466 



Lots of Water, Poor Results 



Saving wild salmon 

 will take actions 

 based on more 

 research, not just 

 more water. 



In the face of this uncertainty, the region has proceeded with a 

 trial and error approach - of which the calls for drawdown are 

 the latest example. 



In the early 1980s, the call was for increased flows. Fish 

 agencies warned of declining salmon runs and called for 

 increased river flows to prevent certain runs from becoming 

 endangered. 



The assumption, based on data collected in the 1970s, was that 

 increased river flows would wash sahnon to the ocean more 

 quickJy on their downriver migration. A second assumption held 

 that this decreased travel time might lead to increased salmon 

 survival. 



At the urging of fish agencies, the Northwest Power Planning 

 Council called for increased flows on an experimental basis. 

 Utilities responded by releasing three and a half million acre- 

 feet of water in 1983. 



Over the years, the experiment has become an institution; this 

 year, over 10 million acre-feet of water was released for fish 

 flows. And although the releases keep getting bigger, the 

 assumptions behind them have never been proven. 



The results, however, have been disappointing. After ten years 

 of ever- increasing fish flows, the sahnon are worse off than 

 before. In the eariy 1990s, the spring/summer and fall chinook 

 runs on the Snake and the Snake River sockeye were listed as 

 threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. 



The releases have also been costly. Because of the timing, water 

 released for fish cannot be used for power generation, so 

 utilities (and in turn, their customers) must pay for costly 

 replacement power. Over the years, electric customers have 

 paid over a billion dollars for these unproven recovery 

 measures. 



A Call for Better Science 



In order to save wild salmon runs, PNUCC believes that what 

 we need is not necessarily more water, but more information - 

 particulady about two of the most costly recovery measures: 

 fish flows and spill. (Spill involves releasing water over 

 spillways, rather than through mrbines.) 



