Second Review of Proposal to Evaluate the Biological Effects of the
Council's Mainstem Amendments on the Fisheries Upstream and Downstream of
Hungry Horse and Libby Dams
April 8, 2004 | document ISRP 2004-6
Related links: Preliminary review (ISRP
2004-3)
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This is the ISRP's final review of the "Proposal to Evaluate the
Biological Effects of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's
Mainstem Amendments on the Fisheries Upstream and Downstream of Hungry
Horse and Libby Dams, Montana." The proposal was generated by the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks in response to the Council's
mainstem amendments that directed the region to test, implement, and
evaluate an interim summer operation, beginning in the summer 2004, that
implements new drafting limits at Hungry Horse and Libby Dams.
The Panel concluded that the proposal would provide useful information
on upriver physical and biological effects on resident fish resulting from
the Council's proposed changes in dam operations, despite some technical
problems. The ISRP recommended the proposal for funding with
qualifications that the principal investigators:
- more explicitly plan the strategy for using the existing data and
models with updated data and models, and
- identify key indicators of trends in biological responses for early
judgments about the nature and magnitude of biological effects.
The ISRP included these qualifications to strengthen the study. In the
context of this year's potential implementation, the ISRP did not request
to review any further changes to the proposal stemming from this review.
In addition, the ISRP suggested that the Council and the region further
examine how the proposed study best fits in the larger study of the
tradeoff between the costs and benefits to resident fisheries in
Montana/upper Idaho and the costs and benefits to anadromous fish in the
lower river under various operational scenarios. The ISRP emphasized that
such a study of tradeoffs should include an analysis of the social and
economic effects.
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