Dworshak Salmon Plan Lambasted State Officials And Orofino Chamber Oppose Lowering Reservoir Behind Dam

Idaho officials are hunting for a way to keep the federal government from lowering the reservoir behind Dworshak Dam this summer to flush young salmon to the ocean.

The Northwest Power Planning Council’s Idaho members, Mike Field and Todd Maddock, promised Friday to help as much as they can but suggested it would be months in coming.

David Hennessey, chief of staff for Attorney General Alan Lance, offered slightly more hope, suggesting dissolved gas levels could present a clean shot at the federal plan.

Hennessey said Lance has determined that limiting the dissolved gas levels in the Clearwater’s North Fork to the Idaho standard promises the best way to rein in Dworshak water releases.

A decision, Hennessey said, has not been made about whether the state will file suit.

The plan that has Dworshak fans fuming again this spring was announced earlier this month by the National Marine Fisheries Service to attempt to save endangered Snake River salmon runs.

Dworshak reservoir’s level would be dropped 80 feet below full by midsummer to flush young salmon to the ocean.

In Orofino, the reservoir is popular for recreation and draws tourists’ business. Alex Irby of the Orofino Chamber of Commerce appealed to power council members and Hennessey for help.

Irby contends the change in Dworshak operations violates the original deal the federal government offered when it built the dam.

Dropping protection for the Snake River’s fall chinook run, Irby suggested, would allow the federal plan to best serve Idaho interests by focusing efforts on the more numerous spring-summer chinook.

He also called for turning more attention to raising hatchery fish rather than restoring wild runs.

Field agreed.

It is time to shift resources from summer water flushes to help fall chinook, he said, to the spring to aid other runs that migrate then, including sockeye salmon, he said.

Gregg Teasdale, Idaho Division of Environmental Quality regional administrator at Lewiston, said the state could grant a shortterm variance or a waiver to allow the dam to generate higher dissolved gas levels by spilling more water.

Idaho officials want to let the public comment on such a variance, although no federal request has been made for one.

Excessive levels of gases such as nitrogen can kill fish in the same way divers experience the bends. Biologists who favor spilling water counter that the young salmon can swim deeper to avoid such problems.