Landmark agreement will return fish to
Washington's upper Lewis River
Natalie M. Henry, Land Letter Northwest reporter
796 words
2 December 2004
Land Letter
PORTLAND,
Ore. -- More than two dozen private, federal, state and local entities have
signed off on an agreement to bring salmon back to the upper reaches of the
Lewis River, a tributary of the Columbia in southeast Washington state.
Four
private dams on the Lewis have blocked 174 miles of salmon habitat for the last
70 years, but under a new settlement, private dam operators have agreed to
provide immediate fish passage to the uppermost reservoir, opening 117 miles of
salmon spawning habitat. Eventually, they might add fish passage to two other
reservoirs, opening up an additional 57 miles of fish habitat.
PacifiCorp owns three of the dams -- Merlin, Yale and
Swift No. 1 -- while the Cowlitz Public Utility District owns the fourth --
Swift No. 2. Together, the four dams create three reservoirs on the river, with
the Swift reservoir being the farthest upstream.
"Each
of the
The settlement lays out a complex plan that includes introducing adult coho, chinook and steelhead salmon to the upper reaches of the river to spawn. After a few years their offspring will migrate downstream and PacifiCorp will collect them at Swift Dam, truck them around the dams and deposit them back in the river below the lowermost dam, Merlin. PacifiCorp will do the reverse when the fish return to Merlin as adults.
Initially,
reintroduction will only occur in Swift reservoir. The agreement calls for
similar systems to be installed at Yale and Merlin reservoirs after 13 and 17
years, respectively, but an alternative plan would allow PacifiCorp to create a $30 million
"in-lieu fund" to be used for other fish habitat restoration projects
upstream and downstream from the dams.
The
plan calls for using wild fish for reintroducing steelhead and hatchery stock
for reintroducing coho and chinook.
The ultimate aim is to boost wild numbers enough to eliminate hatcheries in the
watershed altogether, but the more likely outcome is some continued reliance on
hatcheries.
PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD said they are pleased with the
agreement because it balances power needs and environmental restoration. The
National Marine Fisheries Service, American Indian tribes and environmental
groups also applauded the plan.
"This
represents one of the biggest boosts for salmon recovery in the lower
An
analysis by S.P. Cramer & Associates, under contract with PacifiCorp, indicated that under
current habitat conditions, opening habitat upstream of Swift Dam would produce
around 6,200 returning adult coho, 1,200 spring chinook and 1,400 winter steelhead. If habitat improves,
those returns might jump to 10,400 coho, 2,300 chinook and 1,800 steelhead (Land
Letter, June 10).
The
river's chinook and steelhead populations are listed
as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and NMFS recently proposed
adding coho to the threatened list.
For
the agreement to take effect, it would have to be approved by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. Both utilities submitted license applications to
the agency earlier this year. The licenses are set to expire in April 2006.
Many of the stakeholders expect FERC to approve the agreement because it was
created under the agency's new alternative relicensing
approach, which involves stakeholders throughout the process in an attempt to
hasten the relicensing process.
The
agreement will cost PacifiCorp
$290 million and Cowlitz PUD $19 million over the proposed 50-year license
term. In addition to providing fish passage for salmon and steelhead, the
agreement will benefit bull trout, a native fish listed as threatened under ESA
due to blockages in migration corridors and genetic dilution from non-native
trout.
The
agreement also allocates up to $12 million to protect and enhance wildlife
habitat for big game and other species in the Lewis River watershed; provides
$20 million to boost recreation at the 14 parks PacifiCorp operates along the reservoirs; and proffers $30,000 to
improve flood management by investing in automated notification systems, radio
transmitters and telephone hotlines to quickly alert residents along the river
of possible floods.
In
addition to PacifiCorp and
Cowlitz PUD, signatories to the agreement include: Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Yakama
Nation, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of
Natural Resources, Washington Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation,
NMFS, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife
Service, Forest Service, American Rivers, Trout Unlimited, Fish First, Native
Fish Society, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.