Saving Salmon May Hurt Other Fish Council Told Recovery Plans Could Take Money From Other Species

Officially, the Northwest Power Planning Council has completed a strategy to help restore dwindling salmon populations.

Even if that were true - political haggling makes the fate of that strategy questionable - the council would not be able to ignore salmon recovery efforts and focus entirely on ways to restore other native fish.

A public hearing Tuesday was proof of that.

The power council is updating its plan to help wildlife and “resident” fish, meaning those that don’t migrate to the ocean. Time and again Tuesday, council members were reminded that efforts to help salmon could hurt other fish. Some people complained that too much money will be spent on salmon recovery to the detriment of other species.

Take Lake Roosevelt, for example. The Columbia River reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam has blocked salmon migration for 50 years. Members of the Colville and Spokane Indian tribes, in particular, worry that flushing water quickly through the reservoir to help salmon downstream could hurt the lake’s booming kokanee population.

Keith Underwood, biologist for the Spokane Tribe, reminded council members that the kokanee is a landlocked salmon, cousin to the migratory fish. Lake Roosevelt kokanee are attracting anglers who can’t fish for other salmon because chinook and sockeye are disappearing.

“This fishery is really starting to bloom,” Underwood said of Lake Roosevelt.

This summer, the power council will decide how to spend money from the Bonneville Power Administration to restore or replace resident fish and wildlife populations that were hurt when the region’s federal hydropower dams were built. There were constant reminders Tuesday that the pot of money is limited, but there are some 90 proposals to consider. Among those on the table:

Build more net pens to raise kokanee in Lake Roosevelt.

Set limits on how far reservoirs can be lowered. Restore endangered Kootenai River sturgeon.

Improve trout habitat in streams that feed Lake Coeur d’Alene. Help heron, owls, turtles, grouse.

Council member Ken Casavant noted that the wildlife proposals are much less controversial than the fish programs.

And council Chairman Angus Duncan expressed hope that the salmon vs. resident fish conflicts would give way to cooperation, especially among “downriver” Indian tribes fighting hard for salmon and “upriver” tribes now dependent on other species.