Steelhead Trout Listed As Endangered Species Washington, Idaho Governors Bemoan Protection As Threat To Industry, Anglers

The federal government on Monday moved to protect steelhead trout in the upper Columbia and Snake River basins of Eastern Washington and Idaho on Monday, triggering fear for the well-being of farmers, loggers, developers and sportsmen.

The listings by the National Marine Fisheries Service, under the Endangered Species Act, could mean criminal charges for anyone found to have harmed fish runs or steelhead habitat in protected areas.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke said the endangered listing for steelhead on the upper Columbia River from the Yakima River upstream to Chief Joseph Dam could hurt various industries, including Eastern Washington hydroelectric producers.

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt said the federal action was unnecessary, because Idaho already is taking steps to protect the fish.

Locke said the endangered listing could lead to limits on the amount of water drawn from the rivers for power generation and irrigation, and on timber harvests and commercial development.

“If we don’t act ourselves, the federal courts are likely to take control over every decision that could affect the rivers and streams where wild salmon live,” Locke said. “We would lose control over our own destiny and our utilities. Businesses and private landowners would lose certainty in the future.”

In Idaho, the federal decision prompted sportsmen to demand that Idaho’s congressional delegation press for modification of downstream dams. Steelhead in the Snake River Basin were listed as threatened, triggering a lesser degree of federal protection.

“Idaho steelhead are in deep trouble for the same reason that salmon are - the downstream federal dams are killing them,” Idaho Rivers United President Tom Stuart said. “Our senators and congressmen must convince the Clinton administration to stop putting these fish in barges and start modifying the downstream dams now for safer fish passage.”

Other listings announced by officials in Sacramento, Calif., include two runs in northeastern Oregon’s Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers and runs on the central California and the south-central California coasts. Fish in those areas were listed as threatened. The other endangered run was in Southern California from the Santa Maria River to just south of Malibu Creek. Action on several other runs was deferred.

Batt, who along with most Idaho officials had opposed the listing for the Snake River, said his greatest concern was the impact it would have on the state’s $90 million sport fishery.

Early this year, he urged the federal government to allow the extremely high flows from a huge winter snowpack to flush the vast majority of fish to the ocean. But the government continued to barge most of the steelhead smolts around the dams.

“Simply listing steelhead as threatened will do nothing to save them,” Batt said. “As far as Idaho is concerned, the measures to protect these fish are already in place. We need to take action now, rather than create more federal bureaucracy to work through.”

The federal fisheries service sent letters to Batt and the governors of Washington, Oregon and California, urging a state-federal partnership in creating conservation plans for the fish.

The plans will need to include hatchery reforms to protect naturally spawning steelhead, the letters stated.

Idaho Fish and Game Department experts said they expected the listing would have only a relatively minor impact on anglers that would fall short of actually canceling the fall season, which begins Sept. 1 on the Snake and Salmon rivers. The catch-and-keep season on the Clearwater River begins Oct. 15.

“It’s already illegal and has been for 15 years to take wild steelhead in Idaho,” said Steve Huffaker, state fisheries manager.

“The biggest threat to steelhead is the same as salmon,” he added. “It’s what NMFS hasn’t addressed; mortality in the hydroelectric system.”

Huffaker and sportsmen’s groups warned that the listing could mean cutbacks and restrictions on hatchery steelhead that are the key to the Idaho fishery.

“The administration has a track record of going after the little guy - Idaho fishermen - rather than taking on the Army Corps of Engineers over the dams which kill most of our steelhead,” declared Mitch Sanchotena of Idaho Steelhead and Salmon unlimited.

“That’s our biggest fear,” he said. “We are asking our senators and congressmen not to let that happen.”

Steelhead are the latest on a growing list of anadromous fish to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Sockeye and chinook salmon in the Snake River have been declared endangered. Searun cutthroat trout in Oregon’s Umpqua River, coho salmon in central California and winter chinook in California’s Sacramento River are also listed.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Dwindling steelhead

MEMO: Cut in the Spokane edition.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = From staff and wire reports Staff writer Susan Drumheller contributed to this report.