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drawing down the John Day and lower Snake River reservoirs during salmon 

 migration seasons to aid juvenile salmon survival. 



The Corps, with ongoing support from Congressional appropriations, continues to 

 install bypass systems and turbine intake screens at the mainstem dams. These 

 improvements are scheduled for completion in 1998. With the exception of 

 installing longer screens at the John Day Dam, which is delayed, the Corps' 

 construction schedule meets the Council's current time line. 



The Corps has also continued to make improvements in fish transportation, holding 

 and loading facilities, including barging fish at lower densities, as called for in the 

 Council's program. Transportation remains one of the few immediately available 

 tools to improve salmon survival in low water conditions, such as those we've 

 experienced since 1987. Its effectiveness, however, is the subject of considerable 

 debate, and the Council relies on the fishery managing agencies and tribes to 

 determine when, and under what conditions, transportation occurs in the place of in- 

 river juvenile migration. 



The Bureau of Reclamation has initiated water conservation and water "rental" 

 actions to improve flows for fish, especially in the Snake River Basin. Progress has 

 been slow in this complicated and contentious issue. Reclamation reservoir storage, 

 under the Reclamation Act of 1902, is subject to state water laws governing uses 

 other than for irrigation. The Council's measures call for acquisition of uncontracted 

 storage and other water rentals from the Snake River Basin as part of the near-term 

 improvements in migration conditions for the listed chinook stocks. State water 

 regulations in Idaho limited Reclamation's ability to supply water for salmon 

 migrations on the Council's schedules. We face the same in 1993. The Bureau has 

 initiated studies of additional storage that could be used to increase flows to aid 

 fish. 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is cooperating with other fishery managing 

 agencies and tribes to adjust hatchery production practices to protect wild and 

 naturally spawning populations. Pacific Northwest electricity ratepayers reimburse 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service for its hatchery management under the provisions of 

 the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan. 



The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management share responsibility for 

 much of the remaining salmon habitat in the Columbia River Basin. These agencies 

 agreed with the Council to make specific improvements in their land management 



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