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Emergency measures proposed to assure adequate power for the region could influence strategies to address endangered fish and water issues in the Methow basin.

In an announcement April 4, the Northwest Power Planning Council asked for comments on a plan that would hold water behind dams to produce power while establishing a fund to encourage conservation of irrigation water to increase streamflows in tributaries and the main stem of the Columbia River.

The proposal falls under the Council’s responsibilities in the 2000 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion that addresses measures to aid endangered salmon and steelhead.

Besides the water conservation fund, the proposals to be aired at the NWPPC’s April 24-26 meeting in Spokane involve transporting juvenile salmon around dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers and limited "surface spills" at three other dams.

A Council statement predicted that 2001 would be the second worst year for water in the 72-year historical record, and noted the "possibility" that it could set a record for low flows.

The proposed "mitigation fund" would be partly made up of revenues from decreasing spills to boost power production.

"In the event that there is also a reduction in spill authorized for the non-federal mid-Columbia projects, the Council would recommend that a portion of those revenues also be designed for this fund," the Council said.

The fund would be used to increase flows by encouraging voluntary reduction in irrigation, "on a willing-seller basis consistent with state and federal law," the Council stated.

The Power Council is responsible for managing fish and wildlife mitigation related to operation of federal dams in the Bonneville Power Administration network.

The NWPPC suggested that the non-federal dams on the mid-Columbia also be encouraged to join National Marine Fisheries Service in presenting "a full review of surface spill possibilities" at those facilities.

Non-federal dams are required to spill water as a condition of their licenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Power Council estimated that in the worst case situation of low barge survival rates and no spills, upper Columbia River spring Chinook would increase by 6.9 percent while upper river steelhead would decline by 3.7 percent.

However, the "high-survival" scenario predicts about a 38 percent increase in both species. The upper Columbia assumptions are based on barging at McNary Dam, the first federal dam below the Columbia and Snake confluence.

It was not clear if the proposed mitigation fund could include habitat acquisition projects such as those already proposed by the Council for its 2001 fish and wildlife program. Among the recommendations, approved at a March meeting, is a grant of $2.5 million for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to purchase conservation easements on the former Arrowleaf resort site near Mazama.

NMFS, which listed steelhead and spring Chinook salmon as endangered in the Methow basin, has recommended the Power Council give the Arrowleaf purchase a "BiOp" designation. That elevates the project by allowing the BPA "credits" for fish measures.

BPA officials said before the new emergency proposals were announced that they would be conducting site investigations for the Arrowleaf proposal and more than a dozen others recommended by the NWPPC, including the purchase of several large ranches in Oregon.

Details of the Council proposal are available at its web site: nwcouncil.org. Copies of the document, "Recommendations on 2001 Federal Columbia River Power System Operations and Fish Survival (document No. 2001-6)," may also be requested by calling (503) 222-5161 or toll free at (800) 452-5161. Written comments must be submitted by April 20.

Publisher's Comment ~ by Lee Hicks

Waiting for clarity

It must be spring in the Methow.

This year rumors and rhetoric are blossoming ahead of the balsamroot.

We know screens are needed for many irrigation ditches to protect endangered fish. But screens to filter misleading information might also help.

One case in point surfaced in a memo originating with one of the entities in salmon funding issues for the upper Columbia. A statement in the communication caused an uproar that stretched from the county to the governor’s office

Intrepidly, the News sought to first verify that there was such a memo and then to check sources of the information. The answers are not as clear as the need for all involved in fish and water discussions to be careful about what they say.

It’s a classic case of a "they said, we said, did you hear about?" scenario that can raise blood pressures, cause much hand wringing and generally result in exasperation. It’s also not out of the question that political posturing could be involved—on the part of all participants.

The bemusing thing about this one case is that the trigger for the communication in question was apparently information from one of the parties, who in turn expressed confusion about the interpretation by the other party.

Are you following this? What’s this all about you might be asking by now? Read on.

By Tuesday morning as our deadline approached, the News obtained a denial from the governor’s office that Okanogan County has been informed it would not receive salmon recovery funds as the result of a threat to sue federal agencies over endangered species issues.

But the author of the memo that started the brouhaha wants "the state to issue a statement one way or another."

And that’s a very good idea to bring clarity to a muddled situation.

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