|
www.cbbulletin.com
Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Bulletin
1/8/10
Table of Contents
* 'Early Bird' Basin Water Supply Forecast For Spring, Summer
Shows Below Average
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371466.aspx
* Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration Program Showing Fish Returns
'Beyond Expectation'
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371465.aspx
* Refined Forecasts Show 2010 Could See Record Return Of Wild
Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371464.aspx
* Increased Efforts To Reduce Bird Predation At Mid-Columbia Dams
Help Achieve Fish Survival Standards
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371463.aspx
* Study: New Acoustic Tag System Tracks Salmon Survival, Migration
More Precisely Than PIT-Tags
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371460.aspx
* Agencies Take Further Steps On Assessing Proposed Gas Terminal's
Impacts On Columbia Salmon, Steelhead
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371453.aspx
* Study Looks At How Glacial Watersheds Contribute To Marine Food
Webs
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371452.aspx
* ODFW Reporting Strong Winter Steelhead Runs On Coast, Sandy,
Clackamas, Willamette Rivers
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371450.aspx
* Are There Times When Restoring Natural Water Flows Can Cause
Ecological Harm?
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371448.aspx
* Draft Plan Released To Remove Black Slag From Upper Columbia
River Beach
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371445.aspx
* Group Agrees To Move Forward On Plan To Address Yakima Basin
Water, Fish Issues
http://www.cbbulletin.com/371442.aspx
---------------------------
* 'Early Bird' Basin Water Supply Forecast For Spring, Summer
Shows Below Average
Hydro system and fish managers are praying for rain and snow after
hearing the season's initial monthly "early bird" forecast, which
predicts that the water supply gushing from mountain snowpacks
this spring and summer will be much less than the historic average
across the Columbia-Snake river basin.
The Dec. 31 forecast from the Northwest River Forecast Center "is,
generally speaking, below normal across the board," Steve Barton
of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told other members of the
Technical Management Team Wednesday.
The Corps and Bureau of Reclamation operate the dams in the
Federal Columbia River Power System to produce power, facilitate
navigation and irrigation and make sure fish can get up and down
the rivers in as good condition as possible. Those fish operations
include such things as spilling water to provide fish passage and
augmenting flows by releasing water from reservoirs during key
periods of fish migration.
The TMT's federal, state and tribal members meet to discuss how
the federal hydro system might be tailored, sometimes day-to-day,
to improve conditions for salmon and steelhead stocks that migrate
through the system. A total of 13 of those stocks are protected
under the Endangered Species Act.
A below-normal water supply likely would make hydro operational
decisions tougher because of the many demands on the system.
The National Weather Service's NWRFC said in its early bird
forecast that the most likely scenario would be that 89.3 million
acre feet of water will flow past The Dalles Dam on the lower
Columbia between January and July. All of the water from the Snake
River basin and the upper Columbia funnels through The Dalles on
its way toward the Pacific Ocean.
That would be 83 percent of the average annual flow for the period
1971 through 2000 and the 12th lowest volume in the past 50 years.
The Dec. 31 forecast was produced using observed precipitation
totals through the Dec. 28 and assuming future precipitation will
be normal. The early bird is the first of three forecasts produced
each month during the winter and spring by the NWRFC.
A more complex analysis will be undertaken to produce a "final"
monthly forecast that is due today (Jan. 8).
The strength of the early season snowpack is in the north in the
upper Columbia in British Columbia and western Montana where the
snow-water equivalent to-date is generally in the 80s and 90s as a
percent of average with a handful of readings above normal. The
early bird predicts runoff past Grand Coulee Dam in central
Washington at 89 percent of normal (56.1 MAF). Grand Coulee passes
water from that upper Columbia region.
"In the mountains of central Idaho it becomes bleaker," Barton
said of the snowpack building in the upper Snake River region so
far this winter. The early bird forecast predicts runoff this year
past Lower Granite Dam on the lower Snake will be 76 percent of
average (22.7 MAF).
The forecasted flows into the reservoir behind west central
Idaho's Dworshak Dam - a key provider of cool flow augmentation in
summer for fish - are 84 percent of average this year, according
to the early bird. The dam is on the North Fork of the Clearwater
River.
A forecast being produced by the Corps, which operates the dam, is
likely to be lower, in the low 60s, the Corps' Steve Hall told TMT.
"Things aren't looking very good for Dworshak," Hall said.
Prospects are better for another important storage reservoir, Lake
Koocanusa above Libby Dam in northwest Montana. The early bird
forecasts inflows there at 88 percent of average.
Lower than normal wintertime precipitation in the Northwest was
predicted this year, largely because of abnormally high sea
surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific - a sign that "El
Nino" conditions will hold sway. The El Nino/Southern Oscillation
is a climatic condition that can develop in two forms -- warm
phase (El Nino) and a cold phase (La Nina). Each generally lasts
from 6 to 18 months.
El Nino conditions can affect weather around the globe and
generally tip the odds toward drier winters in the Pacific
Northwest. In that condition, high pressure ridges build offshore
to shunt storms to the north and south of the region.
The latest three-month precipitation forecast from NOAA's Climate
Prediction Center says that there is a greater than 40 percent
chance of below normal precipitation in northern Idaho, and
north-central and northeastern Washington; a greater than 33
percent chance of the same in central Idaho, the Olympic Peninsula
and southern portions of Washington, and northern Oregon; and an
equal chance of below normal, normal, or above normal
precipitation in the southern latitudes of Oregon and Idaho.
Positive (higher than normal) sea surface temperature anomalies
have persisted in the equatorial east-central Pacific since June
and, "based on current observations and dynamical model forecasts,
El Niño is expected to last at least into the Northern Hemisphere
spring 2010," according to a Monday CPC update.
Kyle Dittmer of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
told TMT participants that the most recent days' data shows those
elevated SSTs may be "weakening ever so slightly." But a gradual
weakening from peak El Nino conditions observed recently gradual
change in clmatic conditions.
"If we're looking for a water miracle, we're not seeing it,"
Dittmer said of a sudden disappearance of El Nino. He did hold out
hope that the El Nino conditions would disintegrate more quickly
than is now estimated and possibly open the door to springtime
snow storms at high elevations.
Water supply forecasters always issue early season predictions
with numerous caveats. Typically only a small percentage of the
season's snowpack is accumulated by Jan. 1 so on-the-ground
conditions could change drastically if storm systems buck the El
Nino odds and continue to bore through the Northwest in January,
February and March.
November precipitation was 64 percent of normal in the area of the
Columbia River basin above Grand Coulee Dam, 49 percent of normal
in the Snake River basin above Ice Harbor Dam and 65 percent of
normal above The Dalles, and from Dec. 1 through Dec. 28, all of
the 26 subbasins or groups of subbasins evaluated by the NWRFC had
below average precipitation. The east slopes of the Cascade
Mountains in Washington experienced only 39 percent of its average
precipitation in December, which normally is one of the year's
wettest months.
A storm or two this early in the season can change snowpack
snow-water equivalent percentages drastically.
As an example, a relatively weepy early January changed the
percent in Montana mountains that feed the Kootenai River from 78
percent of average on Dec. 29 to 86 percent of average on Jan. 6.
Montana's Flathead River drainage had its snow-water equivalent
jump from 82 percent to 94 percent during that eight-day period.
And the year's first storms touched all parts of the Columbia
basin. Central Oregon's Deschutes, Crooked, John Day river
percentages climbed from 69 percent to 79 percent of normal
snow-water equivalent, northeast Oregon's Grande Ronde from 76 to
89 percent, southwest Idaho's Weiser, Payette and Boise river
snow-water equivalents from 63 percent of normal to 76 percent and
central Washington's Yakima, Ahtanum drainages from 79 to 87
percent and Chelan, Entiat and Wenatchee drainages from 77 percent
to 88 percent.
-----------------------
* Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration Program Showing Fish Returns
'Beyond Expectation'
Coho salmon that once called mid-Columbia River tributaries home
were decimated in the early 1900s.
And pre-1990s attempts to rekindle populations with hatchery
programs were ended because of a failure to produce adequate adult
returns.
But one of the latest attempts, led by the Yakama Nation, is
showing signs of not only succeeding, but of creating
self-sustaining natural populations like those that once
flourished in the region.
This past late summer and fall set a modern-day record for coho
returns headed to the middle and upper Columbia River, where once
there were none. Ten years ago, 12 adult coho returned past Rock
Island Dam near Wenatchee, Wash. And that followed a six-year
stretch during which only 30 coho, total, climbed Rock Island's
fish ladders.
But, in 2000 (1,624 coho counted) and 2001 (10,465), returns began
to show the benefits of the YN's Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration
Project, which was launched in 1996. Since then the counts have,
for the most part, been on the rise.
In 2009 a total of 19,805 coho passed the dam. That was the most
ever since counts began in 1977. The previous record was 16,604 in
2007, according to data posted by the Fish Passage Center. Prior
to 2001, the highest count had been 1,624 in 1982.
Rock Island is the seventh dam the coho hurdle on their return to
the Wenatchee and Methow river basins where the tribal restoration
plan is focused. The program is funded by the Bonneville Power
Administration, Chelan County Public Utility District, Grant
County Public Utility District and NOAA-Fisheries.
"It's gone beyond our expectations," the Yakama Nation's Tom
Scribner said of the growing returns and the progress toward
developing local broodstock and, ultimately, shutting down the
hatchery program when naturally producing populations have become
entrenched.
The program is designed to be terminated when a self-sustaining
naturally reproducing population is established (natural-origin
return escapement of more than 1,500 coho to each subbasin with
enough fish available to allow terminal and mainstem harvests in
most years). Those involved believe that goal can be reached when
coho of hatchery origin have produced five generations in the wild
(by approximately 2026).
Scribner, the project manager, said that already a third
generation of fish has returned to the Wenatchee to spawn.
The program was started with hatchery-bred fish from the lower
Columbia, since no local coho adapted to the mid- Columbia
remained.
The early years of the program - when it was called the
Mid-Columbia Coho Reintroduction Feasibility Study -- were used to
determine whether lower river stocks, some of which had been
hatchery bound for many generations, had the stamina to make the
long trip upstream and spawn successfully.
"There was a question whether it was really possible to do this so
far above the dams," said Roy Beaty, BPA's project manager for
upper Columbia coho restoration. "We really didn't know whether
the fish could swim that far."
The coho are still hatched and reared elsewhere, but by 2006 the
program had reached the point that 100 percent of the coho smolts
released in both basins were the progeny of second-generation
mid-Columbia broodstock that returned to spawn in the wild.
"We knew how important it was to develop a local broodstock,"
Scribner said.
About 1.1 million coho smolts are transferred from Willard
National Fish hatchery and the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife's Cascade Hatchery annually for acclimation at multiple
locations in the Wenatchee area, including Leavenworth Hatchery,
Winthrop, Rolfing Pond, Beaver Creek acclimation pond and Coulter
pond. A unique feature of the ponds is that they are semi-natural,
taking advantage of off-channel backwaters.
The adaptation -- making the switch from a lower river hatchery
lifestyle to one that starts and finishes in the wild -- is taking
place before the biologists' eyes. Scribner said the egg-to-smolt,
and smolt-to-adult return survival data from the second generation
spawners is comparable to other steelhead and chinook
supplementation programs in the mid-Columbia region, many of which
now rely on local-origin broodstock.
"It's looking very good. We're comparable to other programs up
there," Scribner said.
Mid-Columbia coho salmon populations were decimated in the early
1900s as a result of the construction of impassable dams, harmful
forestry practices and unscreened irrigation diversions in the
tributaries, along with an extremely high harvest rate in the
lower Columbia River, according to the a project description.
The loss of natural stream flow degraded habitat quality and
further reduced coho productivity. Over the years, irrigation,
livestock grazing, mining, timber harvest, road and railroad
construction, development, and fire management also contributed to
destruction of salmon habitat.
By the end of the 20th century, no indigenous, natural coho
salmon, and very few hatchery fish, remained. A Turtle Rock
Hatchery program, which annually produced about 600,000 coho
smolts, was terminated in 1994 because of poor returns.
Self-sustaining coho populations were not established in
mid-Columbia basins despite plantings of 46 million fry,
fingerlings, and smolts from Leavenworth, Entiat, and Winthrop
National fish hatcheries between 1942 and 1975.
The failures in part were due to hatchery rearing at high
densities in concrete raceways, an incomplete understanding of
fish health and nutritional needs, the use of water supplies with
unnatural temperature profiles, and unacclimated, non-volitional
releases directly from hatcheries into the wild environment
produced smolts with low survival rates, Yakama Nation biologists
reasoned.
The Yakama program aims to remedy two of the suspected causes of
the failures - the absence of locally adapted broodstock and
in-basin habitat degradation. The reintroduction program is being
carried out in parallel with habitat restoration efforts by the
tribe and others.
Upriver coho did not receive protection under the Endangered
Species Act, since none were left to protect. That left earlier
coho programs as lower priority than programs for other salmonid
species.
"Coho are a kind of Rodney Dangerfield of the Columbia River
anadromous fish world -- they don't get much respect," said Nancy
Weintraub, a BPA project manager who works on coho. "It's great to
see them succeed."
-----------------------------
* Refined Forecasts Show 2010 Could See Record Return Of Wild
Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook
Fishery officials are refining their run-size forecasts for
components of this year's return of spring chinook salmon to the
Columbia-Snake river basin with the updates repeating the same
refrain, "2010 should be a very good year."
Federal, state and tribal officials continue to breakdown their
early December forecast of an overall spring chinook salmon return
to the mouth of the Columbia of 559,900 adult fish. That estimate
includes 470,000 upriver spring chinook, which would break the
record of 439,885 set in 2001. Upriver spring chinook are fish
headed for hatcheries and spawning grounds above Bonneville Dam,
which is located about 45 river miles upstream of Portland and 146
mile from the river mouth.
The upriver prediction for 2010 is for a return of 272,000 Snake
River spring/summer chinook, including 73,400 "wild" fish. That
would be the biggest wild return dating back to at least 1980. The
return in 2001, 60,437, now stands as the record.
The 2010 upriver spring chinook forecast also includes a
57,300-fish Upper Columbia estimate that has a 5,700-fish wild
component.
The wild Snake River spring/summer and Upper Columbia spring
chinook stocks are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Just before Christmas the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife released estimates of the 2010 spring chinook returns to
Washington tributaries that feed into the Columbia in the
Bonneville Pool. Like other stock estimates, the targets there are
set high, based in large part on 2009 returns of "jacks." Jacks
are 3-year-old fish that mature precociously and return to
freshwater after only one year in the ocean to attempt spawning.
The size of the jack return in one year has long been considered a
strong sign of the return size of 4-year-old fish the next year.
But in recent years that relationship seems to have broken down,
and served to foul run-size forecasts. In 4 of the past 6 years
preseason forecasts have overestimated the adult return by an
average of 45 percent. Last year the forecast was for a return of
298,900 adult upriver spring chinook to the mouth of the Columbia
River; the actual return fell short by nearly 130,000 fish.
The run-size forecasts are used by managers in setting sport and
commercial fisheries on the mainstem.
So this year several new statistical models were explored to
predict Wind River and Drano Lake returns for 2010, according to
WDFW.
The 2010 preseason forecast is for a return of 28,900 adult spring
chinook to Drano Lake and the Little White Salmon River. That
would be the largest since at least 1970. The largest return
to-date was 17,600 in 2002.
Last year's return included 3,150 jacks, which was the largest
since at least 1970 and 470 percent greater than the previous high
of 664 in 1976. The actual adult return in 2009 was 10,700,
slightly greater than the preseason forecast of 9,600.
The preseason forecast is for a return of 14,000 adult spring
chinook this year to the Wind River. That would be the largest
return since 2003 and more than 300 percent greater than the
recent 5-year average.
The 2009 jack return to the Wind River was 1,200, the second
highest total since at least 1970. The record is 1,500 in 1971.
The adult return last year was 4,650 as compared to a preseason
forecst of 6,900.
A return of 4,500 adult spring chinook is forecast this year for
the Klickitat River. That would be the second largest since at
least 1977. The largest return was 5,250 fish in 1989, but it
included 4,100 4-year-old Carson stock adults. The 2010 return
will be composed entirely of Klickitat fish.
In 2009 the adult return to the Klickitat totaled 1,500 as
compared to the preseason forecast of 2,000. The return also
included 1,250 jacks, the second highest total sicne at least
1977. The highest total was 2,900 in 1979.
Fishery officials are now at work developing 2010 preseason
forecasts for upriver steelhead stocks, which will likely be
available later this month. Fall chinook and coho preseason
forecasts will be completed in February.
-------------------------
* Increased Efforts To Reduce Bird Predation At Mid-Columbia Dams
Help Achieve Fish Survival Standards
The covering of bird predation hot spots with wire arrays and
launching of an intensified hazing effort in combination appears
to have dissuaded Caspian terns and gulls from congregating below
the mid-Columbia River's Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams to feed on
migrating juvenile sockeye salmon, according data compiled last
year by Grant County Public Utility District researchers.
The 2009 effort did double duty, helping achieve a 95 percent
salmon survival standard for each dam while also allowing
biologists to better evaluate the fish mortality resulting from
passage through the "concrete."
Data collected from early May through July last year showed that
steelhead survival at Priest Rapids Dam was 95.36 percent, a big
improvement from the 91.55 percent rate in 2008. Sockeye survival
jumped from 85.71 percent in 2008 to 95.16 percent last year,
according to preliminary data presented by Grant PUD biologist
Behr Turner during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' "Anadromous
Fish Evaluation Program annual Review 2009" Dec. 1-3 in Walla
Walla, Wash. The review each year features presentations by
scientists from universities, research laboratories, agencies,
utilities and others engaged in research aimed at improving
passage conditions for fish.
What was the most obvious difference between the two years at
Priest Rapids? A wire array was built in September 2008 that
fanned out across the top-spill configuration that became
operational in 2006 to provide fish with a more surface-oriented
route downstream. And the hazing of feeding birds was started
earlier in the season and continued later in 2009 as compared to
past years. The number of hazing days and hazing hours per day was
also increased.
Surface-oriented bypass installed elsewhere in the Columbia River
basin seems to achieve 95 percent survival or better routinely.
"But we were nowhere close to that. The birds were really
hammering them," Turner said. The research he previewed in Walla
Walla is aimed at separating the wheat (operational and capital
adjustments made to improve survivals) from the chaff (avian
predator-caused mortality in the area just below the dam).
"At Priest Rapids Dam, it was hypothesized that avian predation
between the downriver control group release site and the dam was
superimposing additional mortality upon the concrete smolt
survival estimates and could explain why survival estimates were
not achieving the expected 95 percent survival standard,"
according to Turner's study abstract.
The theory was that birds were eating up the hard fought gains of
recent years. Grant PUD, which owns the dams, has in recent years
installed fish-friendly turbines, completed a fish bypass system,
operated turbines within ranges that yield the greatest smolt
survival and annually works to improve programs to address
predation on smolts by northern pikeminnow and birds.
Much of the work is driven by a settlement agreement signed by the
federal government, the state and tribes and by a 2008 Endangered
Species Act "biological opinion" issued by the NOAA Fisheries
Service that judges the dams' impacts on listed Upper Columbia
River spring chinook and steelhead. Both were developed as part of
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission process for considering
whether it would renew the dams' operating license.
"There's been a lot going on at these two dams. We're in a period
of rapid change," Turner said. "We're learning things every year
and tweaking things" to try boost survival of both outmigrating
juvenile fish and returning adults.
Observations indicated that most avian predators concentrated
their foraging efforts below the new passage devices - the Priest
Rapids top-spill bulkhead discharge and the Wanapum Future Unit
Fish Bypass discharge (a 290-foot-long "fish slide" that delivers
fish from the forebay to the tailrace in 20,000 cubic feet per
second of water), as well as where spill discharge merged with the
powerhouse discharge.
The gulls are opportunists. They have learned that some of the
young fish are a bit confused when they exit the passage devices.
"They take fish when they are disoriented" and easy pickings,
Turner said.
Before the 2009 migration season the areas were covered with
arrays, sets of wires strung from the shoreline up to points all
along the face of the dams.
And efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife
Services workers were stepped up, with hazing beginning earlier
than ever before to assure that birds would not settle in, become
habituated. The Wildlife Services hazers went on a
seven-day-per-week schedule and moved to a double shift. The USDA
arm is contracted to implement annual avian predator control and
to collect data to evaluate the effectiveness of avian control
measures.
Fewer fish were eaten in the Priest Rapids tailrace most likely
because few birds remained in the area in the face of the predator
control efforts. The preliminary data shows that there was a 77
percent drop in the number of birds hazed within the Priest Rapids
Dam tailrace between 2008 (13,468) and 2009 (3,072). The average
number of birds hazed per hour also decreased from 17.7 in 2008 to
3.7 in 2009.
"We just didn't let them get established," Turner said.
"It appears there was minimal gull consumption of sockeye and
steelhead smolts within the Priest Rapids Dam tailrace in 2009,"
the study abstract says.
The formula appears to have worked.
"That's what we're going to continue" to do while also looking for
other ways to improve fish survival, Turner said.
Grant PUD achieved the required survival standard for ESA-listed
spring-run chinook for three consecutive study years (2003-2005),
as required by the BiOp.
----------------------------
* Study: New Acoustic Tag System Tracks Salmon Survival, Migration
More Precisely Than PIT-Tags
A new acoustic telemetry system tracks the migration of juvenile
salmon using one-tenth as many fish as comparable methods,
suggests a paper published in the January edition of the American
Fisheries Society journal Fisheries.
The paper also explains how the system is best suited for deep,
fast-moving rivers and can detect fish movement in more places
than other tracking methods.
The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System estimated the
survival of young, ocean-bound salmon more precisely than the
widely used Passive Integrated Transponder tags during a 2008
study on the Columbia and Snake rivers, according to the results
of a case study discussed in the paper. The paper also concludes
that fish behavior is affected least by lightweight JSATS tags
compared to larger acoustic tags.
"Fisheries managers and researchers have many technologies to
choose from when they study fish migration and survival," said
lead author Geoff McMichael of the Department of Energy's Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.
"JSATS was specifically designed to understand juvenile salmon
passage and survival through the swift currents and noisy
hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River," McMichael said. "But
other systems might work better in different circumstances. This
paper demonstrates JSATS' strengths and helps researchers weigh
the pros and cons of the different fish tracking methods available
today."
Scientists at PNNL and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Portland
District co-authored the paper. PNNL and NOAA Fisheries began
developing JSATS for the Corps in 2001.
JSATS is an acoustic telemetry system that includes the smallest
available acoustic transmitting tag, which weighs 0.43 grams. Its
battery-powered tags are surgically implanted into juvenile salmon
and send a uniquely coded signal every few seconds. Receivers are
strategically placed in waterways to record the signal and track
when and where tagged fish travel. A computer system also
calculates the precise 3-D position of tagged fish using data
gathered by the receivers.
PIT tags are also implanted into juvenile salmon for migration and
survival studies, but don't use batteries to actively transmit
signals. Instead, PIT tags send signals when they become energized
while passing by PIT transceiver antennas.
For the paper's case study, researchers implanted 4,140 juvenile
chinook salmon with both JSATS and PIT tags. They also placed just
PIT tags inside another 48,433 juveniles. All of the case study's
tagged fish were released downstream of Lower Granite Dam on the
Snake River in April and May 2008.
A significantly greater percentage of JSATS tags were detected
than PIT tags, the case study demonstrated. For example, about 98
percent of JSATS-tagged fish were detected at Ice Harbor Dam on
the Snake River. About 13 percent of PIT-tagged fish were detected
in the same stretch of river. As a result, studies using JSATS
require using roughly one-tenth as many fish as those employing
PIT tags, which helps further conserve the salmon population.
Survival estimates were similar between JSATS and PIT tags.
Forty-eight percent of the JSATS-tagged fish were estimated to
have survived migration between Lower Granite Dam and Bonneville
Dam, which is the last dam on the Columbia before the Pacific
Ocean. For PIT-tagged fish, 43 percent were estimated to have
reached the same area.
Having flexibility in where receivers can be placed is
advantageous, the authors reported. JSATS receivers can be located
in both rivers and dams, while PIT antennas usually can only go
inside fish bypasses at dams. Researchers can estimate fish
survival for an entire river system when receivers are placed in
more locations, the paper explains.
The team also compared JSATS' technical features with those of
another acoustic telemetry system, the VEMCO system being used for
the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project along North America's
West Coast. The VEMCO system is best suited for use in the
slow-moving, open ocean when observing small numbers of large
fish, the authors wrote. In contrast, JSATS was developed to study
the migration of larger quantities of small juvenile fish in
fast-moving rivers.
A key difference between the JSATS and VEMCO systems is dry tag
weight. JSATS tags weigh 0.43 grams and are the smallest acoustic
tags available. VEMCO tags that have been used in Columbia River
juvenile salmon weighed 3.1 grams. Previous research shows fish
can bear a tag that weighs up to 6.7 percent of their body weight
without significant adverse survival effects. That means JSATS
tags can be implanted into fish as light as 6.5 grams, while VEMCO
tags should be used in fish that weigh no less than 46.3 grams.
Another advantage of JSATS is that it is non-proprietary and
available for anyone to manufacture or use. Because several
companies have been able to competitively bid for the opportunity
to produce the system's components, its cost has dropped in recent
years. JSATS tags, for example, have gone from $300 per tag in
2005 to $215 in 2008. And JSATS tags cost $40 to $135 less than
other commercially available acoustic tags in 2008. Proprietary
interests have hindered the development of acoustic telemetry
equipment in certain areas, the team wrote.
"JSATS has helped us get a clearer, more complete picture of how
salmon migrate and survive through the Columbia and Snake rivers
to the Pacific Ocean," McMichael said. "But we're continuing to
develop JSATS and hope others will find it useful in studies of
other aquatic animals. There's an opportunity for all aquatic
telemetry technologies to be improved."
"The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System: A New Tool."
Fisheries, Vol. 35, No. 1, January 2010. The report starts on page
9 of the full January issue, which is online at
www.fisheries.org/afs/docs/fisheries/fisheries_3501.pdf
More JSATS information is available online at
http://jsats.pnl.gov
---------------------------
* Agencies Take Further Steps On Assessing Proposed Gas Terminal's
Impacts On Columbia Salmon, Steelhead
The clock is expected to start ticking soon on NOAA Fisheries
Service's process for evaluating whether the construction and
operation of a liquefied natural gas terminal in the lower river
would jeopardize the survival of 13 Columbia River basin salmon
and steelhead stocks that are listed under the Endangered Species
Act.
The proposal to build the LNG terminal and associated pipeline has
been debated by federal, state and tribal entities, environmental
groups, business interests and others ever since the Bradwood
Landing site in Oregon was selected in 2004 by Texas-based
NorthernStar Natural Gas.
The debate -- centered on potential environmental consequences and
economic benefits - have continued through a federal licensing
process, and spilled into federal appellate court.
The two federal entities charged with assuring that the project
won't hinder salmon recovery remain a bit out of sync, but they
have reached the stage where they agree that official ESA
"consultation" can begin to develop a biological opinion that will
judge whether it would jeopardize species survival.
A "jeopardy" opinion could stall, or even thwart, the project.
BiOps are required to evaluate the effect of federal "actions" on
listed species. In this case the action in question is the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission's September 2008 conditional approval
of the federal license needed to proceed with the Bradwood Landing
project.
FERC acknowledged concerns about whether the region needs such an
additional gas supply and about its potential environmental
impacts that had been expressed by state and local government
agencies, public officials, non-governmental organizations and
members of the public. But it says those concerns were addressed
in the FERC staff environmental impact statement completed in June
2008.
The commission gave the companies three years to satisfy some 109
"conditions" for approval and complete construction.
Construction on the proposed terminal and pipeline, which the
company wanted begin in 2009, cannot start until all project
conditions have been satisfied, including the receipt of state
permits for clean air, clean water and coastal zone management,
the FERC conditions say.
In addition, the NOAA Fisheries Service must complete the ESA
consultation process and issue a BiOp before on-the-ground work
can begin, FERC said.
NOAA Fisheries had said before, and since, completion of the EIS
and associated biological assessment that it did have enough
environmental data to complete a BiOp. The EIS was completed based
on information included in the BA produced by the company that
includes more than 5,000 pages of technical information.
The EIS evaluates impacts to geology; soils and sediments; water
use and quality; wetlands; vegetation; wildlife and aquatic
resources; threatened, endangered, and special-status species;
land use, recreation, and visual resources; cultural resources;
socioeconomics and traffic; air quality and noise; reliability and
safety; and cumulative effects.
An initial EIS was completed in March 2007 but NOAA Fisheries
responded in May of that year by saying it needed more
information. The environmental document was then supplemented and
resubmitted last year along with a second request to initiate
consultation.
NOAA Fisheries responded to the June 2009 BA with a 35-page letter
on Nov. 16 that said the document "is not sufficiently complete to
initiate formal consultation.." It outlined the information that
was needed.
After meetings Dec. 7-8, the two federal agencies decided to
officially launch consultation. But they appear to have made
different conclusions about when it would commence, and how long
it will take to produce a BiOp.
The Dec. 30 letter from FERC said that during the December meeting
it had "reported that the vast majority of the requested material
is already contained in the revised BA/EFH Assessment, and that
certain other information cannot reasonably be developed or
obtained during the scope of the consultation and therefore, will
not be provided. To assist the NMFS in its review, we agreed to
provide written guidance for locating the requested material in
the revised BA/EFH Assessment and identifying those items that
cannot be provided."
That written guidance was also made available online Dec. 30. The
FERC letter also said "we understand that the NMFS agreed to
initiate formal consultation as of December 8, 2009." and that the
process would be completed by March 8.
The fisheries agency, on the other hand, said that it would begin
preliminary work, such as developing a project description, in
December but not officially initiate consultation until the
additional guidance was in hand in its Portland offices.
"We've been very straightforward," said Cathy Tortorici, NOAA
Fisheries Oregon Coast/ Lower Columbia Habitat Branch chief. As of
early this week she said she had not yet seen a hard copy of the
FERC request and guidance.
NOAA's Nov. 16 letter to FERC said that "the formal consultation
process for the project will not begin until we receive all of the
information, or a statement explaining why that information cannot
be made available."
The ESA says that NOAA should issue a biological opinion within
135 days from initiation of formal consultation (45 days after the
90-day formal consultation period). But in some cases that
deadline is relaxed.
"It could take longer than 135 days" because of the complexity of
the issues involved, Tortorici said. Her staff is working to
develop a timeline for completing the BiOp.
Meanwhile, legal arguments regarding the proposal will begin to
take shape this month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit, where the states of Oregon and Washington, NOAA Fisheries
and Columbia Riverkeeper have filed petitions asking that the
court order FERC to reconsider its decision. The deadline for
filing opening briefs is Jan. 25.
NorthernStar Natural Gas proposes to build a LNG receiving
terminal at Bradwood Landing on 55 acres of a 420-acre site
located at approximately river mile 38 between Astoria and
Clatskanie on the Columbia River. The facility will be designed to
have a peak sendout capacity of 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of
natural gas.
Bradwood Landing would include a single berth to accommodate one
to two ships each week, two storage tanks (with permitting for a
third should the market demand it) and a re-gasification building
to convert the liquefied natural gas back into natural gas. The
sendout pipeline would stretch nearly 19 miles upriver, cross the
Columbia and run 17 more miles to Kelso, Wash.
The company admits that protected salmon stocks would be adversely
by the construction and operation terminal, but says a proposed
mitigation package would largely balance the biological ledger,
according to BA.
The purpose of the Bradwood Landing Project is to import natural
gas to the Pacific Northwest. LNG is natural gas that has been
turned into a liquid state by cooling it to about minus 260
degrees Fahrenheit to reduce its volume for transport in specially
designed carriers some distance across oceans from its point of
origin to the proposed LNG import terminal.
Columbia Riverkeeper has been is strident in its opposition to the
proposal, saying it would involve dredging 700,000 cubic feet of
sediment from the Columbia River, creating a large hole in a
critical salmon rearing, migration and fishing area.
They say it would also remove over a billion gallons of Columbia
River water (along with thousands of juvenile salmon) a year to
use as dead weight in the ballast tanks of outgoing LNG tankers.
Riverkeeper's mission is to "restore and protect the water quality
of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the
headwaters to the Pacific Ocean."
The company says Bradwood's mitigation plan far exceeds state and
federal requirements.
The company has promised to spend $59 million through its Salmon
Enhancement Initiative to improve watershed health on the Lower
Columbia River. NorthernStar says the mitigation measures would
improve salmon survival by 1.77 million juvenile fish per year.
The mitigation aims to restore formerly diked wetlands,
rehabilitate wildlife habitat, reshape former agricultural lands
into high value shallow water salmon habitat, and rebuild lower
Columbia River wetland and estuary areas.
------------------------------
* Study Looks At How Glacial Watersheds Contribute To Marine Food
Webs
A study recently completed in the gulf coast of Alaska by federal
and university researchers has found that as glacial ice
disappears, the production and export of high-quality food from
glacial watersheds to marine ecosystems may disappear too. This
trend could have serious consequences for marine food webs.
The study, "Glaciers as a source of ancient and labile organic
matter to the marine environment," was published in the Dec. 24,
issue of the journal Nature.
The research, which was conducted on 11 coastal watersheds in the
Gulf of Alaska, has documented an interesting paradox with
important implications for coastal ecosystems.
"Glacial watersheds comprise 30 percent of the Tongass National
Forest and supply about 35 to 40 percent of the stream discharge,"
says Rick Edwards, a coauthor on the study. "These watersheds
export dissolved organic matter that is remarkably biologically
active in contrast to that found in other rivers. Generally,
scientists expect that organic matter decreases in its quality as
a food source as it ages, becoming less and less active over
time."
But the dissolved organic material discharged from the glacial
watersheds in this study was almost 4,000 years old; yet
surprisingly, more than 66 percent of it was rapidly metabolized
by marine microbes into living biomass to support marine food
webs, adds Edwards.
The study was conducted by Eran Hood, University of Alaska
Southeast; Jason Fellman, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Robert
Spencer and Peter Hernes, University of California Davis; Rick
Edwards and David D'Amore, Pacific Northwest Research Station,
USDA Forest Service; and Durelle Scott, Virginia Tech.
Edwards and D'Amore partnered with their university colleagues to
characterize the dominant types of watersheds and variables that
control the volume and chemistry of water flowing into the gulf.
The study was led by Hood and Fellman, then a graduate student
working in the PNW Research Station's Juneau Forestry Sciences
Lab.
Rivers fringing the gulf coast of Alaska discharge as much water
as the Mississippi River into a marine system that harbors the
most productive salmon fishery in the world. As these rivers flow
through the temperate rain forests on the coastal margin, they are
influenced by vegetation, soils and wetlands, which control the
amount and timing of carbon and nutrients delivered to the
productive coastal ecosystems receiving that drainage.
"Understanding how these various watersheds respond to management
activities and climate change is essential in mitigating the
impacts of a warming climate on habitat quality within rivers and
productivity within the adjacent marine ecosystem," explains
Edwards.
"We don't currently have much information about how runoff from
glaciers may be contributing to productivity in downstream marine
ecosystems," said Hood. "This is a particularly critical question
given the rate at which glaciers along the Gulf of Alaska are
thinning and receding."
Highlights of the study include:
--- The greater the amount of glacier in the watershed, the older
the dissolved organic matter and the more available it is to
marine organisms.
--- These results support the hypotheses that microbial
communities beneath the glaciers grow on soils and forests overrun
by the glaciers during the Hypsithermal warm period (between
7,000-2,500 years ago). As they degrade the ancient material, they
make new food from old carbon.
--- The quality of the dissolved organic matter is so high that 23
to 66 percent is used by marine micro-organisms and incorporated
into food webs supporting higher organisms.
--- As glaciers recede and disappear, the input of this valuable
food source will decrease with unknown impacts on productivity of
marine food webs.
To read the entire article in Nature visit
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7276/full/nature08580.html
The Pacific Northwest Research Station is headquartered in
Portland. It has 11 laboratories and centers located in Alaska,
Oregon, and Washington and about 425 employees.
------------------------------------------
* ODFW Reporting Strong Winter Steelhead Runs On Coast, Sandy,
Clackamas, Willamette Rivers
The same conditions that led to a banner run of hatchery coho
salmon last year appear to have had a similar effect beneficial to
winter steelhead.
Several Northwest Region fish hatcheries operated by the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife are reporting strong returns of
winter steelhead. The good early winter steelhead returns come on
the heels of a strong coho run last fall.
Biologists believe that good flows for outbound smolts in 2008,
followed by favorable ocean conditions contributed to better than
average survival rates for both runs of fish.
"We have a pile of steelhead showing up in some of these rivers,"
said Robert Bradley, assistant fish biologist for ODFW's North
Coast Watershed District.
On the coast, early hatchery winter steelhead have provided good
fishing opportunities in several streams. When angling conditions
have been favorable, catches of early returning hatchery winter
steelhead have generally been good. Large numbers of fish are
still available in the river, as evidenced by increasing numbers
of fish being collected at hatchery traps.
The North Fork Nehalem in particular has seen periods of very good
fishing since mid-December. More than 1,000 returning adult
hatchery winter steelhead have been trapped at Nehalem Hatchery so
far this season.
The Necanicum River, Big Creek, Gnat Creek, Klaskanine River and
Three Rivers (in the Nestucca River basin) are other streams
offering good early season hatchery winter steelhead
opportunities. Due to their smaller size, these streams tend to be
in fishable condition more often, as they clear more quickly than
larger streams.
"There will be lots of bright, chrome fish in these streams for
the next two or three weeks," said Bradley. "In another month,
most of the early returning hatchery winter steelhead will be
gone, so we really encourage people to get out and take advantage
of this opportunity while it lasts."
Farther inland, the Sandy and Clackamas rivers and Eagle Creek are
seeing large returns, and ODFW's fish counting station at
Willamette Falls is seeing some of its largest steelhead crossings
in recent years, according to Todd Alsbury, district fish
biologist for ODFW's North Willamette Watershed.
-----------------------------------
* Are There Times When Restoring Natural Water Flows Can Cause
Ecological Harm?
Conservation projects often attempt to enhance the water-based
transport of material, energy, and organisms in natural
ecosystems. River restoration, for example, commonly includes
boosting maximum flow rates.
Yet in some highly disturbed landscapes, restoration of natural
water flows may cause more harm than good, according to a study
published in the January 2010 issue of BioScience.
The study, by C. Rhett Jackson and Catherine M. Pringle of the
University of Georgia, analyzes a wide variety of examples in
which creating or maintaining reduced flows can create ecological
benefits. The presence of nonnative fishes in a river, for
example, can argue for maintaining the isolation of some habitats
that are separated from the main channel, because the nonnative
species may imperil naturally occurring species.
In other cases, novel vegetation that has grown up below a dam may
be host to terrestrial animal populations, including endangered
birds. Restoring natural water flows can lead to a change in the
vegetation that is detrimental to the animals.
Awareness of the potential benefits of maintaining low "hydrologic
connectivity" has extended to the creation of artificial barriers
to protect species at risk. The endangered native greenback
cutthroat trout, for example, is protected from nonnative brook
trout moving upstream by the placement of small dams in stream
headwaters in the Colorado River basin.
Expensive attempts are also being made to deter exotic nuisance
species such as bighead carp and silver carp from invading Lake
Michigan via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Experts disagree
on whether the multimillion-dollar electric dispersal barriers now
being constructed on the canal will succeed, and some authorities
have argued that only permanently disconnecting the canal will
protect Lake Michigan.
Many urban streams represent particular challenges when attempts
are made to restore natural flows. Expensive restoration efforts
in streams in Seattle, for example, led to high pre-spawning
mortality of salmon, possibly because they were exposed to copper
pollution. Maintaining low flows can also mitigate the effects of
pollution on ecosystems when ponds and lakes sequester sediments
and nutrients that would otherwise be more widely dispersed. The
sediments may contain toxic elements that could cause widespread
harm to wildlife.
This insight raises another challenge, however: several National
Wildlife Refuges have suffered high mortality of fishes and birds
as a result of the concentration of toxic substances in lakes.
What is clear is that restoring natural flows can bring pros and
cons.
Jackson and Pringle conclude that "a major challenge is to develop
a more predictive understanding of how hydrologic connectivity
operates in intensively developed landscapes."
The BioScience article is available at
http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/
----------------------------
* Draft Plan Released To Remove Black Slag From Upper Columbia
River Beach
The public is being asked to review and comment on formal
documents that will guide removal of black slag from a beach on
the Upper Columbia River.
The slag, which has the appearance of black sand, is an industrial
byproduct discharged into the Columbia River from a metals
smelting facility operated by Teck Metals Ltd. (formerly Teck
Cominco) in Trail, British Columbia.
The documents include a draft work plan that includes what's
called a "60 percent engineering design" that provides details of
how the removal will take place. They also include State
Environmental Policy Act documents ensuring that the work is
beneficial to the environment. Comments will be accepted Jan. 4
through Feb. 5.
A public meeting to allow discussion of the plan will be held at 7
p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Northport High School, 408 10th
St. in Northport. The Washington Department of Ecology and Teck
American Inc., in Spokane will provide an overview of the project
and answer questions from the public.
The state agency and Teck signed a detailed "voluntary interim
action" agreement last July to remove slag from a beach area on
the Upper Columbia River known as Black Sand Beach.
The beach is located on state trust land that is managed by the
Washington Department of Natural Resources. It encompasses
approximately one acre three miles south of the Canadian border on
the east side of the river north of Northport.
In the fall of 2010, approximately 5,000 cubic yards of granulated
slag will be removed and transported for recycling to Teck's Trail
smelter facility. Teck has agreed to remove and recycle the slag
to avoid continued erosion and movement of the material into the
river.
"This is good news for the river and those who visit the beach in
summer months," said project manager Chuck Gruenenfelder of the
WDOE's Toxics Cleanup Program. "By late this year they'll be able
to play, fish and swim at the reconstructed beach. We appreciate
that Teck agreed to take this action under our supervision."
Teck will place clean, natural fill material where contaminated
sediments were removed. The new beach will contain a combination
of sand, gravel, and a coarser cobble-sized material.
The industrial slag contains hazardous substances including zinc,
lead, copper, arsenic, cadmium and other metals that cannot be
removed from normal processing. Some of the metals harm the health
of the river and aquatic life.
The beach is a popular spot for swimming, fishing, camping and
other recreational activities.
Construction is being scheduled in the fall when river levels are
seasonally low. Access to the beach will be closed during
construction. Work is estimated to take three to five weeks.
The full degree of risks to human health and the environment posed
by past discharges by Teck's Trail facility into the upper
Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt are being investigated under a
comprehensive multi-year study being carried out by Teck under the
oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and in
coordination with state, tribal and federal authorities.
The study was launched by a 2006 agreement between EPA and Teck
that calls for the company to fund and perform an EPA-monitored
assessment of heavy metals pollution in the river that runs
downstream from Canada into northeast Washington on its way toward
the Pacific Ocean. Studies will also assess the potential risk
contaminants pose to people who live and recreate in the area.
There is also concern about the level of contamination absorbed by
fish and the risk that poses to people who catch and eat them.
Teck is also evaluating cleanup options, though the agreement does
not commit the company to funding any cleanup activities. The
study area is a 150-mile strip of river from the border down
through Lake Roosevelt to Grand Coulee Dam.
The documents for the slag removal can be seen at the Department
of Ecology's office in Spokane at 4601 North Monroe St. by calling
Kari Johnson at 509-329-3415, or on-line at
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/blackSandBeach/blackSandBeach_hp.html.
They also are available at the Northport Community Library, the
Kettle Falls Public Library and the Colville Public Library.
Comments and technical questions should directed to Chuck
Gruenenfelder, 509-329-3439; e-mail:
chgr461@ecy.wa.gov.
For more information go to:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/blackSandBeach/blackSandBeach_hp.html,
or http://www.ecy.wa.gov.
Litigation is ongoing regarding the company's responsibility under
U.S. Superfund statutes for the slag contamination in the
Columbia.
Two Colville Tribe members in 2006 filed a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court in an attempt to force Teck Cominco to comply with
a 2003 EPA "unilateral order" directing the company to conduct a
remedial investigation/feasibility study regarding pollution
impacts along the river from the border to Grand Coulee. The state
later joined the lawsuit.
The lawsuits were later amended to ask that Teck Cominco be held
liable for any environmental cleanup that might be required.
Attempts by Teck to have the lawsuit dismissed were rejected in
eastern Washington's U.S. District Court and by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to
consider the issues but declined, sending the lawsuit back to
district court.
--------------------------
* Group Agrees To Move Forward On Plan To Address Yakima Basin
Water, Fish Issues
The Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of
Ecology say the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project
Workgroup has reached consensus to move forward with a preliminary
Integrated Water Resource Management Plan intended to address
water supply and aquatic resource problems of the basin.
The work group -- comprised of state and federal agencies, county
commissioners from the three Yakima Basin counties, the City of
Yakima, the Yakama Nation, irrigation districts, fisheries
managers, representation from the environmental organization
American Rivers -- has developed a preliminary outline for the
integrated plan aimed at developing new water supplies, storage,
and improving habitat and passage for fish in the Yakima River
basin.
The work group narrowed down a list of potential actions for
further evaluation and analysis before taking the consensus tally.
"While some of the elements included in the integrated plan
document may not have unanimous support, Workgroup members do
unanimously support further evaluation and analysis of the
preliminary integrated plan," said Wendy Christensen, Reclamation
program manager.
Christensen said the work group will weigh-in on the final
decision to support or oppose the preliminary integrated plan and
its elements after an effectiveness analyses of the package has
been completed by Reclamation and Ecology.
The Yakima River Basin Study will be jointly conducted by
Reclamation and Ecology, in collaboration with the work group,
under the U.S. Department of the Interior's Water Conservation
Initiative Basin Study Program. The one-year comprehensive study
seeks to further define future options for water supply
development while improving conditions for anadromous fish. The
basin study will also evaluate the potential impacts of climate
change on water supplies and demands.
The basin study is cost-shared on a 50/50 basis between
Reclamation and Ecology. It is anticipated that a final integrated
plan will be developed and presented to the Workgroup for their
consideration in the fall of 2010.
*******************************
For more information about the CBB contact:
-- BILL CRAMPTON, Editor/Writer,
bcrampton@cbbulletin.com,
phone:
541-312-8860 or
-- BARRY ESPENSON, Senior Writer,
bespenson@msn.com, phone:
360-696-4005; fax: 360-694-1530
The stories in this e-mail newsletter are posted on the Columbia
Basin Bulletin website at
www.cbbulletin.com. If you would like access to the CBB
archives, please consider becoming a Member of the CBB website for
as little as $5 a month. Your membership will help support
maintenance of the 10-year (1998-2008) news database and the
production of trustworthy, timely news and information about
Columbia Basin fish and wildlife issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Feedback comments should be sent by e-mail to the Editor at
bcrampton@cbbulletin.com.
Please put "feedback"in the subject line. We encourage comments
about particular stories, complaints about inaccuracies or
omissions; additional information; general views about the topic
covered; or opinions that counterbalance statements reported.
The Columbia Basin Bulletin e-mail newsletter is produced by
Intermountain Communications of Bend, Oregon and supported with
Bonneville Power Administration fish and wildlife funds through
the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Columbia Basin Fish
and Wildlife Program.
@Copyright 2010, INTERMOUNTAIN COMMUNICATIONS
|
