Contact
About

Integrating energy and the environment in the Columbia River Basin

About the Council
Mission and Strategy Members and Staff Bylaws Policies Careers / RFPs
News

See what the Council is up to.

Read the Latest News
Read All News Press Resources Newsletters International Columbia River

Explore News By Topic

Fish and Wildlife Planning Salmon and Steelhead Wildlife Energy Planning Energy Efficiency Demand Response
Fish and Wildlife

The Council works to protect and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin. Its Fish & Wildlife Program guides project funding by the Bonneville Power Administration.

Fish and Wildlife Overview

The Fish and Wildlife Program

2020 Addendum 2014/2020 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program Subbasin Plans Project Reviews and Recommendations

Independent Review Groups

  • Independent Economic Analysis Board (IEAB)
  • Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB)
  • Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP)

Forums and Workgroups

  • Asset Management Subcommittee
  • Ocean and Plume Science and Management Forum
  • Regional Coordination
  • Science and Policy Exchange
  • Toxics Workgroup
  • Columbia Basin Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Workgroup
  • Informal Hatchery Workgroup
  • Strategy Performance Indicator Workgroup

Topics

  • Adaptive Management
  • Anadromous Fish Mitigation
  • Blocked Areas
  • High-level Indicators
  • Invasive and Non-Native Species
  • Lamprey
  • Predation: Sea lions, pike, birds
  • Protected Areas
  • Research Plan
  • Resident Fish
  • Resource Tools and Maps
  • Sockeye
  • Sturgeon
  • Hatchery Map
Energy

The Council develops a plan, updated every five years, to ensure the region’s power supply and acquire cost-effective energy efficiency.

Energy Overview

The Northwest Power Plan

The 2021 Northwest Power Plan 2021 Plan Supporting Materials Planning Process and Past Power Plans

Technical Tools and Models

  • Regional Portfolio Model
  • Generation Evaluation System Model (GENESYS)

Energy Advisory Committees

  • Regional Technical Forum
  • Conservation Resources Advisory Committee
  • Demand Forecast Advisory Committee
  • Demand Response Advisory Committee
  • Generating Resources Advisory Committee
  • Natural Gas Advisory Committee
  • Resource Adequacy Advisory Committee
  • System Analysis Advisory Committee
  • RTF Policy Advisory Committee
  • System Integration Forum
  • Resource Strategies Advisory Committee (Not Active)

Energy Topics

  • Energy Efficiency
  • Demand Response
  • Power Supply
  • Resource Adequacy
  • Energy Storage
  • Hydropower
  • Transmission

Energy Forums and Workgroups

  • Pacific NW Demand Response Project
  • Northwest Wind Integration Forum (Archive)
Meetings
See next F&W and Power Committee Meetings and Council Meeting July 06 - 07, 2022 in Webinar › See all meetings ›

Recent and Upcoming Meetings

Swipe left or right
AUG 2021
MON
23
1:00 pm—2:30 pm
Council Meeting Webinar to Discuss the Draft 2021 Power Plan and Decision to Release for Public Review and Comment
AUG 2021
TUE
31
9:00 am—2:45 pm
RTF Meeting
SEP 2021
MON
13
9:00 am—12:00 pm
Strategy Performance Indicator Workgroup
SEP 2021
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
SEP 2021
TUE
21
10:00 am—11:00 am
Informal Hatchery Workgroup Meeting
SEP 2021
TUE WED
21 - 22
RTF Meeting
SEP 2021
MON
27
Power Plan Public Hearing Hosted by Montana
SEP 2021
WED
29
9:00 am—11:30 am
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Meeting
OCT 2021
THU
07
Power Plan Public Hearing Hosted by Washington
OCT 2021
TUE
12
Power Plan Public Hearing Hosted by Oregon
OCT 2021
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
OCT 2021
THU
14
Power Plan Public Hearing Hosted by Idaho
OCT 2021
TUE
19
9:30 am—3:00 pm
RTF Meeting
NOV 2021
TUE
09
9:00 am—1:00 pm
RTF Meeting
NOV 2021
TUE WED
16 - 17
Council Meeting
NOV 2021
TUE
30
1:00 pm—3:00 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Meeting
DEC 2021
TUE WED
07 - 08
RTF Meeting
DEC 2021
MON
13
9:00 am—11:00 am
Strategy Performance Indicator Workgroup
DEC 2021
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
JAN 2022
TUE WED
11 - 12
Council Meeting
JAN 2022
WED
19
1:00 pm—5:00 pm
Ocean and Plume Science and Management Forum
JAN 2022
TUE
25
9:00 am—12:00 pm
RTF New Member Orientation: January 25, 2022
JAN 2022
WED
26
9:00 am—1:00 pm
RTF Meeting
JAN 2022
FRI
28
8:30 am—11:30 am
Power Committee Meeting
FEB 2022
MON
14
9:00 am—10:30 am
Informal Hatchery Workgroup Meeting
FEB 2022
TUE WED
15 - 16
Council Meeting
FEB 2022
WED
23
9:00 am—2:30 pm
RTF Meeting
MAR 2022
WED
02
9:30 am—3:00 pm
System Integration Forum: Scope of Work on Potential Lower Snake River Dam Analysis
MAR 2022
TUE
08
1:30 pm—2:30 pm
Public Affairs Committee Meeting
MAR 2022
MON TUE
14 - 15
Council Meeting
MAR 2022
FRI
18
9:00 am—11:00 am
Fish and Wildlife Committee Meeting
MAR 2022
TUE WED
22 - 23
RTF Meeting
MAR 2022
WED
30
9:30 am—12:00 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q1 Meeting
APR 2022
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
APR 2022
TUE WED
19 - 20
RTF Meeting
MAY 2022
TUE WED
10 - 11
F&W and Power Committee Meetings
MAY 2022
WED
18
Council Meeting
MAY 2022
TUE
24
9:00 am—2:30 pm
RTF Meeting
JUN 2022
WED
08
1:00 pm—3:30 pm
System Analysis Advisory Committee
9:30 am—11:30 am
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q2 Meeting
JUN 2022
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
JUN 2022
WED
22
9:00 am—2:00 pm
RTF Meeting
JUL 2022
WED THU
06 - 07
F&W and Power Committee Meetings and Council Meeting
JUL 2022
FRI
08
9:00 am—10:30 am
Resource Adequacy Adv Comm - Steering Committee
JUL 2022
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
JUL 2022
TUE WED
19 - 20
RTF Meeting
AUG 2022
TUE
09
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
AUG 2022
TUE WED
16 - 17
Council Meeting
SEP 2022
TUE WED
13 - 14
Council Meeting
SEP 2022
TUE WED
20 - 21
RTF Meeting
SEP 2022
WED
28
9:00 am—12:00 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q3 Meeting
OCT 2022
TUE WED
04 - 05
F&W and Power Committee Meetings
OCT 2022
TUE WED
11 - 12
Council Meeting
OCT 2022
TUE WED
18 - 19
RTF Meeting
NOV 2022
TUE
08
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
NOV 2022
TUE WED
15 - 16
Council Meeting
NOV 2022
WED
30
9:00 am—12:00 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q4 Meeting
DEC 2022
TUE WED
06 - 07
RTF Meeting
DEC 2022
TUE WED
13 - 14
Council Meeting
View Council Meetings View All Meetings
Reports and Documents

Browse reports and documents relevant to the Council's work on fish and wildlife and energy planning, as well as administrative reports.

Browse Reports

REPORTS BY TOPIC

Power Plan Fish and Wildlife Program Subbasin Plans Financial Reports Independent Scientific Advisory Board Independent Scientific Review Panel Independent Economic Analysis Board

COLUMBIA RIVER HISTORY PROJECT

Review of the Upper Columbia Kelt Reconditioning Program Update for project #2008-458-00

Council Document Number: 
ISRP 2014-9
Published date: 
Aug. 13, 2014
Document state: 
Published

Share

In response to the Council’s July 7, 2014 request, the ISRP reviewed a progress report titled Upper Columbia Kelt Reconditioning Program Update, 2014 ISRP Check-in for the Yakama Nation’s Accord project #2008-458-00, Steelhead Kelt Reconditioning. The progress report is intended to address the Council’s recommendation from January 12, 2010, “Implementation beyond 2014 based on ISRP and Council review of the results report and recommendation of future work.”

The ISRP finds that the progress report Meets Scientific Review (Qualified). The project has achieved a number of milestones over the past four years. A kelt reconditioning facility was designed and built at the Winthrop National Fish Hatchery. Agreements to live-spawn natural origin (NOR) female steelhead at the Winthrop and Methow hatcheries were established. Naturally spawning NOR kelts were collected at three temporary weir sites. Improvements in reconditioning methods were achieved, and some kelts were successfully reconditioned and released. Additionally, reconditioned live-spawned kelts, obtained from the Twisp River trap, will be incorporated into an existing multi-year study that compares the breeding and reproductive success of hatchery origin (HOR), NOR, and NOR reconditioned kelts spawning in nature. The future work elements described in the Update Report, however, do not address some substantial uncertainties. The project has the potential to make important contributions to kelt reconditioning research, currently occurring in the Columbia River Basin, if it can be modified to address the qualifications listed below. 

Qualifications

These five qualifications, and other ISRP comments listed below and in our previous reviews, need to be addressed in subsequent proposals and reports.

1) The prior recommendation, by the ISRP, to establish methods to assess how kelt reconditioning may benefit population growth, abundance, spatial structure, and diversity still needs to be addressed.

2) Some modeling and a power analysis need to be conducted to clarify how many juvenile and F1 adults should be sampled to detect meaningful differences in the breeding and reproductive success of HOR, NOR, and reconditioned NOR females.

3) Methods to assess the fat levels, maturation timing, fecundity, egg size, and gamete viability of the project’s reconditioned kelts need to be developed and implemented. The fate of non-maturing or skip-repeat reconditioned fish also should be disclosed.

4) Viable plans are needed to monitor the homing and straying rates of reconditioned kelts released by the project.

5) Experiments are needed to discover the best geographic locations and times of year for release of the project’s reconditioned fish.

Justification for using reconditioned kelts to supplement steelhead populations in the Methow Basin is partially based on the assumption that habitat in the Basin can accommodate these fish in addition to NOR and HOR adults and their offspring. Habitat restoration actions are occurring in the Methow River Basin. Whether the Basin can support additional spawners and juveniles given the large number of HOR spawners present, however, is not considered. Analyses by Zabel and Cooney (2013) indicate that many steelhead populations in the upper Columbia Basin, including the Methow, have recently received relatively large numbers of spawners, leading to reduced productivity of their progeny. A discussion is needed on how changes in VSP parameters will be assessed. Without such a discussion, doubts will continue to exist about how the project will determine if its reconditioned kelts are helping to recover and sustain Methow River steelhead. A report, cited in the Update Report, presents six possible management benefits associated with increasing iteroparity in steelhead populations (see Appendix D; pp 223-224 in Hatch et al. 2012). Some of these proposed benefits might serve as beginning points for a monitoring and evaluation program that could appraise the project’s effects on Methow River steelhead populations.

Ultimately the efficacy of reconditioning and releasing kelts to spawn in nature will depend on the demographic and genetic effects the strategy has on targeted populations, MPGs, and ESUs. At present, it remains to be seen if reconditioning is a viable recovery strategy. The Upper Columbia Kelt Reconditioning Project may be able to provide information on the usefulness of this approach if the Twisp project is successful at producing reliable estimates of the breeding and reproductive success of reconditioned NOR kelts. Additionally, if the project can establish a monitoring and evaluation program that assesses VSP parameters in the Methow Basin, it could serve as an important model for other kelt reconditioning projects. However, it is unclear whether the number of reconditioned kelts surviving and returning to spawn in the Twisp River will be sufficient to conduct a parental analysis and to confirm or refute successful reproduction. Reconditioned kelts will likely represent a small percentage (perhaps < 3%) of females spawning in the Twisp. Thus, some modeling and a power analysis is needed to help clarify how many juvenile and F1 adults should be sampled to detect differences in the breeding and reproductive success of HOR, NOR, and reconditioned NOR females.

Additionally no plans are being made to evaluate the fat levels, maturation timing, fecundity, egg size, and gamete viability of the project’s reconditioned kelts. Assessing and comparing these traits in all three female types (maiden NORs and HORs plus reconditioned NOR kelts) may help the proponents interpret results produced from the Twisp study. Some questions to consider include: did reconditioned kelts possess adequate energy stores to migrate and spawn under natural conditions; were their maturation schedules similar to maiden NOR and HOR steelhead; and if they did successfully spawn, were their eggs viable?

Another important assumption of the project is that reconditioned kelts will return to their natal spawning locations. The PIT tag arrays and weirs in the Methow Basin make it possible for the project to evaluate the homing fidelity of reconditioned kelts, but it is unclear whether this metric will be examined. The proponents indicate that uncertainty also exists around where (geographically) and when (time of year) the project’s reconditioned fish should be released. They do not mention, however, how release locations and timing might be experimentally evaluated.

Topics: 
Fish and wildlife
Tags: 
SteelheadUpper ColumbiaKeltYakama NationISRP2008-458-00

ISRP 2021-05 LibbyMFWPfollow-up1June.pdf

Download the full report

Sign up for our newsletter

  •    

Contact

  • Central Office
  • Idaho Office
  • Montana Office
  • Oregon Office
  • Washington Office
  • Council Members

Social Media:

Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Vimeo Flickr

Copyright 2022

Privacy policy Terms & Conditions Inclusion Statement