NOAA and DOI Submit Prescriptions for Klamath River

By: NOAA Published: Mar 30, 2006

The US Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Commerce's NOAA Fisheries Service announced today the submission of their joint preliminary fishway prescriptions for the relicensing of PacifiCorp's dams and hydroelectric facilities on the Klamath River to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These preliminary prescriptions, developed after several years of careful analysis and interagency cooperation, include fish passage, both upstream and downstream, for PacifiCorp's Iron Gate, Copco I and II and J.C. Boyle dams.

PacifiCorp's FERC license expired on March 1, 2006, and until a new 30-50 year license is issued it will be operating on annual extensions of the existing license. The existing license contains no provision for fish passage. Under the Federal Power Act, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce have the discretionary authority to require conditions to be included in new hydropower licenses. The Department of Interior has delegated the lead for PacifiCorp's FERC relicensing to Steve Thompson, Manager for the US Fish and Wildlife Service's California and Nevada Operations Office (CNO). Thompson is also the DOI lead for ongoing, broad-based settlement talks with PacifiCorp and many Klamath basin stakeholders.

In the project area the fishway prescriptions would restore access to 58 miles of habitat for chinook, steelhead, and lamprey, and improve connectivity for resident redband trout. This includes 46 miles of habitat for the threatened coho salmon. Fish passage would also create the opportunity for the development and implementation of a reintroduction plan to return salmon, steelhead and lamprey to more than 300 miles of historic habitat above the project. The exclusion of these fish from the upper basin began with the completion of the first dam in 1918.

"These prescriptions provide some new measure of conservation benefit for people and resources of the Klamath River", said Steve Thompson, Manager, US Fish and Wildlife Service. "I am convinced however, that a locally driven, basin wide approach holds significant hope for a comprehensive solution to the river's problems. I remain encouraged that the people of the Klamath basin, farmers, tribes and fishermen alike, have joined together to see if they can make that happen".

In addition to the fishway prescriptions, DOI is also submitting conditions necessary for the protection of the agricultural water intakes at Keno dam which is located on Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) land and services the federal Klamath Irrigation Project. Another prescription would provide for a reduction of the amount of water diverted out of four miles of mainstream river below J.C. Boyle dam. Boyle's powerhouse and canal lie on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

All of these conditions are preliminary, and subject to review after the benefit of hearings and consideration of alternatives provided by stakeholders. Once the preliminary conditions are filed, any party can file a request for a hearing before an administrative law judge within 30 days according to the new regulations under the recently amended Federal Power Act. If a hearing is requested it is likely to take place in late summer or early fall of 2006.

"Restoring access to good quality spawning and rearing habitat above Iron Gate Dam is a major step in rebuilding healthy salmon runs and fisheries that depend on them," said Jim Lecky, Director, Office of Protected Resources, NOAA Fisheries Service. "It creates the opportunity to reconnect the Klamath basin, from headwaters to the ocean."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners and 60 countries to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.