[3] Montana Takes Proposal On Reservoir Ops To The Mat

The state of Montana called for a meeting of federal agency executives (see story 4) after lower-level policymakers couldn't reach agreement on the timing and size of water releases from Hungry Horse and Libby reservoirs.

It was the first time in years that executives had been called to settle a policy question on hydro operations. The group had been idle for so long that it had disappeared from federal Web sites.

The issue has been vetted twice since June 12, when Montana made an official request to slow outflows from its largest reservoirs to benefit resident fish populations below the two projects. The water is released every year to help ESA-listed juvenile fall chinook migrating far downstream in the Columbia River.

But the state says a gradual rampdown, similar to last summer's operation, would provide better conditions for its resident trout, including ESA-listed bull trout, than the flow regime called for in traditional BiOp operations. The biological opinions have called for the reservoirs to be drafted 20 feet by the end of August.

Montana said a slower water release through September would boost the summertime aquatic productivity of the state's short growing season.

But some Columbia Basin salmon managers are still wary of the potential tradeoffs involving fall chinook, which led to another policy impasse and the state's appeal to the top level of the regional forum.

That top level is the federal executive committee--a remnant structure of the 1995 hydro BiOp, which called for a management structure that started at the Technical Management Team-level, where operational requests were first vetted.

If the TMT couldn't resolve an issue, it was bumped up to mid-level policymakers at the Implementation Team.

If no consensus was reached by IT members, then issues were sent to the executive committee, which included action agency heads and the regional NOAA Fisheries administrator.

The issue became even more complicated when regional salmon managers made their own system operational request [SOR] June 26 that called for drafting the Montana reservoirs 20 feet below full pool by Aug. 31, and then gradually ramping down flows through the first week of September.

The difference between the two SORs wouldn't mean much in Libby outflows in August--only 2 kcfs or so--but it would keep enough water in the reservoirs to allow flat flows of about 12 kcfs through September. The state also called for flat flows of 4 kcfs from Hungry Horse for the rest of the summer.

Jim Litchfield, Montana's representative at the IT's special meeting June 29, said it was an "issue of critical importance" to the state and that was why he requested the policy question be bumped upstairs to federal executives.

He said the request represented a compromise with operations called for in the Power Council's latest amendments to the fish and wildlife program, and is also supported by language in the 2004 hydro BiOp.

Furthermore, Montana didn't believe the flows requested by the salmon managers would have a measurable impact on the survival of Snake River fall chinook.

However, with little chance of any makeup water from Canada this year, and a lack of consensus for Montana's proposal, NOAA Fisheries' IT representative Ritchie Graves said his agency supported a 17.3-kcfs operation through the end of August that would get Libby to 20 feet below full.

Corps spokesman Eric Braun said his agency supported the Montana proposal in the council's mainstem amendments because the biology supported it. The flat flow regime is also included in the draft proposed action now being completed by action agencies after the last BiOp was thrown out by federal judge James Redden.

As for helping Snake fall chinook, Braun said the Corps' analysis showed that they were not likely to benefit "a whole lot" from the Montana water in August.

On the other hand, he said, his agency had to fall back on what the current BiOp says, and that the default operation calls for Libby to be drawn down 20 feet by Aug. 31.

Without consensus on the biology, the Corps was not prepared to implement the request at this time, he added, although it would be willing to consider new information by the end of July if it showed that the fall run was "basically over," or if water conditions or forecasts changed.

Montana representative Litchfield pointed out that there has been little biological debate over the issue and that no one has refuted the fact that the ISAB [Independent Scientific Advisory Board] has judged that any water from the Montana proposal would have no measurable impact on fall chinook.

"This doesn't seem to be a discussion about the biology," Litchfield said, "It does just seem to be about a reservoir elevation at a point in time, or flow. It doesn't really ever get tied back to, 'what about the fish . . . what are we doing to the fish?'"

He dared other participants to come forth with information showing the need for the reservoirs in Montana to be 20 feet lower by the end of August in all water years to support Snake River fall chinook.

CRITFC representative Bob Heinith left the chinook question alone, but said a 17-kcfs flow below Libby would create more "wetted perimeter" in the Kootenai River than the flows recommended by Montana.

Litchfield said that Montana's lead biologist on the issue has judged that 17 kcfs is too high, but 15 kcfs is optimal for the channel morphology in that area.

Montana had not asked for such a meeting since August 2003, when the state requested the evaluation of a proposal that called for summer spill and flow reductions.

That year, the executives--including BPA's Steve Wright and NOAA Fisheries' regional head Bob Lohn--were reluctant to support the Montana proposal, citing the opinion of Justice Department attorneys, who cautioned against changing BiOp operations while the document was being revised on a federal judge's order. Lohn said changing operations was "the judge's decision to make."

BPA's Wright also found himself agreeing with Lohn, pointing out that the power agency's attorneys had advised "exercising caution" when adjusting BiOp measures during the federal court remand. "We don't want to lose control of hydro operations," Wright said at the time. -B. R.

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