A Saturday Spent Inside . . . For a Cause.

Saturday morning early T-O-Double Dee and I carpooled up to Portland in his Prius to attend the Oregon Council of Trout Unlimited Board Meeting.   It was my first extended ride in a Prius and I was pretty impressed.  I think I still prefer Shelly’s biodiesel running TDi Jetta but it’s a close call.  Imagine how awesome a hybrid biodiesel would be.  Anyway . . .

We got up there, shook hands with the officers of other chapters in attendance and National Staff and after a few minutes got down to business.  We gave our chapter reports pretty early in the day and as I explained what we had done this year it sure sounded impressive.  The other chapters are doing alot of great work too . . . kid’s fishing camps and a particuarly great sounding project on the Necanicum.  Apparently, the Necanicum has a really impressive run of coho, steelhead and chum.  I made a mental note to head up there and poke a couple of those fish in the face but it probably won’t happen anytime soon.  There is just too much water in this state to fish.

Kate Miller, legal analyst and local salmon hero, to me anyway, gave a report on the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Carmen-Smith relicensing.  Carmen-Smith is a hydropower project on the upper Mckenzie that blocks upstream passage for ESA listed Chinook and Bull trout.  There is currently no fish passage upstream of the lowest dam in the system, Trailbridge. The entire system is up for FERC relicensing and Kate is leading the non-applicant caucus on our behalf.  Carmen-Smith fragments habitat and isolates the upstream and downstream populations of bull trout from each other, harming their genetic integrity and resiliency and obviously prevents adult chinook from accessing traditional spawning areas.

The project consists of three dams.  The farthest upstream dam called Carmen Diversion dam blocks the entire flow of the Mckenzie.  A tunnel diverts the water to the Smith River drainage where there is another dam, Smith dam.  The area downstream of Carmen is totally dewatered for about a half-mile.  The Mckenzie reemerges again in a massive spring called Blue Pool and resumes its run toward Traibridge dam/reservoir.  Meanwhile, the rest of the river’s water is being stored in Smith Reservoir behind Smith dam.  Some of the water is released through Smith river where it rejoins the Mckenzie at Trailbridge Reservoir.  The bulk of the water is sent back under the hill through a tunnel towards the Mckenzie drainage where it falls through a penstock and after racing through a powerhouse rejoins the Mckenzie River behind what is called Trailbridge re-regulating dam.  Trail Bridge supposedly balances in-flow with outfall and EWEB considers it a run of the river project.  By any name it doesn’t help fish populations.  Here’s a map of the project:

(Is that a river or a plumbing schematic?)

I’ve been the liason for our chapter and so I know the details that you can’t . . . yet.   Kate was being pretty coy with everyone’s questions because a final agreement hasn’t been signed and the negotiations are confidential but from what I can tell you, the situation is going to be much improved.  I’ll blog about it when the details are made public.

Probably the first real shock was when I saw the proposed budget.  No wonder this state’s coldwater fish are losing ground.  We have something between a pittance and no money all at the state TU level.  It’s even worse locally.  Still, for what we have we do a pretty darn good job of getting boots on the ground.  Shovels aren’t that expensive and it’s cheap to send letters to congresspeople and the agencies.

Chris Wood, who I understand to be the Chief Operating Officer for Trout Unlimited at the national level gave us a meta-view of the organizations goals and strategies.  It sounded good but daunting, restoring coldwater fisheries in the United States within 30 years.  We have some work to do.  Anyway, Chris seemed to be a nice guy and was reponsive to any questions and concerns that we had. 

After lunch, Mike Beagle, the Oregon Field Director talked about our efforts on the Elk River.  The Elk River is generally a fantastic fishery, (not this year but normally) with some pretty amazing attibutes including a remarkable ability to clear and drop after a storm.  The upper headwaters were never logged; they are just too steep and it is that area that our coalition has been urging Congress to protect.  The bill, Copper-Salmon Wilderness has bi-partisan support and is in the Senate mark-up.  Barring catastrophe, Copper-Salmon is going to be the first new wilderness area in Oregon since 1981.  We all owe Mike Beagle big-time.

 

(View of Copper Mountain, the heart of Copper-Salmon Wilderness.  Note the lack of clear-cuts.)  Photo Credit: Mike Beagle

(Old Growth Port Orford Cedar trees in Copper-Salmon.  Port Orford Cedar is itself a threatened species and grows only in a tiny portion of southwestern Oregon and exteme northwestern California.)  Photo Credit: Mike Beagle

Next, Chuck Bonhan, head of California Trout Unlimited spoke about the situation in the Klamath Basin.  Quick background, what was once the third largest producer of salmon on the west coast is now a shadow of its former self.  Four dams block access to 300 miles of habitat and the meager size of the run a couple years ago shut down commercial fishing on the Oregon and California coast–this after a few years previous when angel of death darth Cheney helped reduce flows in the lower river in favor of farmers and a massive salmon die-off ensued.  (The largest in the nation’s history, by the way, approximately 70,000 adult chinook and coho.)

Photo Credit: Crescent City Daily Triplicate

(’Heckuva job’ compliments are overdue to Gail Norton and Dick Cheney . . .  love your work!)

Anyway, those four dams are owned by Pacificorp owned in turn by ‘philanthropist’ Warren Buffet and are up for relicensing.  Trout Unlimited hopes to end the water wars, restore the fish, restore tribal and non-tribal fisheries and keep the farmers whole.  No small task.  A tentative agreement has been reached between the interested parties excluding Pacificorp. 

The dams will come down if Pacificorps agrees.  They should because it will save them millions of dollars per year over the length of a hypothetical 30 year license.  It will cost them a couple of hundred million dollars more to upgrade the dams to get a new license than to remove them.   Hopefully, they make an intelligent business decision.

There are some trade-offs.  The agreement does not address water quality in the upper basin.  Personally, I don’t see how it could get any worse than it already is and from what I can tell, the agreement between the non-applicants is about as good as we can hope for.  The improved flows should aerate the river and bring the temperature down as well as flush agricultural runoff faster than what is currently happening.  Chuck explained that he had poured his heart into the agreement and it is his hope that it will work.  He believes it is a close call but worth the risk.  Others, Oregon Wild and Waterwatch don’t feel the same way.  BTW, the papers got it wrong, there is no ESA (Endangered Species Act) waiver for upper river water users.  The upper river water users will perform habitat enhancement actions consistent with the ESA.  Should they not perform those actions they will be subject to enforcement.

After Chuck spoke, our lobbyist, Dave Moskiwitz explained his efforts on our behalf in Oregon.  He is also the lobbyist for Oregon Wild and Waterwatch and he explained to us their opposition to the Klamath agreement.  By that point (and this point in the post too) things were starting to drag.  Around that time, Chuck walked back in.  I thought some sparks might fly, but I guess after years or working in the Klamath basin the tension in the room was child’s play.  

Is it a perfect agreement?  No.  Me, I’m with Chuck . . . but I encourage everyone to educate themselves on the issue and make up their own minds.

Well, that was that.  We keep working for Oregon’s coldwater fish.  Next on Chuck’s agenda: mideast peace.