FCRPS WATER MANAGEMENT STUDIES

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this contract is to apply the expertise and account for the interests of the Colville Confederated Tribes in:
1.  A study of dry water year storage and flow management options for anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin pursuant to a) Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) # 14 of the FCRPS Biological Opinion and b) Project #13, FCRPS Water Management Studies, of the June 2008 Memorandum of Agreement between the Action Agencies and the Colville Tribes.
2.  Development of US/Canada Non-Treaty water use options and a new long-term agreement pursuant to a) RPAs # 12 and #13 of the FCRPS Biological Opinion and b) Project #13, FCRPS Water Management Studies, of the June 2008 Memorandum of Agreement between the Action Agencies and the Colville Tribes.
3.  Annual reviews and study of seasonal volume forecasts pursuant to a) RPA # 7 of the FCRPS Biological Opinion and b) Project #13, FCRPS Water Management Studies, of the June 2008 Memorandum of Agreement between the Action Agencies and the Colville Tribes.
4.  Annual prioritization of storage and flow management for fish pursuant to a) RPA # 6 of the FCRPS Biological Opinion and b) Project #13, FCRPS Water Management Studies, of the June 2008 Memorandum of Agreement between the Action Agencies and the Colville Tribes.

INTRODUCTION

During the Collaborative Process formed to assist the Action Agencies and NOAA Fisheries prepare an FCRPS Biological Assessment and an FCRPS Biological Opinion (BiOp), there was insufficient time and resources to conclude investigations of FCRPS storage and flow alternatives to increase salmon and steelhead survival.  In particular, the Colville Tribes sought to further investigate storage and flow operations in the lowest volume runoff years.  It appeared to the Colville Tribes that FCRPS operations could be reprioritized in these dry water years to improve survival of ESA-listed fish populations. The Action Agencies agreed to continue investigations during BiOp implementation.

Similarly, the FCRPS BiOp contained several other RPAs addressing investigations of FCRPS operations that directly affected endangered Upper Columbia River (UCR) Spring Chinook and UCR Steelhead, and Tribal resources in Lake Roosevelt.  To ensure Colville Tribes participation and technical and policy analyses of these FCRPS investigations and operations, the Action Agencies included Project #13, FCRPS Water Management Studies, in a June 2008 Memorandum of Agreement with the Colville Tribes.  This contract is intended to implement Project #13 for the remainder of FY’08 and for FY’09.  In total, this contract will last for ten years, the term of the Memorandum of Agreement.


ADULT SALMON & STEELHEAD PASSAGE INVESTIGATIONS


PURPOSE:  The purpose of this contract is to investigate salmon and steelhead passage through the hydroelectric system to validate adult survival assumptions used in estimating extinction risk and recovery potential, and to determine sources of adult fish mortality.

INTRODUCTION

During development of the FCRPS Biological Opinion, new data were presented that demonstrated that adult passage mortalities for spring Chinook and steelhead, particularly those destined to the upper Columbia River, were surviving at substantially lower rates through the lower Columbia River than previously documented.  Extinction risk and recovery potential for the endangered UCR salmon and steelhead are significantly affected by these higher mortalities.

Rather than the <2% adult mortality per COE dam that was expected, the latest PIT tag survival information demonstrated that per project mortality was 3%/dam for UCR spring Chinook and 7%/dam for UCR steelhead.  It is not clear if this higher mortality is related to hydropower operations, under estimated harvest mortality (direct or indirect), or some other cause.