2006 Statement of Work
Performance and Budget Period:  November 4, 2005 - December 31, 2006

Project title:  Extend the range of anadromous salmonids in the Okanogan River

Project number:  2006-001-00

Technical Contact:  Christopher Fisher, Anadromous Fisheries Biologist II
Colville Confederated Tribes, Fish and Wildlife Department
P.O. Box 150, Nespelem, WA 99155
(509) 422-7427
chris.fisher@colvilletribes.com

Contracting Contact:  Cindy McCartney, Administrative Assistant
Colville Confederated Tribes, Fish and Wildlife Department
P.O. Box 150, Nespelem, WA 99155
(509) 634-2126
cindy.mccartney@colvilletribes.com

Project goal:  Provide fish passage at McIntyre Dam and allow access to 11 km of mainstem Okanogan River and connected tributaries.  

Background:  The Columbia River sockeye population, of which the Okanogan stock is a part, may have numbered in excess of 4 million fish around the end of the 20th century (Fryer, 1995).  It has been decimated by a combination of man-made and natural events such that the commercial catch, probably once well over one million fish, has been reduced to a few thousands in recent decades. Only the Okanogan stock and the Wenatchee stock in Washington State remain from the many sockeye populations which existed in the Columbia River Basin in early times.

Beginning in 2000, the Colville Tribes in a joint effort with the Okanogan Nation Alliance (ONA), submitted a project proposal, The Evaluation of an Experimental Re-introduction of Sockeye Salmon into Skaha Lake, to Bonneville Power Administration.  This project (BPA 20001300) successfully acquired funds and evaluated the risks associated with extending the range of anadromous salmonids, specifically sockeye, into their historical habitat in Skaha Lake. The assessment concluded that risks associated with extending the range of sockeye salmon were nominal, and that sockeye reintroduction into Skaha Lake should be pursued in an adaptive management experiment.  In the spring of 2004, fry were released into Skaha Lake beginning the process of reintroducing sockeye into their historic range.  Consequently, fisheries managers have agreed that passage by anadromous fish at McIntyre Dam (downstream of Skaha Lake) should be pursued, allowing adult of sockeye salmon, Chinook salmon and steelhead to migrate in the Okanogan River, to the outlet dam at Skaha Lake.  

McIntyre Dam, originally built in 1921 and reconstructed in 1954, is a water control structure, which is approximately 3 meters high and 25 meters across.  McIntyre Dam provides sufficient water head for the South Okanogan Land Irrigation District (SOLID) irrigation intake canal, and gives the ability to manipulate river flow and water levels in Vaseux Lake.  Upon cursory examination, it appears that this dam could easily be bypassed or laddered to provide fish passage while maintaining water management control of the system. Dam removal is also an option but may be more difficult due to concerns of meeting irrigation needs and lake levels in Vaseux Lake (located upstream of McIntyre Dam).  Any one of these options would allow anadromous salmonids to access an additional 11 kilometers of their historical range.  

An interagency project committee, consisting of representatives from Colville Confederated Tribes, Okanogan Nation Alliance, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection and the Town of Oliver, have agreed to work collaboratively to provide fish passage at McIntyre Dam and screening of the SOLID water intake, which will meet the needs of the fisheries, water resources and resource users.  This project will investigate  several fish passage options, including laddering, bypassing, or removal of the dam.  A preferred option for fish passage will be identified.  Techniques and costs associated with this option will be developed.  Surveying, design development and construction of the preferred option will be submitted to the most applicable entity for future consideration.  

The anticipated outcome by providing passage at McIntyre Dam would enable sockeye to access 11 km of potential spawning and rearing habitat in Vaseaux Lake and Okanogan River.  Long (2001) estimates that there is 8,374 m² of usable spawning substrate in this reach.  In addition, summer Chinook salmon would utilize this 11 km of mainstem river. Shuttleworth Creek (Watershed Code 310-5691200), is a third order stream upstream of McIntyre Dam and is 26.73 kilometers in length with no known physical barriers.  Currently rainbow trout are present in this tributary.  By providing passage at McIntyre Dam, Shuttleworth Creek would be available to summer steelhead.