1994 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program overview

52 Pages·1994·3.2 MB·English

by  Northwest Power Planning Council (U.S.)

s
333.9517
N17FWP0
1994
1994
Columbia River Basin
and
gram
Overvie
Northwest
^4-1
Power n
Plar""' r,r
r
MONTANASTATE LIBRARY
333.9S17NORTHWE
1994ColumbiaRiverBasinFishandWildl
iiiiiiiiiiiiii!! iJi!!iiiji;;iiiii
3 0864 00090360 2
333.9517 COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN
NORTHWE FISH AND WILDLIFE
OVERVIEW PROGRAM-OVERVIEW
1994
DATE DUE
e
.
'ff
^0-1800
1994
. ,
Columbia River Basin
Fish
andWildlif
Program
Overview
It falls to our generation to be more than river users.
We must be caretakers.
V
\ .
NorthwestPowerPlanningCouncil
. •
851 S.W. SixthAvenue, Suite 1 100
Portland, OR 97204-1348
January 1994
TheNorthwestPowerPlanningCouncil wasestablishedbyanActofCongress
todevelopaprogramtoprotectandenhancetheColumbiaBasin'sfishandwildlife
andaregionalpowerplanthatprovidesareliableelectricitysupply
atthelowestcost.Forfurtherinformation,se—ePacificNorthwestElectric
PowerPlanningandConservationAct PublicLaw96-501
This document is a summary ofthe Northwest Power Planning Council's
1994 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
Although we hope that this summary provides a helpful introduction to the measures in the program,
this document has not been formally adopted as part ofthe program and should not
be considered as amending or superseding the program.
The full text ofthe program, as adopted by the Council in rulemakings pursuant to
Section 4(H) ofthe Northwest Power Act, is available on request.
Ask for publication 94-2.
A
Challenge
y^^ -gin the-g .
Columbia
N
o single a culture along the
Columbia and its tribu-
element
taries. Andthousands
of the Pacific ofNorthwestemers use
the Columbia and its
Northwest land-
tributaries for
scape IS more '' recreation.
The Columbia River Basin is also central
critical to this region's economic to Native Americans in the region. Columbia
prosperity than the Columbia ' River Basin salmon, for example, are intrinsic
—
in the culture ofmany Northwest tribes.
River and its vast watershed an —All ofthat is part ofthe deve—loped world
area covering 260,000 square the human and cultural side ofthe
Columbia River Basin, and it is easy to think
miles.
- that's all that matters.
Electricity from the Columbia's dams But there is also an undeveloped, natural
powers our homes, businesses and industries. world in the Columbia Basin.—It is an im-
Much ofthe bountiful agricultural industry of mensely complex ecosystem the setting for
the Northwest depends on the Columbia's thousands ofyears ofbiological interactions
irrigation and on its barge lines to transport that worked together to sustain life there.
products to buyers. Commercial and recre-
ational fishing is not only an industry, but also
V-/verthe past hundred Other fish and wildlife
years or so, this ecosystem Our species also suffered.
has been harnessed to Thousands ofacres of
serve development. From goal a prime wildlife habitat
is
the perspective ofmany in were flooded behind
the Northwest, there have healthy hydro—electric dams. Some
been great benefits. The fish most notably
basin that
region prospered. But that sturgeon, which used to
prosperity cost the eco- supports both migrate up and down the
systemdearly. Columb—ia and into thfe
We are most familiar humans and ocean became
with the loss ofsalmon, landlocked.
fish
our most potent symbol of Manyspeciesadapted
enduranceand vigor. and to the developed Colum-
Ironically, these fish are bia River Basin. Others
now among the region's wildlife. did not. Several species
most vulnerable species. becameextinct. Others
A century ago, between 10 have been listed on federal
miUion and 16 million andstateendangered
salmon and steelhead species lists.
returned to the Columbiaeach year. Today, This Columbia River Basin Fish and
there are only about 2.5 million salmon, and Wildlife Program is designed to balance the
most ofthose come from hatcheries. needs ofboth the developed and the natural
We have lost not only numbers offish, worlds within the watershed. It includes
but whole runs and more than a third oftheir actions to protect and enhance salmon runs,
original habitat. Additional runs could disap- as well as other fish and wildlife. Our goal
pearentirely, too. As recently as 1962, nearly is a healthy basin that supports both humans
30,000 adult fall chinook salmon migrated and fish and wildlife. We hope to make
past Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River on future Endangered Species Act listings of
their way to spawn. In 1993, the Snake River Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife
fall Chinook count wasjust over 1,000 fish. unnecessary.
Ti^e ?adfk Nort^vfest Tlj?rou^^ Time
Evolution of River Basin
a
13,000-10,800B.C.
Morethan40floodsscourmuchoftf)e
presentdayPacificNorihwest.
c,
learly, a good deal /i^uiurnUici Kiver basin
Salmon KUnS
An
ofthe Northwest's Historical Perspective
wilderness has long
sincedisappeared.
Cities and towns, farms 16 |i
andfreewayshave
14-
replaced forests and
marshes,dryplainsand 12
shorelines. But fish
10-
and wildlife habitat still
exists throughout the 8-
basin, and our goal is
to protect it and
enhance wherever
it,
wecan. a
The actions in this
program, which are Mid-1800s 1977-1981 Current
Average Natural Run,s
based on the best Average
available scientific
knowledge, are de-
signed to accomplish this goal. Our approach Our Northwest Congressional delegation and
follows Congress' guidance in the Northwest our four state Governors urged us to look at
Power Act of 1980, upon which this program all the causes ofthe salmon's decline, notjust
is based. The Act called fora systemwide ap- the hydropower system. In 1992, we adopted
proach to reverse the consequences to fish and our Strategy for Salmon, which is incorpo-
wildlife ofdam construction and operation. rated into the fish and wildlife program. The
B Strategy for Salmon is comprehensive both in
ecause ofthe urgency ofthe salmon's its review ofthe problem and in its solutions.
'
decline, and the listing ofseveral salmon In 1993, we revised our resident fish and
populations underthe federal Endangered wildlife measures. These new measures also
Species Act, we began our multiyearreview of stress a total watershed approach, calling for
theprogram by addressing salmonprotection. cooperation and coordination to sustain and
increase surviving species in their habitat.
8,000B.C. 458A.D.
PacificNorthwestIndiansoccupy FiveChineseBuddhistmonksbegina
ttieregion,relyingonsalmonas voyagearoundthePacificRim,pass-
amajorsourceoffood. ingthemouthoftheColumbiaR/Ver
some 1,334yearsbeforeRobertGray
"discovers"itin 1792.
ECOSYSTEMS
Tl^e^'re more complex ti^anyouil^mk
R
ature is socomplex. Nearly every element in anatural ecosystem plays a part inthe endurance
ofthat system. Krjockoneelementout ofitsplace, andthere is abiological shuffle arnong all the
otherelements, ft has been saidthat "ecosystemsarenotonly more complex than we think, they are
morecomplex than wecan think."
River systems are no exception. The same rivermay flow through deserts andrain forests, ftmay
stem from a lake on the side ofa mountain, but cross marshes and pour into an ocean.
Thecomplexityofourriversystems hasbeen magnifiedmany times bythe necessitytomake
rivers serve society. In today's world, riversglidethrough, and even under, cities andtowns. They
are boththe source ofdrinking waterandtheconduitforsewagedisposal. Industriesdrain wastes into
them and children dive in fora swim. We demandmuch ofourrivers, and we have taken much from
them. Most ofthe time wehave failed tocomprehend how intricate and, insome ways, howdelicate
ourrivers are.
Inthewatershed oftheColumbiaR\\eT,peoplehavebecomethe mostcriticalelement. Through-
out most ofthe river'sdrainage, people havebuiltupa society and altered theecosystem. Now people
must improvetheecosystemthatremains.
The problem is, we don't know how tore-weavethe fabric ofa natural system. And the whole
cloth ofthe Columbia Basin has been cut and shaped to suit the growth ofthis region.
OurColumbiaRiverBasinFishandWildlifeProgramrecognizesthatmorethanathirdofthe
region's nativehabitathas been losttodevelopment. Ourgoal is toensure that we salvage what we
can ofthat habitat and protect it.
Wehave lookedcarefully atthelifecyclesofthefishandwildlife we address andhavedevelopeda
setofactionstoimproveconditions atevery stageofthose lifecycles. We stresscoordinationto
increasethebenefitsofindividualactionsandreducethelikelihoodofredundancy. Mostimportantly,
we approach this work with theattitudethat itisalearningexperience. Wecanbesteducateourselves
and improveourbasinby proceeding and, atthe sametime, monitoringourprogress. Wecall on
programimplementorstothinkofthemselvesasweaversofecosystems.
1792
"Whenwewereoverthebar, wefoundthisto
bealargeriveroffreshwater upwhichwe
steered...Vastnumbersofnativescame
alongside."
—LogofCaptainRobertGray'sship,
theColumbiaRediviva, forMay 11
"
w W
want implemen- Prograni goals
tors of this program to
look at whole watersheds, Specific goals of our
notjust individual stream want habitat program include:
reaches. We want to see Double salmon runs in
habitat cared for in ways cared for the basin, without loss of
that help sustain the broad- biologicaldiversity;
ways
est range ofspecies. We in Develop rebuilding
want the full life cycles of that help targets for all stocks of
fish and wildlife to be fish in the basin;
studied andenhanced. We sustain i Recoverand preserve
are encouraged by coop- the health offish and
the broadest
erativeefforts already wildlife populations that '
under way throughout the range of were injured by the
basin, where private land- hydropowersystem,where
species.
owners are working with feasible, and mitigate
governmententities and losses offish and wildlife
volunteers to repair land elsewhere in the Columbia
so fish and wildlife can Basinecosystem;
once again thrive there. Give highest priority to
These are the sorts ofactions we'd like to weak, but recoverable, native fish and wildlife
seereplicated. populations injured by the hydropower
Within this program, individual efforts system;
are.prioritized, coordinated and integrated. Rebuild native species offish and wildlife
Some ofthe actions reflect the emergency in native habitats, where feasible, but do this
created by the salmon's decline. Others are in a way that avoids impacts on existing
less urgent and can be implemented over populations;
time. All are designed to systematically in- For wildlife, achieve and sustain levels of
crease the region's understand—ing ofthe fish habitat and species productivity that fully
and wildlife recovery process what works mitigate losses resulting from the
and whatdoesn't. construction and operation ofboth federal
andnon-federal dams.
1805 »
"AnIndiangavemeapieceoffreshsalmonroasted, which
Iatewithrelish. ThiswasthSfirstsalmonIhadseen.
—CaptainfJleriwetherLewis,August3
:;l
R
II
Wi^«NEEDS'^?
— —
Hjdropower Two-thirds of the electricity Industry Aluminum companies use Columbia
used in the Northwest comes from hydropower River hydropower to produce 43 percent ofthe
dams. In even the driestyears, thedams supply U.S. aluminum output. These companies account
enough electricity for 12 cities the size of for 30 percent of the Bonneville Power
Seattle. Administration's revenues.
— —
Navigation The Columbia is second to only Agriculture The Columbia is the primary
the Mississippi River in shipping. It is the West source for irrigation water and pumping power
Coast's top port system in export cargo, which on 8 million acres ofNorthwest farms. This land
includes 35 percent ofall U.S. wheat exports. provides n—early 75 percent ofthe region's farm
revenues or $5 billion worth.
— —
Fishing Even with depressed runs, estimates Recreation The ColumbiaRiver and its
ofthe value ofColumbia River salmon forcom- tributaries attract hundreds ofthousands of
mercial and sport fishing and related industries people each year.
are in the hundreds ofmillions ofdollars.
Sources:ColumbiaRiverAlliance,BonnevillePowerAdminislration,NorthwestPowerPlanningCouncil.
1806
"Therewasgreatjoywiththenatives
lastnight,inconsequenceofthearrival
ofthesalmon."
—CaptainMeriwetherLewis,April19
10