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Methow Valley News June 15, 2000 Endangered Species Coverage Basin fish and water talks resume Basin fish and water talks resume Protests of hatchery fish kill planned By Lee Hicks The Methow basin watershed planning unit entered another round of fish and water negotiations with federal and state agencies this week amid growing protest over the planned destruction of returning "Carson stock" hatchery spring Chinook salmon to the basin. A key issue remains as to how federal and state agencies would respond if "sufficient progress" is not achieved in such areas as water conservation, elimination of fish passage barriers and improved fish screens for irrigation diversions. Under the proposed agreement, the state Department of Ecology would take action to propose a rule to withdraw the basin from new water appropriation if progress goals were not met by Dec. 31, 2002. The agency could also initiate water rights adjudication by Dec. 31 of 2003. DOE official Joe Williams said the provision would mean, "If we get to the point where there is not sufficient progress, then the basin is closed, including exempt wells." Under state law, domestic wells that withdraw 5,000 gallons or less daily are not required to have a permit from the agency. In effect, the provision would allow DOE to withdraw the basin regardless of whether any of seven stream reaches were overallocated in relation to the "2 cfs" (cubic feet per second) water rule established in 1977. "I have some problems with these default measures because the Valley would be closed because of lack of sufficient progress rather than because (it’s) over-allocated," replied planning unit member Marty Williams. One measure in proposed agreement calls for the watershed unit and DOE to determine how much water is appropriated or being used in the Valley. The effort would involve clearing up overlapping water claims, verifying use of existing rights and an inventory of exempt wells. Negotiators also returned to an issue of how to include "Section 7" ditches that divert on federal land in the agreement, which now applies to irrigators on private land. Officials of National Marine Fisheries Service, which listed spring Chinook as endangered, have said the federal ditches are under a more rigid standard requiring "no jeopardy" to fish. As a result, NMFS is imposing high target flows for streams affected by the Section 7 diversions. Ditch operators and planning unit members contend the flows are arbitrary, while NMFS maintains they represent the "best available science" to improve conditions for fish. The issue prompted a terse exchange between NMFS state director Bob Turner and watershed unit chairman Dick Ewing. "How does what you’re doing differ from a regulatory taking of a water right," Ewing asked. "The baggage that comes along with that comment is what we’re trying to avoid," Turner replied. "I don’t like to be accused of that." Turner said he recognized there are potential "bad things over the horizon that we cannot anticipate." But Turner said he was encouraged by the relationship built during negotiations. "I don’t want to take your water. That’s not what I’m here to do," Turner added. At Tuesday’s session (June 13), the planning unit had decided that the negotiating committee will consider six components of a voluntary conservation plan that would be part of the agreement. The committee's meeting is set for Friday (June 16) from 9 a.m. to noon at the Winthrop Forest Service building. As the negotiations continued Tuesday, the protest of the impending clubbing of returning hatchery spring Chinook was gaining local support. The issue came up briefly at the talks, when negotiating committee chairman Carl Miller noted: "If you want to stop fish from being harmed why...wouldn’t you stop them from being killed over at the hatchery?" NMFS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have said the killing is necessary to improve the gene pool of "Methow composite" spring Chinook stock. Federal officials had initially expected to have native tribes in the state participate in the kill. However, tribal officials have declined to participate and most of the fish to be killed some time in the next few weeks will provide food at federal prisons. An estimated 2,000 fish are expected to return to the hatchery, part of an unusually high migration of more than 185,000 fish that had passed Bonneville Dam by earlier this month. USFWS announced earlier in the month that the three-year fish kill program would begin this year because of the high migration. The agency said that eliminating Carson stock would improve survival of the Methow composite, "which is more adapted to life in the Methow basin." The Carson stock originated from fish captured at Rock Island Dam in the 1940s which were reared at the federal hatchery in Leavenworth, then transferred to the Winthrop facility to spawn. Fertilized eggs were used in the 1970s to begin production at the Carson hatchery on the lower Columbia River. One concern among protesters is that some "wild" fish which are listed as endangered will likely be destroyed in the clubbing along with the Carson stock. The local protest is tentatively set for the week of June 26 and is being promoted, in part, by the OC3, the Okanogan County Citizens Coalition. MVID waits for NMFS’ reply By John Hanron The Methow Valley Irrigation District is still waiting to hear back from the National Marine Fisheries Service about the draft of the consent decree that was signed by the MVID board last week. MVID attorney Richard Price said NMFS officials indicated to him that they would like to make a couple of changes in the copy that was signed by the MVID directors June 5. "I think the board is agreeable to consider those changes," he said. A motion for a temporary restraining order against the irrigation district diverting water from the Methow and Twisp rivers was dropped last week as the two groups came back to the negotiating table. A motion for a preliminary injunction, filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane, has been continued until June 16. If the two groups cannot reach an agreement, the matter would go back to court. NMFS and the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the MVID June 2, claiming that the Methow Valley’s largest irrigation district is operating its diversions with substandard fish screens and without an operating agreement with NMFS. The federal agency charged the district with illegally killing or harming 40 endangered fish last fall, and claim continued operation of the surface diversions will lead to further "taking" of endangered spring Chinook salmon and steelhead. Meanwhile, the MVID board says it is still waiting to see the final design for a proposed pressurized pipe system before approving or rejecting the plan. Director Vaughn Jolley said he expected Bob Montgomery to present the board and MVID membership with the final design at the district’s June 5 meeting. Though the plan was not complete, Montgomery did furnish the board with maps and estimated maintenance and operations costs for both a pressurized pipe system and a concrete-lined canal. The board members requested information about lining the canal with concrete as an option to the pressurized pipe system. Montgomery estimated the maintenance and operations costs of the closed system to be between $132 and $161 per acre, depending on the final size of the newly defined district. He emphasized that the estimate was "conservatively high" and that the district "could operate at substantially lower assessment rates." "We’re supposed to have an economically feasible district," pointed out Jolley. "We’re still pondering if it's economically feasible for a farmer to pay $161 an acre to grow alfalfa." One alfalfa farmer at a June 5 district meeting estimated the highest reasonable cost that alfalfa farmers can pay for water is $75 an acre. Montgomery estimated a concrete-lined canal would cost about $116 per acre to operate and maintain. Jolley said the board will not approve the pressurized pipe system before seeing the final plan and putting the proposal to a vote of the district membership. A 1998 resolution signed by the district’s former board—all of whom have been excluded as part of the restructuring of the district—allows the sitting board to defer final approval of the closed pipe system until all excluded members have been given a water rights certificate for four acre feet per year and have been paid financial compensation to drill new wells. "It was very clear," Jolley said. "It was irrespective of what happens with the rest of the district." The state Department of Ecology, however, has stated that if the MVID board decides to approve a different plan—such as a concrete-lined canal—compensation to excluded members could be decreased. "Right now the board is waiting to see the final design," Jolley said. "We’ve been waiting for that for a year." Opinion | Sports |
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