Capital Press: PacifiCorp considers trap-and-haul system

Todd Olson, PacifiCorp licensing manager for the Klamath hydroelectric project, explains the workings of Iron Gate Dam during a 2003 field trip.

The operator of four hydroelectric dams blocking salmon passage on the Klamath River said last week it is open to restoring fish runs on an experimental basis.

PacifiCorp, the electric utility, told the federal government it wants to try a trap-and-haul operation on the upper Klamath River. One month ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service said fish passage or dam removal ought to be a condition of renewing a 50-year license originally proposed in 1916.

Upstream salmon migration has been blocked since 1918, when California Oregon Power Co. completed the first dam in what is now a network of eight hydroelectric facilities in Northern California’s Siskiyou County and Southern Oregon’s Klamath County.

Under the trap-and-haul concept, stations are built downstream of obstructions to gather all migrating fish. The fish are transported to upstream release points. For the downstream migration, weirs and trapping stations are built above obstructions.

Dave Hillemeier, a biologist for the Yurok Tribe with homeland near the river’s mouth, said technical study of the most recent relicensing filings has just begun. “We’ll get back to you,” Hillemeier said early this week as the documents poured in electronically from Washington, D.C.

Bill Fehrman, a PacifiCorp executive, said there’s concern about native fish population and about how the cost of fish passage impacts delivery of electric power at reasonable rates.

Downstream American Indian tribes, with treaty rights to struggling Klamath salmon runs, favor dam removal. So does the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, representing commercial fishermen all but closed out of ocean and stream fishing for Klamath salmon this year.

PacifiCorp said it will negotiate details of a trap-and-haul strategy in settlement talks with the federal agencies and other stakeholders. The most recent PacifiCorp Klamath hydroelectric license expired April 16, and by law operation continues on a one-year extension while parties work out conditions for a permanent license.

Iron Gate Dam, five miles upstream from I-5 and about five miles south of the Oregon border, is the most recent block to fish migration. A large fish hatchery, operated by California Department of Fish and Game, is at the foot of the dam.

For years, fishery biologists have said water held behind Iron Gate and upstream reservoirs tends to warm up, fostering algae growth. One consulting biologist, Patrick Higgins, calls the phenomenon a “bathtub effect.”

Less charitable reservoir critics call them producers of toxic waters impacting fish for more than 100 miles downstream.

“It’s no secret that the water flowing into our reservoirs is already poor quality,” said Dave Kvamme, a PacifiCorp spokesman. He said the trap-and-transport system is flexible, allowing biologists to deliver fish to a variety of stream locations in order to “see if it will work.”

The PacifiCorp response to proposed license conditions is said to amount to a stack of paper about 1 foot tall. Some of the documents in that stack were expected to be discussed behind closed doors late this week during another round of settlement talks.

“Klamath Basin natural resource issues are complex,” Fehrman said. “We believe that the settlement process offers the best chance for a comprehensive outcome for resolving resource and other issues on the Klamath River.”

Tam Moore is based in Medford, Ore. His e-mail address is tmoore@capitalpress.com.

PacifiCorp considers trap-and-haul system Tam Moore Capital Press Staff Writer

PacifiCorp considers trap-and-haul system

Tam Moore
Capital Press Staff Writer