[1] Agencies Release Assessment Of Future Dam Operations

Regional action agencies have released their biological assessment of future dam operations and other actions they plan on implementing to improve ESA-listed salmon and steelhead stocks throughout the Columbia and Snake River basins.

It's the next step in creating a new FCRPS Biological Opinion. Now the ball is in NMFS' court. The agency is charged with reviewing the actions to determine if proposed dam operations will jeopardize the listed stocks. A draft BiOp is expected by Oct 31, with a final document shortly after the New Year.

Insiders say it's pretty close to the draft released at the end of May, which showed considerable evidence that most populations in the Snake and Upper Columbia are much improved since 1990--and their abundance is still trending upwards--a fact that NMFS will likely use in their jeopardy analysis.

The agencies have gone back to the all-H format of the 2000 BiOp, with more spending on habitat and hydro actions in hopes that it will please federal judge James Redden, who is presiding over the remand process. Redden has sent clear signals from the bench that the feds need to spend more before he might OK their plan.

BPA Administrator Steve Wright said "targeting actions to the specific needs of the fish is what's new about this biological assessment and proposed action we're putting on the table."

He said the assessment is the most comprehensive analysis the agencies have ever done, "to look at where the stocks are today and where they need to be." It included an "extensive collaboration," mainly with states and tribes, to get their views on salmon recovery and includes more actions to aid the fish.

Wright said the actions are designed to meet or exceed the ESA requirements set by the federal court. Unfortunately, that may not be the case for Snake River steelhead, whose populations are expected to decline 12 percent from proposed spill and transport operations designed to help spring chinook.

Witt Anderson, spokesman for the Corps of Engineers, said the agencies are committing about $500 million to improve juvenile and adult fish passage at federal dams, along with $450 million in habitat improvements in tributaries and estuaries over the 10-year period the BiOp is expected to cover.

Anderson said another $34 million would be spent over the next two years to improve hatcheries and another $4 million to pay for operations after modifications are completed.

He said another $7 million would be added to current spending to reduce predation on salmon by birds, sea lions, and pikeminnow.

BPA customers generally applauded the effort, but had some reservations.

"While a vast improvement, unfortunately, the Biological Assessment does not apply its rigorous science across the board," said Terry Flores, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners, a coalition of farm groups, utilities, municipalities and other river users.

"It fails to identify needed hatchery reforms and completely ignores the harvest of listed fish," Flores said, "which are identified by expert scientists as major factors limiting the ability of salmon and steelhead to recover. Until the region comes to grips with the inherent conflict between recovering wild salmon and producing hatchery fish for harvest, the job is not yet done."

Environmental groups called the plan nothing new, nor enough to recover the salmon.

James Schroeder, senior environmental policy specialist with the National Wildlife Federation, said "the federal agencies can slice the numbers and spin the data any way they want, but the bottom line is clear: Fewer and fewer fish are returning each year, and that decline has real economic consequences in the region and beyond."

He said fewer than 10,000 wild spring chinook made it back to Idaho this year and four times that number are needed for recovery.

But huge jack counts this spring are pointing to a large spring run next year, thanks mainly to improved ocean conditions, so 40,000 wild Snake springers may show up in Idaho before the plan is even in place or in court.

Environmental groups who have successfully challenged past salmon plans seemed ready to take on the next one. Sources said that some BPA customer groups were already filling their war chests, expecting more litigation next year.

"The courts have consistently sent a strong message to the federal government that it cannot ignore the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, or manipulate the Columbia and Snake rivers in ways that fail to protect our region's salmon," said Todd True of Earthjustice, attorney for the coalition of plaintiff groups.

"But it's not happening," True added. "Instead, the federal agencies are digging in their heels, protecting the status quo and the powerful interests of the Bonneville Power Administration by refusing to consider--let alone include--anything beyond minor tweaks to hydrosystem operations. If this is the best they believe they can do, then a God Squad may be the best chance these fish have. A God Squad would have the power to explore all options for conserving the species, up to and including dam removal."

The seven-member "God Squad," headed by the Secretary of the Interior, has the power to override government decisions with respect to ESA enforcement. Other squad members are the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Army, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and one individual from the affected state.

Officially called the "Endangered Species Committee," the squad was established in 1978 by an amendment to the 1973 Endangered Species Act. It has only been called into action three times to deal with proposed federal-agency actions that have been determined to cause "jeopardy" to any listed species.

Such actions may receive an exemption from the ESA if five members of the committee determine the action is of regional or national significance, that the benefits of the action clearly outweigh the benefits of conserving the species and that there are no reasonable and prudent alternatives to the action. -Bill Rudolph

The following links were mentioned in this story:

Biological Assessments and Comprehensive Analysis, Sept. 6, 2007

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