Press release

Contact: John Harrison, spokesman, 800-452-5161

June 27, 2001

Council recommends projects to offset power emergency impacts on fish

PENDLETON, Oregon ? The Northwest Power Planning Council today recommended $24.2 million in emergency projects to partially offset the impact of altered federal dam operations on fish. The projects were among 50 that were proposed by Indian tribes, fish and wildlife agencies and others for one-time, emergency funding.

"The power crisis is also a fish crisis," Council Chairman Larry Cassidy said at the Council?s meeting in Pendleton today. "Because of the power emergency, water was held in storage reservoirs that otherwise would have been released to help juvenile salmon and steelhead migrate to the ocean. These projects are designed to improve conditions for fish that still are migrating and also improve conditions in the tributaries for this year?s juvenile fish when they return to spawn as adults."

The Bonneville Power Administration, which sells power generated at federal dams in the Columbia River Basin and also funds the Council?s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, declared a power system emergency earlier this year in response to the impact of the ongoing drought. As a result, most of the water that would have been spilled over dams to help juvenile fish migrate to the ocean in April and May was held in storage reservoirs to help ensure a reliable power supply next fall and winter. Water that is spilled cannot be used to generate power.

On May 10, Bonneville requested proposals for projects to offset the impact of the power system emergency on fish. The proposals were submitted to the Council for review and recommendation.

Bonneville asked that the projects be designed to: 1) increase tributary flows, 2) improve tributary spawning and rearing habitat, 3) screen water diversion in tributaries or 4) relocate or plant fish in tributaries. A total of 50 proposals were submitted, and these were reviewed by the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP), a group of scientists who review projects proposed for funding through the Council?s fish and wildlife program.

The ISRP sorted the project proposals into categories for Council consideration. From these categories, the Council recommended:

Four projects totaling $996,809 that received the highest ranking from the ISRP. The four projects would improve streamflows and habitat in the Deschutes, John Day and Yakima river basins.
Ten projects totaling $1,764,106 that were in the ISRP?s second tier. The ISRP said these projects were well-justified and met the criteria, but promised longer-term benefits, rather than immediate benefits.
Four proposals for land acquisitions -- in the Yakima, Okanagon, Umatilla and John Day river basins -- totaling $12,931,842.
Two projects totalling $5,657,500 that the ISRP recommended be deferred to the Columbia Plateau Province project review process but which the Council decided should go ahead because of its direct impact on ESA-listed salmon. One project would install fish-diversion screening at the Naches River water intake for the City of Yakima, Washington, municipal water treatment plant; and the other would increase Naches River flows by purchasing the water rights for Wapatox Dam.
One project totaling $2,860,000 to transfer water users from the Lemhi to the Salmon rivers in Idaho to improve flows in the Lemhi. The ISRP recommended the project not be funded because the scientists had questions about it, but these were answered satisfactorily by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game prior to the Council?s vote.

The ISRP said 22 project proposals should not be funded. However, these will be reconsidered after further information is provided to the ISRP.

Cassidy complimented Bonneville for agreeing to fund the projects over and above the agency?s annual funding commitment to the Council?s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, which this year is about $140 million.

The ISRP projects review is posted on the Council?s website.

In other business today, the Council approved projects totaling $19.5 million in Fiscal Year 2002 funding, which begins Oct. 1, 2001, to implement the Council?s fish and wildlife program in northeastern Washington, northern Idaho and northwestern Montana. This area is known as the Mountain Columbia Province. In the Council?s program, ecological provinces are groups of adjacent river watersheds that share similar ecological conditions and species of fish and wildlife. There are 11 provinces in the Columbia River Basin for purposes of project funding. Projects approved today will be implemented over the next three years.

The projects approved for funding were among 38 submitted in response to a solicitation last November. The project proposals were reviewed by the Independent Scientific Review Panel, which also conducted site visits to learn how the proposed projects would be implemented. The Panel?s report (in Excel format), including its project recommendations, is on the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority website.

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is charged in the Northwest Power Act of 1980 with preparing a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife, and related spawning grounds and habitat, of the Columbia River Basin that have been affected by hydropower while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.

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