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BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



STATUS REPORT 



SALMON PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION 



JULY - AUGUST. 1993 



The Northwest Power Planning Council (Council) has amended the Columbia River 

 Basin Fish and Wildlife Program to provide a comprehensive management 

 framework to aid the recovery of weak stocks of salmon. The plan is 

 documented in Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Prog ram - Strategy for 

 Salmon . 2 Volumes, October 1992. Reclamation has a role in the implementation 

 of several of the measures. This report provides a bimonthly update on the 

 status of measures involving Reclamation. Questions can be directed to Fred 

 erase (208) 378-5086. 



SPECIAL NOTES: 



1. On August 16, 1993, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc., issued a 60- 

 day Notice of Intent to Sue on behalf of several environmental 

 organizations for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act related 

 to operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) in 1993. 



Section 3— Juvenile Salmon Migration 



3.2 Establishes a Fish Operations Executive Committee 



(Page 25) (FOEC) to annually develop an operating plan for the 



upcoming year (Plan due 3/31 each year) (Council 

 lead). ^ 



Background: Reclamation has participated in meetings of FOEC since 

 February 1992 to review proposed fish passage operations and to resolve 

 outstanding issues. Most of the outstanding issues during 1992 were 

 associated with development of the annual Coordinated Plan of Operations. 

 Agreement was reached on separate Spring and Summer/Fall Coordinated Plans and 

 1992 operations were carried out accordingly. A draft Coordinated Plan was 

 completed for 1993, but agreement could not be reached on a final plan. The 

 issue became moot when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued its 

 biological opinion on 1993 operations of the FCRPS. The biological opinion 

 established flow targets for the lower Snake and lower Columbia Rivers of (I) 

 85 KCFS (thousand cubic feet per second) from April 10 - June 20 and 50 KCFS 

 from June 21 - July 31 at Lower Granite Dam, and (2) 200 KCFS from April 20 - 

 June 30 and 160 KCFS from July 1-31 at McNary Dam. The opinion also 

 established an inseason management process wherein the Corps of Engineers 

 (Corps), Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), NMFS, and Reclamation will 

 review flow forecasts, available water supplies, and status of salmon 

 migration on a weekly basis to determine if additional measures are needed to 

 improve fish survival. 



Recent Activity: The action agencies operated the FCRPS in accordance with 

 NMFS's biological opinion and met the established flow targets. On August 3, 

 1993, NMFS requested additional flow augmentation during early August, because 

 the outmigration of fall chinook smolts from the Clearwater River was running 

 later than originally anticipated. FOEC members held several meetings and 

 conference calls to identify additional sources of water and to resolve 

 issues. Additional flow augmentation was provided in the lower Snake River 



