400 



Latest Refunding BPA and Uic Waslilngion Public Power Supply System completed a refunding bond sale 

 Bond Sale Will May 27. Tlic sale will save llic region about $15 niillion, bringing the total savings from the 



Save $35 Million rclinanclng program to alx)ut $1.1 billion since it began In 1989. Some $795 million of 



WNP-1 and -2 bonds were sold to reduce inictcsl rales as high as 7 pcjccnl lo an cflcctivc 

 rate of 5.83 percent. Tlie bonds aie rated AA by all tlircc bond rating services. 



Former Ranch In Alter two years of discussions, BPA signed an agreement June 29 to acquire the 

 Eastern Oregon Is n57-lKXlarc (2.860-aac) Confoitli rajich in ca.<iiei n Oregon as a wetland wildlife icfuge. 

 Now A Wildlife The Northwest Powcrllannlng Council pioiX)scd BPA buy the iicreage to rebuild wildlife 

 Wetland Refiice populations and habitat lost through hydro development at McNary fJani. Trust for Public 

 '' Lands, a non-profit environmental group, bought it for $!iOO,000 in 1991 to hold while 



BPA negotiated lis purcliase. (Sec Janu.iry 1992 Journal.) Tlie property borders McNary 

 reservoir on U)c Columbia KJver between the I'on of UmaUIla and Hat Rock Stale Park. 



The UmatillaConfaleratedTribcs will serve as interim managers of the rctvgc until an 

 environmental review is completed. DPA will work with them to develop a wildlife 

 management plan tliat will likely cliMiinalc cattle gracing and expand tlie wetlands. Over half 

 the area is shrub steppe habitat, and Uie rest is wetlands. Natural potholes of hard ba.salt 

 rock filled with water when the ranclx^ periodically irrigated lo maintain grass for his cattle 

 Hie resulting ponds range in size from about .20 heclaiu to aN)ut 2 hectares QmH acre tn 

 five acres). The project will protect and enhance liabll.il for walcrfowl s-udi as widgeon, 

 mallards aivd Canada gccsc and shorcbirds such as avocets and spotted sandpipers. It will 

 also maintain a home for shrub steppe .species such as western mcadowlarks and California 

 quail, tree-dwelling downy woodpeckers and yellow warblers, a.s well as less common 

 species such us the burrowing owl and long-billed curlew. 



Endangered Some of Uie endangered Snake River sockeyc salmon in ilie Sawtooth Valley captive 



Snake River broodsiock projea in the SawKxjth Valley should be reproducing this fall. TTie fish were 



Sockeyc Will trapped as they left Rcdfish Lake in 199 1 , when Uicy were one to two years old. Some arc 



Soon Be Spawned Uicprogcny of wild sockeyc. Others may be offspring ofthc resident stocks of sockeye in 

 in Idaho K.cdnshl.akc, kokance or "residual" sockeyc. The offspring of all three slock.s in the 



broodstiKk are outwardly similar. Of llie original 800, about 400 survive, most of which 

 will be spawned artificially. Tlieir young will be placed In net |Kiis In Kcdllsh I .akc or other 

 Stanley Dasin lakes next spring and allowed lo migrate in 1995. Tliis will be llic first 

 opponunily to ob.scrve whether hnHxlstock sockeye reproduce successfully. Kcsearclicrs 

 hope lo perfect a mm-lelhal genetic test to disUnguish migratory sockeye from tlic 

 physically similar kokanec. a non-migrating species ol sockeyc. If all goes well, the first 

 fish born and raised in the program could return from the ocean in the fall of 1997 as 4- 

 year-old adults. The run migrates 14,50 kilometers (900 miles) fnim the ocean to Sawioolh 

 Valley. 



Two other younger groups of siKkeye will mature in 1995.The.se are the offspring of four 

 adults captured at Koddsli Lake In 1991. Recently Uic National Marine Dslicrics S^vlcc 

 moved one group of 77 1 flsli from Seattle to larger tanks at tlie Big liccf Creek facility near 

 Scabeck, Wash. An outbreak of bacterial kidney disease, now under control, reduced tiiclr 

 survival rale lo 79 percent. Tlic second group of about 900. being reared by IdalK) 

 Depanmcnt of Pish and Game at Eagle. Idaho, has a survival rale above 90 percent. 



Summer Chinook The Mid-Columbia's summer Chinook run may be Uie next salmon s{>xics lo be listed 

 Run May Be under tlie Endangered Species Act. Last month 1 1 ciiviioMmenial grou|)$ |x:iJiloi>ed Uic 



Listed Under ESA National Marine Fisheries .Service for protection of the runs. BPA supports and will 



actively participate In cfTorts to protect and renew the stocks. Meanwliilc, tlie U.S. Hlsh and 

 Wildlife .Service will decide soon whether to propose an ESA listing for the non-migrating 

 Columbia River sturgeon. On June 1 1 . UPA and the Corps of Engineers submlaed a signed 

 conservation agreement lo ttic U.S. Rsh and Wildlife Service to protect, rescarcli and 

 evaluate Kootenai iUvcr white sturgeon. 



