490 



Under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been 

 working with the States and Tribes to develop a Columbia River system flow and reservoir 

 operations alternative that we believe would lead to the rebuilding of salmon runs. The 

 Service's 1993 alternative was submitted to the Corps of Engineers in our March 1993 

 Coordination Act Report, but it was not implemented. 



We have continued working with the Tribes and State agencies to modify the operations 

 alternative to incorporate what in our opinion are the needs of listed species and species of 

 concern in the Columbia River Basin. Bonneville, the Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau 

 of Reclamation have agreed to proceed with full scale analysis of our alternative through 

 their System Operations Review. We urge these three Federal agencies to give serious 

 consideration to this alternative and are confident that our work will be beneficial to future 

 deliberations by the Council and the action agencies. 



There are many obstacles to recovery and rebuilding of salmon runs in the Columbia River 

 Basin that the Council has addressed by developing intermediate-term actions in their 

 Strategy for Salmon. One of the most difficult obstacles is how to overcome the impacts on 

 fish migration of the four lower Snake River dams and impoundments. The dams and 

 reservoirs have greatly reduced water velocities through the lower Snake River, which has 

 increased the time of exposure of migrating smolts to predation, high water temperatures, 

 and diseases. 



Flow augmentation is one means of increasing water velocities and improving migration 

 conditions for juvenile salmon. The Strategy for Salmon called for 427,000 acre-feet of 

 water from the upper Snake River Basin obtained through water market efficiencies and other 

 means. This water was not provided in 1992 because of drought conditions, but was 

 provided in 1993 through the efforts of the Bureau of Reclamation. 



The Strategy for Salmon also calls for securing at least 1 million acre-feet of additional water 

 from the Snake River Basin to aid spring and summer salmon migrants. We support the 



