196 



However, more than 99 percent of that reservoir space is con- 

 tracted and under Idaho water rights, and, therefore, large quan- 

 tities of unappropriated water are not available. 



Irrigated farm land in the upper Snake River is valued at about 

 $1,200 to $2,000 per acre. Farm land without a source of water is 

 valued at $50 to $100 an acre. 



Whether an assured and adequate water supply exists for the 

 next irrigation season is the question most often asked of me by 

 lending institutions in our region. Without reliable water and fi- 

 nancing resources, agriculture will be devastated. 



Let me describe to you one scenario. If 427,000 acre-feet of stor- 

 age was required to reliably, and that is 95 percent of the time, 

 meet the flow augmentation requirements annually, as proposed by 

 the biological opinion, the Bureau would need to secure 1.7 million 

 acre-feet of upper Snake River storage at an estimated cost of $294 

 million, and about 400,000 acres of irrigated land would concur- 

 rently be removed from production. 



Indirect economic impacts are estimated at $44 million annually 

 for this specific case. Lost recreation values have yet to be cal- 

 culated. Other scenarios requiring more water have higher costs. 

 Less reliability of water supplies results in significantly less costs. 



We have supplied flow augmentation to the upper Snake River 

 of about 1.5 million acre-feet since 1991, and in my opinion, we will 

 work with the Bureau to meet the 1995 flow augmentation require- 

 ment of 427,000 acre-feet. 



However, there is no surplus in the upper Snake River. This flow 

 augmentation simply drains our reservoirs so that the likelihood of 

 providing any carryover storage for drought protection in subse- 

 quent years is significantly reduced. 



The salmon decline is not from lack of Idaho water, and using 

 Idaho's precious resource will not facilitate the return. 



The affects of eight Federal dams on the lower Snake River and 

 Columbia River, over harvesting, ocean and stream conditions, pre- 

 dation, poor quality hatchery smolt production, unscreened ver- 

 sions must be recognized as primary cause. 



It boggles one's mind that we cannot eliminate predators, stop 

 harvesting, eliminate gill nets, procure additional fish-friendly 

 barges, and screen diversions, all of which would help readily. 



Idaho normally discharges about 38 million acre-feet of water an- 

 nually to the lower Granite Dam, with about 28 million acre-feet 

 arriving during April to August salmon migration period. 



This produces typical average flows ranging between 40,000 and 

 90,000 cubic feet per second. Assuming an average flow of 50,000, 

 velocity improvements from this 427,000 acre-feet of flow aug- 

 mentation is on the order of one-half percent. 



At an average flow of 80,000 cfs, water particle travel time in the 

 four lower Snake River reservoirs would be decreased from 256 

 hours to 247 hours, a decrease of 9 hours. Neither are very signifi- 

 cant, and I submit a very poor and expensive choice of alternates 

 to save the salmon. 



Fish live very well in river flows of 40,000 to 80,000 cfs. We have 

 spent an estimated $2 billion on the salmon issue, and one salmon 

 returned to Red Fish Lake in 1994, two returnees are estimated in 

 1995. 



