bruneau Dam is one of the earliest dams. It is owned by an irrigation company. None of the dams have fish ladders, Daw said. The last dam – Hells Canyon Dam – was built in the mid-1960s.

“Most of the drainages had some problems, but dams were the end for salmon,” Daw said. Other issues were “serious overfishing in the lower Columbia River before the dam building era, as well as logging and mining.”

The ISRB report is here: https://www.nwcouncil.org/reports/isab2024-1/

For background, see:

— CBB, March 22, 2024, Dam-Sheds: Tribes Report Calculates Loss Of Spring/Summer Chinook On Upper Snake River Due To Dams At 1.4 Million Fish, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/dam-sheds-tribes-report-calculates-loss-of-spring-summer-chinook-on-upper-snake-river-due-to-dams-at-1-4-million-fish/

— CBB, December 13, 2023, Burns Paiute Tribe Calls On FERC, Biden Administration To Identify Measures To Return Salmon To Malheur River Basin Upstream Of Hells Canyon Dams, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/burns-paiute-tribe-calls-on-ferc-biden-administration-to-identify-measures-to-return-salmon-to-malheur-river-basin-upstream-of-hells-canyon-dams/

— CBB, Oct. 20, 2022, OREGON, BURNS PAIUTE TRIBE SIGN AGREEMENT TO COLLABORATE ON REINTRODUCING SALMON, STEELHEAD TO MALHEUR RIVER https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/oregon-burns-paiute-tribe-sign-agreement-to-collaborate-on-reintroducing-salmon-steelhead-to-malheur-river/

–CBB, Sept. 3, 2021, LITIGATION OVER HELLS CANYON WATER QUALITY SETTLED; OREGON TO DEVELOP PLAN TO CONTROL TEMPERATURE IMPACTS ON SALMON, STEELHEAD https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/litigation-over-hells-canyon-water-quality-settled-oregon-to-develop-plan-to-control-temperature-impacts-on-salmon-steelhead/

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This Year’s Operations At Dworshak Dam Keep Snake River At Lower Granite Dam Cool Enough For Salmon Through August

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operation that began July 1 to maintain tailwater temperatures at Lower Granite Dam under 68 degrees Fahrenheit by releasing cool water from Dworshak Dam into the lower Snake River system is coming to an end this weekend.

68 degrees is the maximum allowed by NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion on impacts of the federal hydroelectric system on salmon and steelhead. Temperatures higher than 68 degrees can be lethal to both adult and juvenile salmonids migrating in the river, including endangered Snake River sockeye salmon arriving in late July and early August.

However, beginning Sept. 1, that operation that had successfully maintained cool tailwater temperatures downstream at Lower Granite will be replaced by flow augmentation of 200,000-acre feet through most of September. The 200 kaf is required by the Snake River Basin Adjudication, according to Jay Hesse of the Nez Perce Tribe. The water from the Dworshak Dam reservoir, located on the North Fork Clearwater River, will continue to cool Lower Granite’s tailwater and it will also cool lower Clearwater River water temperatures as adult Chinook salmon arrive in the river to spawn.

The Snake River Basin Adjudication is an agreement that gives the Tribe a claim each year on 200 kaf of water stored in the Dworshak reservoir. It will use that water allotment during September. The Agreement stems from an April 20, 2004 document titled “Mediators Term Sheet,” which was included in the Snake River Water Rights Act of 2004.

All of that water is available but only as long as the reservoir’s elevation on Aug. 31 each year is at least at 1,535 feet, which is the case this year. The elevation Aug. 28 was 1,539.45 feet, as was reported by Jessica Sollider of the Corps’ Walla Walla District office at this week’s interagency Technical Management Team meeting.

Hesse said the Dworshak Board of Directors that oversees the operational plan for the 200 kaf is recommending that the current water releases from Dworshak begin to be gradually ramped down Sept. 1 from the current 9,200 cubic feet per second with the hope that the Tribe’s 200 kaf of water will last at least through Sept. 27 when the reservoir reaches an elevation of 1,520 feet, the minimum for the end of September. A final plan by the Board, he said, was released Wednesday, Aug. 28 and posted to the TMT website at https://pweb.crohms.org/tmt/agendas/2024/0828_Base_DWR_Operational_Plan_Aug_2024_Final_0829.pdf

“Releases of cool water from Dworshak Dam reduce summer temperatures and drafting of the reservoir improves flows in the lower Snake River, improving conditions for migrating smolts, juveniles rearing in the reservoirs, and adult migrants,” the operational plan says.

A memorandum of agreement for the 200 kaf was signed in 2005 by the Tribe, the Corps, the Bonneville Power Administration, NOAA Fisheries and the state of Idaho.

The Board consists of each of the parties to the original MOA. According to the plan, it describes “the intended operation under the assumption that pending environmental conditions and actual operations will be consistent with an August 31 pool elevation of at least 1,535 feet.”

The reason the Corps was able this year to meet the minimum pool level in the Dworshak reservoir that sets the stage for the 200 kaf is due to lower-than-expected air temperatures and falling water temperatures in August, in addition to an alternative management operation recommended by TMT’s fisheries managers and implemented by the Corps the first eight days of August, according to an overview of the July through August operation for TMT by Willow Walker of the Corps’ Walla Walla District.

In her overview, Walker said that at a July 24 meeting, TMT members discussed three risk management alternative operations for Dworshak’s water supply and had decided on a “relaxed temperature criterion” that raised the maximum Lower Granite tailwater temperature from the BiOp maximum of 68 degrees F to 69.5 F from Aug. 1st to Aug. 9th.

“The alternative operation was intended to save as much water as possible in Dworshak reservoir during the specified time window that aligned with the anticipated lull in passage shifting between the Sockeye to the fall Chinook run in the Lower Snake River,” she said in her overview. “The water saved from the temperature relaxation would then be used in the latter part of August when more Chinook are present and broodstock operations occur.”

Before alternative operation was brought into play, the chances of maintaining the required 68 F temperature in Lower Granite’s tailwater was more limited. Walker said there was enough water to maintain 68 F in Lower Granite’s tailwater through the end of August only if average conditions occurred. That would require that the lower Snake River would have no heatwaves and that three days of spill could be used to mitigate increased tailwater temperatures during Lower Granite’s doble testing.

“Thanks to the selected adaptive operation as well as cooler ambient air temperatures at the end of July, an additional 2.5 days of spill are now available for operations outside of doble testing,” Walker concluded in her overview. “These extra days can be utilized in the face of another heatwave or other event.”

Walker’s overview can be found at https://pweb.crohms.org/tmt/agendas/2024/0814_DWR-Summer-Water-Supply-Outlook_Update.pdf.

A Doble test is maintenance on a transformer and checks the integrity of the transformer conductors, according to Tom Conning, public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Northwest Division.

“Turbine generators generate electrical power (in the form of voltage and current) and that power is transmitted to the grid through a transformer,” he said in an email. “The transformer steps up the generated voltage to match the voltage of the line or grid, where that power then flows to the load, where another transformer (local to the load) steps down the voltage to a useable value.

“When we do a Doble test, the units are unable to generate or send power to the grid. Generally, we cannot utilize the turbines, so projects have to spill water. We typically can run 1 unit at speed no load which means the generator is running at speed with no significant power output, greatly reducing the amount of water that is released through the powerhouse.”

TMT is an inter-agency group that consists of sovereign representatives from: the tribes of Nez Perce, Kootenai, Colville, Umatilla, Spokane, and Warm Springs; the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana; NOAA Fisheries; US Fish and Wildlife Service; and the federal Action Agencies – the Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps and the Bonneville Power Administration. TMT responsibilities generally function to address changing conditions, such as water supply, fish migration, water quality, new information, and maintenance issues as it pertains to dam operations in an effort to meet the expectations of applicable biological opinions.

TMT’s goal is to protect fish by recommending beneficial operations, including spill, temperature, and flows for ESA-listed salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and bull trout species within the Columbia River Basin, according to a statement by the Corps. While the TMT encourages conversation, Action Agencies are responsible for management and operation of the Columbia River System. The TMT members can make a recommendation for fish and wildlife benefits to the Action Agencies for their consideration, but the Action Agencies cannot accommodate all requests.

Dam, stream and weather information used at this week’s TMT meeting can be found here: https://pweb.crohms.org/tmt/agendas/2024/0828_Agenda.html

For background, see:

— CBB, July 5, 2024, With Air, Water Temps In Lower Snake Heating Up, Corps Releasing Cool Dworshak Flows To Aid Salmon, Steelhead, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/with-air-water-temps-in-lower-snake-heating-up-corps-releasing-cool-dworshak-flows-to-aid-salmon-steelhead/

— CBB, June 21, 2024, BASIN SUMMER WATER SUPPLY? RECORD LOW SNOWPACKS IN THE NORTH, ABOVE NORMAL SOUTHERN IDAHO, DALLES DAM RUNOFF 77 PERCENT OF AVERAGE, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/BASIN-SUMMER-WATER-SUPPLY-RECORD-LOW-SNOWPACKS-IN-THE-NORTH-ABOVE-NORMAL-SOUTHERN-IDAHO-DALLES-DAM-RUNOFF-77-PERCENT-OF-AVERAGE/

— CBB, March 7, 2024, FEBRUARY’S LOWER TEMPS, NORMAL PRECIP GIVES SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT TO COLUMBIA BASIN APRIL-AUGUST WATER SUPPLY FORECAST; 83 PERCENT OF AVERAGE, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/FEBRUARYS-LOWER-TEMPS-NORMAL-PRECIP-GIVES-SLIGHT-IMPROVEMENT-TO-COLUMBIA-BASIN-APRIL-AUGUST-WATER-SUPPLY-FORECAST-83-PERCENT-OF-AVERAGE/

— CBB, February 16, 2024, BASIN WATER SUPPLY DROPPING WITH MOST WATERSHEDS WELL BELOW NORMAL, SETTING UP LOW EXPECTATIONS FOR THE YEAR, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/BASIN-WATER-SUPPLY-DROPPING-WITH-MOST-WATERSHEDS-WELL-BELOW-NORMAL-SETTING-UP-LOW-EXPECTATIONS-FOR-THE-YEAR/

— CBB, January 18, 2024, SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF SNOWY, WET WEATHER, BUT COLUMBIA BASIN WATER SUPPLY LIKELY TO REMAIN BELOW NORMAL; 77 PERCENT AT DALLES DAM, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/SEEMS-LIKE-A-LOT-OF-SNOWY-WET-WEATHER-BUT-COLUMBIA-BASIN-WATER-SUPPLY-LIKELY-TO-REMAIN-BELOW-NORMAL-77-PERCENT-AT-DALLES-DAM/

— CBB, August 23, 2023, NEZ PERCE MOA ON DWORSHAK WATER HELPS KEEP CLEARWATER, LOWER SNAKE  RIVER COOL IN SEPTEMBER FOR MIGRATING, OVER-WINTERING SALMON, STEELHEAD, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/NEZ-PERCE-MOA-ON-DWORSHAK-WATER-HELPS-KEEP-CLEARWATER-LOWER-SNAKE-RIVER-COOL-IN-SEPTEMBER-FOR-MIGRATING-OVER-WINTERING-SALMON-STEELHEAD/

— CBB, July 27, 2023, FISHERY MANAGERS PREPARE FOR ALLOWING DWORSHAK’S COOLING WATER FOR LOWER SNAKE TO LAST LONGER; SOCKEYE RUN ‘NOT A PRETTY PICTURE’ https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/fishery-managers-prepare-for-allowing-dworshaks-cooling-water-for-lower-snake-to-last-longer-sockeye-run-not-a-pretty-picture/

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New Juvenile Fish Passage Facility Completed At Cle Elum Dam, Part Of Project To Boost Sockeye Returns To Yakima River Basin

The Bureau of Reclamation and partners of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan completed a new fish passage facility at the Cle Elum Dam in July that will allow juvenile sockeye salmon to naturally pass downstream. Once all parts of the Integrated Plan are in place, annual adult sockeye returns to the Cle Elum River are projected to rise from 20,000 fish to 100,000 fish.

Partners in the Integrated Plan say the new juvenile fish passage facility featuring a helix structure is the first of its kind in the U.S. They describe the helix facility as an eight-story-deep spiraling waterslide that allows the juvenile salmon in the reservoir to pass through the dam and downstream into the Cle Elum River. With the helix, they can pass downstream of the dam earlier with better survival as they migrate to the ocean.

The 28-milelong Cle Elum River is a tributary of the Yakima River. It joins the Yakima River near the town of Cle Elum, in the Cascade Mountains about 60 miles northwest of the city of Yakima.

The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan is a collaboration of state, federal, tribal, business and community organizations committed to addressing water, fishery, habitat and climate variability challenges to ensure a robust Yakima River Basin within its built and natural systems, the Integrated Plan says (https://yakimabasinintegratedplan.org/). Partners are the BOR, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and the state of Washington, including the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department and its Department of Ecology

On the same day that the partners celebrated the completion of the juvenile facility – July 24 – they also broke ground on an adult collection facility at the dam, which is expected to be operational in late 2026 or early 2027. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland attended the groundbreaking to highlight federally funded salmon restoration projects. She was joined by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and state, local and Native American tribal leaders. Some 200 people were in the audience, which was held outdoors.

“The Yakama Nation Integrated Plan truly is a model for our future in how we balance conservation with water supply and economic needs,” Haaland said. “These historic investments will support fish, farms and families who rely on this vital river, building resiliency and safeguarding future generations.”

At the ceremony, she also announced a $16 million investment for drought resilience in the Yakima River Basin courtesy of the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

The helix looks and works like a parking structure ramp, an Ecology blog says. The reservoir level determines which intake opening fish enter through and they exit at the bottom of the helix into the Cle Elum River. Once they enter the helix, they travel tail first as they would naturally do when migrating downstream, but at a rate of up to 25 mile per hour.

“While that may seem dangerously fast, the structure is designed to minimize turbulence and create a smooth ride so the fish emerge unharmed,” the Ecology blog says. “Their journey through the dam takes about a minute, a short but critical stop on their way to the ocean.”

The first juveniles are expected to migrate downstream through the helix facility in spring 2025.

The combined juvenile and adult fish passage facilities at the dam “will facilitate restoration of salmon and steelhead populations in the Cle Elum River to allow a return of one of the largest sockeye salmon run in the lower 48 states and will benefit threatened species like bull trout, steelhead, and recently reintroduced species including sockeye and coho salmon. This historic milestone opened almost 30 miles of critical habitat above Cle Elum Dam and Reservoir,” the Integrated Plan says.

Currently returning adult salmon are collected some 60 miles downstream at the Roza Dam and trucked upstream to the Cle Elum Dam. Once the adult collection facility is completed, the fish will be able to remain in the river the last 60 miles and then they will be trapped at the base of the Cle Elum Dam and hauled just 1,000 feet over the dam and into Lake Cle Elum. The fish will spawn in the upper reaches of the Yakima River basin.

“Together, both the downstream juvenile and upstream adult facilities play a critical role supporting the sockeye life cycle and ultimately bringing salmon back home to the basin,” the Ecology blog says.

Planning for Cle Elum fish passage began in 2010. Construction began in 2015.

“None of this was possible without the leadership of the Yakama Nation, which spent years reintroducing sockeye,” Ecology said. “Completing the juvenile fish passage facility is the culmination of the Nation’s efforts and responsible stewardship of natural resources, in addition to many years of cooperation, investment, and hard work from other Integrated Plan partners.”

Ecology says that since 2013, state and federal investments in the projects have totaled $750 million and supported water storage, fish passage, habitat, conservation and irrigation efficiency projects, all contributing to the “Integrated Plan’s proven track record as a national leader in water supply work.”

Prior to the completion of the helix, downstream travel for the juveniles was limited to temporary passage, and only when the pool behind the dam was full, which limited the timing of juvenile passage. That passage method was harming 20 percent to 50 percent of the juveniles that attempted to move downstream from the dam, Richard Visser, Fish and Wildlife Administrator for the BOR, said in a September 2022 interview as the helix was under construction.

The new helix system is tiered with multiple levels, so dam operators can adjust which entry point the fish are coming through as the water rises and falls. This allows fish previously trapped when water levels in the lake were low to move safely into the river.

The sockeye population of the Cle Elum River system was eradicated in the 1930s with the addition of the impassable earth-filled Cle Elum Dam in the upper basin (sockeye need lakes to rear).

Although Lake Cle Elum existed prior to the dam, the 165-foot-high dam that opened in 1933 raised the level of the lake at the same time it blocked passage to up to 30 river miles of habitat for the anadromous fish. Some three feet are being added to the dam itself, which will raise the pool level even more.

The Yakama Nation has been reintroducing sockeye salmon to the Cle Elum River and lake and the salmon that have been released as juveniles through the temporary bypass system when the pool is full have been returning as adults for about ten years.

Natural adult returns to the Cle Elum Dam in 2021 were just 200 fish (Bonneville Dam passage that year was 151,756), but the tally in 2020 was more than 3,500 adult sockeye (Bonneville passage was 341,739). The return in 2016 was 4,600 fish (Bonneville passage was 342,498) and in 2014 it was 2,653 fish (Bonneville passage was 614,179). However, the return to the dam is typically in the 200 to 500 fish range, according to information provided by Visser in 2022.

The Yakama Nation trapped and hauled some 2,700 adult sockeye from the Rosa Dam on the Yakima River in 2021. 10,000 were trapped and hauled in 2020.

See CBB, September 15, 2022, Work Continues At Washington’s Cle Elum Dam To Improve Juvenile Sockeye Passage As Part Of Reintroduction To Reservoir, River, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/work-continues-at-washingtons-cle-elum-dam-to-improve-juvenile-sockeye-passage-as-part-of-reintroduction-to-reservoir-river/

Estimates of past juvenile migration out of Lake Cle Elum are:

• 2020: an estimated 43,400 juveniles passed Prosser Dam. Most of these were produced from Adults that spawned in 2018 (4,600 fish from the Columbia River, 500 from the Yakima River returns);

• 2021: an estimated 1,413 juveniles passed Prosser Dam. Most of these were produced from adults that spawned in 2019 (only 200 from the Yakima River returns);

• 2022: an estimated 228,060 juveniles passed Prosser Dam. Most produced from adults that spawned in 2020 (about 10,000 from Columbia and about 3,500 from Yakima returns)/

Prosser, on the Yakima River, is about 100 miles downstream of Cle Elum and about 30 miles from the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities.

More information is at https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/cle-elum/index.html

For background, see:

— CBB, October 10, 2019, CLE ELUM DAM JUVENILE PASSAGE FACILITY ON TRACK FOR 2023 SOCKEYE MIGRATION, KEY PIECE OF RE-INTRODUCTION EFFORTS, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/CLE-ELUM-DAM-JUVENILE-PASSAGE-FACILITY-ON-TRACK-FOR-2023-SOCKEYE-MIGRATION-KEY-PIECE-OF-RE-INTRODUCTION-EFFORTS/

— CBB, September 28, 2018, “Bureau Awards $76 Million For Juvenile Fish Passage Facilities At Cle Elum Dam in Upper Yakima Basin,” https://www.www.www.columbiabasinbulletin.org/bureau-awards-76-million-for-juvenile-fish-passage-facilities-at-cle-elum-dam-in-upper-yakima-basin/

— CBB, September 29, 2017, Contract Awarded To Build Fish Passage Tunnel At Cle Elum Dam For Juvenile Sockeye, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/contract-awarded-to-build-fish-passage-tunnel-at-cle-elum-dam-for-juvenile-sockeye/

— CBB, October 21, 2016, Re-introduced Sockeye Salmon Returning In Growing Numbers To Upper Yakima Basin’s Lake Cle Elum, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/re-introduced-sockeye-salmon-returning-in-growing-numbers-to-upper-yakima-basins-lake-cle-elum/

–CBB, April 8, 2016, “Cantwell Releases Policy Paper Urging A Rethinking Of Water Management In The West,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/cantwell-releases-policy-paper-urging-a-rethinking-of-water-management-in-the-west/

— CBB, Dec. 4, 2015, “Cantwell’s Yakima Basin Legislation Passed By Senate Energy And Natural Resources Committee,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/cantwells-yakima-basin-legislation-passed-by-senate-energy-and-natural-resources-committee/

— CBB, Nov. 19, 2015, “Senate Energy/Natural Resources Panel Resumes Review Of Proposed Yakima Basin Water Plan,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/senate-energy-natural-resources-panel-resumes-review-of-proposed-yakima-basin-water-plan/

— CBB, Aug. 2, 2015, “Congress Considers Legislation Authorizing First 10-Year Phase Of Yakima Basin Water/Fish Plan,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/congress-considers-legislation-authorizing-first-10-year-phase-of-yakima-basin-water-fish-plan/

— CBB, June 28, 2013, Yakama Nation Re-Introduction Efforts Bring Once-Extinct Sockeye Back To Cle Elum Lake, Tributaries, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/yakama-nation-re-introduction-efforts-bring-once-extinct-sockeye-back-to-cle-elum-lake-tributaries/

— CBB, March 2, 2012, “Final EIS For Yakima Basin Water Resource Plan Released; Congressional, State Funding Sought,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/final-eis-for-yakima-basin-water-resource-plan-released-congressional-state-funding-sought/

— CBB, April 8, 2011, “Agencies Begin Work On EIS For $4 Billion Yakima Water Resource Management Plan,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/agencies-begin-work-on-eis-for-4-billion-yakima-water-resource-management-plan/

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Interior Department Establishes New Willamette Valley Conservation Area, Part Of National Wildlife Refuge Complex

The Department of the Interior announced this week the establishment of the Willamette Valley Conservation Area in Oregon as the 572nd unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-managed National Wildlife Refuge System.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams joined partners in Oregon to celebrate the establishment. The new 600-acre parcel will provide crucial protected habitat for threatened and endangered species. This is the fifth new unit established during Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s tenure, and the 15th conservation area in the Refuge System.

Located in the heart of the Willamette Valley between Salem and Eugene, the acquisition of the Diamond Hill wetlands is the first purchase of the Willamette Valley Conservation Area. The 600-acre parcel just south of Brownsville, Oregon, is a step in a 10-year effort to permanently protect oak and prairie habitat for the benefit of five species listed under the Endangered Species Act, two candidate species and numerous other plant and animal species of concern. The conservation area will also provide habitat for migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, neotropical songbirds and iconic Oregon species such as the Western monarch butterfly, Western meadowlark and Oregon white oak.

The Willamette Valley Conservation Area will be part of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, a group of national wildlife refuges managed predominantly to maintain winter habitat for dusky geese. In addition to the newly established conservation area, the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex consists of three refuges: William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge and Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge.

In 2014, the Service began working with local partners on a conservation study to analyze the landscape in the Willamette Valley and evaluate habitat most in need of protection. In 2017, the Service published the Willamette Valley Conservation Study which concluded that the amount and distribution of lands managed for sensitive, native wildlife species in the valley was inadequate. The study specifically recommended the need for additional networks of grasslands, oak woodlands and riparian habitat. In 2022, the Service published draft plans including an environmental assessment, and solicited public comments. In 2023, the Service, in partnership with the Willamette Valley Oak and Prairie Cooperative, created the Willamette Valley Conservation Area and published a final Land Protection Plan.

“The National Wildlife Refuge System plays an invaluable role in providing vital landscapes for wildlife species, offering outdoor recreation and bolstering climate resilience across the country,” said Haaland. “In communities across the nation, the Biden-Harris administration is investing resources and bringing together local, state, Tribal and conservation partners to protect treasured outdoor spaces for current and future generations to enjoy.”

“Today’s announcement is the result of robust relationships that are coming together for the benefit of people and wildlife,” said Williams. “It’s because of these partnerships that today we celebrate the new Willamette Valley Conservation Area, which will help support Oregon’s outdoor economy while protecting and restoring threatened and endangered species.”

Conservation areas are a type of national wildlife refuge that consists primarily or entirely of conservation easements on private lands. These conservation easements support private landowner efforts to protect important habitat for fish and wildlife, and major migration corridors, while helping to keep agricultural lands in production.

Under the Biden Administration, the Service has added over 500,000 acres through willing seller land acquisition and approved the potential to acquire more than 1.6 million acres in fee-title and easements across the Refuge System. These efforts are “locally supported and showcase a commitment to a collaborative and inclusive approach to conservation,” says USFWS.

The Service worked closely with Tribal Nations, including the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Willamette Valley Oak and Prairie Cooperative, and private landowners to establish priorities for habitat management and land acquisition at the site. The establishment of the national wildlife refuge supports the cooperative’s vision for protecting imperiled oak and prairie habitat, and ODFW’s Oregon Conservation Strategy.

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Klamath River Dam Removal: Salmon Scientists Design Monitoring Program To Track Fish Returns, When And Where They Go

Above Photo: Excavators and other equipment disassemble Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River. The removal of Iron Gate and other dams will reopen hundreds of miles of historic habitat to salmon. A new monitoring program will track their return. Credit: Bob Pagliuco/Office of Habitat Conservation.

The removal of four dams on the Klamath River will reopen more habitat to Pacific salmon than all previous dam removals in the West combined. Now it will have a monitoring program to match—designed by salmon scientists to track when and how many fish of different species return and where they go.

“The world’s eyes are on the Klamath Basin right now,” said Damon Goodman, Mount Shasta-Klamath Regional Director of CalTrout, who helped develop the monitoring program with other fish scientists, tribes, and state and federal agencies. “It’s our responsibility to have credible, transparent, and solid data that tells us—how is this working for the fish?”

The monitoring program will employ the latest technology to answer three key questions:

–When and how many fish are returning? A SONAR station below the former Iron Gate Dam will use sound waves to detect and count the number of salmon and steelhead swimming upriver into new territory.
–What species are they? Crews will use nets that briefly entangle fish without injury to catch and identify the different species of fish heading upriver.
–Where are they going? Radio telemetry stations and mobile tracking teams across the basin will track signals from tagged salmon as they find their way back into their historical habitat.

The program will gather details about how and when fish return to the upstream habitat formerly blocked by four dams, gaining to more than 400 reopened miles of their former habitat. The results will help reveal which habitat is most important at different stages in their life cycle, which will help guide continuing restoration in and beyond the Klamath Basin. The findings will also support fisheries management by tracking how many fish are available to tribal, commercial, and recreational fisheries.

The monitoring will also help federal agencies ensure they are meeting tribal trust obligations to support fisheries for Klamath Basin tribes that were long central to tribal life.

“Removing the Klamath dams represents an important investment in restoring one of the great salmon rivers of the West Coast,” said Bob Pagliuco of NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation. “We have benefited from the lessons of previous dam removals, and we want to be sure that we learn as much as we can about how the fish and the system respond to these changes. The data we collect will be valuable to others who pursue this kind of restoration in the future.”

Pagliuco credited the tribes with building momentum for the dam removal project and persevering even when seemingly insurmountable obstacles arose. “Since the tribes never stopped pushing to make this happen, we’re so glad they will lead the way in recording the incredible milestone of salmon returning to the river where they have depended on those fish since time immemorial,” he said.

Agencies and tribes will each contribute data on fish returning to different parts of the Klamath Basin. For example, the Yurok and Karuk tribes will operate the SONAR station and tag fish near the former Iron Gate Dam site. The Klamath Tribes will operate three telemetry stations in the upper Klamath Basin upstream of the four dams being removed, tracking the way salmon and other species disperse into major tributaries of the Klamath River including the Sprague, Williamson, and Wood rivers, said Ryan Bart, a fisheries biologist with the Klamath Tribes.

“The fish have been missing from this part of the Basin for so long, we want to learn how they use it again,” Bart said. “We know there is a lot of habitat for them here, we just have to get the fish here and have them teach us what they need.”

Other agencies will count salmon redds, or nests, and the carcasses of adults that have spawned in different reaches of the Klamath River and its tributaries. That will help determine the ages of the returning fish. They will also use nets to sample the fish and determine how many fish of different species are returning. The monitoring program will cost nearly $4 million, with about half of the funding secured so far.

“Salmon are regaining their ability to move across the landscape as they did historically, which is critical to their recovery, management, and conservation” said Tommy Williams, a fisheries research biologist at the NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center. “We now have an unprecedented opportunity to learn how salmon and steelhead experience ecological conditions and processes more similar to historical conditions.”

Moreover, collecting data on the timing of fish migration, both upstream and downstream, and the number of fish of each species will provide data to guide continued restoration and to inform fisheries management including tribal, commercial, and recreational fisheries, he said. “Thinking beyond the Klamath Basin, this monitoring effort will add greatly to our knowledge about how to undertake salmon restoration on the broad scale of an entire large watershed.”

Partners in the monitoring program include

CalTrout
Karuk, Yurok, Klamath Tribes
NOAA Fisheries
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Geological Survey
Bureau of Reclamation
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
CalPoly Humboldt
UC Santa Cruz
Resource Environmental Solutions
Ridges to Riffles
Keith Denton and Associates
Humboldt Area Foundation

The Humboldt Area Foundation, U.S. FWS, Reclamation, CDFW, and ODFW have committed funding to the monumental project. NOAA Fisheries has recommended $1.2 million through its Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and Office of Habitat Conservation.

Representatives of the tribes and agencies participating in the monitoring program met in Ashland recently to learn about prior dam removals such as on the Elwha River in Washington, which may be the largest preceding removal project. They also toured the basin, assessing locations for the monitoring stations to be ready when salmon and steelhead will have access to upstream habitat not accessible for over 100 years, likely in early September.

“The removal of the dams is a tremendous joint effort of tribes, states, and federal agencies, and the monitoring plan approaches science the same way,” said Jennifer Quan, Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region. “Everyone brings their own skill and focus to collecting data, and by combining forces, we will learn much more.”

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is supplying radio tags that biologists will implant in salmon swimming upstream past the former dams. Telemetry stations will pick up signals from the tags as they return to their historical habitat, said Mark Hereford, fisheries biologist with ODFW. Monitoring the repopulation of historical habitat will be a long-term process as fish will take several generations to establish new populations. The collaborative monitoring effort will help determine if and where repopulation is occurring.

“This will help us tell the story of recovery of the basin and the ecosystem as a whole,” Hereford said. “That is an investment in Klamath restoration that will also pay off by helping us get the biggest bang for the buck as we learn how to tailor future restoration to be even more effective.”

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Klamath River Flows Returned To Historic Path At JC Boyle Dam Site, Fish Passage Restored

Above Photo: JC Boyle Cofferdam Breach. Credit: KRRC

Last week crews broke through the cofferdam at the JC Boyle Dam site, returning the Klamath River to its historic path and restoring fish passage in that reach of the river. JC Boyle Dam is one of the four dams slated for removal as a part of the Klamath River Dam removal project. It is the only dam to be removed in Oregon as part of the project.

Klamath River Renewal Corporation staff was joined by representatives and elders from the Klamath Tribes and Modoc Nation to view the moment the river broke through the cofferdam and joined the waters downstream.

“While there is still work to be done, today is a historic day for this reach of the Klamath River,” noted Mark Bransom, CEO of the KRRC. “It was an honor to be able to witness this reach of river coming back to life alongside area Tribes. Each milestone brings the river into a healthier state.”

JC Boyle Dam was an earth-fill dam with a concrete spillway. The earthen portion of the dam extended over the original path of the river, while the concrete portion was constructed outside the river’s path. The reservoir waters were drained back in January. Since that time, construction crews used the cofferdam, a smaller dam built behind the larger dam during the dam’s construction in the 1950’s, to route the river through the base of the spillway while the earthen portion of the dam was deconstructed.

Crews finished the removal of the earthen portion last week, allowing them to break the cofferdam on Tuesday, restoring the river in that reach to a free-flowing state that will allow volitional fish passage.

“Watching a river return to its channel, that had been buried for over 70 years, was truly inspiring,” said Dave Coffman, Klamath Restoration Director for Resource Environmental Solutions, the company overseeing the restoration of the former reservoir lands. “It has made me, and all of our folks working on this restoration project that much more excited about revitalizing this landscape.”

Crews will continue deconstructing the concrete spillway in the coming weeks. Once that is completed, they will restore the natural slope on the river’s left side and conclude construction activities related to JC Boyle Dam removal.

The removal of Copco No. 1, Iron Gate, and JC Boyle Dams are expected to be complete sometime this fall, in time for the Fall run of Chinook salmon. Copco No. 2 Dam was removed last summer. The restoration of the former reservoir footprints is currently underway and will continue for several years until vegetation is successfully established and water clarity has returned to baseline conditions.

Also see:

–CBB, Nov. 18, 2022, FERC Approves Removal Of Klamath River Dams By End Of 2024; Once Third Largest Salmon Producing River On West Coast https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/ferc-approves-removal-of-klamath-river-dams-by-end-of-2024-once-third-largest-salmon-producing-river-on-west-coast/

 

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NOAA Announces $105 Million In Recommended Salmon Recovery Funding For Alaska, Northwest States, Tribes

The Department of Commerce and NOAA have announced more than $105 million in recommended funding for 14 new and continuing salmon recovery projects and programs. Located along the West Coast and in Alaska, these state and tribal efforts will be funded through the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF).

The funds include Fiscal Year 2024 annual appropriations as well as $34.4 million under the Infrastructure Law and $7.5 million under the Inflation Reduction Act, and will aid programs and projects in Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington that include habitat restoration, stock enhancement, sustainable fisheries and research and monitoring.

“This $105 million investment, made possible thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, will build on decades of salmon recovery work, while helping Pacific coast Tribes and Alaska Natives sustain their communities and cultural traditions in the face of climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This is a result of the most ambitious climate agenda in history, and I am proud that nearly half of all funds in this announcement are being awarded to Tribal applicants.”

These investments will supplement state and tribal programs that provide demonstrable and measurable benefits to Pacific salmon and their habitat, says a NOAA press release. “They will aid in the recovery of 28 Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed salmon and steelhead species, as well as non-listed ESA salmon and steelhead that are necessary for native subsistence or tribal treaty fishing rights, and for those in the Columbia River Basin, these efforts will help meet the President’s goal of restoring healthy and abundant salmon, steelhead and other native fish in the Basin,” says the release.

“The PCSRF program has benefited fish populations and their habitats in so many ways,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “The value of these investments goes far beyond recovering Pacific salmon and steelhead and their habitats, to also provide community and economic benefits, such as jobs and climate resilience.”

The following projects are recommended for funding. They are continuing unless otherwise indicated, and values are rounded to the nearest thousand:

Alaska

–The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund will support projects to maintain healthy salmon populations and restore habitats. Projects funded include the protection of water quantity and quality, land conservation, fish passage improvements, removal of invasive species, instream restoration and monitoring of salmon populations. ($6,800,000)

–The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Consortia will support population research and monitoring to better understand complex relationships between salmon and freshwater, nearshore and marine environments while improving the management and recovery of declining salmon populations. ($500,000)
–The Chilkat Indian Village will monitor water quality and increase their tribal capacity to document current conditions in portions of the Chilkat watershed prior to future development that may impact salmon populations important for native subsistence. The Chilkat Indian Village is a new PCSRF recipient. ($716,700, new project)

California

–The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program will fund large-scale, process-based habitat restoration projects for salmon and steelhead throughout the state. These projects aim to improve the spawning success of adult salmon and steelhead, and increase the health and survival of all life stages of salmon and steelhead. ($18,100,000)
–The Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission, as a support organization to four federally recognized tribes in the Klamath Basin, will administer awards to its member tribes to conduct habitat restoration activities, monitoring and research. ($2,428,000)

Idaho

–The Idaho Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Program administered by the Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation will fund projects that are compatible with the Columbia Basin Collaborative sustainability goals, including enhancing the availability and quality of salmon habitats and improving management practices. ($9,500,000)
–The Coeur d’Alene Tribe will conduct the final phase of a four-year study to collect baseline data that is necessary to inform the full-scale feasibility of salmon reintroductions upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams by studying the downstream movement and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon. ($700,000)
–The Shoshone Bannock Tribes will participate in fishery forecasting and in-season management of tribal fisheries on Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon, under their Cultural and Subsistence Fishery Monitoring and Management Program. ($41,000)

Oregon

–The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board will fund high-priority salmon recovery projects and support the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s salmon recovery programs that are integral to the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. This award will also support the Department’s Klamath post-dam removal monitoring for two years. ($22,250,000)
–The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, as a support organization to the four Columbia River Treaty Tribes, will administer awards to its member tribes based on high-priority needs for salmon to include all aspects of salmon recovery including planning and design, implementation, monitoring and research. ($6,862,000)
–The Coquille Indian Tribe will restore the riparian buffer along the mainstem of the South Fork Coquille River to improve water quality for threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon. This project will demonstrate new and innovative nature-based restoration solutions to other agricultural landowners within the Coquille River basin. ($3,608,000, new project)

Washington

–Washington’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board, through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, will continue work to recover ESA-listed salmon and support treaty fishing rights through habitat restoration and fishery monitoring efforts. ($26,000,000)
–The Northwest Fisheries Indian Commission, as a support organization to 20 Puget Sound and Washington coastal Treaty Tribes, will administer awards to restore and protect habitats, conduct monitoring and enable projects that will help fulfill tribal treaty fishing rights for ESA-listed salmon and steelhead. ($7,693,000)
–The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will implement the third year of studying salmon reintroduction upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams in the Upper Columbia Basin. The project aims to support the restoration of native subsistence fishing in an area deprived of salmon for more than 80 years. ($747,000)

Approved projects can proceed after the final steps for decisions and funding obligations occur in the coming months.

 

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Idaho Develops New Genetics-Based Method To Count State’s Wolf Population, Replacing Camera-Based Estimates

Idaho Fish and Game researchers have developed a new genetics-based method of estimating the state’s wolf population. The method uses genetic and age information taken from every harvested wolf checked by Fish and Game.

Researchers then use that genetic information to understand relatedness among the harvested wolves and a computer modeling process that uses the pattern of relatedness to estimate the total number of wolves that produced that pattern.

The estimated wolf population for summer of 2023, after the breeding season, was 1,150 wolves. That estimate is near the high-end of the annually fluctuating population because wolf litters are born in the spring, then mortality from hunting, trapping and other causes occurs throughout the fall and winter, which typically cuts the statewide population by nearly half before the next breeding cycle.

The new genetic-based method uses data that Fish and Game staff have collected for years from harvested wolves, and with that historical genetic data, researchers produced estimates for previous years. They worked for more than a year to produce the genetics-based estimates, and then compared them to camera-based estimates of statewide wolf populations from 2019-2023. Although there were slight variations between the two methods, they produced very similar results.

“We recognize that the camera-based method is likely to become less reliable with a smaller wolf population,” Fish and Game Wildlife Bureau Chief Shane Roberts said. “Therefore, we’re planning to move forward with the new genetics-based method that will be more dependable at lower population sizes. We will work with the scientific community to have this new method peer-reviewed, and we will continue to fine tune it as we move ahead.”

See the Fish and Game staff’s presentation to the Commission on the new wolf counting methodology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiLJgZEw74o&t=14017s

In the early years after wolves were reintroduced to Idaho, the state’s wolf population was estimated by capturing and placing radio collars on wolves in almost every pack in the state. Those collared wolves were later used to locate and count the packs from the air.

As the number of wolves and packs grew in Idaho and became more dispersed throughout the state, it became unsustainable to maintain collared wolves in enough packs to accurately estimate the state’s population. This approach was further complicated because hunters and trappers frequently harvested wolves after being collared, and wolves became more difficult to capture and collar.

In 2019, Fish and Game researchers, along with university collaborators, pioneered the camera-based method to estimate the state’s wolf population. Since then, Fish and Game crews placed and retrieved hundreds of cameras each summer, which generated millions of photos that had to be analyzed before the annual population modeling could begin. The camera method has produced reliable results to date, but Fish and Game researchers predict its reliability will decline if they get fewer pictures of wolves, which would happen if the state’s wolf population was smaller.

To ensure a reliable replacement was available before discontinuing the camera-based monitoring, Fish and Game staff developed the new genetic-based method, and then produced five past-year estimates for direct comparison with the camera-based estimates. After seeing similar results, Fish and Game staff is confident to move forward with the new genetics-based method.

“We believe this new method will provide us with reliable and repeatable wolf population estimates,” Roberts said. “By getting accurate annual population estimates, we can see whether the statewide population is decreasing or increasing, so we can adjust our management accordingly to meet goals.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced wolves into Idaho in 1995-96 with a goal of establishing at least 15 breeding pairs and 150 wolves in the state before the Fish and Wildlife Service would remove federal Endangered Species Act protections and transfer wolf management to the State of Idaho.

That population goal was exceeded in 2003, and Fish and Game took over wolf management in 2009. Between 2019 and 2021, the midpoint of the annual cycle of the statewide wolf population averaged 1,270 wolves. That “midpoint” number is roughly midway between the high point of the annual population in the spring and lowest point in late winter before new litters are born.

In May 2023, the Fish and Game Commission approved a six-year wolf management plan that outlined goals and strategies to manage the wolf population to fluctuate around an annual midpoint of about 500 animals. Population estimates since 2019 suggest the state’s wolf population is on a declining trend and moving toward meeting that management goal.

Fish and Game officials believe reducing the state’s wolf population will decrease wolf conflicts with livestock and reduce predation on elk herds in areas where they are below population objectives.

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Bureau Of Reclamation Announces Funding For Klamath Basin Salmon Restoration Projects

The Bureau of Reclamation last week announced four projects totaling more than $1 million to be awarded as part of two Klamath Basin Salmon Restoration grant programs. Reclamation is partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to administer the programs. The awarded projects will generate over $2 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $3 million.

Flowing from the Oregon high desert to the redwood forest of the Northern California coast, the Klamath River boasts one of the most unique and productive watersheds in the Western United States. The Klamath River historically supported the third largest Pacific salmon runs of any river system in the continental United States. The shallow lakes and wetlands of the upper basin are a globally important stop for migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway, as well as habitat for endemic suckers and salmon species.

Last week’s announcement follows the historic agreement signed in February by the Klamath Tribes, Yurok Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Klamath Water Users Association, and the Department of the Interior to advance collaborative efforts to restore the Klamath Basin ecosystem and improve water supply reliability for Klamath Project agriculture. The Department has also launched the Klamath Basin Drought Resilience Keystone Initiative, one of nine key conservation initiatives through a new restoration and resilience framework that will guide $2 billion in investments from the Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

The investments will support two programs:

Reclamation’s Klamath River Coho Restoration Habitat Program focuses on voluntary projects along the mainstem of the Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam and tributaries from Klamath River mile 190 to the Klamath River estuary. The two projects selected will improve riparian and instream habitat; promote fish passage; provide access to cold water pools; and support design, planning and monitoring activities. For more information about the Klamath River Program and to view the complete grant slate, visit: https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/NFWF-Klamath-20240719-GS.pdf

Reclamation’s Trinity River Program prioritizes voluntary habitat restoration activities within tributary watersheds of the Trinity River between Lewiston Dam and Weitchpec, including the South Fork Trinity River and its tributaries. The two projects selected will improve aquatic habitat by reducing fine sediment delivery, improving fish passage, and pursuing increases to tributary flows in the dry season in tributaries of the Trinity River; all to mitigate impacts of the Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project on the mainstem fisheries of the Trinity River.

For more information about the Trinity River Program and to view the complete grant slate, visit: https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/NFWF-Klamath-20240719-GS.pdf

Reclamation in a press release said it is “committed to supporting long-term restoration and resiliency in the Klamath Basin, from its headwaters in Oregon to the Pacific Coast in California.”

For more information about work to protect water and related resources in Klamath Basin communities, visit: https://www.usbr.gov/mp/kbao, https://www.trrp.net, and https://www.nfwf.org/programs/klamath-basin-restoration-program/klamath-coho-habitat-restoration-program-bureau-reclamation

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Guest Column: Canada-U.S. ‘Agreement-In-Principle’ Sets Stage For More Balanced Columbia River Treaty

By Katrine Conroy
B.C. Minister responsible for the Columbia River Treaty

On July 11, 2024, Canada and the U.S. reached a milestone in the process of modernizing the Columbia River Treaty – an agreement-in-principle (AIP) that sets the stage for an improved treaty that supports people and ecosystems on both sides of the border.

Over the past six years, the B.C. government has worked hard with the Government of Canada and the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and Syilx Okanagan Nations to negotiate a modernized Columbia River Treaty with the U.S. that reflects B.C. Columbia Basin interests.

In engaging with basin communities since 2012 about how the treaty could be improved, we heard time after time that people feel the treaty puts too much emphasis on power generation and flood-risk management and not enough on environmental and social interests.

The AIP shifts the balance. The countries have agreed, in principle, that under a modernized treaty, B.C. would provide less pre-planned flood-risk management to the U.S. and gain new flexibility in how we operate our treaty dams, giving B.C. more control over river flows and reservoir levels to address domestic impacts to ecosystems and communities.

Canada and the U.S. have agreed to incorporate other new provisions not considered in the current treaty, such as to support ecosystem health and salmon restoration, respect Indigenous knowledge and cultural values, consider recreation, tourism and other socio-economic needs, reduce water-level fluctuations on treaty reservoirs, and adapt to the effects of climate change and other future unknowns.

The needs and interests of the basin have changed since the treaty was first ratified in the 1960s, with a changing climate, increased electricity demand, growing environmental awareness and a greater societal recognition of Indigenous rights. The AIP responds to those changes, outlining key elements that reflect the realities of today and enabling a modernized treaty to be adaptable to the needs of the future.

In addition to increased flexibility, the modernized treaty would also include: an Indigenous and tribal advisory body to provide recommendations on how treaty and other hydro operations can better support ecosystem needs and Indigenous and tribal cultural values; water flows to support salmon survival and migration; and a transboundary working group to work toward addressing common interests in the Kootenay/Kootenai river system and the Koocanusa reservoir. While these new additions will bring the treaty into the 21st century, the modernized treaty will continue to enable generation of clean energy and provide risk reduction for communities from damaging floods.

For now, until a modernized treaty is ratified, the current treaty remains in place. River and reservoir management will not change right away. For example, we anticipate that it is going to be another challenging year in Arrow Lakes Reservoir due to the ongoing drought in the Peace and Columbia regions, which powers most of the province, and our obligations under the current treaty.

It’s important to understand that the AIP is not a new treaty and is not set in stone. It is an agreement, in principle, on the key elements of a modernized treaty – a road map to guide Canada and the U.S. as they work toward drafting an amended, renewed treaty.

As the countries begin that process, the next step for B.C. is to engage with basin residents to explain what the AIP includes and seek their feedback. Since negotiations began, we have been clear that people would have their say before any modernized treaty is finalized. Now that an AIP has been reached, that process can begin.

In the weeks ahead, the government of B.C. will share more information about the AIP and opportunities for engagement. Details will continue to be shared on the Province of B.C.’s Columbia River Treaty website, which currently includes a summary of the AIP and answers to common questions.

I encourage all interested basin residents to read that information and join the conversation. We are at a key moment in this region’s history. After more than a decade of engagement and negotiations, we have within sight a once-in-a-generation opportunity to achieve a 21st-century Columbia River Treaty that better serves the basin and reflects the voices of those who live here.

Also see:

–CBB, July 12, 2024, U.S., Canada Reach ‘Agreement-In-Principle’ For Modernized Columbia River Treaty; Assures Pre-Planned Flood Control, Rebalances Power Benefits https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/u-s-canada-reach-agreement-in-principle-for-modernized-columbia-river-treaty-assures-pre-planned-flood-control-rebalances-power-benefits/

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