A new agreement between dam operators, fish agencies and tribal interests increases

New agreement expands salmon protection in Hanford Reach

protection for Hanford Reach fall chinook during the rearing period, a time when juvenile fish are preparing to migrate to the ocean.

The new Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Protection Program includes all the elements of the 1988 Vernita Bar Agreement and expands it to incorporate additional flow fluctuation limits, some of which have been provided on a voluntary basis since 1999.

"The new agreement provides greater guarantees on timing of water delivery, provides new weekend protection flows and limits flow fluctuations for juvenile fall Chinook rearing in the Hanford Reach," said Joe Lukas, senior fisheries scientist for Grant County PUD. The cooperative and experimental work of agencies, tribes and the operators from 1999 to 2003 limited fry losses to less than 3 percent and formed the basis for the new agreement, Lukas said.

The Vernita Bar Settlement Agreement is set to expire when Grant PUD's federal license for the Priest Rapids Project ends in October 2005. Grant PUD's relicensing effort prompted the parties to begin work on a replacement agreement that would address all fall chinook salmon protection issues in the Hanford Reach.

"This collaboration has spanned more than 20 years and is already a proven success. The new agreement encompasses the entire freshwater lifecycle for fall chinook in the Hanford Reach," said Tim Culbertson, general manager of Grant PUD.

Grant PUD, Bonneville Power Administration, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, Chelan County PUD, Douglas County PUD, and the Colville Confederated Tribes have been meeting for several months and cooperatively developed the new agreement. The Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Protection Program will be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an Offer of Settlement for Hanford Reach fall chinook issues in the Priest Rapids Project relicensing process. Grant PUD's license application was filed with the FERC in October 2003.

"By agreeing to officially expand the Vernita Bar Agreement to include even more protection for Hanford Reach fall chinook, the Mid-Columbia dam operators are once again demonstrating a commitment to do the right thing for fish. This is a huge step forward for fish protection in the basin," said Jeff Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"This agreement is a centerpiece for future conservation of fall-run Chinook and we wholeheartedly support it," said Bob Lohn, regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries in Seattle.

Last year, nearly 100,000 fall chinook salmon returned to the Hanford Reach to spawn, and recent years have seen some of the highest returns in over 40 years of record-keeping. The Vernita Bar Agreement, a 16-year success story that is widely cited as a model of cooperative salmon management, has helped make Hanford Reach fall chinook one of the healthiest stocks in the Columbia Basin. The effort begins with a change in river flow patterns in October and November to encourage salmon to spawn at lower levels. Minimum flows are provided throughout the winter to protect the salmon eggs, contained in nests called redds, until they emerge in the spring.

The previously voluntary flow protections typically occur from late March to early June. Juvenile salmon fry tend to rest and feed in areas near the shoreline, and they can become ,stranded0/00 when the river level

recedes. Grant PUD, with the support of upstream dam operators, releases a minimum flow of 50,000-70,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) from the Priest Rapids Project to protect emerging fry from being dewatered during the spring. Once emergence begins, additional constraints are placed on flow fluctuations, and these continue until the fry grow larger and move away from shallow, near-shore areas by early June. This can only be accomplished through the cooperation of all the federal and PUD dam operators in the Mid-Columbia River.

The river operations to protect fall Chinook impact the amount and timing of hydropower produced at the dams in the Mid-Columbia River. Grant PUD estimates that the cost of the Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Protection Program averages $4.3 million per year.