environmental impact statements for ecosystem management are completed. The U.S. Forest 

 Service adopted standards collecti\ely called "PACFISH" in February. 1995: these standards 

 sunset in August. 1996. and were extended by the Forest Service until the East Side EIS's are 

 completed. However, non-federal lands constitute approximateh' 35 percent of the Snake River 

 salmon critical habitat. Therefore, an ecosystem approach that emphasizes integrated Federal 

 and non-federal land management is needed. To achieve this, all stakeholders in a subbasin or 

 watershed are encouraged to participate in management partnerships. The Recovery Plan also 

 proposes actions that will reduce the loss of listed species at water withdrawal sites, rebuild 

 salmon populations by providing adequate instream flows and improving fish passage at barriers, 

 reduce losses of listed salmon associated with poor water quality, and reduce impacts on salmon 

 resulting from recreational activities. 



Mainstem and Estuarine Ecosystem 



In the mainstem and estuarine ecosystem, salmon face problems associated with their 

 downstream and upstream migrations. The journey through the lower Snake and Columbia 

 Rivers has become more hazardous since eight hydroelectric dams were built and their reservoirs 

 created. Each dam delays juvenile fish in their transition to the ocean environment and exacts 

 additional losses. Seventy percent of the 482 miles between the mouth of the Columbia River 

 and Lewiston/Clarkston on the Snake River has been converted from free-tlowing river into 

 reservoirs. This change has slowed the rate of downstream travel for smolts and increased the 

 amount of habitat favorable to predator species. Hatchery fish and exotic species compete with 

 and prey on the listed salmon in the mainstem ecosystem. 



The plan prescribes immediate actions to improve mainstem survival and calls for acceleration of 

 evaluations to determine the efficacy of these actions, and evaluations to determine the feasibility 

 and likely biological benefits of major structural modifications of dams. Actions already taken to 

 improve river conditions include drawdown of reservoirs behind the dams to minimum operating 

 pool, increased river flows, and increased spill at dams. Changes implemented to improve fish 

 survival past the dams include installation of extended length screens, construction of bypass 

 systems (seven of the eight dams these fish must pass now have bypasses), and design and 

 installation of a prototype surface diversion structure. Within four years, new information should 

 help clarify whether surface diversion in combinafion with improved river conditions (i.e.. 

 increased flow and spill) and barge transportation would improve survival sufficient to achieve 

 recovery, or whether major structural modification of dams (i.e., drawdowns below minimum 

 operating pool) are necessary. 



The listed and unlisted fish also need improvements in their upstream passage conditions. To 

 accomplish this, the Proposed Recovery Plan prescribes actions such as installing extended 

 length screens, operating turbines at peak efficiency, extending the period during which the 

 juvenile bypass system is in operation, implementing a gas abatement program, decreasing power 

 peaking operations from mid-March through mid-December, remedying water pollution 

 problems, developing emergency auxiliary water supplies for adult fishways, and decreasing 

 water temperatures. 



To minimize predation and competition problems in the migration corridor, the Proposed 

 Recovery Plan contains actions to control predation by squawfish. birds, marine mammals, and 

 non-native fishes such as smallmouth bass, walleye, and channel catfish. Measures are also 

 proposed to reduce American shad populations in the Columbia River because they both prey on 

 and compete with juvenile salmon. 



