Salmon Safety Net Full of Holes

by Cat Lazaroff

In late July the GAO issued an assessment of the DEIS concerning the Snake River dams. The GAO says that the Corps "generally" did what was required of them, but the report also provides lots of new fuel to the controversy by questioning the Corps' fundamental work. The cost of barging juvenile salmon, for example, was based on the known cost of hauling grain. Also, the GAO said that the Corps had done a shoddy job with their air quality assessment. A final Corps report is due next year. ]

The administration plan would include installing better fish passageways on the four dams, including Ice Harbor Dam

(ENS) WASHINGTON, DC -- The federal government has released its plan to save salmon in the Pacific Northwest, including habitat protections and fish hatcheries, but ruling out dam removal for the time being.

The plan, five years in the making, is a deep disappointment to environmental and fishing groups that say it may doom endangered fish to extinction.

"Extinction is not an option," said George Frampton, acting chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, releasing the draft plan July 28.

The proposals include hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal spending aimed at preserving and restoring 12 species of salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia and Snake rivers protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"If we do nothing, salmon in the Columbia River are going to go extinct," said Will Stelle, northwest regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. "It's as simple as that."

But leaders of conservation groups and sports fishing organizations say the Clinton administration's plan amounts to "a death sentence for the salmon," unless it is changed dramatically before it is finalized.

Also released was a draft Basin-Wide Salmon Recovery Strategy incorporating the requirements of the biological opinion and including additional measures to improve hatcheries, limit salmon harvest, and restore salmon habitat.

The agencies expect to make both documents final later this year, following a 60 day review by the states and tribes.

The proposed federal strategy outlines actions to address the four so-called H's of salmon recovery: habitat, hatcheries, harvest and hydropower.

• Habitat The strategy calls on the states to increase their efforts to improve water quality and stream flows, remove barriers to fish movement, and rebuild stream buffers. In the river estuaries, federal agencies will support restoration and acquisition of important salmon habitat areas, and continue aggressive predator controls. In the mainstem of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, federal agencies will work to restore shoreline habitats for migrating salmon and to continue protection for the Hanford Reach.

• Hatcheries The strategy proposes reforms of federally funded hatcheries to minimize harm to wild salmon and improve survival rates of hatchery stocks. In addition, hatcheries will work to prevent extinction of weak stocks by collecting eggs and sperm from wild fish and releasing the resulting offspring into streams inhabited by wild populations.

• Harvest The federal agencies, working with the states and tribes, will cap harvest of protected species at current levels. There may be further reductions of harvest levels, where practical, through more selective fishing techniques, license buyouts or other approaches.

• Hydropower The draft proposes to maximize survival of juvenile and adult salmon swimming past dams by improving water management and quality, and increasing spill levels, among other measures. The goal will be to improve the ability of the young and adult fish to pass safely through the dams and reservoirs that separate spawning and juvenile rearing areas from the ocean.

Any decision to breach the dams would require authorization by Congress, and completing these studies will reduce the time needed to secure that authorization if breaching is later deemed essential.

Most of the Congressional delegation from the region opposes breaching. Senator Slade Gorton, a Washington Republican, opposed the possibility of ever removing the dams, saying recent salmon runs show breaching to be unnecessary. "This spring, over 200,000 spring chinook salmon and 38,000 steelhead passed through Bonneville Dam," said Gorton. "But I want to be clear: there will be no money for dam removal studies on my watch."

The studies would include an evaluation of strategies to reduce impacts to communities, industries and Indian tribes and ensure that any breaching proposal is fair and affordable.

President Bill Clinton urged cooperation to avoid extinction. "Only in partnership with state and tribal governments and other stakeholders can we restore the salmon without resorting to costlier measures," he said in a statement.

But critics said any partnerships under the plan as currently drafted will be insufficient to protect salmon.

"This draft plan won't save salmon or help Northwestern communities," said Mark Van Putten, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. "It is simply an extension of the current efforts that have failed to stop the decline of salmon. Unless we work together to improve it, this draft plan will only keep the extinction clock ticking."

"Dam removal is the only legally and scientifically defensible choice for salmon recovery," said Buck Parker of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund. "This opens the federal government up to further lawsuits, and draws other private landowners and water users in the Basin into this fray."

Under the draft plan, dam breaching or bypassing might not be completed until 2017. "The cruel irony of the draft [Biological Opinion] is that its timeline for eventually bypassing the dams lines up perfectly with the timeline to extinction for wild Snake River spring/summer chinook," said Charles Gauvin, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. Gauvin referred to a study released a year ago that predicts extinction for several Snake River salmon species by 2017.

"These salmon don't have time for us to tinker around for 10 years in hopes that the real cause of their decline -- the four lower dams -- goes away," said Gauvin. "The science is perfectly clear: Extinction of these stocks is upon us if we don't fix the hydrosystem -- and soon."

"The administration is out of step with both the science and the public on restoring salmon," said Pat Ford, executive director of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. "The great majority of scientific study, including much from within the administration itself, concludes that dam removal is a necessary corner stone for restoring Snake River salmon. Over 200,000 Americans asked the administration to bypass these dams during public comment earlier this year. And a recent poll of Oregon voters shows the administration has misjudged Northwest public opinion as well."

The poll shows that 59 percent of voters in Oregon support bypassing the four lower Snake River dams within five years if other measures do not work by then. The poll asked voters whether they would support an approach, much like that suggested by Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon, to saving Snake River salmon that included Snake River dam removal as the cornerstone of a salmon recovery plan in the Basin.

"The results of the poll shouldn't be surprising," said Jeff Curtis, Western Conservation director for Trout Unlimited. "You can fix the transmission, the brakes, the radiator and the windshield wipers if you want, but if the engine's still bad, you're going nowhere fast. That's what we're talking about with these dams, and people in the region understand that."

Presidential candidates waded into the fray as well. On the campaign trail, Vice President Al Gore was asked repeatedly where he stood on dam breaching, and repeatedly dodged the issue, saying he would review the administration's plan and perhaps convene a "salmon summit" to hammer out solutions.

The Democratic candidate issued a statement supporting the White House plan. "I feel it provides a solid foundation for restoring the salmon while strengthening the economy of the Pacific Northwest," said Gore. "We must save the salmon and build the economy of the Pacific Northwest. The way to achieve these ends is through an objective, science based process -- not by rushing to rash judgments."

"If sufficient progress toward recovery is not being made, we may then have no choice but to pursue options such as dam breaching," Gore continued. "But we must first exhaust all reasonable alternatives."

Rival George W. Bush accused Gore of failing to take a stand, and repeated his position opposing dam breaching. "I say we can use technology to save the salmon, without leaving the door open to destroying these dams," Bush said.

Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate who is doing well in polls in the Pacific Northwest, said the White House should have included breaching as part of its long term plan. "Everybody knows the dams cannot be removed overnight, but you have to move toward that goal," he said.