European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tac so Are it Foer a amp to by Tom Kenworthy the Washington Post from the fishing Village of Skamokawa wash., just upstream from the Pacific Ocean to potato farming communities hundreds of Miles Inland in Idaho almost everybody in the Pacific Northwest has gotten something from the Columbia River system. Now in a last ditch Effort to save some of the Region s wild Salmon runs almost everybody is going to have to give something Back. For Gill net Fisherman Kent Martin it will mean taking fewer Salmon from the fishery that has sustained his family for four generations. For Brett Wilcox president of an aluminium company 150 Miles upstream in the Dalles ore., it will mean paying More for the cheap hydroelectric Power gobbled up in huge quantities by his company s smelters. Farmer Bud Mercer of Prosser wash., will face higher costs for irrigating More than 2,000 acres of vegetables growing on desert land that the Columbia s water has enabled Mercer to turn into a Fertile Garden. And for Grain shipper Joe Stegner 465 Miles Inland on the Snake River at Idaho s Only Quot seaport of Lewiston it could result in an annual temporary shutdown of Barge traffic that links the area to Pacific rim markets. The impending sacrifices in behalf of the Salmon represent another example of the sweeping Power of the Federal endangered species act which has Seldom if Ever been applied to a Case affecting so Large an area or such a wide Range of economic interests. The act already has Pul Large swatches of Northwest Timberland off limits to logging to protect the Northern spotted owl and in the Case of Salmon it will affect the regions economic lifeline the Columbia and its main tributary the Snake. Improving Salmon survival will require a Complex mix of habitat improvement reduction in the numbers of Salmon caught and mechanical improvements to a string of Federal hydroelectric dams that have fatally interrupted the downstream journey of some Salmon from their spawning grounds in Idaho to the Ocean. The most immediate need is More water to Speed the Salmon s downstream migration. Therein lies the problem for the Northwest which diverts huge quantities from the Columbia and its tributaries for Power generation agriculture and transport. The bitter fight Between environmentalists and loggers Over the spotted owl is not Likely to be repeated Here. The Region has Long been preparing for this Day and the Impact rather than falling on a single segment of the Economy will be spread widely. Affected industries and groups have largely gotten past the hysterical predictions of doom and gloom and Are settling Down to the task of solving the problems. Although they Are still quarrelling Over How the Burden will be spread nearly All the diverse economic interests that will be affected by the Effort to save the Salmon runs say they Are pledged to making the recovery work. Quot the Salmon Issue is orders of magnitude More complicated than the owl Quot said John d. Carr executive director of an association of Large electricity users mostly aluminium companies that buy directly from the Bonneville Power administration the Federal Agency that Sells hydroelectric Power generated in the Columbia River Basin. Quot the solution will Impact every person in the Northwest. We Are committed to a  the specific costs will come into clearer focus in coming months when the National Marine fisheries service makes critical decisions on several populations of Sockeye and Chinook Salmon that Migrate to and from the Ocean along the Columbia and the Snake its longest tributary. The service already has declared the nearly extinct Snake River Sockeye an endangered species and is expected to determine shortly that two runs of Snake River Chinook also Merit Protection recovery teams designated by the service must then decide what has to be done to reduce Sockeye and Chinook mortality on one of the world s most managed River systems. Under the endangered species act the service will have Broad Powers Over How other agencies such As the army corps of engineers and Bonneville Power administration use the Columbia and Snake. Ones a Marvel of nature that teemed with uncounted millions of Salmon and Steelhead Trout a fish that Divide their lives Between fresh and Salt water a the Columbia River in the last half Century has been transformed by Man into a Marvel of human engineering. The River traverses the Northwest for 1,200 Miles from its headwaters in British Columbia. Together with its tributaries it drains an area As big As Texas annually sending millions of acre feet of water out of the Rockies to the Pacific. Almost 60 years after the Federal government erected the first of a string of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia the waterway and its main tributaries resemble not so much a River As a series of huge slow moving lakes backed up behind massive Concrete barriers. Harnessed by fabled dams such As Bonneville and grand Coulee and less known but evocatively named installations like Little Goose ice Harbor and lower monumental the Columbia system has become the artery that sustains the manufacturing and agricultural Economy of the Northwest it yields torrents of inexpensive electricity exported As far As Southern California and serves As a transportation network throbbing with International and Domestic Commerce. But the dams Are almost As efficient at killing Salmon As they Are at producing electricity irrigated agriculture and inexpensive transport. What used to be a rapid and relatively benign passage to the Ocean has become a protracted journey full of hazards for vulnerable Young fish. The upstream migration of adult Salmon is not so much the problem because the fish Are aided around the dams by ascending series of pools called fish ladders. The downstream trip is another matter. The obstacles include the dams mechanical systems Slack Reservoir pools that increase predation and raised water temperatures. The combination slows the journey so much that Many Salmon Complete their transformation into Saltwater creatures while still in fresh water before reaching the Ocean and perish. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on hatcheries Turbine intake screens and elaborate schemes to truck and Barge migrating fish around the dams. But this has not reversed the decline of those Salmon stocks that must get around the eight Federal dams on the main Stem of the Columbia and lower Snake to get to their spawning habitat deep inside Idaho. Last year Only four Snake River Sockeye Salmon made it to their spawning grounds 900 Miles from the Ocean in Idaho a sawtooth mountains and Only about 22,000 Snake River Spring summer and fall Chinook made it upstream past the dams. Fueling anxiety have been proposals advanced by Salmon advocates and upstream interests led by Idaho gov Cecil d. Andrus a Democrat to Speed Salmon migration by drawing Down the Reservoir pools behind the four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington during critical periods of the year. Reducing the size of the Reservoir pools would increase the velocity of water passing through and Speed Salmon migration but it would Cut into electricity production transportation and agricultural use. Andrus and others argue that an alternative a sending More water through by releases from reservoirs farther upstream behind Idaho a Brownlee and Dworshak dams a is inadequate. The Prospect of deep and extended draw Downs of the lower Snake reservoirs a annual draw Downs could last from four weeks to at the extreme six months a has greatly alarmed commercial agricultural and transportation interests All along the nver system. Downriver worries Over the More extreme draw Down scenarios multiply by the mile. Irrigator have fretted that their expensive River pumping stations would be left High and dry. Officials at the port of Portland say even a foot or two reduction in their 40-foot Channel could Force huge Container vessels to Dock elsewhere on the Pacific coast. Near the Ocean in Skamokawa Salmon Fisherman Kent Martin has a different worry that the powerful upstream economic and political interests will Combine to mitigate the Reservoir draw Downs and put the onus on the fishing Industry rather than the dams he sees As the real culprit. The lower Columbia Salmon fishery is composed of a mixture of threatened and relatively healthy populations with the vast majority of the catch coming from hatchery bred stocks. The few wild Snake River Salmon caught Martin argues have a negligible Impact compared to the mass destruction of Salmon at the dams and further Harvest restrictions will Only Force fishermen to move to Alaska. Amid All this economic heartburn the Northwest Power Lanning Council a four state Agency that is belatedly catching up to its 1980 legislative mandate to treat fish equitably with Power needs recently completed a comprehensive  blueprint that represents a balancing act among competing interests. To the consternation of some Salmon advocates and the Relief of some commercial users of the River the Council has tiptoed around an unequivocal endorsement of the Reservoir draw Down strategy. It asserts that a modest version should be in place by 1995 with an escape valve if it proves Quot structurally or economically  the feasibility could be established Early next Spring when the army corps of engineers conducts a draw Down Experiment. A min a hurdles the rapids below Willamette Falls in the Willamette River near Portland Ora the final few or a new Brood Stock by Tom Kenworthy the Washington Post the future of the Snake River Sockeye Salmon a if it has one a rests in Eagle Idaho in a cinder Block building near the Boise River in a Small collection of White plastic containers holding 984 eggs. That and another egg collection in Seattle Are what main from last Springs run of Snake River Sockeye 4 population that fights its Way from the Pacific 900 is to redfish Lake in the sawtooth mountains of Central Idaho. H is an Odyssey that carries the fish up the pc Umbria Snake and Salmon Rivers passing through an a Mcalily named stretch called the River of no a a a in tortuous journey of the Snake River Salmon Salmon live in two worlds Inland Freshwater streams where they Are born and to which they return to spawn and the Ocean where they live most of their mature lives. Access to both worlds has been restricted by dams and other developments along Waterways the fish must travel during their life Cycle Pacific Salmon such As the Sockeye and Chinook make the arduous spawning journey from Ocean to fresh water from Spring to Early fall sometimes travelling As much As 900 Miles from the sea into Central Idaho. Although devices such As fish ladders Aid their Progress upstream the return run has become time consuming and difficult owing to slow flows and Low water Levels created by dams and development. Fish populations have declined As a result. The National Marine fisheries service already has designated the Snake River Sockeye Salmon an endangered species and soon May list two runs of Snake River Chinook. So it May be necessary to a draw Down the water Levels in some dams to give the fish More water volume and swifter currents for their return trip Down the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Sockeye Salmon Bonneville dam t lower Washington monumental dam i Montana Clearwater River Ler Narwat in. \ dam Salmon River a the Dalles John Day Mcnary dam dam dam Oregon to Brownlee _ dam River rt4fish mkt Chinook Salmon i when water backs up behind dams it slows the u Young Salmon s migration from Inland streams Back to the Ocean often turning a week Long trip into one that lasts 40 Days or More and increases the death rate from natural predators and Man made hazards such As hydroelectric turbines. In order to provide More water for Salmon engineers might open Spil ways on dams thus producing faster and larger water flows. But that would decrease the weight of liquid above the Generator turbines reducing the Power available for creating electricity and raising electric rates. Al drawing Down water Vej Levels could also mean that less volume would be available for agriculture irrigation disturbing the Region s Economy. A lower water Levels could also affect shipping in such Inland a seaports Quot As Lewiston Idaho where barges need deep channels to operate. The Washington Post last year four adult Sockeye three males and a female made the trip. Captured by the Idaho fish and game department they were artificially spawned and their progeny brought to Eagle to be raised in Captivity As Brood Stock for a desperate recovery attempt. The female s eggs were fertilized with the Milt of All three males to ensure As much genetic diversity As possible. Some of the Milt or sperm was Frozen in a Case it is needed in the future. In a collection of larger tanks outside Are about 730 2-year-old Sockeye trapped last year As they left redfish Lake at the beginning of their journey to the Ocean where Sockeye normally live until they Are 4 or 5 years old and ready to head Back upriver to spawn there is a scientific debate about whether these fish Are True Sockeye or a Strain mixed with genes from landlocked Salmon called Kokanee. Idaho fish and game fish pathologist Keith Johnson is More concerned with saving and restoring the run than with arguing about fish genes. If All goes according to plan he said there could be As Many As a half million juvenile Salmon produced by the mid-1990s a enough of a population perhaps to make it on its own. Quot by that time 1 Johnson said Quot the dams better be  the last ditch Effort being made Here at the Idaho fish health Laboratory is a Stark reminder of the widespread deterioration of the Pacific Northwest s fisheries. The american fisheries society recently identified 214 stocks of Pacific Salmon and Steelhead oceangoing Rainbow Trout at moderate to High risk of extinction Page 14 the stars and stripes monday May 11. 1992 the stars and stripes Page