149 



We have heard rumors of a possible privatization of BPA and 

 would oppose such a move. In our view, a private power company 

 could not be chartered with a trust mandate to Indian people that 

 would have no incentive to participate in mitigation. 



Beginning in 1939, the Grand Coulee Dam blocked salmon runs 

 to the Spokane territory. The tribe received no mitigation for this 

 loss until a hatchery was constructed on the reservation by BPA 

 as partial mitigation for salmon losses. 



The tribe is now stocking over 2 million salmon and 500,000 

 rainbow trout from the hatchery into Lake Roosevelt, and is also 

 managing a wild population of walleye pike in the lake. 



We are not at all sure whether our resident fish will survive the 

 efforts to save the salmon, although we do not oppose such efforts. 



Recent events threaten the habitat of our resident fish. Efforts 

 to save the anadromous fish may lead to the destruction of the fish 

 in Lake Roosevelt, because the Government is using a variety of 

 untried and unproven methods to ensure that the smolts can re- 

 turn downriver. 



The newest method is flushing at the dam sites with a release 

 of large amounts of water. We are concerned that this method for 

 insuring the migration of smolts will, in turn, endanger resident 

 fish by reduction of the lake levels and by depletion of nutrients 

 necessary for the survival of the fish. 



Mr. Chairman, there are reports that the Northwest Power Plan- 

 ning Council's Fish and Wildlife Program is proposing to release 

 8.25 million acre feet of water from the upper Columbia River 

 basin as part of its efforts to protect the anadromous fish popu- 

 lations. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service, in its recently issued bio- 

 logical opinion concerning hydrosystem operations by BPA, Corps 

 of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation proposed that these agen- 

 cies release 10.2 million acre feet of water from the upper Colum- 

 bia basin. 



Our biologists inform us that water releases of this magnitude 

 will cause resident fish in Lake Roosevelt to be flushed through 

 Grand Coulee Dam and will reduce nutrient levels in the lake. 



Nutrient levels are of critical concern, because the productivity 

 of the reservoir is dependent upon nutrients. Lower nutrients mean 

 lower plankton productivity, resulting in poor fish growth. 



Either level of proposed water releases would be too high, in our 

 view. We simply do not have sufficient information on the impact 

 of such releases. Thus, while the Government, through NMFS, the 

 Corps of Engineers, BPA, and BOR, is using untested methods to 

 try to save anadromous fish, it may well be doing so at the expense 

 of the resident fish. 



The Spokane Tribe is dependent both on recreational and eco- 

 nomic reasons to preserve the resident fish. 



Even if the results for the lake fish are not as dire as we fear, 

 any damage, if reversible, will certainly take years to correct. 



The UCUT Tribes respectfully request funds to study the effects 

 of recent mitigation efforts on the fish in Lake Roosevelt, as well 

 as resident fish in the Box Canyon of the Pend Oreilles River, Lake 

 Couer d'Alene, and the Idaho portion of the Kootenai River. 



