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Methow Valley News August 24, 2000 Endangered Species New term surfaces in fish & water agreement talks More talks set for this Friday by Lee Hicks A new term has been added to the vernacular of a fish and water agreement as Methow Basin Planning Unit representatives head into a second round of talks with federal and state agencies in as many weeks this Friday (Aug. 25). Planning unit negotiators were working on how to incorporate the idea of a "stream enhancement plan" that would be more general in scope than the setting of specific "target flows." The new language emerged in Aug. 18 talks as participants acknowledge it’s nearing time to finish another draft for public review as endangered fish continue to dominate local issues in a volatile election year. Negotiators headed into this week’s session with a wait-and-see attitude, pending the drafting of new wording related to stream issues. The meetings are the latest in a series that started earlier this year, after similar attempts met with widespread opposition last November. Unlike the 1999 efforts, these talks have included representatives of the basin planning unit under authority of state watershed planning legislation. Watershed unit chairman Dick Ewing said Monday (Aug. 21) that local representatives continue to focus on enhancing conditions for fish that involve more than streamflows. The unit also wants more data on basin hydrology and water actually needed for fish. National Marine Fisheries Service, which listed steelhead and spring Chinook as endangered in the basin, has remained adamant that an agreement must provide more water for fish through conservation and other measures.. Bob Turner, NMFS state director, said Monday he is concerned over the term "habitat enhancement" being included in any agreement. Such wording, "wraps in a lot of things that are beyond the scope of this agreement." But Turner said he was comfortable with clarification that the activities would be related to "hydraulics of the tributaries...they’re not talking about buffer areas, woody debris..(and other measures)." County water resources director Dennis Beich said any agreement will likely continue to require a water conservation plan. "And for anyone to be protected in 2001, they need to be signed in a stream enhancement program." NMFS has offered "prosecutorial discretion" for irrigators who participate. Beich said the program might include easements for riparian areas and channel improvements. Although streamflows may remain an issue, "the goal is to bring those target flows down to more realistic instream flows," he added. The term instream flows is a specific requirement of state water law, administered by the Department of Ecology for fish and other needs. If the Aug. 25 talks result in a consensus on the new language, the planning unit would have until Feb. 15 to develop the form of an agreement for individual irrigators to adopt, Beich said. Any proposed agreement must still be presented at a public hearing in the Methow Valley. It would then go before county residents in a hearing by the Okanogan County Commissioners, and be put to a vote of the three-man board. The agreement would only apply to ditches that divert streams on private land, the so-called "Section 9" (of Endangered Species Act) irrigators. However, a possible goal would be to bring all irrigators, including Section 7 ditches on federal land, under the umbrella of a basin-wide habitat conservation plan, or HCP. The federal ditches must have special use permits from the Forest Service in order to operate. This year NMFS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have issued biological opinions for the Wolf Creek and Early Winters ditches. Another BO for Skyline ditch should be released this week, Turner said Monday. Wolf Creek ceased operation Aug. 6 after flows in the creek dropped to levels mandated in the BO. Early Winters was to operate until flows drop to the lower limits. Skyline, on the Chewuch River drainage, has yet to operate for a second year because of headgate, fish screen and transmission loss problems that are being addressed. The Fulton and Chewuch ditches, Section 9 canals on the Chewuch, have been waiting for target flow figures for Skyline as an indication of potential restrictions on their operation. pinion | Sports |
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